Eifeltrip 2013 - de verhalen, foto's en filmpjes

[Jeroen]

We moeten vooral doorgaan met nagenieten van deze super trip hoor! Hopelijk komen er nog wat foto's en filmpjes. Bij deze een link naar de foto's van Rob (M635CSi):

https://plus.google.com/photos/11109537 ... 1300310913

[raymondw]

Precies Jeroen,

Ik heb een kleine video compilatie van 17min gemaakt.

[gerrit323]

Mooie samenvatting van een perfect weekend ..

Thx raymond

[raymondw]

Mijn samenvatting zoals gedeeld met m5board.

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It has been three years since I last participated in a multiple-day driving-trip. You know, at some point, family and children (should) become ones first priority in life. Going away for a few days feels like being selfish, even when it is just a weekend. Not that it should be, but finding the right balance between family and hobbies is a challenge ?!

I am certain that most senior members here share that sense of responsibility. For me, this is one of the reasons that I did not participate in an Alps tour for quite some time (five years). Granted, I did participate in the occasional meeting with fellow enthusiasts, but apart from the trip to the Belgian Ardennes in the spring of 2010, these were limited to single day driving-events.

With the major suspension work from last winter in mind, Jeroen’s invitation to join the 2013 bmwe21.net Eiffeltour came right in time. Most people only know the Eiffel for its hosting on one of the world’s most notorious racetracks, but the Eiffel is so much more than just the Nordschleife became a hype after Top Gear first started to challenge Sabine Schmitz ten minute lap time in a Ford transit.

The Eiffel also is about culture, history, excellent wines and landscapes. You must know that I have participated in some serious mountain tours in the Alps during my holidays. Those tours go further than just hiking; summiting 3000ers is a serious undertaking but gives a perspective that one simply cannot enjoy with a car or motorcycle. Well the same thing applies to the Nordschleife; yes, it is fun to drive, but also feels like being sucked into a black-hole. There is so much more to see and enjoy in the Eiffel ! Given the amount of dedicated Motorcycle hotels, motorcycle clubs already know ….. Just some food for thought !

For me, the Eiffel tour started in the afternoon of Friday the 27th of September with the journey to Daun, a city located about 25km southwest of the Nürburgring. I had preferred to leave already in the morning, but work commitments prevented an earlier departure due to which I had to deal with Friday afternoon’s rush-hour in the congested German Ruhr. Especially on the A3 between Oberhausen and Cologne, it was go with the flow at a moderate 80-120km/h. I took the opportunity to refuel #231 with Aral’s finest (Ultimate 102) at Ohlsiger Heide just before Cologne were I expected more traffic jams on the A1 towards Koblenz. This turned out to be true due to which I lost another hour and it wasn’t before five o’clock that we entered the A1 towards Blankenheim.

I got quite fed-up with a Volkswagen Passat running on Satan’s fuel that just would not move over, preventing me from stretching #231’s legs a little on the last hill-climb towards the A1’s Blankenheim. Here the A1 stops suddenly and traffic to Trier have to find their way over the L115 towards Daun were A1 continuous in the direction of Trier. Given the many road-side bill-boards, this is much to the aggravation of the local inhabitants who are fed-up with all that heavy traffic through their villages. Unlike environmentalists, the inhabitants of the valleys demand completion of the last missing section of the A1.

After about three-and a halve hours of driving, we arrived in Daun shortly after 6.00PM. Before driving to the hotel, I first took the opportunity to refueled #231 at the Aral petrol station. She needed ‘only’ 16,4ltr for 136km of driving, which isn’t that bad given the mix of congested and high speed driving. My much younger 530i touring from 2003 doesn’t do much better in the same condition. The ‘Eiffelhotel Daun’ is not located in Daun itself, but on a hill juts outside the neighboring village of Gemünden.



The ‘Eiffelhotel Daun’ primarily aims at groups visiting the area shortly for driving-trips, mostly motorcyclists but car enthusiasts as well. Its interior dates back to the seventies or eighties era of the last century, but that offers a time-period atmosphere and thus a pleasant atmosphere for petrol talks until the small hours.



Saturday started cold but beautifully with blue skies and a clear horizon. As a result the roof of some cars were partially frozen with condensation.



After having breakfast, Koos distributed the Porto phones that allow quick and effortless communication within a radius of ten kilometers. The advantage of Porto phones is that they allow broadcast of messages over a large group without any delay to the listeners. This makes them very useful for safety messages and coordinating purposes. This unlike mobile telephony that only allow peer-to peer communication with quite some delay in the network.

Eiffel Tour
The driving-tour focuses on the Northern Eiffel region with a total-length of 300km on a mix of larger and smaller roads, some of them in alpine style with hairpins and apexes. The plan was to drive in two groups; one fast-and one leisure group. Upon departure bat around 10:30AM, we left as a single large group from the Eiffel Hotel.



The group consisted of four odd ball’s. Next to the M5’s from myself (E28S) and Robert (E34S), there was Rob who took his E24S M635CSI (also M88/S38 powered) and Koos (E30 325i convertible).

Regrouping
After twenty minutes of warming up driving, the proposal to regroup was broadcasted in the ether by Jeroen. I knew the fast leading group well from a similar trip in the Ardennes now three years ago; they are all driving in E21 323i’s in different configurations, including one original Hartge version. My approach for that morning was wait and see, so I didn’t follow Jeroen and Gerrit when they were seeking connection to Ite and Gerwin who were driving in front.

After a few minutes, I saw myself driving in fifth or sixth position in the second group with Robert (E34S), Rob (E24S) and two E21’s driving in front of me. The pace set by the group-lead was relaxed but not really challenging as I hardly used more than 20% of #231’s abilities ….. Soon after, I mobilized an 150 additional horses that were anxious waiting to gallop in #231’s engine bay.

Chasing the front runners
The first passing maneuver was downhill on a 5% slope during which I managed to gain three positions just in front of the E24S. I could have progressed into the relatively fast right-turner and normally I would have, but a message broadcasted from the Pauline in the most forward car indicated caution because of slippery conditions, hence why another quick burst was required soon after. I noticed that Robert in his E34 M5 (GD55450) also followed soon after with an increased pace we both attempted to join the front group that had a five to ten minute lead. We continued to follow the L16 towards Mürlenbad, by then all the cars vitals had fully warmed up ….. what followed was a lovely hill-climb with two M5’s chasing each other on the small country road towards the settlement of Weißenseifen !

Comparison between E28S M5 and E34S M5
Let me first say that Robert’s E34S M5 is very well maintained and in excellent shape. I have been privileged to help him out on much of its recent maintenance to resolve the issues that were the result of twenty years of daily usage. As a result, she feels as strong as she left the factory. Suspension wise, she has been sorted out as well with a completely new suspension fitted not that long ago. When well driven, cars like that are a serious challenge in such driving-environments, even for its much more potent successors.

The story f #231 is well known; a full engine rebuild in 2009/2010 followed by a front suspension overhaul in 2011 with new shock absorbers and springs fitted in 2013. Generally, I was driving between 70% to 80% of the cars potential; as a general rule of thumb, the E34S is better balanced allowing faster turn-in speeds that can be maintained longer in normal bends. When braking before entry is required, the E28S benefits from its lower weight and better agility allowing its driver to engage full throttle more quickly when accelerating from sharp corners and apexes. Robert played the game well and was capable to compensate for the lost ground in the preceding section on almost all occasions. He definitely had more reserve left and I think it will be difficult to keep track if he had the lead.



Evaluation of the Suspension
The new shock absorbers and front springs result in a significant improvement. The un-composed behavior and under-steer that I had observed in the Ardennes is completely gone. She now maintains a neutral behavior even under very fast cornering; under-steer is completely absent unless one lifts the throttle in hairpins. Over-steer can be provoked quit easily, but the transition is progressive an d lift of the throttle returns its neutral behavior. Very nice and enjoyable.

brake and tire considerations
The only issue that I could discover are the brakes. Brake pads and disks have been replaced about 12965km ago, which isn’t that much, but this dates back to the spring of 2002 and age matters. At least the metallic non-asbestos pads are due for replacement. Yet, I doubt that this is the main cause of the brake-judder that I observed under light to moderate braking ! When pushing a little harder (more brake-pedal travel), the judder resolves. This points to a root-cause that lies outside the braking system …… Ite suggested the pitman arms, more specifically their connection to the steering bar. I did replace both tie-rods some time ago, but not the pitman arms ?

The main issue with #231 is that she drives little and tires and brake-pads are aging faster than that they can wear. Tires are Michelin Pilot Sport (first generation) from 2002. With 5-6mm of thread left, they are far from being worn-out, but with almost twelve years of age, the question arises how far she can be pushed now the softeners in the rubber (silicon) have dried out ? My gut feeling says that they need to be replaced, but with what ??

Michelin does not offer a suitable replacement anymore in the size for an E28 M5 (225/50ZR16 91Y) ! This means that I have some research to do. The same consideration applies for the brake-pads as well; disks, pads were replaced in 2002 as well and have seen very little use, but how do metallic brake-pads behave under load when pushed. Replacement is not so much an issue. This is a concrete action point.

Engine considerations
The engine itself has seen little usage in 2013; only 513km so far, including 185km of driving for the Sharknose meeting in June. As a result, the engine felt a little lazy and I would have loved the opportunity for some sustained high speed driving on the journey towards Daun, but that was simply not possible. In the beginning, #231 felt a little lazy, which might be explained by the low usage in 2013, but with every progressing kilometer of this tour, #231’s hart became more lively.

Saturday afternoon
The 323i’s in the group proved surprisingly brisk and agile at road speeds below 50km/h. As a result, the M5’s ample power could only be exploited above at least 70km/h, above which it was easy to follow….. with one exception; upon entering the last section towards the Rursee, We all had to pass a slower driving car. As fifth in the group, I managed to do so just before the sharp right turner in a down-hill slope forcing me to brake hard to regain the balance. As a result, Robert had to wait. The 323i’s in front were driving very quick in the curvy descend of the L218 towards the Rursee, but because Robert didn’t have a Porto phone, I slowed down a little to stay within visible range. By the time Robert managed to pass, the 323i’s were already out of sight. This meant that we needed the full potential of our cars to close the large gap in between the 323i’s and ourselves. This forced the suspension of #231 to its limit before two left turners which had a rough approach on which it was impossible to balance the car properly before making the turn.

The Rursee area was selected for having lunch by when we had driven more than 160km in just 3,5hours including one thirty minute sanitary stop at Hallschlagg. This isn’t really that bad for an average, especially considering the age of our cars.



After lunch, Jeroen and I searched for a nice photo-location for some action photography. We found one just a few kilometers further on the L15 higher up in the hills in a hairpin section.











Towards Adenau
At some point, the route directed us towards Euskirchen, a city just southwest of the Ruhr-area that we had to cross, despite its unattractive appearance under the worst driving conditions, Saturday’s shopping traffic. As a result, we got separated as a group by the many stop-lights and roundabouts. By the time that I left Euskirchen, only Koos was in visible sight. Together we drove towards Bad Munstereiffel over small and twisty country roads and from there to Adenau were we used the opportunity to refuel with Aral’s finest. It was there that the others rejoined a few minutes later for the last section towards Daun.

Sunday
Also on Sunday, there was too much traffic for #231 to stretch her legs on the autobahn. The A61 towards Cologne was crowded completely. At some point some older male driver in a Kia Sorento, probably running on Satan’s fuel (diesel) flashed his lights to crush that old car in front of him as fast as possible…. At some point there was some room to go to Warp 9 and play the game ….; I would have loved to see his face when he realized that he was being showed every corner of the autobahn by a 28year old Beemer in grandpa styling.

The traffic information system above the A1, indicated traffic jams near Cologne-Niehl, so I decided not to take the usual route over the A3 towards Oberhausen, but the A57 towards Krefeld instead. The A57 runs almost in parallel to the A3, only to divert to Nijmegen after Krefeld whereas the A3 continues towards Arnhem just before Oberhausen. But the traffic jam already started well before Cologne West, just a few kilometers before the intersection with the A57. At first, I stayed on the right lane, but that one wasn’t progressing to well so at some point I wanted to move to the left and when looking in the rear-view mirror, I spotted Robert in his E34 M5.

Robert had to return to the Netherlands as well, but following the A61 towards Venlo would be more appropriate for him, so I thought he missed the exit towards Venlo. Before moving to the left, I briefed him about my change of schedule to take the A57.

ABS issue solved
After leaving the A1 at Cologne-West in favor of the A57 towards Krefeld, traffic situation unlighted quickly, but not so much to go beyond a sustained 180km/h ! We left the A57 near Moers to take the A40 towards Essen where I entered the A3 in Northbound direction. After refueling #231 with Shell’s finest we entered the A31 at roughly 8:30PM. By then, traffic had enlightened allowing sustained speeds of over 220km/h for prolonged period of time. The ABS light stays off, meaning that the replacement of the driveshaft flanges with the actuators for the ABS-sensors solved the ABS issue permanently.

A video compilation of this weekend is available on youtube:



The footage was taken with my Go Pro Hero 3 Bllack Edition mounted on the right high-beam of my E28S M5. I took the footage in 2k7 resolution with 30fps later downsampling to 1080p / 30fps.

[Jeroen]

Mooie teksten en fraai werk met de video compilatie Raymond, dikke complimenten!

[323baur]

...Grandpa styling... I love that!

[BMWvision]

[uwbuurman]

Geinig!

[Groentje_me]

Haha... Dat was ik alweer vergeten, leuk;)