MarriedBlonde
Active Member
- Joined
- Jul 9, 2006
- Messages
- 961
- Location
- Sunny South Coast (Nr southampton)
- Car
- C63 AMG Coupe/ML350 Cdi Sport/69 vw Bus
Evening all,
I know Le Mans was over a week ago but I have only just got round to writing a thread on the subject.
This year Le Mans was a bit of a funny one for me, I normally love the lead up to the trip, prepping the car and finalising the arrangements, getting all the camping gear (making sure there is enough beer and meet in the cool boxes!).
This year there was a personal dark cloud hanging over the trip as my mother was terminally ill.
I had already changed the travel arrangement to go over to France Thursday night instead of early Thursday morning so I could spend as much time at home as possible.
Now I know you are all thinking heartless b’stard but when I suggested cancelling my family holiday at the end of May my mum went nuts. My father went nuts and because of this both my sisters went nuts. All at me... So it was never an option to not go. I had a chat with the rest of the family and we all agreed the best thing to do was for me to go.
My mother passed away at 13.55 on the afternoon I was due to leave.
Statistics of the trip:
Miles covered: 283
Fuel used: over 2 tanks.
MPG for the trip from the ferry to Le Mans: 20mpg
MPG whilst messing around in Lemans 10mpg
Beers drunk: Way too many
Meat eaten: again far too much.
Fun had: Huge amounts.
Preparation:
I spoke to Phil at Rebellion Automotive to see if wanted to use my car as a bill board for the trip down, I usually sticker my car and fancied something a bit different.
After meeting Phil in person for a chat it was decided that my car would make a suitable bill board for his company.
A deal was struck and I agreed to let my car go in for graphics and Eurocharged would remap my car just before the trip.
I dropped my car off Wednesday morning for the graphics to be applied and returned later in the day to be greeted by this very happy with the way they looked!!!!:
Whilst at the graphics place I met up with Phil who sorted out the Eurocharged remap, I had met Phil before to agree what we would do with the car, it was a quick chat and lasted over a couple of hours. To say he is enthusiastic about what he does for a living is an understatement. Needless to say I was quite happy in the knowledge my car was in safe hands!
Start of the remap
Hmmm should I be concerned... Inoperative see owners manual...
After the remap it was time for a quick test drive.
Not sure if you can get to this link on Facebook, if not I will download and upload somewhere public.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=585991951440725&set=vb.176078189190179&type=2&theater
So to the test drive. Initial thoughts. Anyone thinking of having this done I would say go for it. I have read countless threads on the web regarding remapping the C63 so was a little apprehensive if I would be that impressed. I cannot comment on any of the others but the EC remap is definitely noticeable. From the note it makes when you start it, the pops and cackles when you rev it.
Pulling away in C mode the engine is a lot more lively. Stick it in Sport mode and the car flies. I agree that the biggest gains are in the upper rev ranges, before the power would level off at around 4K but now you can feel there is more there until the redline. So much so I have had to recalibrate my gear changes in manual mode as for the first few days I kept hitting the rev limiter in the lower gears as I wasn’t changing gear quick enough..
Drive in the wet with the TC set in sport mode, second and third gear, hit 4500rpm and the rears light up.
The engine note has changed through out the rev range and sounds amazing.
To Le Mans
I‘ve been going to Le Mans for the last 6 years and have always booked through the same company, speedchills. As I said earlier I would normally travel down on the Thursday morning but decided to go on the over night ferry. The crossing was easy but arriving on the Friday lunchtime you miss out on the Friday morning open pit lance.
Few pics of the car (I am loving the graphics, just loading up)
The drive down was nice and smooth, may have had a few little dust ups with some other machinery away from tolls booths and roundabouts etc. The engine performed brilliantly and even managed to get 20mpg (the same as before the remap)
The best bit with the remap is using the manual mode to drop down the gears and getting the car to pop. The novelty still hasn’t warn off.
I spent pretty much all of Friday afternoon enjoying the le mans Friday. I may have performed a few burn outs….
First beer in Le Mans (not me my co driver)
Campsite
I am getting old so don’t park at the circuit… I park a few minutes outside of le mans in le pont romains. Lovely site that is nice and clean. Although this year the heated pool was shut
Few pics of Camp Rebellion
Back at the campsite and enjoying those that backed the trip...
we may have cained the JB...
And my mate may not be quite up to the drinking as he used to be, note it is still daylight
The race itself had its good and bad points.. Enough has been said on this and the unfortunate crash within the first few laps.
The last 3 hours of the race were pretty entertaining with the rain coming and going and only raining on half the track!!!!
All over for another year
catalogue pose
Co pilot
General comments on the race. It was the busiest I have ever seen it. I think the organisers have got greedy and over sold the car parking. I park in rouge each year as I think it is the best parking site so you can get back to your car and change viewing points (I like to be at the end of mulsane straight when it gets dark for example) and this year even though I arrived at mid day the car park was already over flowing. Complete nightmare to park.
Prices for everything had gone up. The beer at the track seemed to taste even more watered down than usual. The playstation display was a disappointment after last years totty fest.
The drive home
Just packing up at the campsite
The drive home was uneventful, there seemed to be very few police around. But having been stopped 2 years ago and being given a 750 euro on the spot cash fine I do tend to keep the speed down a little.
When I arrived at the port I was encouraged to have a bit of fun by one of the police, only to be stopped a few feet later, asked to step out of the car and given a bollocking by one of his colleagues and told if I do it again they will give me a ticket.
So all in all a great trip, loving the remap. I will back again next year.
I know Le Mans was over a week ago but I have only just got round to writing a thread on the subject.
This year Le Mans was a bit of a funny one for me, I normally love the lead up to the trip, prepping the car and finalising the arrangements, getting all the camping gear (making sure there is enough beer and meet in the cool boxes!).
This year there was a personal dark cloud hanging over the trip as my mother was terminally ill.
I had already changed the travel arrangement to go over to France Thursday night instead of early Thursday morning so I could spend as much time at home as possible.
Now I know you are all thinking heartless b’stard but when I suggested cancelling my family holiday at the end of May my mum went nuts. My father went nuts and because of this both my sisters went nuts. All at me... So it was never an option to not go. I had a chat with the rest of the family and we all agreed the best thing to do was for me to go.
My mother passed away at 13.55 on the afternoon I was due to leave.
Statistics of the trip:
Miles covered: 283
Fuel used: over 2 tanks.
MPG for the trip from the ferry to Le Mans: 20mpg
MPG whilst messing around in Lemans 10mpg
Beers drunk: Way too many
Meat eaten: again far too much.
Fun had: Huge amounts.
Preparation:
I spoke to Phil at Rebellion Automotive to see if wanted to use my car as a bill board for the trip down, I usually sticker my car and fancied something a bit different.
After meeting Phil in person for a chat it was decided that my car would make a suitable bill board for his company.
A deal was struck and I agreed to let my car go in for graphics and Eurocharged would remap my car just before the trip.
I dropped my car off Wednesday morning for the graphics to be applied and returned later in the day to be greeted by this very happy with the way they looked!!!!:
Whilst at the graphics place I met up with Phil who sorted out the Eurocharged remap, I had met Phil before to agree what we would do with the car, it was a quick chat and lasted over a couple of hours. To say he is enthusiastic about what he does for a living is an understatement. Needless to say I was quite happy in the knowledge my car was in safe hands!
Start of the remap
Hmmm should I be concerned... Inoperative see owners manual...
After the remap it was time for a quick test drive.
Not sure if you can get to this link on Facebook, if not I will download and upload somewhere public.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=585991951440725&set=vb.176078189190179&type=2&theater
So to the test drive. Initial thoughts. Anyone thinking of having this done I would say go for it. I have read countless threads on the web regarding remapping the C63 so was a little apprehensive if I would be that impressed. I cannot comment on any of the others but the EC remap is definitely noticeable. From the note it makes when you start it, the pops and cackles when you rev it.
Pulling away in C mode the engine is a lot more lively. Stick it in Sport mode and the car flies. I agree that the biggest gains are in the upper rev ranges, before the power would level off at around 4K but now you can feel there is more there until the redline. So much so I have had to recalibrate my gear changes in manual mode as for the first few days I kept hitting the rev limiter in the lower gears as I wasn’t changing gear quick enough..
Drive in the wet with the TC set in sport mode, second and third gear, hit 4500rpm and the rears light up.
The engine note has changed through out the rev range and sounds amazing.
To Le Mans
I‘ve been going to Le Mans for the last 6 years and have always booked through the same company, speedchills. As I said earlier I would normally travel down on the Thursday morning but decided to go on the over night ferry. The crossing was easy but arriving on the Friday lunchtime you miss out on the Friday morning open pit lance.
Few pics of the car (I am loving the graphics, just loading up)
The drive down was nice and smooth, may have had a few little dust ups with some other machinery away from tolls booths and roundabouts etc. The engine performed brilliantly and even managed to get 20mpg (the same as before the remap)
The best bit with the remap is using the manual mode to drop down the gears and getting the car to pop. The novelty still hasn’t warn off.
I spent pretty much all of Friday afternoon enjoying the le mans Friday. I may have performed a few burn outs….
First beer in Le Mans (not me my co driver)
Campsite
I am getting old so don’t park at the circuit… I park a few minutes outside of le mans in le pont romains. Lovely site that is nice and clean. Although this year the heated pool was shut
Few pics of Camp Rebellion
Back at the campsite and enjoying those that backed the trip...
we may have cained the JB...
And my mate may not be quite up to the drinking as he used to be, note it is still daylight
The race itself had its good and bad points.. Enough has been said on this and the unfortunate crash within the first few laps.
The last 3 hours of the race were pretty entertaining with the rain coming and going and only raining on half the track!!!!
All over for another year
catalogue pose
Co pilot
General comments on the race. It was the busiest I have ever seen it. I think the organisers have got greedy and over sold the car parking. I park in rouge each year as I think it is the best parking site so you can get back to your car and change viewing points (I like to be at the end of mulsane straight when it gets dark for example) and this year even though I arrived at mid day the car park was already over flowing. Complete nightmare to park.
Prices for everything had gone up. The beer at the track seemed to taste even more watered down than usual. The playstation display was a disappointment after last years totty fest.
The drive home
Just packing up at the campsite
The drive home was uneventful, there seemed to be very few police around. But having been stopped 2 years ago and being given a 750 euro on the spot cash fine I do tend to keep the speed down a little.
When I arrived at the port I was encouraged to have a bit of fun by one of the police, only to be stopped a few feet later, asked to step out of the car and given a bollocking by one of his colleagues and told if I do it again they will give me a ticket.
So all in all a great trip, loving the remap. I will back again next year.
Come and play with us if you don't mind haning around with 2 old piss heads
