bret

A couple of points I wanted to remind / bring up. 1. There has been a change in the rules on length of trucks here. There is now a variant called "LONG". This is *always* marked with "PITKÄ" at the rear of the truck. These can be up to 34.5m long, which is a full 9m longer than the "standard" trailer + half. 2. I will edit a version of the roadbook to include the times I've agreed with Aki. I will see how it works for me on Friday - S has school until 12, so I may not be able to join until after Kar de Mumma. Alternative Route suggestions for the adventurous: - for some real backroads, try Lahti - Asikkala - Kalkkila - Nuoramoinen and then back towards the 4. - for the "other" version of reality, go from Joutsa to Kangasniemi and then through to Pieksämäki. You rejoin the 9 a little too far north for Tiina, or you take anotehr back road. Currently south of Lahti everything is grey, the snow starts at Lahti and it gets Wintry above Jyväskylä. - Bret

So. Zeiten-email ist raus. Trackmeister ist *sehr* zufrieden. 30cm Eis, einiges an Schnee, noch mehr kommt dazu. 2 Tracks, ein Donut *und* freifläche / 300m langen gerade. Ich bin erstmals morgen und Dienstag in Schweden, erwarte dass es ein richtig gutes Wochenend wird. - Bret

Korrekt. Trackmeister hatte am meisten Sorgen wegen fehlenden Trackmarkierungsmöglichkeiten, da nix schnee auf'm Eis. Eis selber gab's genug, und jetzt eine Woche dauerfrost wird alles schön durchfrieren. 10cm oder so sind bis Freitag angesagt, das ist sehr gut so. Werd' sowieso mit ihm nochmals heute oder morgen sprechen. Muss mit Aki wegen Zeiten sprechen, das kommt dazu. - Bret

as of 22nd, the forecasts all agree it will get cold. How cold is another question... yr currently state around -6, which would be good. https://www.yr.no/place/Finland/Eastern_Finland/Vesanto/long.html fmi agrees: https://ilmatieteenlaitos.fi/saa/vesanto?forecast=long .. and then foreca is similar: https://www.foreca.fi/Finland/Vesanto/15vrk Let's see what happens. A few days of plus will not cause us too many problems. - Bret

all of your registrations are with Aki (I asked for a list earlier and got one), with the exception of Madcek. The group size is compact this year, with around 10-15 cars, I will work on that one in the next days. - Bret

I got a picture from Trackmeister yesterday of the Beetle on the ice. He reports 28cm ice. It was seriously cold Thursday evening and Friday, that's helped a lot. As far as he is concerned, we are good to go. There is only one minor problem (which is mine and his): there's no snow on the ice to mark out a track. That's great news for the ice thickness as it will get thicker faster with no insulation, but it does mean we would actually like *some* snow in the next week or so, If you haven't already booked with Aki and want to join, please do so. - Bret

naja, vielleicht wird's doch noch was: ab nächstes Wochenend dürfte es merklich kühler werden.... - Bret

@pocoloco you should have email shortly. the rest? Let's see what happens. I will chat with Aki again in a week or two to finalize some ideas for Plan B. - Bret

we went through this in some detail last year: for him, the quad is an option, and it's the easiest one, but slow; the small tractor is the next good option and a lot faster. Also: with weight pushed onto the ice via the plough, there's a better distribution than just on the wheels... I went through this in detail over Christmas with a relative and I'm astounded at the level of ingenuity I hear about to get the ice clear as early as possible. - Bret

agreed. I spoke with Trackmeister earlier, he appears to have the track free so it can ice. But there's still only 10cm, which isn't really enough. We will talk again soon. He is still hopeful that there will be a track and it will be driveable. I will try to get hold of Aki tomorrow, it's a public holiday here. - Bret

habe ein Termin mit Trackmeister um den Trackzustand zu besprechen morgen. Wenn er das geschafft hat vor 2 Wochen auszugraben, dürfte es noch gehen. Sonst wird's knapp; -8 ist gut aber mehr wäre sehr nützlich. Iisvesi und Pielävesi haben genug - 16 bzw. 23cm - aber er will sicherlich 30cm sehen. Weiches Eis hilft uns auch nur bedingt. -5 Nachts und Tagsüber 0 geht halbwegs, denn das Wasser ist schon kühl. Aber viel dicker wird der Eisschicht dadurch nicht. Ich melde mich nachdem ich mit ihm gesprochen habe. - Bret

ja, passt. calling @HellSoldier und noch ein paar anderen... - Bret

finally got hold of him. He seems to think he has 12-14 registrations, which is about right according to my calculations. In other words, your emails have arrived even if you haven't got the replies back yet. - Bret

hmm. I did not get time to talk to him today, I will try tomorrow morning. - Bret

ok. I tried to call him the other day, he did not yet call me back. I will try to find time tomorrow. In other news, I was wondering about the ice situation - it looks like Iisvesi already has 9 cm, which is *really* good. 17cm snow also already at Vesanto, here there's just a sprinkling. Happy I'm not travelling again until probably early January.... - Bret

Wetter hier im Süden inzwischen voll auf Winter eingestellt. Noch schwankt es zwischen + und -, aber nicht viel. Eissituation ist noch "normal", sprich noch gar keiner, aber das wird sich auch noch ändern. Newbies herzlich willkommen! - Bret

i will post that to Aki shortly. Try myynti@lohimaa.fi. - Bret

Stimmt. Sollte so heissen; Freitag: Dinner verfügbar @ €20 wer es so will. Montag Dinner @€20 wer es so will Paket @ €150: Samstag: Frühstück, Kaffee, Lunch, Kaffee, Dinner Sonntag: Frühstück, Kaffee, Lunch, Kaffee, Dinner Montag Frühstück bzw. Dienstag Frühstück Gründsätzlich ist nichts an den Preisen geändert worden von 2019. - Bret

hä? ich war in Casablanca wieder und habe keine Info gehabt... und kaum Netz, aber das ist ein anderes Problem gewesen. Zeit war das grösste Problem. Anyways: Hello! So the details are in for ITXX, Ice Track 2020, and they look like this. Time: 1+2.2.2020 Place: Lohimaa - www.lohimaa.fi - Lohitie 701, 72210 Tervo Track is at Vesanto Pricing: Price is made up of food package, track time and accommodation. Food packages: Basic: Saturday Breakfast, morning coffee, lunch, afternoon coffee, dinner. Sunday breakfast, morning coffee, lunch, afternoon coffee. €130. You can add dinner Friday, Sunday and Monday to these if you desire at a cost of €20 each. Track time is €200 per car. If you have two people in the car, you still only pay for one car on track. Accommodation: Log and Main building €55 per person per night. Taimenvirta - newest building - €60 per person per night. Timing details: Track time will start at 0900 Saturday and run through to 1700. Sunday the same. The track is around 30 minutes from the accommodation. There will be a group driving up from Helsinki on Friday, probably hitting La Kar De Mumma (Hartola) at 1200, and then meeting again at Tiinan Tupa and regrouping in Tervo. We would expect to be at Tervo at around 1730-1800. To book your place on this experience, send an email to info@lohimaa.fi with the following information: - Names of those on the reservation - Postal Address - Arrival date - Departure date - Accommodation wish - Log, Main or Taimenvirta More details will be made available in the road book in the near future. Thanks! - Bret

DEFA ist echt nicht schlecht - mein Stecker ist unten neben Nebelscheinwerferaufnahme. Da fällts nicht so einfach auf. Die haben auch ein 4A Ladegerät im Programm. - Bret

Sehr gut! Also: i am still superbusy at work. I had hoped for a complete week in Finland next week, but no, I will be back in Casablanca Thursday-Friday. Then I have a week of training, then it's out to Abu Dhabi, then it's the week before Christmas.... I have to call Aki tomorrow. The 1+2 Feb looks really good; we are at least the 8 above plus Mikael, Mikael, Pekka, Alex, and Joao; I expect Petu and a couple of others to join, too. Several colleagues from the new company have also expressed interest, let's see how this goes. I intend to sort the basics on the booking with Aki tomorrow and then I will post instructions. - Bret

Hello, yes, I've been super-busy with work. It has calmed down some this week (and I'm only away for two days next week, with the entire week after in Finland!) so I will put some time into this over the next days. I have no idea how this can work in the future, I am just so busy travelling that I'm focusing on family and self first. I will come back with more information as I have it. - Bret

Stimmt, Sonntag war wichtig, danke für die Erinnerung. Freitag werde ich noch klären, dürfte auch möglich sein. - Bret

Hello, a quick update as to what's happening with ITXX. I've been really busy with work - I was away most of last week - so updates are a little later than I'd hoped. I will be running two weekends of track time this winter. The first - 25+26 Jan 2020 - is aimed at newbies and locals. I'm hoping for some coaches to step forward to help these really find their feet on the track. We'll focus far more on the basics of car control that session. Both weekends are confirmed with Lohimaa. The second weekend - 1+2 Feb 2020 - will be more "business as usual", so two days of ice driving practice. I have requested the donut circle again and also an additional "freifläche", so a clear area which can be used for elk tests, slalom and other stuff as appropriate. Pricing-wise, I believe we are at the same level as last year, but have not yet confirmed accommodation pricing with Lohimaa. I understand that there was unhappiness with the quality of food offered last year - and that was acknowledged by Lohimaa with improvements promised. I expect no price increase on this front but a quality improvement. That means we're at €55 / 60 per night per person (depending on your accommodation choice), €200 per car for track and another €130 or so for the food package, which includes breakfasts, 2 x lunch, 4 x coffee breaks, and dinner on Saturday night. I will attempt to confirm pricing this week. As it stands, the limit on cars really ought to be 25. I believe we are close to that for the second weekend. Please let me know if you have any questions - Bret

... ein S-Cross (auch mit Fronttrieb und 1.0 Turbo) kommt auf 180mm Bodenfreiheit. Finde €1500 ein happigen Preis für ein Höherlegung. Und ja, Spidan, andere Untersetzer... da kommst du schon 20-30mm höher. Mein Auto ist 50mm tiefer und fahre trotzdem Schotter und "Feldwege". EDS ist auch nicht das letzte Wort, aber es ist ja etwas älter. - Bret