formula 1
Christmas Eve may seem like a strange time to start thinking about next August or September and a trip to Spa or Monza for the Belgian or Italian GP. (What a lot of ors in a sentence.)
But a close frend and I were due to go to one of them this year until other issues intervened.
And now as I've some time on my hands I thought I'd take some of it to address at least part of the issue that will need to be decided. An extremely important part too.
For the purposes of this blog entry, the country, race or venue is unimportant. The real problem is the make and model of the car we choose to travel to the race in? We both own practical, modern, fast cars that could eat up the distances to either venue with no problem. But what's the point in turning up in something like that?
No, we need something interesting, The budget is tight - around £6000 - so not much money to play with. The car will need to be reliable enough to get us there (we won't worry too much about getting home until later), and have just enough storage space for sufficient equipment for 2 men to co exist for 4 days (i.e. a tent and some underwear then).
As I see it (and my friend is in broad agreement) there are 2 alternatives:
- a Porsche Boxster S
- a Honda S2000.
Both superb cars in their own right. Both worthy of a trip to a F1 race meet. Both worthy of a flying lap of either track if I'm honest.
The Porsche clearly has all the racing heritage you could want, but then again in F1 terms so does the Honda.
Reliability wise the Honda edges it. Their engines are notoriously reliable. But what about ze German engineered Porsche? Again, these are incredibly reliable too.
I have another close friend who owned a Boxster and his advice (unsurprisingly) was get one. The drive would certainly be more relaxed - the German car holding speeds at lower revs than its Japanese rival. But, just but......
Anyway, it's as well we've started thinking early I guess. This should give us more time to choose a Mercedes SL500 of the correct vintage to go in.
Another aside tonight. For my sister and me this is our first Christmas as orphans, having lost our Dad 16 years ago and our mum only last February. It feels strange. Corinne, I hope you are OK? At the very least we are here for each other on this Christmas Eve.
But a close frend and I were due to go to one of them this year until other issues intervened.
And now as I've some time on my hands I thought I'd take some of it to address at least part of the issue that will need to be decided. An extremely important part too.
For the purposes of this blog entry, the country, race or venue is unimportant. The real problem is the make and model of the car we choose to travel to the race in? We both own practical, modern, fast cars that could eat up the distances to either venue with no problem. But what's the point in turning up in something like that?
No, we need something interesting, The budget is tight - around £6000 - so not much money to play with. The car will need to be reliable enough to get us there (we won't worry too much about getting home until later), and have just enough storage space for sufficient equipment for 2 men to co exist for 4 days (i.e. a tent and some underwear then).
As I see it (and my friend is in broad agreement) there are 2 alternatives:
- a Porsche Boxster S
- a Honda S2000.
Both superb cars in their own right. Both worthy of a trip to a F1 race meet. Both worthy of a flying lap of either track if I'm honest.
The Porsche clearly has all the racing heritage you could want, but then again in F1 terms so does the Honda.
Reliability wise the Honda edges it. Their engines are notoriously reliable. But what about ze German engineered Porsche? Again, these are incredibly reliable too.
I have another close friend who owned a Boxster and his advice (unsurprisingly) was get one. The drive would certainly be more relaxed - the German car holding speeds at lower revs than its Japanese rival. But, just but......
Anyway, it's as well we've started thinking early I guess. This should give us more time to choose a Mercedes SL500 of the correct vintage to go in.
Another aside tonight. For my sister and me this is our first Christmas as orphans, having lost our Dad 16 years ago and our mum only last February. It feels strange. Corinne, I hope you are OK? At the very least we are here for each other on this Christmas Eve.
Between a Porsche and a Honda and you have to THINK about it....... :-/ ?
ReplyDeleteHi Nick, Merry Christmas........an interesting choice of cars.....really hope your dream becomes reality. This year has been an extremely difficult one for you and your family and, as the song title suggests "things can only get better". Today will be yet another testing day but I'm sure that you will pull some positives from it, you always seem to, whatever the situation!! Have a great day with your family......it will be different. Then turn your thoughts to getting back home and the trip to Spa or Monza next year.
ReplyDeleteBoxster. Definitely. (Or 'bolster' as Apple would have it)
ReplyDeletex