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Technical/Track Day Details
Location
Nürburgring, Germany
Track days x 3
Vehicle
Westfield Megablade
Engine
900cc Honda Fireblade
Gearbox
Sequential gearing with clutchless upshift
Weight
417kg dry weight
Power
130bhp approx
Power to weight ratio
270bhp per tonne
Acceleration
0-60mph 3.8 to 4 seconds
Top speed
Approx 120mph
Towing vehicle
Vauxhall Vectra Estate SRI 2.6V6 averaging 22.5mpg fully loaded
For more information about Nürburgring please visit www.nuerburgring.de |
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Dean Chamberlain opened Deano’s barbers in Rhoose at the age of eighteen. Dean’s grandfather was a barber so you could say it was in the blood. However, Dean’s real passion is for speed.
MAKING THE CUT
Dean’s interest in hairdressing began at the age of twelve, working in a salon sweeping up. His grandfather Michael Olympios who came from Cyprus spent thirty years running his shop in Clifton Street, Roath in Cardiff.
Recently Dean took his Westfield Megablade to Germany for a few days at Nürburgring.
Wednesday 23rd
Already packed, leave Rhoose, heading for the famous Nordschleife racing circuit (Nürburgring, Germany), a very technical track, established in 1927 inside the Black Forest (no gateaux jokes please) in the Eifel mountains in Germany. The Nürburgring is world renowned for its single lap distance of. 12.9 miles (20.8 kilometres).
We arrive at Dover approximately four hours after leaving Rhoose, check in and present our passports at Dover customs, then board the ferry for the crossing which is around two hours.
I can’t say I liked the ferry ride, neither did my girlfriend Becci. It’s just not our cup of tea but as we can’t afford to fly the car out, it’ll have to do.
We arrived at Calais and drive straight onto the motorway with an updated Tom Tom navigating us towards Spa Francorchamps, Belgium. Useful tip here: If you reset the satnav at Spa, the TomTom will navigate you to the Nürburgring from Spa on a route that is a nice, scenic run, with the last ninety miles winding through small villages and along some nice A roads all the way to the track.
Before we got to Spa, we stopped at a B&B in Ghent, Belgium, called Pimm’s. This was flagged up along the route using the search facilities on the satnav. For 70 euros a night we got some sleep after driving all day. We still had another 180 miles left to drive in the morning which fortunately turned out to be a really gorgeous day.
Thursday 24th
We wake up to a gorgeous sunny day and set off. We finally arrive at the track at midday and check in to a hotel called ‘Hotel TierGarten’ which I believe is named after the closest corner to the hotel. The hotel is owned by Sabine Schmitz’s mother (Sabine Schmitz was on an episode of Top Gear where she drove a Ford Transit van around the Nürburgring overtaking Porches and motorcycles and gaining a huge amount of respect, not to mention fans, here in the UK). Not surprisingly, Hotel TierGarten is also one of Sabine’s sponsors for the VLN Porsche cup (VLN explained further on.)
We started unpacking our things and this is when I realised I had left the keys to the Westfield at home ‘DOH!’ This was definitely a serious spanner in the works.
My first reaction was to start shouting at my girlfriend to look for them (sorry Becci) - no luck, definitely missing. I then telephoned home to check if they were back in the UK. Unfortunately they were.
Luckily, we had lots of tools in the Vectra, so I phoned my dad, got some instructions and started drilling out the ignition barrel, trying to switch on the ignition, finally I succeeded, until... I damaged the ignition which kept engaging the steering lock, so had to remove the ignition barrel from the steering column and relocate the barrel to prevent the steering lock from engaging. This pretty much took up the rest of Thursday.
Friday 25th
There was a couple of bits and pieces to sort on the car but by 10am we were ready to set off. Ready to rock, Westy is running as normal, problem solved. Track was, as always, closed on to the public Fridays because it’s being used by manufacturers such as BMW, Mercedes, Jaguar, Porsche and Audi so they can test new models etc. The new Nissan GTR was developed at the Nürburgring.
So, as we have a free day, just for fun Becci and I explore the local countryside and forestry trying to locate the spy photographers hotspots overlooking the track.
Basically, we just drove around the forestry inside the Nürburgring all afternoon enjoying the scenery and nice tarmac the area had to offer. That evening, we enjoyed a few Warsteiner beers to calm the nerves before the following day’s driving.
Saturday 26th
Over breakfast, we learn that we are able to get on to the track today, but only later in the evening after the VLN four hour endurance race is over.
VLN were running a four hour endurance race on the Nürburgring (Behemoth lap). VLN (German Endurance racing), run a variation of courses, such as the Nordschleife (North Loop), The Behemoth (North loop and F1 track combined) and The Nordschleife Long (The North Loop, plus half the F1 track Circuit).This delay wasn’t a problem because we were able to watch the race from the official F1 seating arena, a really high grandstand seating area with views across the forest which occasionally allow you to see other sections of the track in use. Awesome! We watched a great race and enjoyed full access to the pits too. All for 12 euros.
Early evening was a little different to my usual Saturday evenings. I was queuing at the ticket office inside the ring to purchase as many laps as possible, I couldn’t wait to be a racing driver on the most impressionable race circuit in the world. The driving was awesome! My concentration levels to this day have never peaked the way they did roughly two to three minutes into my first lap. I never realised I could respond to gear changes as accurately and rapidly as I did, not because I wanted to, but because I had no choice (unless I wanted to be passed by random sports cars with random mad people like me driving them. And that, I certainly didn’t!).
Dean’s grandfather Michael
Sunday 27th
I’m at the gates at 7.45am waiting for the circuit to open at 8am. I check over the Westfield looking for anything that may cause me problems on the track - nothing seems out of place. I’m feeling excited, waiting for the adrenaline to take away my nerves. This is the day to be here. Sunday’s are frantic and surreal days for the track users because it’s the only full day the public get to use the track all day, which means, you truly get involved as you do lap after lap shaving seconds off your last.
As every corner presents itself to you on the Nurburgring, you begin to drive more precisely than you ever imagined you could. Every corner is fast and your only fixation, ‘clipping the apex’ gives you even more confidence and more confidence makes you quicker and going quicker will force mistakes.
Lap by lap, I’m really into a groove and then, all of a sudden, I spin out on an uphill left-hander flowing into a downhill right-hander. I turned in before the apex which meant I overcorrected the steering on a crest at which point the car unbalanced and it was too late. I ended up throttling too much, too early, which meant I ended up doing a little grass cutting, very close to the Armco - too close actually.
Will I be going back? You bet. I have another trip organised for later this year with some friends and at 135 euros for eight laps I think I’ll be there for even longer next time. Would I recommend it? Definitely, you must try it. Once you do, you’ll be hooked!
Deano’s Barbers
7 Fontygary Road, Rhoose CF62 3DR
01446 719789 |
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