F-Body Europe

Hello all! I don't drive an F-body, but it is still a chevy. 2006 Cobalt ss Supercharged. I just got orders 2 days ago. I'm currently stationed at Offutt AFB, NE. My first duty station was Guam, so I'm very happy to be on my way back overseas.

I'm 23, been married to my high school sweetheart for over 5 years now. We have 2 boys that were born in guam, a 3yr and 4yr old. We are very anxious to get to Germany and can't wait to get back overseas.

I'm originally from South Carolina and I've been into cars since before I could drive. I chose the cobalt because of the Daily Driving potential. It's great on gas, I can make power cheap and easy with it, and it's actually a really nice car. Leather seats, steering wheel mounted controls, sun roof, xm radio, onstar, and factory gunmetal 18" wheels, and the different aspect of being supercharged rather than turbocharged won me over compared to the other cars I looked at.

I'm big into drag racing, but I plan to alter my goals with this car since I'm headed to Germany and the drag racing scene isn't quite as popular. That doesn't mean that I won't try to attend all the drag races in bitburg though. But I'd like to run the Nurburgring in under 8min since GM was able to make a 8min 22sec pass in the new turbo cobalt. Obviously I'll need to spend some money on the suspension and tires as I doubt my stock suspension and tires are worth a crap.

Anyways, i can't wait to get there and to start going to meets and stuff. I hope you guys can accept me even though I'm not driving an F-body. Don't get too cocky though, this little cobalt can hold it's own pretty well.

Oh yea, my wife was wondering if anyone could post up pictures of base housing on spangdahlem or on bitburg. I'm not sure how that all works out, but I heard that there is base housing on Bitburg as well and it's only a short commute to Spangdahlem. Outside pics is fine, but if anyone can get me pics of the inside as well, that would be great! We are just trying to see what size of house we are going to be moving into and what we need to be ready for. Thanks in advance! If you don't want to post them on the internet for all to see, could you please email me at cainb@gimail.af.mil That is a government email that I use occasionally that I can access at home as well as at work. Thanks!

Here are some pics.

welcome, you will Love it here I think. The drag racing scene isn't as small as you think. There is a season long series of races right down the road from you, in Bitburg. The guys on here can fill ya in more about it.

I'm headed back stateside soon so I wont be at many events at all this year.

Sorry to hear that you won't be there long enough to hang out. I like your sig a lot. I'd be me and you would get a long great. Where are you headed?

I'm glad to hear about the drag racing scene being a bit more than I am expecting. I can't wait to get there.

Around what date will you be showing up?

Roughly the beginning of July. Probably won't have the cobalt show up until end of august or beginning of september as we will be shipping my wife's car off first.

BTW, is there any Subaru dealerships near by? Also, does anyone think I'll pass the inspection on base if I have an exhaust cutout? I have a manual cutout right now, doesn't leak or anything when the plate is on it, but I can have it removed if need be.

Welcome to the sight. Just don't get to cocky with the Nordschleife, that track will eat your lunch andtake you down a peg. As for your goal of under 8minutes good luck with that. Spend your money on some good instructor lessons . You could also do the Slalom and roadcourse at Bitburg also. Just make sure you bring your eating utensils so you can enoy your humble pie.

LOL. Thanks for the kind words. I certainly don't plan to run the RING in under 8min. right off the bat. My goal would be to hit that before my 4 year tour is up. So I'm giving myself plenty of time.

Not sure where Nordschleife is? How far is that from Spangdahlem/Bitburg area? Either way, I'm sure people will be impressed with the cobalt. I'm not sure I'll make a pass this year when I get there, but I'll for sure hit it up some tracks next year.

As for slalom and roadcourse, I won't be doing any of that until I get better suspension and tires. The car is set up for drag racing right now, so I'd just look silly out there.

Nordschleife and the N-ring is one and the same. I am quite sure with a professional driver your car could get close to 8min. I wish you the best of luck in your endeavors on there. It will take a lot of laps and a whole lotta money to get to your goal. If you break 8mins I will be the first to shake your hand.
Btw do you have any slalom/ roadcourse experience?

I added some pics to my first post.

I have a little bit of roadcourse experiense out here. We have a track called Mid America Motorplex. MAM. http://www.midamericamotorplex.com/2006/default.asp

there's the link. They have a 2.23 mile road course and an 1/8th mile drag strip. It's less than 5 miles away from where I currently live. The 1/8th mile is garbage, but the road course is pretty fun. I ran my car stock on it, but I haven't ran it since I modded because the tires just boil off in 1st and 2nd gear. Like I said, the car is set up for drag. I have drag bags in the rear springs, and the car is making a lot more power over stock. And being that it is supercharged, it doesn't lag at all either. I still have the factory rims and tires that I use for everyday driving. I have a spare set of 16" rims and cheater slicks that I use at the strip.

I'm not going to be dissappointed if I don't break less than 8min. I'm not a professional road course driver by any means. As long as I beat out the turbo cobalt SS times I'd be happy. Even if it was just 1 sec. LOL. But anyways, I'm not even sure if I'll be into it that much. I don't have an LSD trans, so it may not be too much fun for me. I might just stick to drag racing.

Welcome!

As for the Ring time goal:
It'll be fun even if you stay far away from the 8 minutes. I'm running on this track for 8 years now and it never gets boring.

Welcome to the site.

Just keep a good head on ya. I was quite shocked at the big dogs over here.

There are a couple of great guys from Spang that post regularly. I'm sure they will chime in with some housing info.

thanks for the warm welcome. May I ask what you mean by big dogs though?

welcome

come and have a look at the slalom / road course at bitburg , if you like driving fast and not only in a straight line you will love it

Big dog = someone that will tear your azz up! LOL There are some very fast rides over here. I was not anticipating that when I came over.

Yeap,

I did more drag racing passes in a weekend at bitburg than I have gotten in 3 FULL track days here in Florida. I would average 11-12 passes each day and that was after doing Autocross:)

Shoot. Trust me. I know I'm not the fastest. Especially headed to Germany. I expect there to be faster competition than here in the states.

now that is great to hear!

Yeah man, there are a lot of fast cars out here. I haven't ran my car here @ bitburg yet, but maybe I'll get a chance this year. A lot of the A60 around spangdahlem doesn't have a speed limit (still has a suggested speed). Does your base allow you to get your usafe drivers license there? I was told some stateside bases were starting to do that.


I've heard base housing sucks, but when you get here you can make your own opinion.


I have a friend back in the states with a supercharged redline and that thing was sick! I don't remember the exact numbers, but I'm wanting to say it was up around 25~lbs of boost.

unless your friend was converted to turbo or swapped over to the Harrop TVS 1300 blower then he was telling you BS. There is no way he was pushing 25psi on the stock blower.

I hope base housing doesn't suck too much, I gotta be there for 4 years. LOL.

I'll be sure to check into the license thing. Thanks for the heads up!

So, don't move on base. There is plenty of off base housing available. There is no way I could fit all my crap into anything on base.