Hello,
I've posted up some piccies of Assen when I went there with the missus to watch the GP.
www.photobox.co.uk/album/1527808 I also have some video, but nowhere to host it.
We left on Thursday morning. Drove to the EuroTunnel and then made our way to Holland through Belgium. It took ages getting there; 2 cars in Belgium were on their roof's and there was quite a bit more traffic around Antwerp, the border around Brecht/Breda and around Utrecht. Took 7 hours in the end! I was glad we were in the car as it was HOT that day - thank God for Air Con . I did wonder how many bikers actually lost weight on that ride that day. Leathers and 34 degree heat for 5 hours would do that I reckon.
In the evening we just chilled out. We had a few beers and a 3 course suprise menu which was fantastic, if a little slow on the service side.
Next day we made our way to Assen, pit passes and all. We drove all the way into the circuit, right next to the paddock and parked up. We found a good spot to watch the procedings on top of the paddock - kinda like rockingham if you've been there. You can see a fair amount of the circuit, plus you are close to the pitlane.
We wandered around a found the bbc hospitality tent. My girlfriend works for the bbc and the motorsport producer is a client of hers - that's how we got the passes. We wanted some food but the waiter went to go and ask someone. That someone was the Assistant Producer, Laura, having lunch with Suzi Perry, Steve Parrish, someone called charlie and the cameraman and soundman. Laura then invited us to sit down and eat with them. That was a bizarre experience - eating with Suzi and Steve. Couldn't work out who the Charlie guy was though - an obvious Aussie but that's all I could guess.
Race day we met up with someone from Suzuki who had been touring america before ending up in the UK. Paul Denning asked him to pick up some fairings for him from his base so he was chuffed to be around. Our spot had gone from yesterday and our access a bit more restricted. On Qualifying day we were alowed in the media centre - a place which had about 40 TV screens and loads of press there. So we needed a back up plan. The Grandstand looked good, but it was sold out. We went over anyway and blagged it - the first two gates they told us to get lost, but the third let us in and gave us wrist bands so we could come and go. We managed to find a spot on the main straight on the grid which was cool especially as we could see a screen too.
The minute it all ended we rushed back to the car to get to Calais and see if we could pick up some cheap booze. We made good time, but alas, the shops shut 10 minutes earlier.
It was a cool weekend, even though I didn't get a sig from Rossi and I couldn't find shakey even though I stalked his pit for a while.
We managed a total a 904 mile round trip in the end and my arse was sore from sitting in the drivers seat the whole time!
