[DeTomaso] On the road in France....

[MikeLDrew at aol.com]

Hi guys,

Long day today.   We woke up at about 6:00 a.m., packed the cars and missed 
our planned 7:00 a.m. departure by about 45 minutes (which is what 
typically happens when you're travelling with women--sheesh!)

We then had to charge hard to make our 10:00 a.m. ferry from Dover to 
Calais, but we arrived in time and settled in for a very smooth, pleasant 
crossing, with a light breakfast and good views out the window.   It was 
intermittant showers in England, but partly cloudy and cool-ish by the time we got to 
France.

We hit the motorway and headed east.   Our first real destination was the 
historic racing circuit of Reims, located just outside the city.   

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reims-Gueux

This circuit was run on completely unprotected (and largely straight) 
public roads from 1926 until 1972.   The old grandstands, pit boxes and officials 
buildings are still standing (although derelict), and an effort has been 
made to restore them.   

Here's a photo of our four cars in front of them:

http://www.poca.com/index.php/gallery/?g2_itemId=6733

Since Geoff Peters broke his back last week (!) he can't drive the Pantera, 
so he's driving his Lamborghini instead, which was to be our car.   Gray 
Gregory and I are suffering in his 550 hp Pantera GT5.   The thing is 
beautiful inside (Johnny Woods made the interior in red/black leather), handles 
great, has some brakes (massive wilwoods let down by incorrect master cylinder 
sizes), and the engine is astounding.   Unfortunately it has two rather 
crucial bugs--you can't see out the back of it due to a massive airbox atop the 
high-rise intake, and the throttle pedal has a bad habit of sticking open 
whenever you go above half throttle--and half-throttle in this car is *moving*!

We hope to sort out the throttle tomorrow; the pedal/linkage is fouling 
something in the interior--perhaps part of the wiring harness or something.

We arrived in Strasbourg around 8:00 p.m., and had a wonderful dinner on a 
wide open square at an outdoor cafe; the temperatures were mild enough to 
let us wear T-shirts at 11:00 p.m.

Tomorrow it's about a five hour drive to Ellmau, Austria where we'll meet 
up with most of the rest of the bunch!

I got a text message from Charlie McCall; he was in a similar outdoor 
restaurant in Munich, enjoying himself greatly; his car is working great but his 
turn signals have conked out for some reason?

Cheers!

Mike


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