Randy Lewis
World's #1 Ranked Trackchaser
STURUP RACEWAY, MALMO, SWEDEN
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RANLAY Racing Trackchaser Report
DAY 5-7 – HOW EXPENSIVE COULD EUROPE POSSIBLY BE TRACKCHASING TOUR
EDITOR’S NOTE
You are about to read about our European trackchasing adventures. As with all RANLAY Racing Trackchaser Reports everything presented as fact is, well, a fact. On the other hand, everything presented as an opinion is in fact MY opinion. As you know opinions are like elbows, almost everyone has one.
If you feel that the graphic and straight talk presented below might be so realistic as to take the luster off of a future European visit for yourself…….do not read any further. If my description of European pricing might make you so sick to your stomach that you can’t take it…..do not read any further.
However, if you feel comfortable regarding the warnings issued above, sit back and come along on a journey through the “old country”. You may pick up an idea or two for a future journey of your own. At the very least, you will see how one couple runs all over the world and you won’t have to spend a dime of your own money “experiencing” Europe.
If, on the other hand, you don’t have time to read some 6,000 words right now, you can see the photos taken during Part 1 of the 2008 “How Expensive Could Europe Possibly Be Trackchasing Tour”. Simply click on or paste the following link into your web browser:
http://picasaweb.google.com/Ranlay8/080508EuropeSwedenPart2Of3
TODAY’S HEADLINES
If you were to cross a toll bridge, what do you think a really expensive toll would be?..................more in “Day 7 – Saturday, May 10, 2008”
Who can guess what the “Prime Meridian” had to do with our trackchasing in Denmark? …………..details in “Technology Update”.
How much do you think a really expensive Diet Coke might cost in Denmark?…………..details in “Day 6 – Friday, May 9, 2008”.
AND THE READERS RESPOND
From time to time interested readers write me about one thing or another. Many times, I feel that my other readers would be interested, informed and/or amused by the comments I get. Here’s a summary of a note I received from a fellow competitor from Pennsylvania.
I received a nice note from fellow competitor Mike Knappenberger. Initially, I think he felt I might be against whatever trackchasing strategies he is using this year. Upon further thought, he understood that I am supportive of any and all trackchasers who play by the rules established by our forefathers. To be perfectly clear, I do not endorse all trackchasing strategies that meet the rules, but I support those trackchasers who trackchase by the rules.
Mike had some very nice things to say about my trackchasing. He even wondered when he and I might be able to do some trackchasing together. Mike had initially provided a trackchasing estimate of 85 tracks for the 2008 season. However, he has now raised that total to 90-107 and admits it could go higher. Will the trackchasing competition never stop? Nice hearing from Mike. I consider Mike the “Joe Namath” of trackchasing.
Here’s what an English reader had to say about the expense of Ireland and the upcoming expenses of the Scandinavian countries we would visit:
Randy if you thought Ireland was expensive, you have a big shock when you get to Scandinavia – I went for a burger and chips with two beers each for three in Iceland a couple of years ago and the bill was over $200 US!!!
Food and drink in Scandinavia is fearsome on the wallet! Be warned...
A reader from South Dakota had this to say about my first European report.
How can you go to Europe and not give us a The People section? I'll never make it to Europe, I want to know what it's REALLY like.
TECHNOLOGY UPDATE
Many years ago, I decided to put more effort into trackchasing technology. I don’t know else to put it. I have the best technology support of any trackchaser in the hobby. What’s the big deal about trackchasing technology? Two items make this such an important feature. First, technology makes the trip go smoother. I don’t get lost. When I don’t get lost, I get to the track on time in a much more refreshed and relaxed manner.
Technology costs money…..to begin with. However, and this is the second most important reason to make a strong investment in technology, in the long run my technology saves money.
Gasoline costs anywhere from 12-14 cents per mile in the U.S. When I’m not lost, I drive fewer miles. When my GPS gives me a routing, it normally reduces the miles I drive. I have anywhere/anytime internet capability. I can be at the most remote racetrack in the country and still be surfing the net to get the best rate on a hotel or whatever.
However, it takes a constant vigilance to maintain the technology. My staff and I must constantly be on the lookout for that next advance which will keep me ahead of my fellow competitors. For this, I have to thank “the boys back at the shop”. It is rare to watch any race driver during a winner’s circle TV interview who does not give a heartfelt thanks to “the boys back at the shop”.
Son J.J. is the lead guy back at the shop. He oversees all of my computer needs as well as handles telecommunications. Son Jim is in charge of logos, licensing and the art department. We’ll soon be offering RANLAY Racing souvenirs at www.ranlayracing.com.
Daughter Kristy is currently on maternity leave from her responsibilities as legal counsel for RANLAY Racing. She is constantly monitoring and gathering data for future liable and slanderous activities so we can have a fun and profitable day in court.
The newest member of the RANLAY Racing team is son-in-law James. It was James who saved the day for me on this trip. James is in charge of the GPS department at RANLAY Racing. He researches software and hardware for my GPS program. This lets me find each and every trackchasing location in the most effective and cost-efficient manner possible.
In preparation for this trip, I had pre-programmed in all of our race track, hotel and airport locations we were likely to encounter in Ireland, Sweden and Denmark into my GPS unit. In the past, the difficulty of navigating around Europe has limited my trackchasing presence there. With the advent of GPS that will probably change in the future.
The first three days of the trip found my GPS unit (aka Dusty) working flawlessly in Ireland. However, when we landed in Copenhagen, Denmark it stopped providing accurate information. I did all I could to figure out the problem. Finally, like any race driver worth his salt, I came over the radio with this, “The GPS unit ain’t workin’. You got to help me. I need more forward bite with the GPS.” Of course, James was ready and willing to lend a hand.
Before we left for the Sturup Raceway in Sweden, he came back with this:
I just emailed you this in a basic way, but thought it might be helpful to follow up with a little more explanation. I can't believe I didn't catch this earlier, but I think the issue is that you have a dash in front of one of your coordinates. When you travelled from Ireland to Denmark, you crossed the Prime Meridian. You are now in an Eastern and Northern location so neither of your coordinates should have a dash (see the note on uploading via Excel below). I finally found another site that gave the coordinates of this hotel and confirmed this. The current coordinates have you out in the Atlantic Ocean a few hundred miles west of the UK.
Try removing the dash and uploading again and you should be in
business. Let me know how it goes.
The basic way…….Microsoft Excel
You can also use Microsoft Excel, to create the POI's. You enter them
basically the same way as in Notepad. Open the file and in the "A"
cell,enter the longitude. (Remember to use the dash sign for the longitude
for Western locations) In the "B" cell enter the latitude,(dash sign for
Southern latitude locations) and the POI name (and speed if needed) in the
"C" cell. In the "D" cell you can add a comment or enter an address or
phone number. Use a new row for each POI. When you save the file, use Save As, and save as type "CSV (Comma delimited)"
--James
Crossing the Prime Meridian!! I don’t think I had heard those words since 7th grade geography class. I also don’t think there’s a person in trackchasing (O.K. maybe Will White) who could have figured this out. When we crossed the Prime Meridian (that would have been in England), there was no longer a need to make the longitude coordinates begin with a negative sign.
Now let’s think about this. Has trackchasing changed since the days of Pappy Hough and Paul Weidman. Paul used to go to local firehouses and ambulance services to ask them where a racetrack might be located. He figured that if there were an accident at the racetrack, those guys would be there!
Yes, trackchasing has changed. You don’t have to have the best equipment, but as we seen week in and week out, the best equipped race teams usually win. I’ve got more people “back at the shop” that are more qualified and committed than any other trackchaser I compete with. That’s not an opinion, that would be, well, a fact. I am very thankful and appreciative of their support in this ultra competitive hobby.
GREETINGS FROM MALMO, SWEDEN AND SURROUNDING AREAS.
WE WOKE UP THIS MORNING IN DUBLIN, IRELAND. WE WENT TO SLEEP OVER THE NEXT THREE NIGHTS IN VARIOUS PLACES WITHIN DENMARK. THIS IS WHAT TRANSPIRED DURING DAYS 5-7 OF OUR 11-DAY EUROPEAN TRIP.
Day 5 – Thursday, May 8, 2008
This morning we had a very early wake-up call. Our flight from Dublin to Copenhagen was scheduled to depart at 6:40 a.m. In order to assure ourselves that we would make that flight our wake-up call came at 3:45 a.m. That meant that after being on the ground in Europe for just days, our wake-up call was coming at 7:45 p.m. California time!!!
Sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do. Aer Lingus has only one flight each day from Dublin to Copenhagen. If we missed that flight, we would have to wait another full day for the next flight.
Since we had returned our car the night before, we had a taxi waiting for us at 4:30 a.m. We were staying at the Regency Airport Hotel. One might reasonably expect a hotel with the name “airport” in it to be somewhat close to let’s say…………the airport. We weren’t THAT far from the airport, but the cab fare from the hotel to the airport was still 20 Euros ($32).
We arrived at the airport at 4:45 a.m. This seemed awfully early to me. However, we were not alone. The airport was packed. I found an Aer Lingus check-in kiosk. I swiped my passport and the thing worked like a charm. Our boarding passes printed out and then we stood in line for 10-15 minutes to check our bags.
Airport security was a breeze. I did not have to take off my shoes, but did have to remove my laptop. I forgot to take out my “gels and liquids” bag, but a quick check of my rolling bag by airport security allowed me to pass.
We spent a few minutes in the Dublin duty free shop. There I bought a bright green biking shirt that simply said, “Ireland”. I’m big on getting souvenirs like this to commemorate my visit to some faraway or unique place. This was both.
We boarded our jet for the two-hour flight with mostly a group of young people. We had gotten up at 3:45 a.m. and were dragging. The young girls (college age?) sitting in front of us and behind us had more energy than anyone has a right too, especially at that time in the morning. We longed for their parents to come and quiet them down, but alas, we were likely the only parents on the plane.
We landed peacefully into Copenhagen at 10 a.m. The weather was again beautiful with temps of about 70 degrees and blue skies. Getting through Danish passport control took all of 15 seconds. We were happy to get another stamp in our passports. It won’t be long now before I will be required to add more pages to my passport to accommodate the places I visit.
Folks have told us that Denmark and Sweden will be expensive. Ireland was expensive, how much more expensive than that could these countries be? Plenty!
Currently one U.S. dollar will buy 4.70 Danish Krone. Neither Denmark nor Sweden uses the European Euro. Carol, who manages our foreign currency needs when we travel, had purchased $200 each of the three currencies we would need for Ireland, Denmark and Sweden. At any point in time, you will see more than 10 foreign currencies sitting around our house.
We had not eaten or drunk anything on the airplane. When the flight attendant came around, I ordered an orange juice. He asked if I wanted ice and I told him I did. He placed a cup full of ice on my tray table. Then he said, “One Euro”. Yes, Air Lingus was charging for what most airlines provide for free. Carol informed me that our Euros were safely stored in the overhead storage bin above. The money was too difficult to retrieve easily. With this news, the flight attendant reached over and took back his cup of ice!
When we landed, we were now both thirsty and famished. We went to the “baggage reclaim” to get our checked bags. Then we found a second floor restaurant that served readymade deli sandwiches and fresh pasta. Carol picked out a deli sandwich and a bottle of iced tea. I selected a penne pasta dish made up solely of pasta shells and a spicy tomato sauce. I added a bottle of Diet Coke and a chocolate chip cookie. We had five items: deli sandwich, plate of pasta, Diet Coke, iced tea and chocolate chip cookie.
Total cost of the above was 217 Danish Krones. How much was that in U.S. dollars? A little more than $46! Yep! It was going to be expensive here in the land of my boyhood girlfriend, Heidi.
Our rental car would be coming from Hertz. I had made the reservation on line via www.sidestep.com. Our six-day rental would cost nearly twice the daily rate of our rental in Dublin. We would be paying about 1,806 Danish Krones or $384 to rent our Danish rental car. Folks, that’s a lot of money to rent a car for six days.
To help ease the pain somewhat, our Hertz rep informed us that we were getting a rental car upgrade. Was this out of the kindness of the collective Hertz Rental Car hearts? No, it was not. They didn’t have any mid-size cars available. Therefore, they gave us a brand spanking new Toyota station wagon. The car features a 5-speed manual transmission that shifts like butter. We are the first occupants of the car. Yes, it’s somewhat expensive, although only three days of our rental will be allocated toward my trackchasing budget. We will be trackchasing just three days out of six that we spend in Scandinavia. My corporate days taught me how to allocate budgets in buckets.
Next stop on our “how to rapidly deplete Randy’s entire retirement account as quickly as possible” tour was at the Marriott Hotel. We would be staying here for two nights. The Marriott rooms go for a bit more than $400 per night and close to $500 per night with tax.
I had been checking on this hotel for several days via Priceline.com. Others had won the bidding process for the hotel at $120 per night. I tried for several days to get the hotel for that price but could not. I finally caved in at $180 per night (about $225 per night with all taxes and surcharges). This was a bit more than I like to spend, but I had Carol to entertain and she deserves it.
The Marriott Copenhagen is one very deluxe property. When we checked in, I confirmed they had my Marriott Platinum Marquis frequent stay number. I am a lifetime Platinum member of the Marriott program because I spent a lifetime of nights in a Marriott while I was a working stiff. Even when I use Priceline.com to get discounted rates, I still get the benefits of being a platinum Marquis member.
Those benefits today included a special room located on the “Executive floor” with a full view overlooking the canal that passes by the hotel. We were also given full concierge level privileges, which include complimentary breakfast for two each day (probably a near $50 daily value), hor’dourves and cocktails each evening as well as free internet. Even in retirement, I continue to reap the rewards of hard work.
Not everything was perfect at the Marriott. We did have to pay for hotel parking. At $40 per day, this was very expensive. Overall, the property is a 5-star rated location and should make us very comfortable for the two days we will be here. After that, I suspect we will stay in B&Bs in Sweden and Denmark just to say we did.
Day 6 – Friday, May 9, 2008
There will be no racing for us today. We have the entire day for touring. We will spend the time in the largest city in Denmark, which is Copenhagen.
The concierge at the Marriott hotel had recommended two different city tours. We had the time. We decided to take them both. At 9 a.m., we reported promptly to the base of the Marriott to board a boat for the one-hour canal tour of Copenhagen.
This was a fun and relaxing way to see the city. Again, we were fortunate to have a grand weather day with temps in the low 70s. Our open-air boat had a capacity to handle more than 100 people. The boats are actually called “waterbuses” and carry a very low profile.
We saw all of the popular Copenhagen attractions including the Little Mermaid, Royal Library (black diamond), the stock exchange and the opera house. We stayed on the boat for the entire one-hour ride. Cost for the tour was a fairly reasonable 120 Dutch Krones (about $25 U.S.) for the two of us.
As soon as we finished the canal tour of Denmark, we jumped on a tour bus for a land tour of the city. We saw most of the same things but this time from a slightly different angle. The highlight of our two and one-half hour bus tour was seeing the changing of the guard at the Royal Palace. By the way, this was a wonderful time to visit this part of Europe. The summer tourist crowd has not begun to build up.
Following our tour, I wanted to try the somewhat famous Smorrebrod open-faced sandwiches. We went into a local bar/restaurant recommended by our tour guide. I have got to tell you I was disappointed in mine. The sandwich did not have much roast beef and had way too much of a mayonnaise type dressing. This along with a misguided catering stop at Wimpy’s in Ireland were the two most disappointing meals of the trip.
We continued our early afternoon touring adventures along the streets of Copenhagen. There wasn’t much for us to buy, so we did some window-shopping. It was interesting to watch some “con men” working the streets with a form of the old “shell game”. They used a white marble and three small matchboxes. The operator would put the marble under one of the boxes, and then slide all three boxes around quickly trying to deceive the player who then had to pick which box had the marble underneath it.
There were mainly Eastern European accented men running the game. Had I been born in Eastern Europe, I am nearly certain this would have been my calling in life. It looked to me like they always had a “plant” that, not surprisingly, always seemed to win. Then when the tourist joined the game, the tourist always seemed to lose. Money was flying back and forth until the police came and broke up the game.
Proving that we Lewis’ are tourists from way back, we then moved onto Tivoli Gardens, a famous landmark in downtown Copenhagen. This attraction had been recommended to me by more than one person. For some reason, I thought this was a botanical garden. In point of fact, it is an amusement park with a good deal of beautiful flowers all over the grounds.
Somewhat incredibly, Tivoli Gardens opened on August 15, 1843! This isn’t Disneyland, but it is a nice park for families with small children. By this time, we were starting to tire of touring for the day. Nevertheless, we visited every square inch of the park. We paid 170 DKK (about $36 U.S.) for admission to the park for both of us. This did not include any of the rides. There was a time when we went to Disneyland near our home in California every two months for years. We always had family and friends visiting who wanted to see Disneyland. However, that time has passed for us, but we were glad to see what the famous Tivoli Gardens was like from the inside of the fence.
It was now nearing 7 p.m. and we needed food. We left the amusement park, even though they have a wide variety of eateries from which to choose. We settled on a mid-range Italian restaurant called “Vesuvio of Copenhagen”. Here we were able to sit at tables at the sidewalk and eat. We could also watch all of the people living the city life including an extraordinary amount of folks riding bicycles.
It was at this restaurant that we were reminded that this is indeed one of the most expensive places on earth. We had just four menu items for the two of us. This is what we had and the price in both Danish Krones and U.S. dollars.
Carol – Zuppa Di Verdura (large bowl of soup) 93 DKK ($19.78 U.S.)
Carol – Italiensk Naturale (bottled water) 36 DKK ($7.66 U.S.)
Randy – Pizza Margherita (individual cheese & garlic pizza) 104 DKK ($22.12 U.S.)
Randy – ½ liter Coca Cola Zero (Coke Zero!) 49 DKK ($10.42 U.S.)
O.K., I had achieved a personal milestone. I had paid more than ten dollars for a Diet Coke!! We went back to the Marriott and had free dessert on the Executive level of the hotel. Before I went to bed, I stayed in touch with the “boys back at the shop” aka James trying to figure out the solution to my malfunctioning GPS unit.
Day 7 – Saturday, May 10, 2008
I sometimes feel that my non-trackchasing friends think that all I (we) ever do on these trackchasing trips is watch those “old races”. That is simply not true. Even in the U.S., the time spent at the track probably only averages three hours per track. That leaves plenty of time to see the local sites during the other 21 hours of the day.
We were now on day 7 of our 11-day European adventure and still had not seen any racing. That was about to change. We had a track scheduled for day 7, 8 and 9 of the trip. We were going to first trackchase in Sweden and then in Denmark.
Today’s track was just 45 minutes from Denmark. Denmark is a small country, land wise ,while Sweden is much larger. The city of Copenhagen is just across the sea from Sweden. In order to get from Copenhagen over to Sweden we needed to cross the Oresund Bridge. The bridge-tunnel is the longest road and rail bridge in Europe. Construction began on the bridge in 1995 and it was completed in 1999. The bridge is the longest border crossing bridge in the world. It is also a toll bridge.
I believe the most expensive toll I have ever paid was to use the Holland Tunnel into New York City. I think that toll is about $6-7. I may also have paid a $10 toll for a road up in Canada. Therefore, you can imagine the shock and chagrin that greeted both Carol and I when we learned what the toll charge was for the Oresund Bridge.
Are you ready for this? Cars like ours were charged 260 Danish Krone. That’s $55.31 in U.S. currency. Did that number register with you? I said FIFTY-FIVE DOLLARS AND THIRTY-ONE CENTS!!!!! After a quick call to our mortgage broker to see if we could increase our home equity line of credit, we used our Visa card to pay the toll and moved on. Then I had to listen to Trackchasing’s First Mother explain that this is the product of a socialistic government. Yes, I was getting it from both ends.
Next up was our visit to the Sturup Raceway. I’ll tell you more about that in the “Race Review” section.
After the race, we had a four-hour drive to get over to Sunday’s track, the Ring Djursland road circuit in Tirstrup, Denmark. We had been in Sweden for only about six hours. As we neared the border, I decided we at least needed to stop and have a meal in Sweden before leaving.
As luck would have it, we stopped at a McDonalds. I feel very strongly that folks should not do the same things they do at home when they travel internationally on vacation. We can and sometimes do eat at McDonalds in the United States. I don’t want to waste any of my European meal opportunities at Mickey Ds.
I do have one asterisk to this line of thinking. I always like to stop at least once at McDonalds in a foreign country to see if they have anything that is unique on the menu. That, and the fact we needed to have a light lunch of some kind convinced me to pull into a roadside McDonalds.
Once inside, we found several unusual and culturally enriching attractions. First, there was a microwave oven available to customers. I’ve never seen that before. Secondly, there were several receptacles for different kinds of recyclable trash items. This looked like a children’s puzzle where you have to put a certain shaped item into an identically shaped opening.
Finally, we couldn’t resist trying the chili cheese poppers. This was essentially Jalapeno peppers fried in a pastry with a spicy cheese filling. They were very tasty and four were priced at 10 DKK.
From there we had to cross the Oresund Bridge again. Did I tell you they charged us another $55.31? Well, they did! We continued our drive into the interior of Denmark. Just to rub salt into the wound, we encountered yet another bridge where the toll was another forty dollars. We had three bridge crossings that amounted to right at ONE-HUNDRED FIFTY DOLLARS!!
We continued to drive toward Ring Djursland through the beautiful Danish countryside. I think I know what they were doing with all of the bridge toll money. You won’t believe this, but it is true. The Danish government has built a highway rest area about every FIVE miles on all of the major highways throughout the country. I am NOT exaggerating. Some are simple rest areas with toilets and some are full-blown rest stops with gas stations, convenience stores, etc. I told Carol that maybe it was worth paying all of those tolls for the benefit of having a rest area every five miles. Carol is not a “big government person”. She did not agree with this Danish strategy and was not shy in letting me know how she felt.
We did stop at one convenience store to buy a special treat for daughter Kristy. Since she reads each Trackchaser Report word for word and has not received here gift yet, I cannot tell you what is was. If someone remembers to ask me next month, I’ll tell you what it was. While we were in the convenience store, I discovered the store was selling DVDs. I lured Carol into a special section where the adult material was. Of course, she was properly embarrassed when the store manager found out she was in there!
Please take a look at www.ranlayracing.com for photos from days 5-7 of our spring 2008 European tour. I think those pictures will bring these words to life.
RACE REVIEW
STURUP RACEWAY, MALMO, SWEDEN
Preparation
We could never have achieved the European trackchasing results we did during this trip without the help of several trackchasing friends. First, Belgium’s Roland Vanden Eynde (the world leader in trackchasing countries seen) was his always helpful self. I am truly indebted to Roland for all of the information he has given me over the years.
Roland recommended an old friend, Morten Alstrup of Denmark, as the most qualified individual in all of Scandinavia for up to date racing information in the region. I will have much more to tell you about Morten in my third and final 2008 Spring European Trackchaser Report that will hit your email box soon.
Morten did make some good recommendations on both the timing and best locales for a successful trackchasing effort in both Denmark and Sweden. He gave me the name of Flemming Schleimann, who works with the Sturup Raceway near Malmo, Sweden. I contacted Mr. Schleimann. Unfortunately, he would be with his racing team at another venue during our planned time in Sweden. He gave me the web link of www.mgcc.nu the club that would be racing at the Sturup Raceway while we were in Sweden. I sent a message and soon received a reply from Par-Olaf Hakansson.
Par-Olaf was able to give me the exact details so we could visit a track in Sweden. Sweden would be my 15th trackchasing country and Carol’s tenth. We would be heading to the Sturup Raceway.
The above may give you just a glimpse of how many levels of communications must be traversed in order to get the information for a successful trackchasing effort. It is doubly (triply?) difficult when the subject of European geography is the topic of discussion. I don’t have enough background to add my own thinking to the information I receive from my track contacts in most foreign countries.
Par-Olaf did have an interesting comment when I asked him via email what time the actual wheel-to-wheel racing would begin. He told me they had rented the track from 0900 (9 a.m.) to 1400 (2 p.m.). Of course, he was giving me “European” times. I realize that most of my readers probably did not serve in the military or are not from Europe or other places that use “military” time. For those folks, I have provided the information in “U.S.” time format.
Par-Olaf explained that practice and qualifying would run from 0900 to 1300 or so. Then the very last hour of the event would be devoted to actual racing. He explained, what seemed like unusual scheduling to me, the reasons for so much practice time and so little racing time.
He told me that series “points” were actually awarded for the qualifying results. Par-Olaf went on to say the racing was “just for fun”. He said they figured out a long time ago that the actual racing would be a lot less competitive if the real rewards were handed out for something other than the race results. He went on to say that racers were much more likely to be able to take their cars home in one piece with this plan. I’ve never heard of such a thing. However, the plan worked for us. We would be able to see wheel-to-wheel racing which made the circuit trackchasing countable. This method works for the club as well. Everyone was able to drive his or her racecar onto the trailer at day’s end.
The Event
As during the entire trip, we were blessed with wonderful weather. It was blue skies and nearly 80 degrees. We found the track easily, everything was well signposted.
Today’s event was a “club” race. Road course circuit tracks often rent out their facilities to local sports car clubs for the day. Many times these events do not carry an admission charge. It was nice to get in for free after we had paid a $55 toll to cross the bridge to get to the track!
I talked to several individuals at the track today. I will say this about Europeans and really all nationalities that I have encountered in my trackchasing travels up to this point. Everyone treats us as Americans, as travelers and as trackchasers very well. People could not be any more helpful in any way. If we need explanations about local protocol, directions or anything, the local folks are willing to help. Fortunately, for us, the Scandinavian folks are fluent in English. I couldn’t even decipher a single word when I overheard people speaking in Swedish or Danish.
I frequently criticize circuit (road course) racing for not providing much viewing opportunity for spectators. To be clear, I am not really criticizing circuit racing I am critical of ANY track where I can’t see all or at least most of the racing action from one vantage point.
I am pleased to say that the Sturup Raceway was outstanding in this critical area (for Carol and me anyway) of spectator viewing. In one (of the three) grandstands we could see 95% of the 1.75 KM track. The road circuit featured a number of hairpin turns and several elevation changes. At one point, we could see cars directly in front of us racing on three different straight-aways on three different elevations. I strongly recommend you visit www.ranlayracing.com to see the photos of the Sturup Raceway. The pictures will do a much better job of showing you what the track and its surroundings looked like than I can in written words. You also won’t want to miss the very unique racecars that showed up today.
Someone told me the club rented the track for about $6,000. I’m assuming that would be a “turn-key” rental including safety personnel, restroom usage, electric and whatever. I’m guessing there were about 40 racecars here today. There may have been a few more. That means that the rental fee when spread over the number of competitors would come out to about $150. That’s not a bad price for probably 30-60 minutes of practice laps and 10 laps of racing.
As is the case at most club run events like this there was no P.A. system or announcer to tell us what was going on. We were able to consult a bulletin board that provided driver names, qualifying times, car makes etc. Concessions were somewhat limited. They were provided by the track safety people. The refreshments mainly consisted of soft drinks, candy and sausage sandwiches. Of course, we had to have a Swedish sausage sandwich.
We parked the Hertz Rental Car Racing Toyota right in the middle of the paddock area. From there we were able to walk around the entire paddock examining and taking pictures of our favorite cars. The ability to enter the pit area and get up close to the racing machines is one of my favorite aspects of circuit racing.
I wanted to meet Par-Olaf Hakansson, the racer who had provided me the advanced information. As we went around the paddock, I looked for his name to be painted on one of the racecars. No luck. There was no Par-Olaf. Finally, we found the track bulletin board. There was Par-Olaf’s name! He was driving car #68 and dark green MG.
We walked over to his pit area and introduced ourselves. He seemed as happy to see us as we were to meet him. He told us the club has about four events a year, mostly at the Sturup Raceway, but also at one other track. When Par-Olaf is not racing, he’s a software writer for Ericson cell phones in Sweden. His wife has to travel over the the bridge that we paid $55 to cross everyday for her work in Copenhagen. I suspect if Par-Olaf could convince his wife to take a job in Sweden, he could use that toll bridge money for an even bigger engine in his racecar! It was fun meeting this gentleman. I really appreciated the information he gave us about today’s event.
One of the best viewing spots was atop the steward’s building near the start/finish line. Carol and I ascended to the top of this area to watch the first race of the day. It was here that we met Soren Iskov Jensen. Mr. Jensen was a friendly fellow, who greeted us warmly. He would be driving a 1968 TVR automobile in a later race today.
I will be the first to admit that I do not know my European automobiles. I don’t know a TVR from a VCR. I do know the TVR is a hand built machine out of Great Britain. It is quite beautiful. Mr. Jensen, sells big boats for a living and collects race cars for his passion. He had just purchased the TVR and was just getting used to it. Stop by www.ranlayracing.com to see this car and many others that raced today.
The club racing was very efficient today. In circuit racing, there are rarely any full course yellow flag periods. They simply have “corner” yellows. This alerts the drivers that there is a problem on the track that is localized. I like this aspect of road racing.
During the day Carol and I snuck into the drivers/media lounge. This was a large building that offered a dining and bar area. There was also a large selection of racing karts, helmets and uniforms. I suspect the track derives a large amount of its revenue from on track driving classes and clinics.
One of the on-track attractions was the classic European open-wheeled midget class. They brought about seven of them today. I noticed a decal on one of the cars that told these midget racers dated back to the 1950s. They along with all of the other cars put on a good one hour’s worth of racing.
The races all began with the cars positioned on the grid for a standing start. I believe all races were 10 laps in length. As I’ve mentioned, we could see virtually the entire track under perfect weather conditions. I want to thank all members of the MG club including Par-Olaf and Soren in particular for making our day so enjoyable.
Please click on or paste this link in your web browser to see photos from day 5-7 of our European tour,
http://picasaweb.google.com/Ranlay8/080508EuropeSwedenPart2Of3
RENTAL CAR UPDATE
Copenhagen, Denmark – Thursday-Wednesday
I’ll be driving the Hertz Rental Car Racing Toyota for our six days in Denmark/Sweden. The car is brand new. We are the first customers to use it. The car had a five-speed transmission. I’ll be honest. Sometimes I simple went from second gear directly into fifth gear. Nobody seemed to mind.
Thanks for reading about my trackchasing,
Randy Lewis
Alberta’s #1 Trackchaser
I live in my own world. People know me here.
TRAVEL DETAILS
AIRPLANE
Los Angeles, CA – Dublin, Ireland – 10,340 miles
RENTAL CAR
Dublin International Airport – trip begins
Drove all over Ireland
Dublin International Airport – 594 miles
AIRPLANE
Dublin, Ireland – Copenhagen, Denmark – 1,540 miles
RENTAL CAR
Copenhagen International Airport – trip begins
Malmo, Sweden – 81 miles
TRACK ADMSSION PRICES:
Sturup Raceway - Free
RANKINGS
LIFETIME TRACKCHASER STANDINGS UPDATE:
There are no trackchasers currently within 100 tracks of my lifetime total. I’m telling you, it’s not my fault!
1. Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California – 1,335
Full Lifetime World Rankings
http://trackchaser.net/trackchasers.asp
Other notables
These worldwide trackchasers are within 10 tracks (plus or minus or more) of Carol’s current trackchaser total.
26. Kevin Eckert, Indianapolis, Indiana – 450
27. Ken Schrader, Concord, North Carolina – 365
28. Carol Lewis, San Clemente, California – 359
29. Max Allender,
2008 TRACKCHASER STANDINGS
1. Randy Lewis, San Clemente, California – 37
2. Mike Knappenberger, Reading, Pennsylvania – 32
3. Ed Esser, Madison, Wisconsin – 23
4. Guy Smith, Effort, Pennsylvania - 11
5. Carol Lewis, San Clemente, California – 10
Tracks have been reported by 28 different worldwide trackchasers this season.
Complete 2008 Trackchasing Standings
http://trackchaser.net/statyear.asp?year=2008
LIFETIME COUPLES TRACKCHASING STANDINGS
1. Randy & Carol Lewis, San Clemente, California – 1,694
2. Allan & Nancy Brown, Comstock Park, Michigan – 1,675
3. Guy & Pam Smith, Effort, Pennsylvania – 1,669
LIFETIME NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC DIVERSITY STANDINGS
2007 NGD results are posted at www.ranlayracing.com
COMPLETE TRACK TYPE CATEGORY RANKINGS OF NOTE:
Dirt Track Standings
http://trackchaser.net/statsurface.asp?surface=Dirt
Paved Track Standings
http://trackchaser.net/statsurface.asp?surface=Paved
Ice Track Standings
http://trackchaser.net/statsurface.asp?surface=Ice
Mixed Track Standings
http://trackchaser.net/statsurface.asp?surface=Mixed
Oval Track Standings
http://trackchaser.net/statoval.asp
Circuit (road course) Track Standings
http://trackchaser.net/statcircuit.asp
Figure 8 Track Standings
http://trackchaser.net/statf8.asp
Indoor Track Standings
http://trackchaser.net/statindoor.asp
Official Trackchaser Rules
http://trackchaser.net/rules.asp
Past trackchasing reports are available at:
Official trackchaser standings can be viewed at:
Some of the data in this report comes from www.trackchaser.net and my Garmin GPS aka “Dusty”
UPCOMING TRACKCHASING PLANS
Sweden – country #15 is in the books. It’s time to make Denmark country #16.
RACETRACKS VISITED IN 2008 (** not the first time to visit this track)
1,299.
1,300. Bira Circuit, Pattaya (road course),
1,301.
1,302.
1,303.
1,304.
1,305. Ozark Empire Fairgrounds (oval),
1,306.
1,307. Brainerd International Raceway Ice Track (road course),
1,308.
1,309.
1,310. Shawano Lake Ice Track –
1,311.
1,312. Mototown USA (oval) –
1,313. Moosehead Lake Ice Track (oval) –
1,314.