Power Days 300 – Germany, The Never Ending Day

Germany Day 1 – The Never Ending Day…..

As with any great adventure, there are usually several behind-the-scenes stories that are rarely told.  The RDC media staff (which also includes BJ Baldwin and his crew) had already endured a full day and evening of travel when our German escapades began to take shape.  After missing our connecting flight from London to Berlin we arrived in Germany a few hours behind schedule and nearly 16 hours after boarding our plane at LAX.

Surprisingly we cleared customs at lightning speed and were able to get our rental car just as fast.  Unfortunately, this would turn out to be the easiest and simpliest part of our day.  We loaded our gear and luggage into Mercedes’ answer to the minivan and headed out on another three hour trek to our hotel in the town of Bautzen.  True to form, BJ Baldwin insisted on driving.

Arriving at the hotel tired and hungry it was obvious that a shower, sleep and food were not in our immediate future.  We quickly unloaded the contents of the van into our respective rooms and decided to scout out the location of the Baja Power Days 300 event.  Normally, this would seem like a fairly simple task given our savvy at finding random Baja pit locations…but tonight it was a different story.

Awake for well over 24 hours and nearing a delirious exhaustion we set out on our mission to locate the track.  The enterprising office “ninjas” programmed the GPS units with the hotel and event addresses prior to our European departure but we quickly discovered the alleged track location was in fact a quaint little cottage on a cobblestone residential road.  What started out as quick trip to get the “lay of the land” (and to ensure the cargo container with BJ’s Trophy Truck arrived safely) actually turned into a misguided four hour adventure leading us through the eerie backwoods of the Northern German countryside and providing us a unique tour of an obscure power plant in the middle of nowhere.

Driving around in circles for several hours the boys finally (gasp!) asked for directions from any local who had the unfortunate experience of crossing our path.  “Do you speak English?” BJ would ask.  The answers varied anywhere from complete ignorance of our existence to “Sort of” followed by directions that included details such as “follow the tall trees and turn right onto the dirt road…”  By the way, there are a lot of trees and dirt roads here.  At one point we handed a crude map to one of the locals and tried to use internationally recognized hand gestures to convey our message – but our efforts reaped little success.  After three hours we had made absolutely no progress in locating the track.

In one final attempt, we decided to backtrack to the quaint little cottage and retrace our steps looking for any possible mistake in our path.  As luck would have it, there was a very helpful young man sitting outside on his porch who just happened to answer “Yes” when BJ asked for the umpteenth time “Do you speak English?”  Even more surprising, the kid knew exactly what we were looking for and had a friend “just down the way” who knew exactly how to locate the event.

In a welcoming and hospitable manner reminiscent of our amigos in Baja, this quiet young man jumped in his car and led us over to the house where his friend in-the-know resided.  After exchanging awkward greetings our newfound duo of friends hopped back in their car and led us through another series of creepy tree-lined roads in search for our hopeful promise land.  Finally, four hours after we departed our hotel on this journey (and nearly 30 hours after waking up), our new compadres were able to successfully lead us to the track.

Driving into the facility under a midnight veil of stars we could see the enormity of this project come into focus.  As the headlights lit up the massive expanse in front of our stylish van we were surprised by the complexity and the uniqueness of the track design.  Needless to say, we were duly impressed by the scope and the logistical undertaking Armin Schwartz and his staff had embraced in hopes of bringing American off-road racing to the German market.

BJ – with his ever present boyish-curiosity – was anxious to scope out the track and locate his Cracker Jack box shipping container with the Trophy Truck prize inside.  As we approached the dirt ramps leading down into the arena the temptation to take the van on a joyride around the rally-style track was impossible to resist.  Buckling up and bracing for the steep incline, we all egged on BJ as he proved to us once again why no one should ever purchase a rental vehicle as a daily driver.

After pre-running accessible portions of the course our fun came to an abrupt halt when we were chased down by six angry security guards yelling at us in German.  Exiting the track, we politely apologized for our shenanigans and of course, inquired whether or not BJ’s truck had arrived.  Accepting our humble regrets, the security staff led us over to the same maroon colored shipping container that had left the Baldwin race shop less than a week after the controversial Baja 500.

Satisfied with the accomplishments of our day(s) the group consensus was that we were all in a desperate need of food and even more noticeably – showers!  We loaded up in the van and headed back towards our hotel.  At this late hour it was obvious our search for food would probably be as futile as us trying to locate the event without the help of a local.

Just when we had resigned ourselves to dining on minibar snacks we spotted a brightly lit oasis in the middle of a quiet little town.  Entering the establishment haggard and looking like hell, we begged the barmaid to re-open the kitchen.  Once again we experienced the same hospitality and generosity Baja has become known for amongst the off-road racing community.  Within minutes of our arrival we had a round of frothy adult beverages sitting on the table and food was on its way.  However frustrating and long our first day in Germany may have been, the experience and the adventures of the day made the exhaustion completely worthwhile and we all look forward to reporting back on our continuing adventures…..stay tuned!

[Show as slideshow]