Apologies and Holidays

[Tim McIver]

Hi All,

First of all, once again I'm an idiot and slept through the race. Thanks for the messages and efforts to get me, sadly I only read them when it was too late. I'm going to have to move to three alarms. I'm fairly sure both my alarms went off and were set correctly, I just somehow managed to turn them both off and go back to sleep without very much memory at all. At least it happened in a compromised season.

Secondly, I fly out tomorrow on the big 8 week trip. Would love to catch up with anyone who is nearby in our travels so I thought I would leave a rough guide here.

We start in Egypt then on to Israel. That will be the next 3 or 4 weeks. I've emailed Eleizer but It sounds like things have gotten pretty busy for him.

After that we are in Hungary, Austria and Czech Republic for a couple of weeks. We're then going to visit Reik in Dresden. We will be staying in Dresden the nights of 2nd - 4th of May.

After that Berlin 5th-7th May.

Belgium 8th-10th May.

England (Cambridge) 11th - 15th May. (At this point I'm hoping to be able to catch up with Jim)

It will be great to meet Reik and Jim in person, if anyone else can intercept us at either of those meetings or somewhere else on the trip I'd love to hear from you. I'll look forward to racing with you all again soon. I believe my return race will be Monaco where Mark Webber and I have much better luck than in our home GP. Catch you all soon.

I made this a thread, but feel free to get rid of it or put it in general discussion when I'm gone and forgotten!

Tim.

 

[Jim Hawley]

I see ryanair have very cheap return flights between Oslo (RYG) and Stansted (STN)

250 NOK's

 

[Nicolai Nicholson]

I see ryanair have very cheap return flights between Oslo (RYG) and Stansted (STN)

250 NOK's

Rygge is the only "Oslo" airport it is a hassle for me to get to, so I would fly out from Gardemoen or Torp. But not to worry, there are cheap flights availeble there as well (although not that cheap )

My options would be plane to Germany or UK, or drive to Germany. I would give it 50% chance at the moment that I will go

 

[Tim McIver]

That's the spirit!! 1 or 2 more members joined this german/UK gathering and we could have quite an event!! Scotland isn't that far is it?

 

[Jim Hawley]

Scotland is a fair old trek from Cambridge, I wouldn't rule out a trip to Germany or Belgium if there's a few others making the journey, I'm planning a holiday in France in May but I'm trying to leave it till later in the month to keep the most options open

Jim

 

[Reik Major]

Driving from Norway to germany sounds crazy to me.

 

[Jim Hawley]

Reik

When Tim arrives ask him to contact me about the Cambridge trip

Cheers

Jim

 

[Reik Major]

Will do so. I'll welcome him tomorrow evening at the train station...

 

[Tim McIver]

Hey Jim, we've arrived in Dresden, Reik is a good host! We arrive in England on Saturday, we'll spend the day in London before catching the train to Cambridge in the evening. We fly out on the 16th. Which day/evening works best for you? Tim.

 

[Jim Hawley]

Tim

The evening of Sunday the 12th, I'll get online and find a reasonably priced hotel

Anyone else coming?

I'll PM you my mobile number and we can get in touch a bit nearer the date

Jim

 

[Nicolai Nicholson]

Hi guys, sorry for my late respond. I've been quite busy recently (thus I was not very competitive at Bahrain), so the German-trip will not happen. There is still a small chance that I'll pop over the Nordic ocean and check out merry old England with Jim, Tim and his wife. I must see how things goes at work the next days.

 

[Jim Hawley]

That would be awesome Nico

Mrs Jim will also be along

Jim

 

[Bob Miley]

I will miss Monaco due to a holiday, sorry. Probably for the best to be honest after struggling all season on wide open tracks lol. See you for the last race.

 

[Reik Major]

Tim, are you back home well and joining us at Monaco tonight???

 

[Tim McIver]

Hi Reik and All,

I'm back and looking forward to the race! I've done a few laps and watched the real Monaco on Sunday night, so I'm well prepared.

To provide some closure to this Holidays thread... My holiday was fantastic. In the end the timing didn't work out with Eliezer or Nico, but we were able to catch up with Reik (+ Tina and Timo) in Dresden for 3 days and then Jim (+Tor) for a lovely evening in Cambridge. It really was fantastic to meet some presto faces for real. I recommend it. The offer is certainly open if any of you find yourselves in Sydney at any point. I should also mention I met Nico Major (who is a Race Department regular though never Presto). Everyone we met was great to spend time with and very generous. Next time I travel (which wont be real soon!) I will certainly be checking if there are any drivers to meet along the way.

The other noteworthy moment I should report was the day we went to the Duxford Imperial War Museum near Cambridge. It's at an airfield and has a couple of hundred war planes on display. As we purchased our tickets the old lady on the counter warned us it would be a bit noisy from noon as Force India would be doing straight line speed testing on the runway. A most appreciated coincidence! It was certainly a step above Red Bull Hanger 8 at Salzburg airport which housed many F1 cars as well as various other amazing toys.

Catch you all at Monaco.

Tim.

 

[Nicolai Nicholson]

Good to have you back Tim, and sorry I didn't get to meet up with you. good luck in the race

 

[Reik Major]

Sounds great Tim!

 

[Jim Hawley]

We should plan a get together for 2014, somewhere in central Europe that easy to get to, has good bars/restaurants and maybe a kart track nearby?

Seriously though, would anyone be up for it?

Jim

 

[Helder Filipe]

A meet would be amazing really!

 

[Valter Ostman]

How about Nürburgring in July? (or Hockenheim)