2012 – How was your year?

So, as this year is coming to an end, and the world didn’t go under after all, I guess it’s time to look back on what has happened these past 12 months. I have to say, 2012 has been a great year. Met a lot of great new people, did a lot of things I haven’t done before, and travelled places I hadn’t been before. Here is a little attempt to sum it all up.

January – Gatebil on ice. You all know Gatebil by now, right? Well, this event is not so famous yet, but it will be. It’s all about thrashing your car around on a frozen lake. From normal road cars to fully built race cars. Had some visitors from the Nissan Primera Owners Club in UK, and we had a great weekend in the snow!

April – Japanese Auto Fest Netherlands. My job took me to the Netherlands in April, and by coincidence, JAF was held the same day I was going home. So one of the guys from Nissan Club Netherlands offered to pick me up and take me to JAF. Really great event, and great people. A few from NPOC UK also came over. Awesome.

May – Racespec Superstage. A small event hosted by a small tunershop. Got to test the VVL on track for the first time, which was a good experience. Although the P11 is built for the streets and backroads, I think it performed really well.

July – Gatebil Festival. Yup, the famous festival, and the biggest of the Gatebil events through the year. Some of my new friends from Nissan Club Netherlands came over to visit, and see the event. Even they were amazed by how crazy the Gatebil Festival is, with celebrities like Mad Mike and our very own Fredric Aasbø hooning around the Rudskogen track.

August – Rudskogen Raceway Grand Opening. After going through a long building process, the new Rudskogen track was officially opened. Got to see the Red Bull F1 car at the track, which was totally awesome. This event also sported a lot of old school cars, like old Ferraris and Maseratis, as well as the fastest street car in Europe, the 407km/h Polly Motorsport Trans Am.

September – Japanese Auto Extravaganza in England, the biggest gathering of Japanese cars outside Japan? With a good friend as copilot, we drove my Primera all the way to England. That’s one hell of a road trip (4277 km to be exact) through Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, France and over to the UK. Made a stop in the Netherlands, and drove together with some guys from Nissan Club Netherlands for the rest of the trip. Met even more great people in the UK, and had a great time. Huge thanks to NPOC for the hospitality, the food and the beer!

Car communities are great, and thanks to the internet, we can make contact across borders. It’s so strange how people you’ve never met before, can become good friends instantly, all thanks to our common interest in cars. Doesn’t matter if you’re into JDM, Euro or whatever. I can’t wait to see what 2013 will bring! Huge thanks to everyone I’ve met along the way, who made 2012 such a great experience.

240Z Progress. Although things have been going slow with the Z, I made some nice progress this summer, thanks to good friends who come help. Now the front end is nice and straight and repainted, the engine is coming close to the rebuild. Just need to keep it up this winter, and it just might see the road soon.

Primera Progress. With the SR20VE installed, the P11 is getting really close to the way I want it, and from experience, when a car is getting to that point, I start looking for something else. I might sell it, I might keep it, can’t really decide, so I’ll just keep an open mind and see what happens.

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, Thanks for reading, and roll on 2013!