As the headline says I was the only European at SF this year, there was supposed to be a guy from Germany but he never made it. It all started with Tam poking me and urging me to come, I thought that it would be nice, but its a looong trip. When things were getting closer Ron said he and Maureen would host me at the event, well, now things are getting really intresting, I called the Doubletree and they had only a single room left, ok, decisiontime, I´ll take it! That was pretty late in the evening so the next day I got home from work I sat down to find some flight over...:whistle: Anyway, the 23 of march came, I left home at about 30 min later than usual and was amazed at how much difference 30 min can do to traffic, slightly stressed I arrived at the airport and checked in. I had gotten some sleepingpills from a friend whos a doctor and he said to pop one with a glass of wine 30 min before I wanted to sleep and I´d be out for six hours. Perfect plan, only the darn pill didn´t work so I stayed awake the whole tripp...:crying: Got to LAX, actually not really sure Ron would be there, I had never met the guy! Only he was, right outside the customs "service"!:flowers: The rain was pissing down so we legged it to the parking garage and took off, we got about a 1/4 mile and was stuck in traffic, what would normally take 45 minutes took about 2 hours. Not a bad thing though as we chatted along and got to know oneother. We went to the hotel and met some other pepole, I had a quick shower and we went over to his and Maureens house. There was Maureen and she had prepared dinner for us and Patrick (who owns "the incredible Hulk") posted in pics. Nice pasta dinner and lovely company, eventually the jet lag got me (9 hours...) so Ron and Maureen took Patrick and me back to the hotel, was so tired I almost forgot to take my clothes off... Woke up thursday morning, went down to get breakfast and pepole from the day before was there, including Ron and Maureen, met Steve and Jessie, Ron took me to a Mission Motorsport so that I could get the stuff I needed for my bike and back again. Meeting loads of pepole as they rolled in, cant remember all your names but I remember the faces, the smiles and the cars, oh, the cars, ChargerJay blew me away, the detail on that car, best in show as far as I´m concerned! Went with Tam, Ray and Ron to Rons house to clean the cars, I know Tam played it a bit but I couldn´t stand it so I cleaned her car, no biggie and I actually enjoyed it as it made a big improvement of the appearance after that six hour drive. Then it was time for beachburger, very nice in the evening albeit a bit cold, huge portions, Ron suggested we´d share a sideorder of onionrings and I was sceptical, but there actually was about half left when we were finnished, and I LIKE onionrings... Clearest memory is Jon with his spikey hair standing in the flowers laughing and yelling at pepole with Ralph and some others.:wacko: Friday, got up, more pepole comming in, went to USW riding in Maureens truck, stick SRT-10, its got some balls that car and if you ask me, it fits Maureen perfect! Had a great time, talked to some really nice pepole, a long chat with Jon (lets call him Spikey), laughed my as of with Jon (King Savage) had a loooong look at Ralphs (Mol) car, chatted to Flex and his son Darren. Had a great lunch with the most amazing salsa, I want that recipie!!!:love: As the rain had stopped Ron had went and gotten 1bad4door, everyone doing the mandatory burnout as they left USW, too bad the cop had left, he would have loved everyone making a burnout in front and fishtailing out...:towel: Went back to the hotel and hit the beer, ate a burger outside and eventually found our way back to the Dodgetent. Awsome to see the new cars and meeting with Ralph Gilles, the new 300 (SRT probably) looked like a titan fist! I honestly think that car can sell very well in Europe AND in the US. The new Charger SRT8, I´d like it gray or black, slightly lowered and 22s, those redlinerims are georgeous! The jetlag and the beers eventually meant I couldn´t follow the converstations anymore so I went to bed! Tired but happy!:headspin: Saturday morning, I missunderstod Ron so I got up to late, had breakfast and got a ride with Patrick to the big event, that thing has some GO as well as looks, mean green machine!!! He parked and we went to have a look around, found Hedi and Mark in the Billet tec booth, got a catchcan from them, looked at a lot of cars, talked to a guy from Corsa and so on. I eventually went up to the autocross were Samuel Hübinette and Ralph Gilles had set some times, CHALLENGETIME!!!:whistle: This is what I really love, trashing a car around as fast as possible! The first few rounds is to learn the track and the car, first lap was a 1.03 and change. Ron arranged for me to meet Sam through Stack Performance and he´s a really nice guy, his wife showed up and so did his father in law as well when we went over to the autocross again. Talked to Sam some more and I said that there were no way he and Ralph had put their times down with the ESP on, he admitted so and said that he´d seen me run and told me to turn it off on the next run, just keep it clean and they will never know he said. Said and done, got in the V6 and did a 0.59 and change, that meant that Sam and I was the only ones under a minute, I had beaten Ralphs time!!! I didn´t go out in the V8, so my time 0.57,5 was with the ESP on and was bar Sam and Ralphs times the fastest by 0.6 seconds and I was pleased with that. My chatting with Sam earned me also a ride in the driftcar with him, going sideways is nothing new to me, even on asphalt but it´s always a great pleasure to ride with someone who really knows their shit, it may look violent as hell from the outside but inside its pretty much as driving to the grocerystore. He is always one step ahead of the car, calm and precise actions, fast, but calm. If you have never taken a ride with a driver of this kind I really hope you have the chance at some time, drifting, racing or rallying, riding with the best is phenomenal! I won a coolerbag with some stuff in it for my efforts at the autocross, cool stuff!:dancing: Helped Cam and Paul to load their stuff from the "Crank This" both, and rode back with Ron and Maureen. Back at the hotel I ran into Flex and asked him for a ride, not everyday I get the chance to ride in a 426 twin turbo... That was some experience, comming around the corner he floored it, WAAAAAHH, the rears just lit up and we were going sideways, cool stuff! Going out on the highway he took it easier, building speed and pressure in the turbochargers, I realized eventually I couldn´t get my head of the headrest, everyone else were going backwards and I felt like I was on the starship Enterprise, "-Lets go to warp speed Mr Spock!-" That car packs a serious punch way more than the chassie was ever meant for, a good recepie for an awsome ride! Thanks a lot Flex, I will never forget it! Later on we took the shuttle to the Yardhouse, had to wait a looong time to get a table, had some beers, talked to Ozzie and Cam, what phenomenal guys, carried Maddi for a while who was getting tired but held up through dinner as a true hero aged two. Tams mother was there as well and we had a nice chatt. Lots of laughs and I had a wonderful time, Steve cleaned his ribs in a way I´ve never seen before.:tooth: Some beers and hanging out when we got back, eventually got to bed at time unknown...:drunk: Sunday was hangoverday, had a really late breakfast with Ralph, Adam, Hedi, Mark and some others, hung out in the lobby saying bye to pepole as they left for home. Ron and Maureen came and picked me up and we went to Laguna Beach, I could smell the money as we rolled in...:flipout: Had a great time walking the beach, looking at the view and pepole, got some things for the kids, laughed and had an awsome time! Comming back to the hotel I had a quick shower, Patrick met up and we went to Ron and Maureens house as Maureen had promised dinner. When we stopped for some grocerys I followed Maureen into the store and asked what was for dinner, she said pasta with a vodka sauce and I said I´ll get the wine, I found a bottle I have at home and originally chose because of the name, 7 deadly sins... A good wine that worked exellent together with Maureens fantastic pasta with vodkasauce, I couldn´t stop eating! For dessert we had homemade choclatecake with some coffie and amaretto, a fantastic way to end my trip to SF.:worthy: Monday was travelday all over again, Patrick took me to the airport in the incredble Hulk, I came and I left in style! Had a nice ride and some spare time at the airport, downed two sleeping pills with a few glasses of wine and was at home.:doh: All the time I was in LA I had the previlige of riding with Ron and Maureen in 1bad4door, or in other cool (and very fast) cars. You all made my trip very memorable and one of the best spent weekends ever, I really hope to see you again next year and I can´t wait to get my car out again, even though it will feel really slow!:weep: Thank you all, you are great!:ilovesrtc: Fredrik:thumb2: PS. Please forgive me if I left something out, feel free to fill in the blanks, I had a very intese weekend and there are so many things in my head, this is what came to my mind right now, no one is forgotten.
Awesome write up, Fredrik. It was our pleasure to have met you. You, sir, are an amazing person. We are privileged to be your friend. Glad you had a good time and we do hope that you will be out again next year. By the way, Maureen has the recipe for the salsa. Yup, Bizmark's guy gave us the recipe a couple years ago. I am sure she would pass it on to you if you asked? hehe Missing our friend from Sweden.
Sorry I had to cancel SpringFest for business reasons. Would have loved to have met you and hung out with you Fredrik.
Finally! how many years of SF? and we finally get a proper trip report Tremendous write up Fredrik. I'm going to start making arrangements now and get there next year.
