Vacation 1999!




Tuesday 15/6
My journey started with the Fokker F-50 from Västerås airport to Copenhagen where I changed to a DC-9 to Stanstead. The flights were completely uneventful and the only thing worth mentioning was that it had two flight attendants that could make Katrin Krabbe look small an puny. At Stanstead the train to Liverpool station was waiting at the platform and within the hour I had found my hotel, the Casserly Court, at Gloucester Terrace in Bayswater. The room was hardly any bigger than a walk-in closet and the shower stall almost non-existent, but for the price I was paying I really couldn't complain at all. When I had unpacked I took a brief walk to Queensway, which hadn't changed much since last year, and then I used the Underground to go to Bond street and from there I walked to Liecester Square where I enjoyed four guitar virtuosos who played variations on "Volare" for almost 15 minutes. I continued to walk around in the neighborhood until it was dark, and then I took the Underground back to my hotel where I promptly fell asleep.

Wednesday 16/6
I woke up two hour before breakfast was served, so I had plenty of time to get ready. I put on a tie and jacket and had three different kinds of buns an croissants together with various jams, tea and orange juice before I decided to start the day with a walk through Hyde Park. When I walked by Kensington Palace the guard let me into the part of the garden where there was a lilypond, and I promptly snapped some pictures. I continued walk along the Serpentine until I reached Hyde Park Corner, where I crossed the street in a very illegal way and reached Buckingham Palace. I didn't stop there, though, but kept on walking on all the way down to the Houses of Parliament. Thanks to the Underground transportation system I managed to be in several places at once (almost). Not only did I get my hair cut on Queensway, I also went to the Camden market, Carnaby Street, Piccadilly Circus and about a dozen other places I don't care to mention here. The soundtrack playing in my head during this day consisted almost entirely of songs by the Kinks, Beatles, Herman's Hermits ("I'm Henry The VIII I Am" keeps popping up whenever I'm in London) Sandie Shaw and Lulu. Around four, when I was in the midst of exploring Chelsea and Kings Road, looking for Tara Palmer-Tompkinson and her look-alikes, I recieved a call on the cell-phone from Svante and Markus who was on their way to my hotel. I redirected them to the south edge of Hyde Park and after they had arrived I let them inspect my hotel room (It got kind of crowded with the three of us in it) and after that we walked over to Queensway where we had a quite satisfying pasta dinner. When we had finished that I suggested a walk to Liecester S quare and the Ben & Jerry's ice cream stand and have some dessert. The walk took the better part of an hour, and when we got there we spent an additional 15 minutes in the line. I settled for Double Trouble, Chunky Monkey and Vanilla Cream Fudge. We watched scenery (some of it quite good looking, depending on the personal taste) for half an hour before we decided to round off the evening by visting the pedestrian crossing at Abbey Road in St. Johns Wood. Due to wrong information from yours truly, Svante and Markus had to upgrade their Underground tickets to another zone manually. Before we got there I told the other guys that this neighborhood looks like something straight out of an episode of "the Persuaders", and what do you know: The first car to catch our attention when we got up from the station was a red (Ferrari) Dino, just the kind Daniel Wild used to drive. I bet he was on his way to visit his friend lord Brett Sinclair... We found the crossing and tried to pinpoint where it used to be in the past (it has quite obviously moved since the sixties) before snapping our pictures and returning to my hotel. Svante and Markus then drove back to Felpham and I intended to go to bed.

Thursday 17/6
I didn't wake up as early as yesterday, but I still had plenty of time to pack and get ready in time for breakfast. Svante and Markus was going to pick me up around 10, so I didn't dare venture too far from the neighborhood. I spent the better part of the morning walking around in Hyde Park and I then went so far as Oxford Circus where I read magazines at Border books without paying for them. Svante and Markus got a late start and was then delayed on the M25 which was almost backed up all the way into the city. By then I had retired to my hotel room and was dozing off when Svante called and announced that they were parked outside on the street. Without further delays we drove out of London (the traffic wasn't that bad at all in that direction) and set the course for Stonehenge outside Salisbury. We arrived around 1PM and paid our entrance fee and thoroughly examined the rocks from every direction. We were not alone in doing this, but the crowd wasn't that bad. It is probably much worse on a weekend. We saw at least one nutcase who was aiming som kind of antennas in the direction of the stones, but the real loons will arrive next weekend when the solstice occurs... On our way to Felpham we made a stop in Southampton and had some pizza which Svante felt inclined to spice up with the chilli sauce he had bought the day before. We could also enjoy the look on the face of our waitress when she dropped about three dozen utensils on the floor... We drove through Portsmouth on our way back, and right before 6 we drove up in the parkinglot outside the Beachcroft hotel. We got an additional room where Svante took up residence because his snoring and intermittent breathing during sleep drives Markus nuts. The hotel itself looks like something straight out of Fawlty Towers, minus the eccentric staff. When we had freshened up (Markus soaked in the tub for half an hour) we walked by the waterfront until we reached Bognor Regis (it is less than a mile) and thorougly examined the city center (which was surprisingly large) before settling down outside a pub near the pier with various drinks of choice. The weather was very pleasant, so we took our time and really enjoyed the feeling of being on vacation without any worries at all. When it started to get dark we left and after making necessary purchases in a convinience store nearby we returned to the hotel and went to bed. Markus watched an episode of "Blackadder" before going to sleep.

Friday 18/6
Breakfast at the Beachcroft hotel is served promptly at 7.30 AM so at that time we were sitting in the dining room, at our designated table, devouring assorted cereals, juices, toast, jam, eggs, ham, tea and fried tomatoes. We spotted several other persons who looked like they also would be going in the same direction as us later on. We stopped in Bognor Regis on our way to Chichester, and I bought water and stamps. When we arrived at Goodwood less than thirty minutes later we were astonished to see that there were still not too many cars in the parking lot, and we were greeted by two beautiful females who sold us three programs for four pounds each (those who have bought their tickets in advance get one pound off the listprice) and then a trolley picked us up and let us off at the entrance. Inside there was a variety of exhibitors (Aston-Martin, Top Gear Magazine etc) and a paddock which contents lived up to our highest expectations. We drooled over a lot of different cars, and since we all have our own f avorites (Svante likes the Ferrari 512M and Ford GT40, Markus likes the Porsche 917 and McLaren-Mercedes F1 cars and I myself thinks that the Lotus 72D and the old 4.5 litre Bentleys are really neat.) there was something for everyone. But in all it was the mix of ALL these cars in one place that is the big thing with a happening like the Festival of Speed. Outside the manor house the Earl of March was standing right in the middle of the big Audi 90 year celebration and display and looked like his idea of a perfectly good time was a couple of hundred old racing cars and thousands of racing fans on thr grounds of his estate. I continued to harass every good looking girl I encountered and demanded to take their picture to which they all argreed... Around 12.30 the grand opening was going to take place, and we had staked out what we thought was the perfect site, rigged the mikes, aimed our cameras and was eagerly waiting for the action to start. After some initial problems there was a steady flow of cars during the practice hours which lasted to around 5PM. Among some of the more prominent entries worth mentioning are the Brooklands Bentley, the '68 V12 Honda F1, several Can-Am racers including a March 707, an UOP Shadow and a Porsche 917/10, the Mercedes W196 F1, the 1936 ERA B-type "Remus" (a car that has been raced continuesly for over 60 years), the 1968 Howemet TX gas turbine car (very peculiar sounding) and finally the 1991 Mazda 787B with a 4.7 litre wankel engine. All of whom made it to minidisc with a suprisingly good sound quality. When the last car had passed we had reconsidered where the ideal recording site was going to be and decided to move closer to the finish line on Saturday. We now felt a little warm and tired, and decided to call it a day. The drive back to Felpham was made a little more amusing by Markus who replayed the days recordings on the car stereo... Back at the hotel we washed up and then went out to grab some dinner in Bognor Regis. The night before we had noticed a place called Lannas Thai on a backstreet near the pier, and tonight we walked in there and had an excellent dinner. We can really recommend it to anyone who visit this part of the UK. When we were finished (and assured the cook that we were very satisfied with everything), we again went to the convenience store before walking back to Felpham. Tomorrow there must be no delays so oversleeping is not an option.

Saturday 19/6
The breakfast ritual was repeated today, but we tried to get to Goodwood a little bit earlier and arrived approximately at 9AM. There were a lot more cars in the parkinglot than yesterday (but it was still free of charge) and we hurried to the spot Svante and Markus had staked out and after they had brought out the recording equipment I took off on a walk without any real idea where I wanted to go. Svante and Markus spent the day trying to record all the cars they deemed interesting and most of it turned out quite good, even if the annoying habit of putting the engine roars from the starting line out over the PA system interfered with some of the cars. The weather was like the day before, so the sunburn didn't get any better despite lots of sunblock. I got the opportunity to examine the Cartier concours exhibit, the Brooklands paddock (where I did see "Remus" getting re-fueled) and the various vendors of art, model cars, books and other memorabilia. I saw nothing that I really wanted, though, and ended up b uying only the official FOS-pin. The cars was just as spectacular as yesterday, so I will not bore you by repeating all that. Let me just mention the 1908 Panhard & Levassor (driven by a guy who really had to lean over the wheel to get around the bends), Peter Hardman's drive in the 1959 Le Mans-winning Aston-Martin (The car is valued to £1,000,000 and he drives it like he's stolen it.) and Emerson Fittipaldi in the 1994 Penske-Mercedes. I then forced poor Peter Hardman to pose beside the Aston, something that he was more than willing to do. Throughout the the day I checked in on the other guys who with great determination continued to record the sounds of the cars and by the end of the day had collected 176 engine sounds. When the last car had passed we collected our stuff, went back to the car and drove to the hotel and freshened up. Unfortunately, every table at every decent restaurant in Bognor Regis was reserved or occupied so we had to settle for McDonalds instead. Not a culinary highlight but reasona ble cheap. I then realized that there was no use in staying awake and watching "Trading Places" on TV so I went to sleep.

Sunday 20/6
Markus and Svante still just eat cereal, toast and boiled eggs for breakfast (which in Markus' case is a great step forward from his usual habits) while I get the works. Without it it wouldn't be possible to last the whole day on just two snickers bars. The weather was not as good this morning (I had heard raindrops when I woke up) with chilly winds and low clouds so rainjackets was the preferred dresscode of the day. Svante even put on his rubber boots. Even though we arrived at Goodwood at 8.30 there were about the same amount of cars in the parking lot as yesterday. We got lift in a shuttlebus to the park, and decided that we wanted to take our pictures in the first bend after the start. (No mikes today.) The weather cleared up, but not before we had a little shower. The first batch of cars to go up the hill was the Brooklands cars, and some of their drivers really pushed their antiques to the limit, driving very wide on the wet surface and touching the grass once in a while. Then all thhe other cars ca me out to practice, but they were taking it really easy until the track dried up, something that is easy to understan if you think about how valueable all these cars are. I left our basecamp on several occasions and wandered off, taking pictures of people having pic-nic in the park and other things on display (The girl who tried to convince bypassers to sign up for a MasterCard really deserved to have her picture taken) with my 85mm lens, something that took a lot of patience while waiting for the area between me and the object of the intended picture to clear up. I also didn't get Jackie Oliver's (Le Mans winner in 1969 with he GT40) autograph when I had the chance, something that I did regret later. Markus used up about 8 rolls of film over the entire day, and together with all the pictures from me and it means that I think we have the whole event quite well-documented in all ways that matters. But when the Porsche 917 did its last run up the hill one of the marshals in "our" bend decided to take a walk. Since we are very concious about upholding Markus image as a nice person I will not repeat what he said about her here... Nick Heidfeld in the McLaren-Mercedes MP4 pushed the record down 41.6 seconds in his last run up the hill, a time that will hold up until next year at least. At 5.30 we decided to call it a day, and packed up and walked to the parkinglot where the Audi was standing where we had left it. After arriving in Felpham we walked to a pizza place at the pier in Bognor Regis where Markus and Svante had 2 12" "Mexican Hot" pizzas which they found thorougly satisfying. We had some drinks for desserts at the nearby pub and watched the local scenery as the sun went down. Then it started to get chilly, so despite our usual stop at the convenience store we went straight back to the hotel. Tomorrow we will sleep in.


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