Help!!!!! Any England Viper Club Members Live Near Heathrow Airport!!!!!

[MGWLTD]

HEY GUYS,

i am hoping to beg borrow and plead for anybody that lives close to london heathrow aiport to help a fellow viper club member out!!!!

i am flying into heathrow next saturday at noon and renting a car to drive up to norfolk to attend the lotus racing school sunday

i have NEVER been to england and am a bit worried that i may not get around too well getting out of heathrow. if anybody lives nearby that would not mind maybe a short travel escort to get me on the right path i would greatly appreicate it and surely would love to reward you for your kindness with some viper goodies fromj my shop!!! MGW LTD., INC. - CNC Machined and Turned Parts. Accessories for the Corvette, Mustang, and Viper

my main worry is actually driving BACK to heathrow from norfolk as i have a flight leaving at 10:30 in the morning monday to germany and its about 145 miles from norfolk to heathrow according to mapquest and i have no idea about traffic times spped limits travel times delays etc. i dont want to miss my flight by leavinhg too late . i have to return the rental car and such.


if anybody can offer any help please email me at mgwltd@mgwltd.com or call me anytime

regards
george ciamillo

[VIPER BAZ UK]

Hay George
Whats the Dates?????

[Neil - UK]

Hi George

ill post this info on our main UK club forum for you, Heathrow is situated as you can guess on the busiest and most overcrowded highway in the country, the M25, i drive quite regularly it doesnt really what matter what time your on it, its always very busy espicially around peak work times and monday mornings, as a lot of commuters travel in. The airport is only about 15 minutes from it, its a huge 3 lane (each way) sort of circular road that encompasses a big area around london and it suburbs, you need to make sure you travel the right way around, im guessing clockwise

driving on the wrong side of the road maybe a little daunting to if you havent experienced that as well. I suggest you get a hire car with sat nav to save you a lot of hassle

happy MGW customer
Neil

[MGWLTD]

Sooooo.....

any of you guys want to earn a few hundred bucks driving me to lotus and back hahaha.... SERIOUSLY!!!

i arrive at noon on saturday august 9th at haethrow and have to be back at heathrow from norfolk for a 10:30 flight monday august 11th morning so i am guessing i need to be at the airport about 830.


regaqrds
george

[JonB - PartsRack]

George, I have made that same exact drive, Heathrow-Hethel-Heathrow to Lotus.

UK drivers respect lane useage a LOT better than US drivers, and I did not see bumper-to-bumper crawl as in USA. Steady and slow creep, faster than crawl! Getting OUT is easier than getting back in. The tiny, poorly-marked 1-lane road at Hethel into Lotus is easy to miss.

Even after a week of roundabouts, the rental car return area versus terminal area was a bit confusin. And you want to check in 2 hours early !!!!! Maybe come in Sunday PM from hethel and stay in airport hotel, ditch the rental, less traffic Sunday PM. Hotel van to LHR.....Have brekky at airport. Relax. PS they dont speak 'mericun-georgun there.....they speeks IN-glish.....

Too bad you have only 48 hours in England! The scenic tourist-historic stuff is the other direction from Norfolk...

GET A GPS in your RENTAL !!! Germany too.........

[VIPER BAZ UK]

OH BUGGER!!!!!!!!!! And i'm not even an hour away......
If it was the weekend before i could of helped you out but Sam has her bike lessons from then for a week...

Its realy not that bad even easier if you have GPS....

[Fatboy 18]

Check your email

Fatboy 18
2000 Dodge Viper GTS

[Fatboy 18]

George, See you Saturday. All being well i will try to meet you with the GTS.

[ViperGTS]

LOL - so have FUN in Europe and where are you going to in Germany?

Another, happy MGW customer!
Markus

[MGWLTD]

Originally Posted by ViperGTS

LOL - so have FUN in Europe and where are you going to in Germany?

Another, happy MGW customer!
Markus

I fly into hamburg on monday and am taking a train down to nurnberg and then going up to the island of fohr in the north sea to visit some friends there too. its gonna be a busy week!!!!


george

[MGWLTD]

i tried to find your city on the map markus and could not . are you near nurnberg??


george

[ViperGTS]

:-) Chiemgau is not a city, George - it is an "area" southeast of MUNICH, halfway to Salzburg in Austria. There is the largest Lake of Bavaria/Germany (if you forget Lake Constance, being split between Switzerland, Austria and Germany)...a little lesson in geography...if you would be in Munich, we could meet, but Nuernberg is a little off!

[2000_Black_RT10]

I fly into England occassionally for work, spent 2 months there recently.. so here's my observations as a visitor.. (or rather a guest meeting good folks like Neil).. I'm not familair with VCA id's that much, fatboy_18, did I meet you along with Neil?

Getting out of the Heathrow terminal is done.. since you're getting a rental, you only have to walk outside of the terminal to jump on a rental car shuttle at the curbside, just look for the AVIS, Budget or whatever shuttle to take you to their depot which is about 5 - 10 minutes away, so the nice thing is that you are then out of the airport terminal via the shuttle.

The rental car company has a handout map to showing you how to get to the M25, easy enough.. couple round-a-bouts, and my tip for you is to look down, the specific lanes in the round-a-bouts have the exit name painted on them, i.e. M25E or M25W, you'll be going East towards Norfolk. Learn the cities you are going towards, most other road signs thereon have the city for the direction, not North or South etc.. For the previous round-a-bouts leading up to the M25, look for signs with (M25), brackets around M25 means this is the route to the M25 on-ramps. Remember if you miss the needed exit on a round-a-bout, keep going around, you have infinite amount of chances (or until you run out of fuel) to get the correct exit, don't panic..

10:30 am flight out is something to be aware of, you definitely want to miss rush hour traffic, M25 is a parking lot during rush hour just as Neil mentions, so I'd get on the M25 a few hours prior, you can lose an hour or more on the very easily. Good thing is that you return the rental at their depot and get a shuttle ride to your terminal doorstep.

Have fun driving on the other side of the road, if you haven't done it before, it's not bad, just take your time, people are relatively polite on the roads over there..
Mike

[MGWLTD]

Originally Posted by 2000_Black_RT10

I fly into England occassionally for work, spent 2 months there recently.. so here's my observations as a visitor.. (or rather a guest meeting good folks like Neil).. I'm not familair with VCA id's that much, fatboy_18, did I meet you along with Neil?

Getting out of the Heathrow terminal is done.. since you're getting a rental, you only have to walk outside of the terminal to jump on a rental car shuttle at the curbside, just look for the AVIS, Budget or whatever shuttle to take you to their depot which is about 5 - 10 minutes away, so the nice thing is that you are then out of the airport terminal via the shuttle.

The rental car company has a handout map to showing you how to get to the M25, easy enough.. couple round-a-bouts, and my tip for you is to look down, the specific lanes in the round-a-bouts have the exit name painted on them, i.e. M25E or M25W, you'll be going East towards Norfolk. Learn the cities you are going towards, most other road signs thereon have the city for the direction, not North or South etc.. For the previous round-a-bouts leading up to the M25, look for signs with (M25), brackets around M25 means this is the route to the M25 on-ramps. Remember if you miss the needed exit on a round-a-bout, keep going around, you have infinite amount of chances (or until you run out of fuel) to get the correct exit, don't panic..

10:30 am flight out is something to be aware of, you definitely want to miss rush hour traffic, M25 is a parking lot during rush hour just as Neil mentions, so I'd get on the M25 a few hours prior, you can lose an hour or more on the very easily. Good thing is that you return the rental at their depot and get a shuttle ride to your terminal doorstep.

Have fun driving on the other side of the road, if you haven't done it before, it's not bad, just take your time, people are relatively polite on the roads over there..
Mike

ABSOLUTELY EXCELLENT ADVICE MIKE!!!!

i think with Mark meeting me and getting me on the right path things will be just fine. thanks guys. amazing this club isnt it. you always have a friend it seems no matter where on the globe you go!!!!

long live the VCA!!!!!!!


GEORGE

[Fatboy 18]

I dont think we have met Mike, Ive known Neil for some time when a friend of mine had a Gen1 RT/10 which I used to borrow now and again, I joined the VCA earlier this year having just imported my 2000 red/silver stripe GTS. I did go to the Luton lunch earlier in the year, but I dont think you were there? This club is great though, Im always willing to help out a club member if I can
Heres a pic of my Viper and a very happy Fatboy 18 picking up my car at the docks.

[VIPER BAZ UK]

Good to speak to you George....

Have a GREAT time here in the UK...

[2000_Black_RT10]

Originally Posted by Fatboy 18

I dont think we have met Mike, Ive known Neil for some time when a friend of mine had a Gen1 RT/10 which I used to borrow now and again, I joined the VCA earlier this year having just imported my 2000 red/silver stripe GTS. I did go to the Luton lunch earlier in the year, but I dont think you were there? This club is great though, Im always willing to help out a club member if I can
Heres a pic of my Viper and a very happy Fatboy 18 picking up my car at the docks.

Nice lil' racey & red GTS, you're right we didn't meet.... yet...

For the Lotus fans.. the company I work at hired on the boss of Lotus engineering, you can see that on our corp web site on the main page (scroll down) www.multimatic.com or maybe www.dynamicsuspensions.com We have an office in Thetford.

Not a problem MGW, what goes around comes around is my motto, and the VCA site is great for that type of fellowship.

[Fatboy 18]

Well George arrived today, I met him at Heathrow Airport as requested. We drove to the Rental car office passing the Hangers, We went past one of the last remaining Concords parked on the tarmac. We then set off for Lotus! The M25 was a total car park, but once we got on the M11 things got a bit easyer. I had not planed to take George all the way to his destination, but the poor guy looked realy tired and I could not leave a fellow Viper member coping with english roads and a right hand drive car! The biggest downer of the day was taking the Viper out of the garage only to put it back in the garage 5mins later as the heavens opened up and the rain came down for the rest of the day!
Thanks for the Bits George

[MGWLTD]

Mark all i can say is.....




you are the man!!!

it was waaayy beyond nice for you to drive me all the way up to the lotus plant. i really appreciaite it!!!! man the racing school was a blast!!! you should check it out!!!

again thanks for your hopsitality and watch for a small package coming your way!!!

regards
george

[Fatboy 18]

Sorry we didnt have time for a bit of Lunch and a chat, That M25 was the worst Ive ever seen it I hope you enjoyed your Vacation, It was Great to meet you George Thanks again for the bits, the car realy looks great inside now.

[VIPER BAZ UK]

Glad you had a great time George......