sawtooth
Tour Winner
Sorry for the delay.....
I wanted to say a huge thanks to Mercedes and GM for putting together a trip of a lifetime. I think Mike called it right when he said "one of the best competitions we have ever run".
It all started last Wednesday when I met Jezz and 8 others (pairs from Germany, Italy, Spain and Australia) at the Mercedes HQ at Brooklands. After a bite to eat and a guided tour of the museum we jumped in the GLA's to do some driving skill training on the track. Then did some off-roading which was the first of the scored events. We came 3rd behind Germany and Australia. Jezz and I drove that afternoon to Wimbledon in the GLA that Mercedes gave us for the week. Next day we drove to the London Eye (yes drove!). It took 90 minutes to drive 9 miles
VIP passes to the London Eye insured that we jumped about 400 places in the queue and we entered our private pod and enjoyed a drink and guided tour. After some snaps outside we jumped back in the cars and went across the bridge to a Tozi restaurant for lunch before heading off to Silverstone. We won our first event when Jezz and I showed the others how to manouevre the GLA through a course of cones. UK were winning after 2 events and looking good. Then 2 at a time we were paired off with 2 nutter drivers (Tom Ingram and some matey from Porsche - forget his name) to do a few laps in C63 AMG Mercs. Lots of smoke and tyre squealing:thup:
Next day we headed up to Hillside for the golfing part of the challenge. After a bite to eat we did 18 holes where combined Stableford scores counted. Jezz did OK but I had a bit of mare tbh, we came 3rd behind the Spaniards and Italians. After some more nice food we headed off to Liverpool Docks where we checked into the Staybridge Suites. Next morning with VIP tickets in hand we drove to Hoylake. The Patrons hospitality area was situated halfway up the 18th and was split on 2 levels, downstairs dining area and upstairs lounge area with TV's , bar, buffet. We were waited on hand and foot for 2 days:thup: It was good to meet up with Mike Harris who joined us for a glass of champagne (or two).
We then split up and wandered the course following the golf. It was busy but there were plenty of very good places to stand and watch and get very close to the players. We also had slots to sit in the 18th grandstand for a couple of hours at a time if we wanted.
The two remaining team challenges involved completing 4 disciplines of golf in the HSBC tented village - NTP, LD, bunker and putting in the dark. Jezz lipped out a putt from 30ft and the other putt finished just as close earning 300 pts, the leading score that they had seen all day! The final challenge was a betting challenge where all 5 teams had to nominate 3 players in the Open. Naturally everyone chose Rory as he was leading at that stage, so the tie breakers were the other 2 picks. We chose GMAC and Bjorn , my man Bjorn let me down a bit so we lost valuable points to Spain who had picked Garcia and Rose (I think). Anyway the Spaniards did enough to win overall and we came in second but we did have bragging rights over the German and Australian team which doesnt happen that often.
Mercedes brought with them a camera crew and they took plenty of quality pictures and a few videos (much better than ones I could ever take). In one of the videos we had to turn to the camera and pose for a bit of fun, apologies in advance for the cheesy grins!! The first cut I did a mean look which was laughed at so I think I was still laughing the second time around.
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/t1rypr1e923i78p/AAD3eNQ7yPl5byum4_FPQIV0a
More at twitter, #theopenroadtrip
Top class hospitality from start to finish and wonderful company throughout. It was a thoroughly enjoyable trip and one that I will never forget, there's talk of doing it all again next year so if it happens I urge you all to throw your name in the hat for it. You wont be disappointed if you win!
Thanks again to Mercedes (especially Astrid) and to GM.
Jezz, it was an absolute pleasure and we had some laughs along the way. Cheers.:thup:
I wanted to say a huge thanks to Mercedes and GM for putting together a trip of a lifetime. I think Mike called it right when he said "one of the best competitions we have ever run".
It all started last Wednesday when I met Jezz and 8 others (pairs from Germany, Italy, Spain and Australia) at the Mercedes HQ at Brooklands. After a bite to eat and a guided tour of the museum we jumped in the GLA's to do some driving skill training on the track. Then did some off-roading which was the first of the scored events. We came 3rd behind Germany and Australia. Jezz and I drove that afternoon to Wimbledon in the GLA that Mercedes gave us for the week. Next day we drove to the London Eye (yes drove!). It took 90 minutes to drive 9 miles
VIP passes to the London Eye insured that we jumped about 400 places in the queue and we entered our private pod and enjoyed a drink and guided tour. After some snaps outside we jumped back in the cars and went across the bridge to a Tozi restaurant for lunch before heading off to Silverstone. We won our first event when Jezz and I showed the others how to manouevre the GLA through a course of cones. UK were winning after 2 events and looking good. Then 2 at a time we were paired off with 2 nutter drivers (Tom Ingram and some matey from Porsche - forget his name) to do a few laps in C63 AMG Mercs. Lots of smoke and tyre squealing:thup:Next day we headed up to Hillside for the golfing part of the challenge. After a bite to eat we did 18 holes where combined Stableford scores counted. Jezz did OK but I had a bit of mare tbh, we came 3rd behind the Spaniards and Italians. After some more nice food we headed off to Liverpool Docks where we checked into the Staybridge Suites. Next morning with VIP tickets in hand we drove to Hoylake. The Patrons hospitality area was situated halfway up the 18th and was split on 2 levels, downstairs dining area and upstairs lounge area with TV's , bar, buffet. We were waited on hand and foot for 2 days:thup: It was good to meet up with Mike Harris who joined us for a glass of champagne (or two).
We then split up and wandered the course following the golf. It was busy but there were plenty of very good places to stand and watch and get very close to the players. We also had slots to sit in the 18th grandstand for a couple of hours at a time if we wanted.
The two remaining team challenges involved completing 4 disciplines of golf in the HSBC tented village - NTP, LD, bunker and putting in the dark. Jezz lipped out a putt from 30ft and the other putt finished just as close earning 300 pts, the leading score that they had seen all day! The final challenge was a betting challenge where all 5 teams had to nominate 3 players in the Open. Naturally everyone chose Rory as he was leading at that stage, so the tie breakers were the other 2 picks. We chose GMAC and Bjorn , my man Bjorn let me down a bit so we lost valuable points to Spain who had picked Garcia and Rose (I think). Anyway the Spaniards did enough to win overall and we came in second but we did have bragging rights over the German and Australian team which doesnt happen that often.
Mercedes brought with them a camera crew and they took plenty of quality pictures and a few videos (much better than ones I could ever take). In one of the videos we had to turn to the camera and pose for a bit of fun, apologies in advance for the cheesy grins!! The first cut I did a mean look which was laughed at so I think I was still laughing the second time around.
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/t1rypr1e923i78p/AAD3eNQ7yPl5byum4_FPQIV0a
More at twitter, #theopenroadtrip
Top class hospitality from start to finish and wonderful company throughout. It was a thoroughly enjoyable trip and one that I will never forget, there's talk of doing it all again next year so if it happens I urge you all to throw your name in the hat for it. You wont be disappointed if you win!
Thanks again to Mercedes (especially Astrid) and to GM.
Jezz, it was an absolute pleasure and we had some laughs along the way. Cheers.:thup:
