Storytelling time :-)
Once upon a time, I turned into a car-guy :-) that was about 10 years ago. I bought a used 2003 VW Jetta 1.9 TDI 90hp with 131.000 miles on it. It was in good condition and was my first car. This is the car that got it all started. I enjoyed driving it for long distances, especially at night. At first I cruised down the highway to visit cities I always wanted to visit. Cities in Western Europe… all of Western Europe :-) I gathered a lot of miles in a short time span and was addicted to driving before I knew it. Ofcourse, highway cruising can be boring, so the occasional country road started to look appealing. As soon as that lost its appeal, it was time to visit the infamous Nurburgring.
Driving that track in my slow little Jetta impressed me so much, that I decided to go back the week after (a 300 mile trip, one way) my first trip. For my first trip, I didn’t know what to expect so I registered on a Belgian carforum to gather information. On forums, you do tend to meet people. Some friends were made and laughs were shared, but most of all, experiences were shared with each other over dinner. Hearing all the stories about epic drives, I knew I wanted to be a part of it…. And so it began.
The Jetta served me well, and it still does today. It has been to many trackdays, abused and tortured but still it keeps going. The car taught me everything about basic fast driving. Understeer, oversteer, J-turns, double clutching, heel&toe, … you name it, the Jetta taught it to me :-)
Some action pics:
The car now has about 405.000 miles on it and still does everything you would expect it to, and more. But I’m not here to talk about my Jetta am I :-)
On one of the trackdays I visited, I met some young people like me with an interest in cars. They all drove E30’s…a car I had never wanted or turned my head for when it passed me in the streets. We talked about driving in general, and I heard great passion in their voices. One of these people came to visit me on the abandoned snow-covered airfield that I enjoy every winter. I showed him around and let him drift his car, while I took some pictures.
After taking some pictures, he kindly offered me the keys to his car. This was my first rear-drive experience in the snow. I tried to drift, but did not do very well. After about 15 minutes I was really enjoying myself… the first dose of the E30 virus had entered my bloodstream. I drove my car home that night and I was hooked to the E30, but I didn’t know it yet.
A few months later, on a trackday in France, these people again crossed my path. We talked, and not much later I was in the passengerseat. I could feel how nice it was to drive an M42 fast, and when I got home and looked at the pictures of that great day, I realized I had a lot of fun in a car that was not only fun to drive, but also looked great.
This was the second dose of the E30 virus that entered my bloodstream, and it was the biggest one yet.
Some more time passed by, the E30 virus died for some time while I drove many cool cars: Ferrari V8’s, BMW V12’s, Ford V6’s, a very special BMW V8 (Morgan Aeromax in the swiss alps), Porsche flat-six, and many more… I didn’t really think of the E30 anymore, right up until I came across another one on a driftday at Weeze airfield, a place I would later visit in my own car. I enjoyed a few passenger drift-laps in a very nicely setup E30, the third dose entered the bloodstream
Every man has his limits, and mine was reached. I was sold, I had to have one.
The search started back in 2010, I wanted a Silver 318is or a late model Black 325i in good condition, whichever came first. I looked at many car-ads on the internet and visited 22 cars in the flesh, some over 700 miles from my house. By September 2011 I had lost hope of finding a good low mileage car with nice paint and no damage…until on the evening of September 24th when I was at a barbeque with friends, my phone rang. It was the guy that drifted his silver 318is on the airfield that called me. He said he had found the perfect car for me, but it was in Essen Germany. It was low-mileage, perfect condition…I had to have it. Some phone calls and a few stressful moments later, the little Jetta fired up its engine, with the satnav set for Germany.
Late in the afternoon on September 25th, 2011, I was driving my very own BMW E30 318is home.
Meet General Von Driftenstein, my car :-)
The way the car looked when I bought him:
History:
- First bought and registered by an old German industrial, the car was on the road in November 1990.
- The owner drove it until September 2001, when he passed away. The car was enherited by his son, who drove it until 2009 and then stowed it away.
- I woke it up for the first time in 2011 from hibernation. It had 88.000 miles on the odometer.
The car was fairly stock: no sports seats, 14” basket weaves with summertires, no is-frontlip, stock suspension, blue interior so no black headlining.
After September, the car was looked over completely and some parts were changed. Thermostat, chain tensioner and other bits swapped out for new ones. Some 15” basket weaves with winter tires, and the car was ready for the snow :-)
Soon after the practice in the snow, a real driftday took place:
Loads of fun, a smile every mile. I was very happy with what I had bought. Early in 2012, it was time for some go-faster mods. The interior was cleaned and sports seats found their way into my car:
The is-lip was placed where it belonged while the little M-badge took care of the last detail on the front of the car. The car was also lowered with Eibach Pro-kit springs.
And for the back of the car, a 4.27 LSD was bought and installed
So once you have some suspension and some traction, it’s time to test it all. And what better place to do it, than the Nurburgring:
2012 sure was a great year for me, but 2013 seems to have started even better :-)
On January 2, we decided we would drift into the new year, so we did :D
And shortly after new year, some more snow came to visit us in Belgium:
But of course, after all this happiness, something had to go wrong. The car was vandalized in the streets. My shadowline was stolen, the car was scratched on the passenger side with a nail and to top it all off, my clutch master cylinder died on the way home. But not to worry, it was all fixed and while I was at it, I changed the stock dampers for Bilstein B8 dampers and swapped the old tires for new Kumho KU36 205/50/15’s. Now the car rides and handles like a dream.
So, that is the story of my car up until now. IF you’re not bored with all my blabbering about how awesome this car is, I shall post some more when interesting shit happens :-)
Please excuse any spelling mistakes, I’m from Belgium.
Once upon a time, I turned into a car-guy :-) that was about 10 years ago. I bought a used 2003 VW Jetta 1.9 TDI 90hp with 131.000 miles on it. It was in good condition and was my first car. This is the car that got it all started. I enjoyed driving it for long distances, especially at night. At first I cruised down the highway to visit cities I always wanted to visit. Cities in Western Europe… all of Western Europe :-) I gathered a lot of miles in a short time span and was addicted to driving before I knew it. Ofcourse, highway cruising can be boring, so the occasional country road started to look appealing. As soon as that lost its appeal, it was time to visit the infamous Nurburgring.
Driving that track in my slow little Jetta impressed me so much, that I decided to go back the week after (a 300 mile trip, one way) my first trip. For my first trip, I didn’t know what to expect so I registered on a Belgian carforum to gather information. On forums, you do tend to meet people. Some friends were made and laughs were shared, but most of all, experiences were shared with each other over dinner. Hearing all the stories about epic drives, I knew I wanted to be a part of it…. And so it began.
The Jetta served me well, and it still does today. It has been to many trackdays, abused and tortured but still it keeps going. The car taught me everything about basic fast driving. Understeer, oversteer, J-turns, double clutching, heel&toe, … you name it, the Jetta taught it to me :-)
Some action pics:
The car now has about 405.000 miles on it and still does everything you would expect it to, and more. But I’m not here to talk about my Jetta am I :-)
On one of the trackdays I visited, I met some young people like me with an interest in cars. They all drove E30’s…a car I had never wanted or turned my head for when it passed me in the streets. We talked about driving in general, and I heard great passion in their voices. One of these people came to visit me on the abandoned snow-covered airfield that I enjoy every winter. I showed him around and let him drift his car, while I took some pictures.
After taking some pictures, he kindly offered me the keys to his car. This was my first rear-drive experience in the snow. I tried to drift, but did not do very well. After about 15 minutes I was really enjoying myself… the first dose of the E30 virus had entered my bloodstream. I drove my car home that night and I was hooked to the E30, but I didn’t know it yet.
A few months later, on a trackday in France, these people again crossed my path. We talked, and not much later I was in the passengerseat. I could feel how nice it was to drive an M42 fast, and when I got home and looked at the pictures of that great day, I realized I had a lot of fun in a car that was not only fun to drive, but also looked great.
This was the second dose of the E30 virus that entered my bloodstream, and it was the biggest one yet.
Some more time passed by, the E30 virus died for some time while I drove many cool cars: Ferrari V8’s, BMW V12’s, Ford V6’s, a very special BMW V8 (Morgan Aeromax in the swiss alps), Porsche flat-six, and many more… I didn’t really think of the E30 anymore, right up until I came across another one on a driftday at Weeze airfield, a place I would later visit in my own car. I enjoyed a few passenger drift-laps in a very nicely setup E30, the third dose entered the bloodstream
Every man has his limits, and mine was reached. I was sold, I had to have one.
The search started back in 2010, I wanted a Silver 318is or a late model Black 325i in good condition, whichever came first. I looked at many car-ads on the internet and visited 22 cars in the flesh, some over 700 miles from my house. By September 2011 I had lost hope of finding a good low mileage car with nice paint and no damage…until on the evening of September 24th when I was at a barbeque with friends, my phone rang. It was the guy that drifted his silver 318is on the airfield that called me. He said he had found the perfect car for me, but it was in Essen Germany. It was low-mileage, perfect condition…I had to have it. Some phone calls and a few stressful moments later, the little Jetta fired up its engine, with the satnav set for Germany.
Late in the afternoon on September 25th, 2011, I was driving my very own BMW E30 318is home.
Meet General Von Driftenstein, my car :-)
The way the car looked when I bought him:
History:
- First bought and registered by an old German industrial, the car was on the road in November 1990.
- The owner drove it until September 2001, when he passed away. The car was enherited by his son, who drove it until 2009 and then stowed it away.
- I woke it up for the first time in 2011 from hibernation. It had 88.000 miles on the odometer.
The car was fairly stock: no sports seats, 14” basket weaves with summertires, no is-frontlip, stock suspension, blue interior so no black headlining.
After September, the car was looked over completely and some parts were changed. Thermostat, chain tensioner and other bits swapped out for new ones. Some 15” basket weaves with winter tires, and the car was ready for the snow :-)
Soon after the practice in the snow, a real driftday took place:
Loads of fun, a smile every mile. I was very happy with what I had bought. Early in 2012, it was time for some go-faster mods. The interior was cleaned and sports seats found their way into my car:
The is-lip was placed where it belonged while the little M-badge took care of the last detail on the front of the car. The car was also lowered with Eibach Pro-kit springs.
And for the back of the car, a 4.27 LSD was bought and installed
So once you have some suspension and some traction, it’s time to test it all. And what better place to do it, than the Nurburgring:
2012 sure was a great year for me, but 2013 seems to have started even better :-)
On January 2, we decided we would drift into the new year, so we did :D
And shortly after new year, some more snow came to visit us in Belgium:
But of course, after all this happiness, something had to go wrong. The car was vandalized in the streets. My shadowline was stolen, the car was scratched on the passenger side with a nail and to top it all off, my clutch master cylinder died on the way home. But not to worry, it was all fixed and while I was at it, I changed the stock dampers for Bilstein B8 dampers and swapped the old tires for new Kumho KU36 205/50/15’s. Now the car rides and handles like a dream.
So, that is the story of my car up until now. IF you’re not bored with all my blabbering about how awesome this car is, I shall post some more when interesting shit happens :-)
Please excuse any spelling mistakes, I’m from Belgium.
Comment