Tag Archives: German

German Day at Exotics@RTC

My first visit to Exotics@RTC this year was delayed.  Early events were canceled for weather reasons and then, when they got going, I was doing other things and couldn’t go.  The first time I was able to make it was for the German Day.  I have done this day in previous years, and I like the types of vehicles that show up.  Yes, there will be a lot of modern Audis and BMWs but there will also be some far older and more interesting vehicles.  A Porsche tractor was one of these.

I won’t go into great details about any individual vehicles, not least because I am not very knowledgeable about them.  If they are in the center section, my assumption is that it is because they are unusual, rare and expensive but maybe something lesser can sneak in too.  I wouldn’t know the difference.  Here you go with some images of the various vehicles.

German Day at Exotics@RTC

The improvement in the pandemic in our region has meant that certain gatherings that were cancelled last year have been able to restart.  That includes the Exotics@RTC car gatherings in Redmond.  The first of the year that I was able to attend had a German theme to it.  The theme days do not exclude other car types but they provide a focus to the theme cars and give them pride of place within the center.  The other cars are out in the parking lot.

It won’t surprise you to learn that there were plenty of Porsche and Audi vehicles on display.  Mercedes was also represented but not in such large numbers.  There were some nice old Porsches to be seen including a pair on display which are owned by a father son team – the son being a neighbor of ours.  I was really pleased to see a nice selection of older BMWs and a Z1 which I recall from my teen years.  I had assumed the Audis would be more around the R8s (and there were a few of them) but to see a Quattro from the rallying era was a cool addition.

I had ridden down to Redmond on my bike so I wasn’t carrying heavy gear with me.  I went with the M6 which shows how useful it is for such a situation.  It is nice and compact plus, it has the folding screen which is great for getting low or high angle shots.  Waiting for people to move out of shot is always problematic in this events but they have as much right to be there as I do so I either wait a long time or just accept that the shot will be more cluttered than ideal.

I hope to get down there a lot more this season and see what they have to offer and what fun cars show up.  I will also share a few of the non-German cars from this day in another post to come.

Some A400M Samples

As I was skipping through some images, I saw a few extra shots of the A400M at RIAT.  I figured that I hadn’t seen many examples of the transport in service – just the test aircraft performing in displays.  However, I have seen both Luftwaffe and Armee de l’Air planes at times so thought I would share a few shots of them plus some test planes for good measure.

Lynx/Wildcat Selection

The Lynx was a favorite helicopter of mine in my teens.  It was in service with both the Royal Navy and the British Army in substantial numbers.  We used to see them a lot as they often flew past our home on the seafront in Cowes moving between the Navy bases at Portland and Portsmouth.  The Lynx has gone from UK service, replaced by the Wildcat.  I hadn’t seen any Wildcats before RIAT so was glad to see them from both the Army and the Navy (not that they look that different unliked their predecessors).  Old style Lynxes were still represented though.  The German Navy had an example visiting.  They are not going to be around for much longer, though.  They will be replaced early in the 2020s.

The Tornados Just Weren’t Playing Ball

I do love the Tornado.  It was coming in to service just when I was getting into aviation and I ended up working on handling clearances for them when I was a junior aerodynamicist.  Their retirement by the RAF was a sad thing for me but I was consoled by the fact they remain in service with the other operators.  I was looking forward to seeing some at RIAT.  I did get to see some flying at a distance on arrivals day and they taxied up our way.  Nothing too close in the air though.

I did get a chance to see them on static display which is fine but not as fun as seeing them flying.  A lot of my hopes, therefore, were focused on departures day.  The German jets were scheduled out at various times during the morning.  However, they weren’t hitting their designated times and I was getting close to needing to leave.  Eventually I realized my time had run out.  I walked back behind the FRIAT stands and popped to the facilities prior to making the drive away.  While in there, I heard a very familiar roar.  Sure enough, as soon as I was out of sight, a Luftwaffe Tornado made its departure.  The Tornado doesn’t climb fast so it was nice and low as it passed the stand – apparently.  Bum!