Well, here is my report back on our epic trip. I know I’ve missed lots of what we got up to I'm sure, but I thought I’d get this up quickly and let others tell their stories too…..some video to follow later…
The outbound Dover rendezvous didn’t start well when I received a call on the way from someone ahead of me to say the car park no longer existed, it was a construction site
. Lesson learned, do not rely on the internet for up to date info on car parking
It actually didn’t cause an issue as the road by the construction site had enough space for us all to park up before making our way to the port. Check-in at the port was dead easy and our concern over entry ramps onto the ferry turned out to be unfounded. We had registered our cars as “low” and were directed to a special line to board and the ramps were no issue at all. Everybody made it on schedule to meet the ferry.
Ray up front in line for ferry.
All safely on board
A pleasant and calm crossing, with an opportunity to relax on the 2 hour voyage and get some food and drink. Getting off the ship was efficient, again with no ramp issues and we all managed to hook up to start our journey to Spa. The trip down was pretty uneventful, with a three brief stops for fuel and food. We main group arrived at the Balmoral at ~6.10pm, with Matt and his crew, plus Kelvin and Ross heading for their separate accommodations nearby.
Pete had organised a private room for us all to enjoy a delicious (well, I thought so anyway) buffet which the hotel laid out nearby. We agreed to meet to leave the hotel at 7.30am, but Ian, Simon and I went ahead a little earlier to set up the refreshment tables. We had three garages, which were huge, accommodating 6-7 cars each, plus a loo per garage. The kettle had boiled by the time the main party arrived. Signing on was a bit chaotic, with a large queue, but once that and the safety briefing was done, it was out for the sighting laps. WOW, nothing I had watched prepared me for the entry onto the track, an incredibly steep downhill section then up into Eau Rouge. Truly, nothing you see on camera can prepare you for this vision with your own eyes. The sighting laps were a blur of corners which my brain couldn’t retain all at once, but I did register a magnificent, beautiful, flowing circuit.
Our garages
Eau Rouge
La Source
Hustling the Elises
Chasing Kelly!
It was slightly damp to start with, but as the day progressed, the track got better and better and I got to learn which corner came next and where to position the car. Eau Rouge presented the most daunting challenge all day. The downhill entry allowed for crazy entry speeds and immense courage was required to keep from lifting/braking mid-section up-hill. I’m not afraid to admit I only managed it a couple of times without a dab of brake, but it required using all the kerbs and more, with the car getting very light and “unplanted” part way up.
The RX-8’s would get left behind on the long straights by the more powerful Porsches and BMW’s, but the gaps closed on many of them in the more complex, twisty parts of the circuit. I only managed 121mph at the end of the long straight, but I know others did a lot better.
The lunchbreak provided an opportunity for the RX-8’s to gather on the S/F line for some photos, then refuel the cars at an onsite, automated filling station and grab some food.
Lunchtime on the grid
We then had an incredibly long afternoon session from 1pm to 6pm to enjoy the track as the grip got improved.
During the afternoon, Sam and Soph’s car spat out a load (5L) of coolant and had to recovered back to the paddock. We refilled the lost coolant (thanks to Rob), but the car seemed to still be slightly overheating, putting paid to Sam’s fun behind the wheel. I’m glad to say that Sam and Soph managed to continue with their touring plans and reported that the car seemed to be working fine again. There were some scrape to 2 cars in our group (none were RX-8's, oddly), but I'll let the owners decide if they want to post any pics or tell their stories.
So, back to our hotel in Spa, to find a whole heap of cars with trailers blocking most of the car parking spaces. We tucked our cars in as best as possible, not easy as it was well dark by now. Then a quick shower and another buffet meal in our familiar private room. Decision then taken to leave at around 8.30am, for a 10am arrival at the Mettet circuit. We bade farewell to those not joining us at Mettet – Matt and his crew, Sam and Soph, Ross and Ricky. By this stage, Phil and Rob had decided they’d like to change their plans and join us at Mettet, returning on Sunday instead of Saturday.
Saturday - the hotel allowed us to use our private room for breakfast before we set off for Mettet. A slightly disorganised start, due to low fuel levels in some cars, but we all made it to Mettet to sign on and receive our briefing. We spotted whole load of temporary “tented garages” and asked if we could use them to store our gear, only to be told yes, fine, but 50 euros per “garage”. We shared the cost between us (3 euros each) and dumped our gear. Then it was out onto track, without having had any sighting practice! Luckily, the day was very quiet and the track was very easy to learn, plus it suited the RX-8 well, being a very tight and technical circuit in the main. Quite a contrast to Spa, this track felt like a very large go-kart circuit and huge fun to drive. There was also a very pleasant café on the top floor of a building alongside the circuit, for where the whole track could be observed whilst enjoying a coffee. Kelly had joined us for the morning to get in some passenger rides before she left for her Saturday ferry. During the day, Ian.M suffered a minor brake problem – massive cracks had appeared on both front disks! One was so bad that, having taken off the disk and placed the “(hot) disk on the cool/damp tarmac, there was a “ping” and the crack permeated completely across the radius of the disk! Thankfully, Ian had some spare disks and it was a straightforward task to replace them with multiple crews in action. Ian then continued to enjoy his time on track.
The main straight
Corner at end of main straight
Again, we had a long day, with the track closing at 6pm, before our 40 minute drive to our next hotel at La Louviere. We got there at about 7.15 to check in, to find that the some of the rooms we required to be twins, were, in fact, doubles. I just wish I had a camera to take a picture of Matt when he realised he was down to share a double bed with Nigel
However, things were sorted out as best we could and we (18 people by this stage) arrived a little late for our meal at restaurant “La Planche” adjacent to our hotel. We were welcomed and shown to a private area upstairs where 3 tables of 6 had been set up for us. I have to say the food was magnificent, as was the wine, and got louder and louder as the evening wore on. Then back to the hotel, where we decided to camp out in the very cosy little bar. I think I decided to call it a night around midnight, but I believe others were there until 3am, I’m sure they’ll give their stories later….
Sunday – a day for people to do as they pleased along the way back to Dunkirk, only about 100 miles away. But before we set off it was time to change the complete set of brake pads all round on Martin’s car, as his fronts were down to the metal backing. With a pair of jacks and many willing hands available, it didn’t take long.
There's still some meat left on one of them Martin!
Pit crew (in)action
to change Martin's pads
I’ll let others say what they got up to on Sunday, but I had decided I wanted to track down a WW1 cemetery in which one of my mother’s uncles was buried, killed in May 1916 in Flanders, not far from our route back. By WW1 standards, it was a small cemetery, with 600 graves, one of many such cemeteries scattered all over the region.
Rue du Bacquerot No.1
My research on Goole Earth paid off and I found the cemetery as expected, tucked behind a very muddy farmyard. It was very moving to touch the headstone of a relative who gave his life for us, and tragically leaving a wife and 5 young children behind. The cemetery was a beautifully calm, tidy and peaceful place, surrounded on three side by crop fields. The weather was dry and there were a few bits of blue sky visible on the mostly grey sky. Having paid my respects I checked on the internet to discover a WW1 museum in the nearby village of Fromelles, which only opened in 2014. Seeing as I had about 2 hours still to spare before I needed to leave for my ferry, I set off to visit. It turned out to be an incredibly interesting place, with excavations of a mass grave of mostly Australian servicemen still ongoing. There was a fascinating multimedia exhibition of the main battle in the area in 1916 and cemented my idea to re-visit France again to explore the battlefields and find a few other relatives from WW1 who died at the battle of the Somme.
Fromelles Museum
"The Cobber" monument to the Australian servicemen at Fromelles
The drive back to the port was enjoyable on quiet French motorways, the quality of which put our UK motorways to shame. I arrived at Dunkirk at about 4.30pm, in plenty of time for the ferry at 6pm, to find the other RX-8 group arrive just a few minutes later. Don't ask how I eneded up behind them all in the queue
The 6pm ferry group
The ferry left on schedule, with us all parked up right at the front of the ship. Time for a drink and a curry in the ship’s café, sat at the front of the ship with a great view as we navigated out of the port and as the sun started to set.
Another very calm crossing and we were off the ship by about 7.20pm and off on our journeys home. I rolled up at about 9.30pm, still with some fuel left in the tank, the last fill-up being on the other side of Mons in Belgium.
I have to say that, at 11 years old, 75k miles and 50+ hard trackdays, I expected some issue to arise with my car but, apart from using around 2 litres of oil on track (as expected), my car performed flawlessly throughout the whole trip. Some minor overheating issues that I had been suffering at recent trackdays failed to materialise, with peak temps of only 105 over both days.
My sincere thanks to Aston at Essex Rotary for doing a full service on my car the week before, plus fixing an issue by loaning me his own BHR ignition kit AND discovering a faulty spark plug (with only 8k miles of use).
So, Just over 1000 miles total, about 300 litres of fuel and 3 litres of oil in all.
OK, there is no doubt that this trip was expensive, but it has created countless memories that I shall treasure, so priceless in my eyes.
Chilling out at Balmoral hotel.
I think the word awesome was probably most used over the two days of track time and I do not think there is one of us that would not willingly do it all again. How about next week. The thrill of besting Eau Rouge is something else, and I only took the Vettel route twice when I got just a little carried away. 
Some say I should be, after coming into the pits and rejoicing in the fact that I can now say I came off at this iconic corner and lived to tell the tale. 
, but regardless of any visual reminder this trip will live in the memory for all the right reasons.
,apart from a little Gaffer Tape added to the BMW Support Car 
and after the mix up at the Orange Hotel we then managed to sort out another room,so as we didn't have to sleep together 
(am supposed to go every 6 weeks)
