F-Body Europe

Hi all,

My name is Ken Rahaim (pronounced 'ram') and I just relocated over here to Brussels from Washington, D.C. You can read a lot about my Firebird at:

http://www.mycar.net/mafb/registry/detail.cfm?id=2

Me and my 1995 Formula have been through a lot together. I left it in hibernation at my best friend's house in Illinois. The car is hardly street legal in the U.S. so I wasn't sure what issues I might run into if I brought it over here to Europe.

My main interest with the car is road course racing and I'm hoping to get back out onto track with whatever car I find while over here. I'm open to suggestions to what would be a good European car along the lines of an f-body (ie: powerful, basic & inexpensive). I'd like to get back out on the road course ASAP and found this website that has some events:

http://www.drivingconcepts.com/

I suppose I'll post on the road course section of the forum for more information along those lines.
Anyway, my mechanical skills are okay and I'll be happy to help out and provide advice wherever I can. Unfortunately I left all my tools in storage and I don't have a garage now so I can't really work on anything.
--
Ken Rahaim
'95 Firebird Formula

Welcome!
Any chances of seeing you at Bitburg Sep 21/22?

Welcome to the board. I like the car, looks sweet. You should have brought it over with you. If you are in the military, or have a gov't job, all you need is to have the lights working and you can make it through the inspection. Hope to see ya at the races.

Rob

Thanks for the welcome...



I'd like to but I'm still just getting settled in so my schedule is up in the air right now. From reading the "Club Events & Happenings" forum I gather Bitburg has a dragstrip? I assume this is the Bitburg in Rhineland-pfalz? If so, its only 220kms from Brussels! That's not bad at all.

Does the Bitburg dragstrip have a website? What kind of event is it? Test & Tune? Bracket racing? I guess I should pose these questions in "Events & Happenings".

Thanks & thanks! I've put a lot of blood (literally), sweat and tears into that car. I'm not sure if you get GM High Tech Performance magazine over here, but it made it on the cover of the May 2002 issue. My buddy Randy Brown is cruising in the green Formula right beside me in the picture .



Nope, not in the military. Used to be a long time ago but for this trip overseas I'm coming over as a civilian. Previously I lived in Nurnberg-Furth as an Army brat and in Tokyo in my 20's during my stint with USAF, Inc.

Anyway, since I didn't bring it over I'm trying to find out if there is a European equivalent to the f-body. You know, all the things we've come to appreciate the f-body for (supercar performance at a ridiculously affordable price) but in something only available here in Europe.

If that doesn't work out, I might have to see about getting back into an f-body again. An SS would be nice .

Ken,
Welcome! I really like the way you've set up your web site and also the fact that you back up what you say with a little documentation (it's easy to talk and a little harder to show proof!).
I don't think you'll have a lot of luck finding a European equivalent to the F-body so you might as well just plan on getting a euro spec F-body. As long as you don't have to register it in Germany you'll be able to (legally) perform a lot more mods.
The bitburg racing is on an old taxiway, mainly with street legal cars. If you check out http://www.osl-racing.de you can find out more information. Hope to see you there.

Actually, it's a former US airfield, now civilian used ... we just rent(ed) it 4 times this year to run some Test & Tune there for a weekend ...

Yup, more or less right next to Trier ...

We run about 1 1/2 days of grudge races Test & Tune, and then do some Bracket E/T ... you can find some pix on the OSL website http://osl-racing.de

Ken you car can come here w/ no problems. If it's coming through paid by Gov't expense you won't have a problem. The biggest hassle here is noise pollution but there are ways around that. Don't let her sit home bring her and you won't regret it.

Couple of us are obnoxiously loud and we pass w/ a little networking.

Ken...just noticed you were a A Brat. What yr were you in Nurnburg/Furth? We might've been classmates and didn't even know it! You had to have been there before 91-92 I assume since she shut down shortly after. Class of 88'

Man this is spooky. How'd you hear about us anyways?

PS. It still isn't too late to bring the car. I'm no where near street legal w/ no problems for the most part. Shippin will set ya back a 1K if that. But I know you work for the Gov't so it's at their expense. Gotta bring it Ken.

Thanks for the welcome NovaRat. I've always thought that there's no point mentioning it if you haven't done it .



Ugh, I was hoping that wasn't the case. I was thinking of trying something a little different and something that's not available in the U.S. but is still along the spirit of the f-body.



Thanks for the link. I'm going to try and make it down there. Sounds like fun. At the very least I'll bring my wife's new MINI if I don't have anything myself by then.

Heh, heh, way before 91-92 and even '88 ZBLKHELLRZR. I was around 11-13 years old when I went to school at N/F from '77 to '80. Class of '84 but I finished High School in the states. I was at N/F for only the last year I was in Germany.



Surfing around on the net. I believe this message board is affiliated with camaroz28.com somehow or another. Debler & Freeza (the guys who run camaroz28.com) are old acquaintances from way back in the early days of the 4th gen.



Er, ZBLKHELLRZR, I think you might've misunderstood. I don't work for the Govt. Used to a long time ago but as I mentioned above I've come over the big pond this time as a full fledged Civilian .

Oops my bad. I'd just thought you were a GS or NAF equivalent. Still outta bring the car though. It's worth every penny. 84 hu? You may know one of the coaches for JV basketball. He's still here and lives down the street from me. Remembered me when he saw. That freaked me out. Indeed a small world.

I'll kill 2 w/ one stone and answer the Hock question. You can get on there when they have certain events. But it's not normally open to the general public from what I've been told. So we just do the Ring instead since it's open almost every day of the wk. Sembach has a auto-x course the 1st sun of every month hosted by the Porsche club. A couple of us along w/ the Z06 guys head up there on occasion as well.

Do the Z06 guys have a website or club here in Europe also? Those cars are unreal. I spent some time on track with one at this school earlier this year:

http://www.bragg-smith.com

The course was really challenging and the instruction was excellent. Even after 5 years of experience I was able to learn a lot from these folks. Of course its also made me lust for a Z06 too .

seen your car in the GM high tech looks sweet. Bottom line it looks like you are set up to run on the bahn. Just watch out for a black Firehawk I will be in Bitburg.