Sprinter

[Parrot of Doom]

Recently did a 2800 mile journey in a LWB sprinter, and very impressed I was too. Extremely comfortable seats (considering you can't move them), CD player with GALA, 6 speed manual, central locking, just excellent throughout (apart from the tinny exhaust, loose cat probably). Cruising speed of around 80mph was fine, any faster and the engine started booming a little. Not a problem, all engines boom at one speed or another.

We left via a Portsmouth ferry to Caen at midnight, kipped in a cabin. The radio even had a CD player. 2 of us, taking turns to drive and catnap. We got into France at about 0700, I think I got snapped by a scamera which was annoying as I was a bit busy concentrating on the driving and wasn't driving at all fast (on entirely empty roads). We just drove, drove and drove through France, swapping over every 150 miles or so, stopping at lots of service stations (French services are brilliant, much better than ours). Got into Spain sometime in the afternoon and continued through Madrid. We got to the circuit at about 0300 the next day. I then had a couple of days off to recover before starting work again.

Some piccies:

 

[Parrot of Doom]

I even got a couple of days spare to do some riding

(this isn't me)

I shouldn't really show any piccies of the car as they're sensitive about those things.

This is the camera I was shooting on - with a 40x10 lens (including 2x extender). Great camera but I hated the LCD colour viewfinder. Mono CRT viewfinders are miles better, this is not progress.

 

[Parrot of Doom]

The view on the road to San Sebastian was outstanding. A proper mountain driving road if you're around that way, its on the BI-623 here:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=...9021,-2.661953&spn=0.011761,0.028667&t=h&z=16

Unfortunately I couldn't take pictures from the roadside as it was too dangerous, but the view would have made anybody gawp. If you're in the area and have a nice car, go there. Trust me.

Calais:

Setting off from Jerez circuit at 1930 Spanish time, we got into France somewhere around 1000-1200, into Paris at about 1630 (blame TomTom for taking us there ) and finally to Calais (after being stuck in traffic) at about 2130. We had some gear to drop in London so we did that, I then took the van up to the base at Milton Keynes, got my own car, drove for a bit and promptly died of exhaustion in the car park at Stoke services for a couple of hours. Got home about 0600ish and collapsed into bed immediately.

Really enjoyed it.

 

[television]

Thank you very much for sharing that with us thioose pictures are outstanding , it was like being there , and making me wish that I was there

Thank you

 

[dava]

Jeeze, there some cracking snaps!