European Bug in

Its been a while now since a few members of the Rennwagens packed up their cars and gear and headed out to Belgium for the fourth European Bug In.

Where to start?!

Rennwagen members in attendance at the weekend were Steve Milward, Richie Moss, Jamie Palmer and Kev Donlon. Also in attendance was club prospects Matt Webb and Matt Lawton, helping out with Phil Jarvis' amazingly quick 'Fire Bus' Split Screen Type 2. As Kev was taking EBI in as part of a larger holiday, and also because his car's rebuild is still not quite finished he was in attendance in his T4 Multivan - the perfect way to cruise the Belgian countryside.

Not so for Steve, Rich and Jamie though, as they loaded up their cars onto trailers and dragged them across the channel to give them a damn good spanking up the now famous quarter mile sprint track at Chimay.

Heading out on Wednesday evening for a ferry over from Dover in the wee hours of Thursday morning meant that there was still a pretty good choice of spots within the pits, and by Thursday lunch time the Cars were unloaded, Tents put up and the Rennwagens pit area already busy with preparations for the track.

Following scrutineering the cars headed out for the first passes of the weekend on Friday morning. Steve's full street bug was first out and Steve started the weekend with a 13.9 but immediately started having issues with his clutch. Richie's bug - fresh from an intense diet - immediately seemed quicker out of the traps and on Friday saw a run of 12.8 while still getting used to the surface and grip levels. Jamie's bug too seemed to be running much better this time out, and after a tentative first run out was pleased with a 14.2 shakedown run. First runs under the belt, the decision was taken to park the cars and enjoy some of the ambiance of the show, and following a couple of hours in the company of the local Belgian Beer and a BBQ we headed out to see what other cars were around about in the pits.

The quality and quantity of cars on show was jaw dropping.... around every corner was either a full on cal looker, a Gasser survivor from the 70's or full turbo race cars. It was truly astounding!

The Saturday saw a return to the track, with Steve running 14.2, Richie dipping to a 12.64 and Jamie getting back into the twelves with a 12.8 run. Things started getting competitive (as always) and Saturday night saw more Belgian Beer swilled and another good round of bench racing before a wander around the music tent and through the camping fields checking out the cars.

After Saturdays Bench Racing, Richie and Jamie lined up for a run against each other and from the off it appeared both were moving quite a bit quicker than previous runs. The intense rivalry resulted in new pb's for both, Richie with an amazing 12.3 in his naturally aspirated car, with Jamie trailing behind with a 12.6 in his turbo bug. Steve was back out on track, keen as ever, but his earlier clutch problems seemed to be getting gradually worse and it was pretty obvious from the smell and his timing slips gradually tailing off that his clutch was toast....

So the Rennwagens headed home, after what has gone down for many as the best show they have ever attended... If you weren't there, start planning now for EBI 5 in 2013... it should be a blast!!!!