Ben Sale's white 1990 NA6

[emexv]

Great report Ben. Sounds like you had an absolute blast. A little bit of paint damage is a small price to pay. I've known Gerald for years and am going away with him over Easter. He's a top bloke and will no doubt look after you.

[emexv]

Just had a thought Ben. Let me know when your going to put your car on the Dyno. I'll come down if I'm not working and we can do a comparrison.

[bensale]

Thanks Mark. Small world, I was really blown away by how he was willing to give me his time... Amazing! If you could make it that would be interesting.

I don't have many of the photos of the flooding on the East Coast which did the damage but this is a good example... The whole road was absolutely covered in a number of places... We ended up turning around when we watched a police 4x4 go through one section. When they pulled up along side I realised that the water they went through was deeper than the roof of the MX-5...

[bensale]

And just to finish off I was lucky enough to get to drive some of the targa stages (something I've always wanted to do) after the rally on our little adventure around Tasmania... My favourite still is this screen shot of where we ended up after driving on a number of really dodgy mud roads.



Having got back to Melbourne it was pretty much straight off on another adventure down the Great Ocean road, lots of fun and some cool pics (credits for the GOR ones to Alex) =)





(we made it..!)

By the time we got back the car was looking a bit sorry for it's self.. It's never been so dirty and the missing paint on the bonnet and guard is really annoying... It was nice to give it a wash and make it look somewhat loved again!

[-alex]

oOoOoOoOoooo
Someone said it was your birthday!

so HAPPY BIRTHDAY..!

[bensale]

Hahaha..! Gee, who told you that..? It's was meant to be a secret..! =P

Thanks Alex. . . =)

[beavis]

Perhaps more like this?

[lee]

It's running the track wheels at the moment;


Happy birthday!

[-alex]

eh Im working today, its lucky I can post lol

[bensale]

Hahaha..! You guys are awesome!!! Thanks =)

Spending on modifying the car is going to be put on hold for a while as my present from Mum and Dad was a trip to Europe..! If I do 3 less track days this year it will pay for half a day at the Nurburgring in some thing like a track prepped Renault Clio Sport... =)

[beavis]

I did the ring in an Alfa 75 from RSRNurburg. (They were called Ron Simmons Racing when I went, pretty sure they still rent out cars)
They had the Clio's and an M5, plus some 911's and GT-R's (Clios are right hand drive if you're not keen on left hand drive).

The tricky thing is finding someone who'll rent you a track car when you're under 25. (Renting a car from Europcar is no problem, but taking THAT onto the ring is a risk)

While you're there... do the passo de stelvio

[bensale]

I saw the guys with the 75, looked like a lot of fun! Some of them don't rent to under 25s, some of them have an age miniumum of 21...

I did a quick bit of research, there is a group who rent out track prepped Swift Sports for 200 euro for the half day, 300 for the full... No bad really and the minimum age is 21 =) Will add passo de stelvio to the list =) They did a thing on Top Gear about that road didn't they?

[CheyneX5]

There was a small article on Passo De Stelvio posted on Roadster Life not so long ago.

Here it is: http://www.roadsterlife.net/post/4883018872/passo-dello-stelvio

[beavis]

I did a quick bit of research, there is a group who rent out track prepped Swift Sports for 200 euro for the half day, 300 for the full...

I think I paid around 500eur for the day... plus track toll which was a couple of hundred for 15 laps.

Will add passo de stelvio to the list =) They did a thing on Top Gear about that road didn't they?

Yeah, well worth it.... though it depends on the time of year you're there as winter time is rather chilly there.
I went in October, so it was starting to get cold but certainly comfortable, low 20's every day (a lot colder in the mountains with patches of snow around the pass when I was there, though that's what the heating in the the Merc was for )


And it's a bit warmer in southern France/Monaco
So while you're there, add Monaco to the list.... don't stay in Monaco itself, stay in Menton. It's just sweet driving along the circuit, albeit not necessarily in the same direction as the F1 cars

[beavis]

Gah sorry to hijack the thread Ben, but here's a pic I took at the top:


And from the same spot I took this (the snow covered mountains were a sight to behold):