Shipping my RS America To Europe, Going to Le Mans and a 4 month drive around Europe Options

[DonTraver]

About 6 years ago, went on a trip to Germany, even drove the Ring in a new 997S. Great trip.
While there, I got this weird idea. How great it would be to drive my RSA in Europe and the autobahn.

Well, it’s taken about a year of research and work, but it’s going to happen this year,

I started receiving all the import/export licenses a couple of weeks ago for the RSA. I got all the forms in this week. Shipping has been arranged to ship my RSA in her own private container to the UK with approximate arrival on May 19th.

Found an insurance company that will insure me in 29 countries for about $165 a month.

Joined the Porsche Club Great Britain, got my membership card on 3/31/10. I’m going to Le Mans with them.
They put together a 5 star camping trip to Le Mans every year, they camp in the Porsche Curves at Le Mans, they even put up your tent for you, It runs about $800 for 5 days at Le Mans, Euro Tunnel Pass, tickets, fully catered camp site, private restrooms and showers. How cool is that. I’ll be traveling with the PCGB from the UK to Le Mans, should help me not get lost. I’ll get to watch testing, practice, qualifying, and the race, wow.

I’ve been a member of a 964 Porsche series group for about 7 years. Since I told the group about my plans, I’ve received invitations to all over Europe, Luxemburg, France, Germany, UK, Portugal, Spain, and the Ring. Planning at least a week at the Ring.

After Le Mans heading south, Normandy, Madrid, Lisbon, Valencia, and maybe Monaco. After that head north to Germany, Berlin, Leipzig, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, the Ring. Etc. Want to catch a couple of Formula 1 races, Spa, Ring, etc. At least that’s the tentative schedule so far.

Found this website that lists a lot of the tracks in Europe and if they have open track days, they do. So I might get to drive Silverstone, Brands Hatch, Spa, and a bunch of others. http://www.trackdays.co.uk/tracks/

Just finished a 60k service on the RSA, new rotors, pads, brake fluid, set valves, new tires, new O2 sensor, had a ipod cable put in for tunes, and waxed and detailed her, dyno tested 250hp at rear wheels.

Had a set of PSS10 Coilovers installed, with new alignment and corner balancing last week, sweet.

Oh yeah, since I won’t be in any one country more than 4 months, I get to keep the California plates on her, cool. I wrote a lot of emails to a lot of countries to confirm that, all said fine by email, printed out all those emails, just in case.

The RSA ships in 2 weeks, when I get a confirmed delivery date, I’ll book my plane tickets.

So long story short. I’m going to Le Mans and will be spending over 4 months driving around Europe in my RSA with California plates, a dream is coming true.

Here's a picture of my RS America at the Lake Arrowhead Porsche Timeline last year.

Don

[DonTraver]

I went back the Canterbury Cathedral this morning, spent another 3+ hours there. It still took my breath away and I was able to see a lot of things that I missed yesterday. I was in the Church Treasure Room down in the Crypt and asked the Docent a question about how they keep all the silver from tarnishing, next thing I know, I’m getting the full tour. He showed me each piece and gave me the history that went with it. The oldest piece was a pocket sundial; it had individual holes for each month for the indicator pin to go into. It was over 1500 years old and they’d figured out the sun, months, and seasons well enough to make it, amazing. I took a lot more pictures today and uploaded them to the Flickr site.

After going to the Cathedral, I found the Canterbury Museum. Just finding it took about a hour, the street sign said it was on one street, but I finally found it about 2 street over. Its exhibits go all the way back to Roman times. I tried to take some pictures, but the flash from the camera sort of ruined a lot of them. I finally just turned the flash off, or just put my finger over it, seems to have worked ok. It was well worth the visit.

When I came out of the Museum, the rain that was forecast for today had arrived. So it was back to the hotel for rain gear.

After picking up the rain gear I went back out and saw a sign that said a Norman Castle was down this street, so off I went. On the way I passed a Church with a cemetery, not sure how long it’d been there, but the names and dates on most of the gravestones had weathered away. I got to the end of the road and still hadn’t found the Norman Castle, so decided to take a different street back and there it was. It is completely un-restored and falling down, there were signs all around the exterior warning you to stay away from the walls because of falling stones. As I entered the gate to the courtyard, I heard voices. I walked across the courtyard to read the information display and turned around, there were about 6 teenagers going out the gate. After going around the courtyard I climbed the stairs to get a better view. When I entered the stairwell, I smelled the distinct odor of grass. I started laughing, seems I’d disturbed the party.

It was still raining so I passed on the boat ride on the river. Put that on the list for tomorrow.

I have to admit I like the stares the RS America is getting, not sure if it’s the car or the California Plates, both have received pretty much the same amounts of comments. When they ask about the Plates, I just say, I knew I should have turned left, it’s good for a quick laugh.

That’s all for now. Don