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Re: Widowmaker Project (Building a Faux GT2)

Posted: Mon May 27, 2019 11:56 am
by FRUNKenstein
Sounds like a great trip. Man, I have to say that red GT2 is stunning.

Re: Widowmaker Project (Building a Faux GT2)

Posted: Thu May 30, 2019 5:31 am
by TheDeckMan
FRUNKenstein wrote: Mon May 27, 2019 11:56 am Sounds like a great trip. Man, I have to say that red GT2 is stunning.
Yeah the red one is a beauty! Never see it out on the track however.

Re: Widowmaker Project (Building a Faux GT2)

Posted: Fri Jul 05, 2019 8:20 am
by TheDeckMan
A vacation trip to Nurburgring for VLN 24hr race

A few months ago my friend Markus asked if I would be interested in heading over to Germany for a 24 hour race at the ring. At first I was not sure, but figured with 4 months go get ahead at work that it would be sufficient time to prepare. Being that this would be the first real vacation in 12 years, might as well try to cram as much in as possible. Markus grew up around the Ring so being able to travel with someone who knew the lay of the land seemed like an absolute no-brainer. All I had to do was to get to Dusseldorf on the 18th, seemed easy enough. Alas I did not have room for my SLR so all photos are courtesy of an iPhone.

Part I Getting to the Ring seems easy enough.
Normally I prefer to drive everywhere but that was not an option to get to Germany. After finishing up at work Monday I caught a 6pm flight out of Connecticut’s Bradley Airport on an Aer Lingus route. The flight there and back both had a layover in Dublin, 2 hours on the way to Germany and 5 hour layover on the way back. I figured no problem on the flight over as I would be able to sleep on the flight, this was not going to happen as being between two rows with infant children that cried and screamed the entire way to Dublin.
Beer before flight.
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By the time I got to Dusseldorf it had been 28 hours awake and the cell phone international plan I setup with my carrier did not activate, so finding a Starbucks was able to make a wifi call and sort that out. Two hours later Markus’s flight landed and we headed off to spend the afternoon in Duren getting some rest and awaiting our 3rd member Joe to arrive from Frankfurt.
Bitburger for the first beer in Germany
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Joe arrived late Tuesday night. Wednesday morning we walked around Duren and got some breakfast drinks. Of course I had to check out this old fort in the center of town.
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Looks like an old WW2 AA gun
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Drinks!
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Wednesday afternoon we departed for the Ring with one of Marcus’s friends that was able to drive up with a van and pick us up. The weather could not have been better, along the way we stopped for some bratwurst…yum!!!
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After checking in at our B&B we got a wonderful dinner and some beers.
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The B&B has had many a famous driver stay for a time here.
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Part II Pre-Race and pre-game!
Thursday and Friday were spent a good bit of time exploring as they were doing practice sessions for both the vintage and the VLN24 series. Friday we headed over to the motorsport park for a private tour of Manthey Racing courtesy of Markus’s friend Stephan who was a fantastic guide with extensive experience and history of Porsche. Sorry no pictures of behind the closed doors. Being an follower of Manthey’s 996 Turbo and 997 Turbo programs, this was a real treat!
The showing of the race cars in Adenau
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Manthey Racing
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The New 718 GT4 Clubsport MR
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The Nurburgring Mall
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View of the pits
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Friday night was dinner at the base of Nurburg Castle, the schnitzel was out of this world! Due to it taking forever for us to get our food because of being absolutely slammed, the owner offered to give us a ride over to Cockpit at the Ring for the Friday Night Party. The evening was spent meeting various racers and teams along with Olaf Manthey himself! The rest of the evening went something like this in a German accent
Dinner
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Beer! Beer! Beer! Shots! Shots! Shots! Schnapps! Schnapps! Schnapps! Stahp! Stahp! Stahp! Alas a wonderful morning hangover ensued.

Part III The Racing
Starting with the beginning of the race from the grand stands, we moved around all day and into the evening from one spot to another late into the night. In the morning we continued to follow the racing from many different corners with extensive hiking of over 30 miles in two days. Manthey was served their penalty for speeding/passing under a yellow of 5minutes and 32 secs, which was their exact lead on the Audi R8 team. By the time they completed their pit stop they were down roughly 1 min 45 sec with the last 30 minutes of racing to go. Alas a tire puncture ended it for them as they took 2nd place behind Audi with the Mercedes GTR in 3rd.
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Lots of hiking through the forests to get to see different corners.
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Monday afternoon we explored the Nurburg Castle. The castle was mostly destroyed by the French in 1674.
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Motorsport Park
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Part IV Bucket list experience.
Monday morning we headed out to do a tour of Rinaldi Racing again arranged by Stephan to see their 488 racing program, no pictures here folks.
With needing to catch our ride back to Duren Monday night, I really wanted to experience the Ring at speed. Cleanup was going on all day with it opening up for the public at 5:30, so a quick arrangement was made to get to do the Ring Taxi in a 991 GT3RS was arranged for 6:00.
The GT3 came in and then left down the street, the customer service person came out and told me that there was an issue with the GT3 and they took it back to the shop as the check engine light was on….they offered to refund me the fee and I can come back again, alas my heart sunk. I said I would wait the 15 minutes for the driver to come back hoping it was just something silly triggering the light.

And so the driver did come back, but not with the GT3RS, but rather a McLaren 600LT! I guess that will do! The driver was one of the weekends Cayman GT4 winning drivers, how awesome is that! And off we went! The power and grip reminds me of my hot-rodded 997tt but vastly more nimble, the brakes were incredible with nearly pulling the eyeballs out of their sockets.
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[VIDEO][/VIDEO]

Part V The return home trip should be easy right?
Returning to Duren with a couple hours sleep for the early flight out to Dublin seemed like I was on cruise control. Everything just settled in and breezed through customs. About an hour prior to our scheduled take off, a delay! No big deal I thought as having 5 hour layover in Dublin would not be an issue. The delay continued, but the staff assured us that we would make our connecting flight. Slightly anxious I didn’t worry until they continued waiting above Dublin, I had 45 minutes to make it to the connecting flight. As we landed I noticed another Aer Lingus flight flying off and thought that looked like my tail number….So I ran to the gate only to find out they left ahead of time!!!!
The next 4 hours were spent attempting to get to Boston or close to home where I could arrange to get picked up due to a tight work schedule. It was all for naught, stuck in Dublin until the following day with 26 other people who were supposed to be on that flight. At least they put us up in a hotel free of charge. Sitting waiting for my new ticket and scrolling through the bookface, low and behold an old VW friend from on here was checking into Dublin as well. Well I’ll be damned, it turned out they spent 26 hours traveling from Boston to Dublin with their two little girls and had none of their bags. Since we were in Dublin it was a great time to meet up and share our flight woes and catch up from many years over a pint of Guinness!
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After some drinks they needed to get the girls some place to sleep other than an airport or a bar, so we parted ways. For the next couple hours I wandered Temple Bar, stopped had some beer, some whiskey and listened to some music as I was stuck until the following afternoon.
After that it just went smoothly! Was a whirlwind trip, glad to be home.

A nice NEIPA was refreshing taste of home!
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Re: Widowmaker Project (Building a Faux GT2)

Posted: Mon Jul 08, 2019 7:53 am
by TheDeckMan
Finally getting back to working on the 996, she is due for some service items so in between renovation fun figure bang out a few things.

-New Plugs
-Oil Change
-Replace rear O2 sensors
-Install new front Monoballs
-New Front LCA Arms
-Install new DV & DV hose
-Clean Intercoolers
-Transmission Fluis Flush

If time allows for it, getting the new body parts painted and installed. Have a new rear euro bumper, Manthey doors and GT3RS hood to put on for some weight savings.
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Re: Widowmaker Project (Building a Faux GT2)

Posted: Sat Jul 13, 2019 8:07 am
by FRUNKenstein
Very cool trip post - thanks for taking the time to post all of that! Those are some awesome pics. Looks like it was a bucket-list type of trip.


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Re: Widowmaker Project (Building a Faux GT2)

Posted: Sat Jul 13, 2019 5:28 pm
by Dr_Strangelove
TheDeckMan wrote: Fri Jul 05, 2019 8:20 am Was a whirlwind trip, glad to be home.


Duuuuuuuuuuuuuuude. I'm so jealous. What a trip! :o

Fantastic writeup and pictures. Made me feel like I wasn't there enough to hate you for a moment. I'm over it, though.


I think.

Re: Widowmaker Project (Building a Faux GT2)

Posted: Mon Jul 15, 2019 11:14 am
by TheDeckMan
FRUNKenstein wrote: Sat Jul 13, 2019 8:07 am Very cool trip post - thanks for taking the time to post all of that! Those are some awesome pics. Looks like it was a bucket-list type of trip.
Dr_Strangelove (whew!) wrote: Sat Jul 13, 2019 5:28 pm
Duuuuuuuuuuuuuuude. I'm so jealous. What a trip! :o

Fantastic writeup and pictures. Made me feel like I wasn't there enough to hate you for a moment. I'm over it, though.

I think.
Thanks guys! Yeah if you get a chance it is easily the most fun I have had in many years on a vacation!

Let the hate flow 8-)

Re: Widowmaker Project (Building a Faux GT2)

Posted: Thu Jul 18, 2019 8:15 am
by KC-CarGuy
E P I C thread. Anxious to see progress on the widowmaker.

Re: Widowmaker Project (Building a Faux GT2)

Posted: Fri Jul 19, 2019 11:24 am
by TheDeckMan
KC-CarGuy wrote: Thu Jul 18, 2019 8:15 am E P I C thread. Anxious to see progress on the widowmaker.
Thanks! Been busy on a tight schedule with some reno fun. Have to get it done in the next 3 months to move back in :shock:

Waiting on the carbon rear bumper to show up from Germany so I can pick it up and drop everything off at paint for the 996.

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Re: Widowmaker Project (Building a Faux GT2)

Posted: Sat Jul 20, 2019 5:40 am
by FRUNKenstein
TheDeckMan wrote: Fri Jul 19, 2019 11:24 am
KC-CarGuy wrote: Thu Jul 18, 2019 8:15 am E P I C thread. Anxious to see progress on the widowmaker.
Thanks! Been busy on a tight schedule with some reno fun. Have to get it done in the next 3 months to move back in :shock:

Waiting on the carbon rear bumper to show up from Germany so I can pick it up and drop everything off at paint for the 996.

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Ah, switching to open concept, I see. Looks like you went all “White People Renovating Houses” on it.