Monty on Tour: Militracks 2012 in Overloon

Last weekend a very special event took place in Overloon (Netherlands):

Militracks 2012

While the war museum at Overloon is by itself worth a visit, once per year enthusiasts of military vintage vehicles meet there and show their treasures. The event takes place in the Liberty Park which surrounds the museum and offers a large militaria market, catering, an auction and -of course- a track where the vehicles show their serviceability.
After having read of this extraordinary chance to see some of our well loved model live and in action, some fellows and me decided to take a trip to Overloon this year.

Our gang: Michael with his lovely wife Natalia, Daniel our Terrain-Builder, Auld Nick and me in front of the SdKfz. 7 we rode later that day

It started in the early morning when whole Bochum was sleeping the sleep of the innocent. Whole Bochum? No! At Monty's Manor an alarm clock teared the silence and heralded an eventful day. So the orient sun and me got up simoultaneously as well as sedately. Since my eyes were misted by doziness her's where dulled with clouds. But the forecasters predicted nice weather...
However a quick shower and a strong cup of coffee called up my spirits and after having prepared some tea (which I usually prefer to coffee) and sandwiches for lunch I sat sail to Düsseldorf. There I picked up Niclas (aka. Auld Nick, whose prior appearances in Monty's Caravan you might remember) and Daniel (another friend of ours and member of our 20mm WW II gaming group) and we went on towards Overloon.

Around ten o'clock we arrived at Overloon and first stopped at an ice cream parlour to get some insider information from the locals. We loosend the waiter's tongue with the purchase of three balls of delicious ice cream and learned the possibly shortest way to the event site. So we drove straight to the allocated car park which was 2 € for the whole day of watched parking. Fair deal!
After ten minutes of march we reached the gates of Liberty Park and were impressed by the extremely long queues in front of the ticket desks. Fortunately things went on faster than we though and after 15 or 20 minutes we had our tickets (admission was 10 €) and entered the area.

For the next ours we promenaded between vintage vehicles, other exhibits and tons of uniforms and militaria stuff for sale. I don't have words to describe all the impressions without echoing. Therefor you might rather enjoy some pictures:

A lot of Kettenkrads. Most of them from the Crompton Military Vehicles Collection

Another SdKfz. 7. There were different two of them present and running.

A SdKfz. 250...

... and its larger brother: SdKfz. 251.

The dashboard of "our" SdKfz. 7. Rpm in the green "Sparbereich" (fuel-saving) means that it neads only about 80 ltr. per 100 km... Otherwise consumption can rise up to 160 ltr. per 100 km...

Additionally a kind of modelling fair takes place at Overloon within the framework of Militracks. Unfortunately only on Sundays since the exhibitors and modelling traders use the same stands as the militaria traders use on Saturday...

After our return home we rounded the day in a nice Mexican restaurant in Düsseldorf where my lovely wife joyned us. Later we picked up our daughter at my parents-in-law's and headed back to Bochum. It was a absolutely nice and entertaining trip and I can recommend this event to all who are interested in WW II vehicles and want to see them in action.

Post scriptum:
In addition to the photos I took some videos of the moving vehicles. Unfortunately they got rahter large so I have to cut them before posting. I'll do my very best to get that finished within the next week and will try to hand them in later.