Events and Trips

The Power Beauty Soulmates go Biarritz

Last April I already visited Biarritz together with my friend Eduard, to plan routes in the Pyrenees for the club trip in June. So last week, we went again, but this time for real, with twenty Aston Martins! Two days driving from Amsterdam to Biarritz, 4 days in the Pyrenees, then back to Amsterdam in 1 day. Next to my job as “route manager”, I was able to make lots of photos of Aston Martins at beautiful locations (and fuel stations 🙂 ). Here’s a selection:

Many happy faces at Ons Tweede Thuis / “De Dijk”

“De Dijk” is a home for the mentally disabled and people with an autistic disorder or acquired brain injury. It’s the Amsterdam location of the “Ons Tweede Thuis” foundation (“Our Second” Home”). Last Sunday, we visited De Dijk with four Aston Martins to take 15 residents for a nice ride along the Amstel river and a short highway run. Resulting in big smiles and many happy faces 🙂 A quick impression:

Kroymans Arrive & Drive

Kroymans is one of the 2 Dutch Aston Martin dealerships. In fact, it is a combined dealership for Aston Martin, Jaguar and Ferrari. Last Friday, Kroymans organized an “Arrive & Drive” event, inviting a small group of customers to come and try the newest models of all 3 car brands, on both public roads and on the track.

Photo shoot with Gijs Spierings at the Brouwersdam

WARNING: this article may contain pictures of non-Aston cars. Proceed at your own risk! Last week, we found that famous automotive photographer Gijs Spierings was looking for some super cars for a photo shoot on Saturday. Strangely enough, we didn’t have a car event planned that day yet :-), so we agreed to bring our red V12 Vantage to the shoot.

PBSM Sunday Drive: Pebble Beach in Vinkeveen

Twenty-three Aston Martins were participating in this year’s second Power Beauty Soulmates Sunday drive, including many Volantes and Roadsters, with their owners enjoying the extremely sunny day with the top down. This Sunday’s route started in Woerden for lunch, at restaurant Janzen. After lunch, a 90 minute drive took us through the “green heart” of the Netherlands, taking only B-roads. The roads getting narrower as we went along, with the last stretch following the Amstel and Waver rivers towards Vinkeveen. In Vinkeveen, the finish was at Beach Club Lust, where we had our own little Pebble Beach event, as we had special permission to park our Astons along the banks of lake Vinkeveen.

Video: doing the Nürburgring GP Strecke in a V12 Vantage

Last week I participated in first Aston Martin BIG 5 event for this year, the track day at the Nürburgring GP Strecke. (have you seen my pit lane photos of the day?). Now here is a video I shot from the dash of my V12 Vantage while doing a lap of the GP Strecke, chasing the instructor’s Vanquish Volante:

Aston Martin Big 5 2014: Nürburgring GP Strecke

Yesterday the yearly BIG 5 series of Aston Martin events was kicked off at the Nürburgring, with the track day on the Grand Prix track (GP Strecke). Eighteen customer Aston Martins joined the track day, including three (!!) One-77’s, plus several demo Astons in special colors.

Planning routes in the Pyrenees

Every year in June, the dutch Aston Martin club Power Beauty Soulmates goes on a week-long trip to a beautiful location in Europe. Preferably a place with lots of beautiful roads for us to drive. Previous trips took us to Le Mans, Isle of Man, the italian Dolomites and last year to Scotland. This year, we will go to Biarritz, France, a perfect starting location for nice routes in the French and Spanish Pyrenees. So last week, my friend Eduard and I spent 4 days in Biarritz, to plan the routes and to scout lunch and diner locations. It’s a dirty job, but someone’s gotta do it 🙂

Reminder: BIG 5 event #1- the Nürburgring GP Strecke

Quick reminder for all Aston owners in Europe: On May 15, this year’s official Aston Martin BIG 5 events will kick-off with the track day at the Nürburgring GP Strecke. Interested? Then book your place here. The GP Strecke is a very nice track (check the pic for me and my red V12 Vantage at last year’s event), so I highly recommend joining.

The Astons at the “Great British” event in Zandvoort

Just visited the “Great British” event at Circuit Park Zandvoort, together with some fellow PBSM club members. Lots of British cars, old and new. Not a lot of Astons though, apart from our own. But luckily, we brought some beautiful and special specimens, including a Vanquish Volante in Ocellus Teal, a Vanquish coupe and both dutch V12 Roadsters!