[DeTomaso] Postcard from Belgium....

[MikeLDrew at aol.com]

Hey guys,

We had a fantastic day at the track today!   The temperature was 
uncharacteristically hot, which left nobody complaining as Spa is known for atrocious 
rainy weather at all times of the year.

More than 100 De Tomaso cars made the scene, by far the largest gathering 
of De Tomaso cars EVER in European history!   Santiago De Tomaso was cruising 
around, along with Claude Dubois, and several other luminaries from De 
Tomaso's history.

I only have time to add two photos to my gallery; the first shows an 
overview of the parking area.   Show cars are off to the upper right, including 
both the Ghia Sport 5000 and De Tomaso/Shelby 70P replica, the 1970 De Tomaso 
505 Formula 1 car, two Guaras, a Longchamp GTS, Deauville, and a very tidy 
Mangusta.

The second shows Stephane Bergeron getting a little rambunctious as he 
exits the Chicane corner.   This is the first time he drove his Pantera on a 
track (in fact he has only put about 500 miles on his Pantera, ever) and he's 
still getting used to the nuances of braking, 550 horsepower etc. :>)

Here's the link to the gallery:

http://www.poca.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=31328

We're back at the hotel now, and a tech session is taking place in the 
parking lot.   Charlie McCall has lost his right front turn signal function 
somehow, so he's plying Tomas Gunnersson with beer to help him figure it out.   
He also has ambitions of changing his speedometer cable, and Roland Jackel 
was good enough to bring a spare with him.

Lori has recent experience with such matters, but found she couldn't escape 
the gravitational pull of the bed for a nap before dinner instead!   She 
was fortunate enough to get a ride around the track at speed with Patrick Hals 
in his street car (a silver Pantera converted with Gr4 flares and 18-inch 
wheels and a strong stroker motor and PIM brakes).   Whee!!!

Cheers!

Mike