It’s That Time Of The Year Again: Gatebil
Thursday, July 7th

It’s not even bloody started yet and I’m already fatigued.

I’m not going to bother repeating the same hyperbole that happens every year, because we all know at this point just how significant Gatebil is on the international car culture calendar. It’s been many years since my first visit, even longer since I watched my first video of the event way back when, but the event still holds the same magic it always has.

ITM Gatebil Setup 2016 by Paddy McGrath EXTRA-2

In order to bring you a fresh look at what Gatebil is, we’re changing tactics again this year. Did you know that Rudskogen Motorsenter borders two sleepy industrial towns in Norway that epitomise the quiet life? You really wouldn’t believe how much of a contrast the surrounding hinterlands of Gatebil are like. Don’t worry, we’re not going fishing just yet.

ITM Gatebil Setup 2016 by Paddy McGrath-3

Thursday at Gatebil has traditionally been about setting up, but the added elements of practice and qualifying have been added to the circuit’s schedule of a brand new event which is running here in 2016.

ITM Gatebil Setup 2016 by Paddy McGrath-10

I would confidently estimate that there’s probably three times the smoke as previous years, but I’ll talk about that properly with tomorrow’s update. Yes, I’m going to be giving daily updates from the event this year in addition to our traditional coverage and car spotlights. I’ve no idea why I’ve volunteered to this, apparently I hate sleep and feeling well rested.

ITM Gatebil Setup 2016 by Paddy McGrath-4

For those of you attending, we also have the official Speedhunters merchandise store on-site, along with a couple of cool cars to brighten the place up.

Today was – unfortunately for me – the easy day. The battle in earnest begins tomorrow morning, with cars taking to the track at 8:00am local time for approximately 13 hours of non-stop action, save for two track cleaning sessions. Then there’s also Saturday, then Sunday, although I’m not currently confident of making it to the latter.

Honestly though, I’m so excited to be here. Let’s dance, Gatebil!

Paddy McGrath
Instagram: pmcgphotos
Twitter: pmcgphotos
paddy@speedhunters.com

Cutting Room Floor
ITM Gatebil Setup 2016 by Paddy McGrath-2
ITM Gatebil Setup 2016 by Paddy McGrath-5
ITM Gatebil Setup 2016 by Paddy McGrath-6
ITM Gatebil Setup 2016 by Paddy McGrath-7
ITM Gatebil Setup 2016 by Paddy McGrath-8
ITM Gatebil Setup 2016 by Paddy McGrath-9
ITM Gatebil Setup 2016 by Paddy McGrath-12
ITM Gatebil Setup 2016 by Paddy McGrath-13
ITM Gatebil Setup 2016 by Paddy McGrath-14
ITM Gatebil Setup 2016 by Paddy McGrath EXTRA-1-2
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34 comments

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1

Bamse!

2

*deep breath* 

SKWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELL!!

*dances round like a little girl*

The best event-I-get-to-live-vicariously of the year.

3

Can we please have a spotlight on that gnarly Starlet!

4

Title pic gnarliest thing i've seen in a while online.

5

Seriously though folks, can we take a minute to appreciate Tezuka's D1 car...

6

turbos.....turbos everywhere lol

7

So first you go to Goodwood, then you go here. Perfect itinerary then.

8

Fun fact I learned just now: Hermann Tilke--yes, that Hermann Tilke--was the person who designed the expansion for Rudskogen, from T1 to T7.

From RacingCircuits.info:

"In 2006, Rudskogen was successful in a competitive bid to receive government funding to turn the circuit into a national centre for car and bike racing. As a result, Hermann Tilke was commissioned to undertake a total site redesign, with the new layout expanding into the forested area to the south. Work on the new circuit began in 2011 and was completed by 2012. Sebastian Buemi lapped the new course in a Red Bull Formula One car during the motorsport festival which officially opened the new complex on August 24-26."



Now, you  can see some of the defining Tilkedrome characteristics: A big straight leading up to an extremely tight corner and the pre-sequenced esses. But from above, you can't really see the difference.


And no, don't put that little factoid as ruining the track. Rather, think of it as an example of what Hermann can do if he did it correctly.

Proof? The next layout is of Atlanta Motorsport Park. Hermann Tilke did that, too. You wouldn't know until I told you.

9
BozoMotosport

I think they did it last year. Car iz dope. Sick. Awesome. Mindblowing.

10

Paddy McGrath Since you've got nothing to do, why don't you feature it? Just kidding Paddy...

11
Pete the perfect pilot

Don't forget to report on any Mazda rotarys .... U0001f600

12

Hoping to see more of the Moonshine Volvo 340 that only got a couple of quick snaps on this site last year!

13

That Silvia Varietta...

14

Are y'all going to do Scandinavia Month this year? My interest in this site has been declining since the coverage became predominantly 'Stance, JDM, Drift' and actual performance cars became fewer and further between and motorsport coverage vanished completely (seriously you guys had really good Le Mans coverage). So please tell me we're going to see a rash of features and/or spotlights from Gatebil...

15

That orange and blue mk1 escort looks interesting

16
TarmacTerrorist

Is that the yellow "BEE*R"-alike Mr. McGrath?

17
TarmacTerrorist

Are all the cars at Gatebil monsters, or is it just those are the most awesome? It's just... I'd love to attend but monster builds are not my style....

18

TarmacTerrorist It's THE Bee-R car.

19

TarmacTerrorist There's everything, honestly and truly. If you can't find cars to relate to Gatebil, you would have to give up.

20

LukeEVOVIII As I discovered the hard way, there's two of them...

21

EvolveWRC It's beautiful, engine bay was immaculate as well.

22

Pete the perfect pilot There wasn't one there that I saw, they tend to really struggle with the noise restrictions.

23

UWerqxTeam_MJ I wasn't at Goodwood, but I wouldn't have said no!

24
TarmacTerrorist

Sold! Right, time to find a trailer....
And possibly a fortune in petrol.

25
TarmacTerrorist

OH HOLY LORD MCGRATH!
Please say that's a feature, I don't ask for many, but that? Oh yes. Oh yes indeed.
Yes indeed.
Going to have to power up NFS tonight and build me that car/s - I have a real soft spot for BEE*R Cars.... Their GTR352240sx (I have no idea what to call that car) is just.... Inspired.

26
TarmacTerrorist

Daaaaaamn. I'm slow, it's THAT Tezuka (?!).... Holy cow, he's like... My age! What a legend!

27

BozoMotosport
Thanks mate. I found last years feature.

28

Trentworth I second this. I am really bummed with the decline of motorsports coverage. Well at least road racing. WHERES JONATHAN MOORE????

29

Trentworth It's difficult to balance things but I think we do a good job, all things considered. There's still shit loads of performance cars being published on the site, although I will acknowledge that we could cover more motorsport events. The issue is this though that they cost a lot of time and money to produce and rarely receive any significant number of views. 

I paid a significant amount of money out of my own pocket to cover F1 in 2013 (no regrets) but the views and interaction afterwards were pretty underwhelming. At the end of the day, this is a business which has to survive. 

I've definitely put more of a focus on the performance cars at Gatebil this year, although there will be one drift / mayhem type post.

30

TarmacTerrorist No feature, this time, but I do have a plan up my sleeve to try and reunite it with another ex-D1 car in Norway...

32

That Toyota!!! WTH? need more on that

33

with a very nice speed  sure the car could be a champion onehttp://dokterpoker.org

34

my Aunty Riley recently got a very cool Mercedes R-Class Wagon by working parttime off of a home computer... blog here  see it here=====report55­­.ℭomllllllll

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