January 28th, 2011
Helen from the Travel Destinations office, has traded Welwyn Garden City for Florida just in time for the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona. As the race week progresses we hope to bring you more news direct from “our lady in Daytona”:
Thursday 27th January 2011
Following tornado warnings on Tuesday, the weather here in Daytona is now thankfully more akin to what I was hoping for in Florida! Beautiful clear skies, slight breeze and warm sunshine that is forecast to remain over the weekend. That should make for great race viewing for the spectators, but pretty tough for the drivers… I’ve heard it gets pretty hot inside those cars!
Work continues in the Daytona paddock
On my food hunt for anything other than cheese, fries and shrimp, who should I find in Rossellini’s Italian Restaurant but John and Eve; aka “Mr & Mrs Radio Le Mans” – ‘of all the gin joints in all the towns’ etc etc. Both were pretty exhausted having just flown in from the UK, but it was lovely to see them as always – and the food was amazing! If you are here in Daytona and like pasta, you now know where to go.
Motorhome on the infield at Daytona
The track was pretty lively today – huge Rv’s, the size of houses, were parking up. BBQ’s are already on the go on the infield and viewing platforms being secured for the best views of the track. The paddock and garage area was the usual hive of activity as the teams prepared their cars for the weekend with tyres, race fuel and spares being whizzed around on golf buggies.
Friday will be a great build up to the race with autograph sessions etc. at the circuit. I’ll bring you more soon.
H.
November 19th, 2010
The Classic Motor Show took place at the NEC, Birmingham from the 12th – 14th November and as always the Travel Destinations team were all present on our stand next to the main entrance in Hall 4. This show is often described as the last car event of the season, and for many it is, but for us it really is the beginning of next season. Over the years the Classic Motor Show has been the show at which we launch our new tours and events brochure for the following year. The 2010 show was no exception with the launch of our 2011 Tours and Events brochure alongside the official launch of our re-designed website www.traveldestinations.co.uk, of which this blog is a part.
Travel Destinations Stand before the Classic Motor Show
Shows of this scale are always a big undertaking for companies like us, as staff, stands, audio and visual equipment and of course the new brochure are transported from the office to the NEC. Setting up on Thursday evening gives particpants a chance to wander the show without the crowds and take in a few of the exceptional car exhibits up close. A quick tip for all exhibitors here, get the number of a good local pizza delivery company, so that you can have pizza delivered while setting up! You will soon find that your exhibiting neighbours are good friends!
Friday was very busy on the Travel Destinations stand and it set the tone for the rest of the weekend. It is always good to be approached by a new customer for more information on Le Mans, the Nurburgring or Spa. Even better if they are returning customer wanting to something again with you. Friday was a day full of these people, with many car club members and motorsport fans popping by to say hello and pick up the new brochure.
MG Owners' Club at the Classic Motor Show
Of course we had lots of new things to talk about for 2011. The 24 hours of Le Mans is always the favourite, but other endurance races are now also getting a look in. The Nurburgring 24 is clearly going to be a popular event, and Spa 24 will not be far behind. We already have quite a few bookings for Florida next year, particularly for the Rolex 24 at Daytona and a few now for the American Le Mans Series opener at Sebring.
For historic motor racing fans looking for a 2011 event in the absence of the Le Mans Classic, the offers to the Oldtimer Grand Prix at the Nurburgring and the new Spa Classic have shown lots of early interest. The Oltimer Grand Prix will be helping celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Jaguar E-Type in 2011 so will no doubt attract a large British audience, and the brand new Spa Classic is going to be a hit. It was great to see the race organisers spending some time on our stand on Saturday.
GT40 Enthusiasts' Club
So what is my personal recommendation for a must do in 2011?
Of course I would like to do everything, but after the success of the driving experience at the Nurburgring in 2010, then I will be first in the queue for 2011. If you like to drive your car then you will love this event. Taking your car on to the skid pan at the professional driving school for one to one tuition from a local racing driver, before experiencing the Nordschleife in the hands of driver from one of the local test centres. It is an amazing weekend, but don’t take my word for it; one of our customers has already contributed to this blog.
A crowd gathers at the Travel Destinations stand
So the Classic Motor Show was a great weekend. If you came by to see us, thank you, it was great to see you. If you missed us or couldn’t make the show, then we are returning to the NEC in January for the Autosport show (Stand 6610) so please do come along.
Travel Destinations' 2011 Tours and Events Brochure
November 2nd, 2010
After another of our group returned from our “Nurburgring Drivers Experience” we received the following letter.
We don’t often publish this sort of thing, but we thought you might like to know how our customers got on:
Dear Richard and Ben,
Just a quick note to thank you for our Nurburgring Experience this weekend.
As you would have been aware the experience was a gift to me from my wife Anne, after she decided to treat me to a trip where I could take my Austin Healey around the Nordschleife.
The help and advice your company gave me right from the outset was invaluable; as my choice of car for the event was a 1964 Austin Healey 3000, I was delighted with the enthusiasm you expressed at me choosing to bring a more aged vehicle; especially as we were to be by far the oldest and potentially slowest on the event that weekend.
Austin Healey on the Nurburgring skid pan
The trip through Europe to the hotel was a real pleasure, your recommended choice of route was excellent; particularly when I compare it to the Satnav route I chose to follow on the return home! We did take the opportunity of stopping at Monschau as advised; it was a beautiful small town tucked out of the way and the perfect place for a bite to eat and a stretch of the legs for an hour or so.
As we neared close to the Nordschleife at 5.30 on the Friday evening, we took the opportunity to call in and see the track. Once there the atmosphere was so electric and contagious we could not resist the chance of taking the Healey around the famed 20km. The blast around the Nordschleife will go down on my list of “must things to do” for anyone with even a drop of petrol in their blood. With the roof down and Anne shrieking words of encouragement beside me, we flew around the track with all my dreams of racing glory coming true around me, albeit we were overtaken by every Porsche, BMW and motorbike in the Eifel region it was still a wonderful experience.
Once we had calmed down and reduced the size of the ecstatic smiles on our faces, we made our way to the hotel.
This was such a good choice, set in a beautiful location away from the hustle and bustle of the day. It was great to feel that we were staying in a family run German hotel as opposed the standard branded hotel that we all know from our trips to any major town or city.
As I had now completed all my personal goals for the weekend; a pleasant drive through three countries, lunch in a beautiful old town, dinner with a few beers in nice hotel and most importantly a first lap of the Nordschleife, I was totally open minded as to how the rest of the trip could go.
David & Anne's Austin Healey
But please may I thank both of you for the organisation and the Nurburgring for providing a truly amazing day on the Saturday, the skid pan training and road exercises were brilliant. This day was way beyond my expectations, the level of tuition by Wolfgang Kauffman our instructor for the day was suburb. The endless encouragement and enthusiasm put into the day’s activities was above and beyond anything I have experienced in the UK. The day was perfectly split into the differing activities and was the perfect match of being both hugely informative; learning the capabilities of your own cars performance and handling, as well as being above all else massively good entertainment. To have the opportunity to push my both myself and car to the limits and above in such a well set up safe environment was tremendous. Please pass on our thanks to Wolfgang, the attention he gave to each car was exceptional and his advice and witty remarks helped make for a wonderful day.
Your company and humour on the Saturday evening made the tour dinner go with suitable aplomb and the hotel’s service and food where to a very high standard. The Sunday’s tour of the Jaguar Test Centre was a nice end to the weekend with the lap of the Nordschleife in the hands of their test driver being a truly awe inspiring and humbling experience. Your efforts at ensuring that we got back to our car in order for us to make a reasonably timed get away were much appreciated.
Once again may I thank you both for a fantastic trip to Nurburgring, which I shall be recommending to everyone as an absolutely unmissable experience in whatever car you may have.
Many Thanks
David an Anne Jones
If you would like to experience a weekend at the Nurburgring please call us on (0844) 873 0203. Due to the amount of one to one tuition given spaces are strictly limited, so please book early to avoid disappointement.
October 14th, 2010
We are pleased to introduce our new look website www.traveldestinations.co.uk. We hope that you enjoy the new look and enjoy exploring all the new events and tours.
The new look website from Travel Destinations
We have extended the news section on the home page to ensure that you don’t miss out on new tours, featured races or results from around the world. For breaking news we have introduced a new Twitter feed so that followers can keep up to date with events from around the world.
Our events calendar will enable the full year’s programme to be viewed at a glance, or for those that want to find a particular event our scrolling logo banner will take you direct to the appropriate homepage.
Behind the scenes news from here at Travel Destinations, our own experiences from events and exhibitions around the world will be featured on our new blog. This will also be available for guests, friends and customers to write about events that they have attended.
As ever we appreciate all your feedback. If you would like to write something for our blog, or comment on our new look website, please do email us at info@traveldestinations.co.uk
We hope that you all find something of interest for you on the webaite and that you are able to join us at some special events in the year ahead. We look forward to seeing you soon.
