NSX-CE Tour 2019 Dancing in the Rain

Dancing in the rain, thats the best way to describe this years tour if we may say so ourselves. It was a fun filled weekend sharing each others passion throughout the days. This year the tour was organised late in the season mainly because of hotel availability. In the days towards the NSX-CE Tour the “Weather App” on our phone made overtime, we’re not the superstitious type but the weather could go either way. This year we unfortunately experienced quite some rain. However that didn’t mean we didn’t enjoy ourselves! 

The drive on Saturday was amazing, Pieter-Jan at Openroads.be did an amazing job selecting the best roads and making the roadbook. In the morning we had a briefing in the hotel lobby. This years route was very challenging, it was the first year we used the dot and arrow system. As a failsafe we could also use a .gpx tracker file.

As the saying goes the fun starts where the straight ends. PJ took this very literally, it was amazing, everyone had a great time and we ended at the legendary Nurburgring where we could enjoy some VLN action. 

Saturday evening we enjoyed a lovely dinner at the Legere hotel. It obviously also marked the 6th NSX Guru quiz and the Charity auction. This year we made the quiz a bit more difficult, this showed seeing the best score was 12 out of 15 questions. 

This years winner was Michael Clark from the UK, he won after a tie break question “What power output will the NC1 Type R NSX have according to Forbes magazine?”. Do you know the answer without using Google?

After this it was time for this years prize giving, the 2019 prizes went to:

– Best of Stock: Bart Theys for his immaculate red NA1 with a milage of just over 10.000 km’s
– Best of modified: Mike Burgat for his deafening ITB’ed high compression NA2 NSX
– Globe Trotter Award: Katsuya Yamamoto who came all the way from Japan
– NSX Guru: Michael Clark even though he recently sold his midnight purple NSX and showed up in a Beetle GT3 we are happy to report he has very recently bought a red NA1 NSX.

The prize winners:

Then it was time for the yearly charity auction, through this way we want to thank the people and companies that donated the items:

– ATR Racing who generously donated a servicing kit, timing belt protector and various other items.
– Clive Pluckrose who generously donated a custom made NSX watch
– Mark Scott who generously donated a NSX NC1 IOP quail launch event water bottle

The total amount of the auctioned items was € 1.250,00 which will be donated to Racing Against Cancer A charity that organises a yearly Trackday at the assen circuit. During this Trackday organised to raise money for the Against Cancer charity. It’s mixed emotions, sad stories but also loads of smiles. We are very proud to have been a part previous trackdays making children temporarily forget their “Race against Cancer”.

On Sunday everyone gathered outside the hotel, it was time to head to the Piste de Karting Lommerange FIA karting track. The weather was dry and while some were still recovering from a slight hangover everyone was ready to hit the track. Upon arrival we had a safety briefing and it was time to start the 2 hour endurance race!

During the race we had a change in weather, starting with a slight drizzle that shortly changed to heavy rain. The race was temporarily put on halt. The track was extremely slippery de to the high amount of rubber on the track. Race control decided it was best to move to the “recreational track” which had a lot more grip. 

It was a close race, the first 4 teams where all on the same lap. Team ATR-ASM where 2nd when Adnan took over the kart for the last stint. Team RFY was in the lead but because of a spin of Jeroen dropped to second place. The Brexit boys where marching up the leaderboard after a slow 5th stint and where now in 4th place just behind team NSX. The time was almost over, white flag for the last lap was out, Team ATR-ASM entered the last corner prior to the finish straight, the back went and they went onto the gras. Eagerly trying to get back on track the kart spun again, Team RFY was closing in and went across the line first!

The podium:
1. Team RFY (Katsuya, Dimer Jeroen, Michael and Bas)
2. Team ATR-ASM (Adnan, Christian, Martin and Mike)
3. NSX (Nico, David, Gert and Vincente)

As you can imagine losing in the last corner is a bit frustrating. We decided not to subtitle the video below:

The karting race marked the end of yet another NSX Club Europe Tour. We hope everyone enjoyed it as much as we did. Even though the weather gods were less fortunate this year we had a great time. It’s great to see that passion has no language barrier, some statistics:

– Total attendance: 72 persons
– Total NSX’s: 37
– NA1 / NA2: 33
– NC1: 4
– Countries represented: 9
– Furthest travelled:  12.973 km

Next year marks the 30th anniversary, we are planning 2 events in that year. A one day driving event and a three (or four) day NSX Club Europe Tour. Please keep an eye on your mailbox, socials and the website.

See you in 2020!