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37th AvD-Oldtimer Grand Prix NURBURGRING 2009

This years Oldtimer Grand Prix at the Nurburgring was attended by four Porsche Club Ireland members,Dave Whelan,Liam Dowling,Neil Lane and Damien Stembridge.

Both Dave and Liam took the more adventerous option and travelled overland with Dave's 1971 911 in tow,recording an impressive 16.1 mpg average over the 2900km trip,whilst Neil and Damien opted for the easier Aer Lingus assisted option via Frankfurt Airport on the Friday morning.

On arrival all of us met for an agreeable lunch in the Porsche hospitality enclosure along with two Porsche Club GB members;Chris Clarke,Barry Dalton.

The Porsche enclosure would prove to be a most salubrious HQ for the rest of our weekend at this fascinating event.

The weather for the rest of the afternoon was glorious and the racing was non-stop until well into the early evening for the AvD Historic-Marathon which encompassed both the Grand Prix track and the Nordschleife.

Dinner that evening was at the Pistenklause restaurant.

Saturday morning the Eifel mountains lived up to their reputation for unpredictable weather conditions by coating the whole area in a layer of thick fog which refused to lift all day and played havoc with the racing schedule.However the day was more than well spent perusing the numerous trade stands and viewing all manner of exotica at the various club car parks.A Gala dinner was hosted that evening by Porsche in their enclosure from where one could also view the last of Saturdays Racing.One got a real feeling of 1960's endurance racing as these priceless machines battled it out in the still lingering fog and darkness began to fall.Memorable stuff!

Sunday morning brought with it much brighter weather and all racing was back on track.Also the Nordschleife was open for tourist laps so Dave and Neil bravely headed off to complete a few laps in Daves 911 and happily arrived back unscathed.The popularity of this track never ceases to amaze as people queued to get on but when it gets this busy there are always going to be the inevitable few 'offs' as was evidenced this day also.

Come four o'clock on Sunday afternoon everybody had to head different directions to catch the various methods of transport home to our real worlds but as anybody knows who has visited this unique petrolhead nirvana the memories live on a long time after and only strenghten your desire to return soon for more.

So overall another great and memorable trip and a definite one for the calendar next year. Can't wait!

Damien Stembridge


08/08/2009