The Road to Gatebil pt1

Road to Gatebil car stickers

It's almost a week I've been home and still I don't feel that I've fully recovered. The Road to Gatebil trip has to be by far the best motoring adventure I've ever been on. No matter what section of the motoring world you're from there was something for everyone, from show and shine to all out track action including drifting and grip from some monster Group B cars.

On Wednesday the 10th we left Garage-D in Watford and headed out to Amsterdam. The convoy was made up of Monster Athletes (Buttsy, Baggsy, Ben Wallace, Greg illingworth), media and friends. As soon as the cars hit the freeways, the action began - this week was already going to be one that went down in history.

James P working on the train to France - The S13 made a great desk

The car I was driving was a Nissan S13 with S15 front end, on loan from the guys at ProDrift in Ireland. There was no radio, no heater controls, it stank of fuel, the suspension was rock solid, and the exhaust woe the dead - only 3000 miles it would be grand! 

The first night we arrive later than planned, after regrouping it was time to hit the bars and take in what the city had to offer. The party went off and it was in the early hours many of the drivers returned to the hotel - bleary eyed the morning launch came far to early for some... It was here we hooked up with the guys from Gamekings - they film a cool lifestyle TV show for MTV and they had decided to come along and capture the action - check out their five day report of the madeness here:http://www.teamhww.nl/

The S13 crossing Malmo Bridge - caught by Dan Fegent

Day two - this was the killer drive, Amsterdam to Gothenburg! We had to avoid being detected heading through Germany and the near on 15hrs behind the wheel took its toll as with about 1hr to go I almost fell asleep at the wheel. With every ounce of energy drained from the past forty-eight hours I took a break and crashed in the passenger seat and awoke only once we hit the amazing Swedish city. 

Baggsy smoking up the City Track

The next day and we had a surprise in store, exclusive use of the Gothenburg City Track. The drivers and media got a chance to hoon their cars around the inner-city track and smoke out the docklands to the delights of the offices that sit in the middle of the circuit. It was a crazy day and the buzz from driving then carried into the evening for the night-of-nights in the city.

At 4am you don't need a pool when you have a fountain

Catch the rest of the blog from Gatebil in my next instalment