The trip to Germany Part II

(Day one)

ore cars, ore speed, ore tuners and Power!

Number of M5 used	12
Number of M3 used	1
Number of Alpina used	1
Number of people participating	20
Countries passed	3
Kilometers driven / car	6500
Duration of trip (Days)	6
Tuners visited	3
Tracks visited	1
Driving licenses revoked	0
Car manufacturers visited	2
Tickets issued	1

The trip started for me on the 29th of March 2001 with my friend Jan (Mr Janne) who went with me in my E36 M3 3,2 Euro version with 321 HP. We met Johan (johann) in the city centre of Stockholm, the capital of Sweden, around 700 km north of the border of Denmark. Our first destination was my summerplace in the south of Sweden. We should stay there over- night and in the morning travel through Denmark and head to the German town of Flensburg to meet up with Michael (B8 Guru) and his friend Carl (CarlT). We took it quite easy through Sweden (at least the first two hours, hehe) because our previous encounters with law enforcement and the 110 km/h speed limit. We had the same "luck" as last year to encounter a minor snowfall on the last 100 km of our trip through Sweden. With the M5's DSC (Dynamic Stability Control) it wasn't as demanding as driving the E36 M3 which doesn't get any electronic help at all except ABS brakes. Download movie nr 1 here!   Here we are parked and waiting for Johan to bring his things. Johan's M5 is Carbonblack with repainted M5 wheels (not in Chrome Shadow). Two days earlier he fitted Porsche 993 Turbo front brakes on his car, a wise decision before heading to the Autobahn. During our trip we stopped at the exclusive gourmet restaurant McDonalds where we discussed a film we saw earlier, about a Lotus Omega which evaded the Swedish Police. It can be found here. It's a Lotus Omega which drives on a 90 km/h restricted road and has a speed well above 140 km/h. An unmarked Police car (Saab 9-5 2.0t) follows him, equipped with a camera and tries to stop him, then he floors it and the Police car does not have a chance of keeping up at all. We were very impressed with the acceleration of that car, on par with the M5 performance in some intervals. And this car was produced between 1990-92! But the interesting thing that happended to us was when we stopped to refuel in the deepest forest of Sweden and there were TWO Lotus Omegas parked at the gas station! So we started talking to these guys, and it turned out that the creator of that webpage was that guy in the gas station. Very interesting fellow indeed. But however he wasn't the driver of the car on the video, the owner was his friend who is a -tada-da!- traffic school instructor! Hmm, I would have liked to have had him as an instructor! Anyway, the case is currently in court now so let's wish him good luck! Unfortunately it was snowing when we met them, so we couldn't instigate a race :( We took some photos of the cars. Connolly leather interior and a numbered plaque that indicates that this is number 594 out of 950 ever made. Here we are on a chilly late March morning in the south of Sweden - Scania- outside my "summerplace" which doesn't really live up to the name now... The stable behind has places for six horses. Outside there are 721 Bavarian horses. The south of Sweden is known for the very large flat areas, tempting road to drive fast on. One member of the Swedish BMW Club got caught doing 220 km/h in his BMW 750iL, and had a Police Bell JetRanger helicopter chasing him. He stopped only after the Helicopter came down in front of him and showed the driver his presence. We took the Öresundsbridge (actual picture above) that goes from Sweden to Denmark. Halfway over the bridge we were in Danish territory = Floor it! So I reached the limiter on my car which is a little bit over 260 km/h on the speedometer but Johan managed to pass me because his car has the speedlimiter removed. So, has anybody in the world beaten our speed record on a bridge over water? 260+ km/h! Not the smartest thing I've done but who ever said I was a genius ;) Luckily these guys were looking in the other direction and not on the Öresundsbridge behind them where some M cars are speeding! When we paid the toll for crossing the bridge the man in the counter said to us "Wow, this is also a monster on the highway". We answered with a lead foot! Download movie nr 2 here!

So, here we are in Flensburg. Johan, Michael, Carl and I (Gustav) are checking out stonechips and destroyed foglights and headlights. I must say, those 275 mm wide rear tyres do throw up some dirt.... In front is the car that belongs to Michael, which is his third. It´s an Alpina B8 4,6 Touring, one of only 27 examples made. It´s painted Alpina-green and the interior is Alpina Water Buffalo hide. The engine is a 4,6 litre V8 producing 333 bhp in a 3-series. I wonder which of these monsters will be the fastest on the Autobahn?? Could the supersaloons from BMW M be outrun by a shopping-car from Alpina?

The cars weren't really that clean after a trip through a rainy Denmark. Notice that the brakedust has made a contribution to dirtying up the car as much as possible! We also noticed that Johan's Porsche brake equipped M5 didn't dust so much as the floating caliper brakes on the M3 3,2. Here we parked in the harbour in Flensburg for a lunch before heading to more southern reqions.