UK trip report (long)

["Eric Renneisen" <renneie@hlthsrc.com>]

Flew in on Sunday, and spent yesterday catching up...

It had a wonderful start. My first full day in the UK was spent 
at Coy's historic auto festival at Silverstone raceway. It was 
a PITA to get there, but well worth it. As my wife and I walked 
up to the entrance from the bus stop, we were passed by a slew 
of Ferraris from various eras, all red save one bright yellow.

First order of business: find the UKQOC area. Let's see, Phil 
wrote "go in, turn left, keep going." As I eagerly eyed some of 
the swap meet vendors, Elizabeth says, "could that be it?" 
pointing to a quattro banner and a dozen or so ur-qs.

Ah, that must be Phil's car, just behind the TT. Black (I think 
;^) and various tools and equipment strewn about in and near the 
boot. I found out later that it didn't even include the main 
stash that had already been put in the tent. Phil and the rest 
of the group were a great bunch. Before I knew it I was scarfing 
down a kebab while Phil gave me the grand tour of the fabled 
tool kit and one hell of a torque wrench.

Elizabeth and I were treated to a fabulous airshow by the RAF's 
Red Arrows, then Phil and Roger (Galvin, right?) took us on a 
mission for some free beer. We found a motorhome with some Audi 
banners. As we rounded the corner, I saw a competition sport q, 
then another, and another! After several clicks of the camera I 
saw the BTCC FWD A4 (complete with "my other car is a quattro" 
decals), an S2 and 20V ur-q. Don't worry, JPGs forthcoming. In 
fact, Phil grabbed a shot of me sitting in Michelle Mouton's 
throne in an S1. Can I get a copy of that JPG, please?!?!

It turns out that this is David Sutton's setup. He came out 
for some discussion and libation. It seems that he had some 
preliminary discussions with someone about bringing at least 
some of these cars to Monterey, but it fell through. A real 
shame--these would have been crowd pleasers. You'll just have to 
be content with the hardcopy photos I bring with me. (Boy, am I 
uppity!) We also got a surprise visit from fellow lister Eric 
Freiburg. Wish we had more time to get acquainted.

Lots of other nice cars there, of course. Too little time to 
see it all. The races were great, too. I watched a great battle 
between an Aston-Martin and Jag E-type until they pitted to 
change drivers. I think an Austin Healy took the race ahead of 
a Ferrari. These guys didn't baby these cars--they went sliding 
into the turns just as when they were new.

Back at the UKQOC camp some obligatory hood popping broke out, 
and Phil was hopping around dispensing advice for a few 
problems. After a while, it was time to head back for the train 
station. Phil graciously offered a ride in the MB, spirited to 
say the least. We passed a row of 5 Lamborghinis, saw 3 digits 
(mph, not kph) on the motorway, and even got treated to an MB 
party trick (they love those roundabouts in Milton Keynes, 
eh?). Elizabeth was visibly shaken from the experience (any 
puddles back there?), but I felt the ur-q buying urge stronger 
than ever.

The rest of the vacation was mostly Audi-uneventful. Saw lots 
of A3/4/6, more 44s than I expected, and less 89s. When we 
headed north later in the week, we traded trains for a rental 
car. It was a rather boring Vauxhall. Driving was easier than 
I thought it would be; the hardest part was remembering that 
the rear-view mirror was to the left. The seats were 
horrible and the novelty of the automated traffic reports wore 
off quickly. The thing handled decently (for a rental), and I 
had fun driving on the narrow B roads of Scotland while 
searching for lesser-known castles

Back in England, I saw some ads and some stickers on cars from 
a dealer called Listers Audi. A batch of these stickers might 
be an easy way to identify list members (signifying that your 
car is a "Lister's Audi"), but I never found the place to grab 
some.

Throughout the journey, politeness and order on the roadways 
was very apparent. Driving home from Atlanta was a rude 
awakening back to the chaos of US traffic.

Anyway, I wanted to thank Phil and Roger for letting a couple 
of colonists tag along for a few hours at Coy's, and for the 
great ride to the train. I'm really ready for Monterey now.

Eric Renneisen
'90 CQ 20V  -  my 'racing-iron'  ;^)
Chattanooga, TN