The Nurburgring

[runny_yolk]

Recently, my friend and I had the opportunity to drive at the Nurburgring Norschleife during a "touristenfahrten" (basically a tourist day, when families and enthusiasts alike come out to drive the infamous "Green Hell").

I had the good fortune to drive a race-prepped BRZ on the track. Here's a picture of me going around the main Carousel. In the background, you can see a Porsche 911 (I think) and someone's family Volvo.



Here's my friend in an Artega GT (a weird German mid-engined sports car)


Some thoughts:
The track was supposed to be open about 6 hours that day. Instead, they opened an hour late and shut down after 3.5 hours. The course itself is insanely scary, not only due to its length but also the fact that everyone else drives like they have a death-wish.

We conservatively estimate about 1,000 cars showed up to run laps. There were no less than 3 ambulances that were called out and easily 20 wrecks (of the sort that almost certainly did substantial damage to the cars) plus numerous minor incidents (including one fender bender like 10 yards from the start line). And to top it off, 1 motorcycle fatality.

Motorcyclist dies on the Nordschleife
Nürburgring - A 40-year-old motorcyclist has come on Sunday, 17 against clock on the North Loop of the Nürburgring killed. A Fremdverschulden graduated from the police Adenau.
The motorcyclist had come off from the area of Dortmund during the tourist rides in stretch Fuchsröhre in a left curve to the right of the road and collided with the guardrail. According to police, he was probably going too fast or had made a mistake. The 40-year-old died later at the scene.

That said, the BRZ was a real pleasure to drive and ludicrously stable, even at 180kph.

If anyone is interested in going, I'd be happy to share thoughts on getting there, where to stay, etc.

[Dadhawk]

Definitely on my bucket-list....

By the way, I love the black and gold color scheme. I think it's channeling the "child of the 70's inner Bert Reynolds gotta have a Trans Am" portion of my soul.

[Carrozzeria]

Ah that looks awesome, maybe someday!

Thoughts to the motorcyclists friends and family.

[bestwheelbase]

What fun!

RIP the motorcyclist though.

[SeanBlader]

I'm gonna necropost this thread to share my experience at Nurburg.

It was a lot less busy, maybe 200 cars on site, and I was just out with my rental 118i 6 speed BMW. 200 cars on a 3 mile road course in the US is a traffic jam, 200 cars on the 12.8 miles at Nurburg is quiet and all of them aren't out at once, really you do get some excellent track time. My 120hp BMW kept up pretty well with with an R8, someone taking it easy obviously. And I'm pretty sure I managed to pass two other cars somewhere in my few laps. I saw 2 serious accidents in my 5 laps no one injured, but a local yellow out to slow down for the recovery.

Realistically it's scary when a really fast car comes up on you and you want to get out of the way, but you're just barely hanging on to the turn yourself, but it's no more scary than driving on the streets in the US anywhere. It's relatively inexpensive, and entirely exhausting. I left with like 4 unused laps, after I broke for lunch and then walked through the museum and the mall. When I got out of the museum, I was glad I'd stopped, it started raining. I wouldn't want to be on course in active rain, scary.

Overall it's definitely something you should do as a car enthusiast, just remember Rule #1 when on the racetrack, is to always drive home. Then you won't go into a turn too hot, and you'll be cautious enough to be driving at like 80%. I say careful around Hoheneichen, you can get in a little hot thinking you can straighten out the corners... you can't, I had my only off course excursion there, fortunately I could drive off. Overall it was a blast, and I'm glad I took the chance to do it!

If you stay in the little hamlet of Nurburg, make time to climb the hill up to the castle during daylight. Also the hosts at the Hotel zur Burg are really nice with good enough english, and if you walk over to the Pistenklause Restaurant, you'll likely run into a few exotics on the way, keep your camera with you. The main track entrance is about 15 minute drive from there, follow the GPS, it won't lead you astray.

[ICantAffordAnLFA]

Choose your rental cars carefully. Local dedicated ring rentals e.g.rent4ring, are fine, but normal rental cars may(will) exclude use at the Ring. If something goes wrong on a TF day you could end up in a whole pile of costly legal shit.

Only do organised trackdays their myself now, which is the more prudent option for a british registered vehicle.

[Sterling Doc]

I will be going there in July. Starting in Berlin, and spending a day at the 'ring midway through on the way to Paris with the wife and kids. I am waiting for them to open up the Ring Taxi schedule for next year. Now that I know they have an '86 with the Rent4Ring guys, this is a very tempting option .

I would be interested in you thoughts on what to do, and where to stay there. Drop me a PM, please!

[993Fan]

Did you see Sabine?

[kodyo]

I'll add to this:

I went about 5 months ago and stayed at Hotel Zur Burg. Hotel was good and the restaurant next door (with the same owners I believe) had great food and great beer. Rented at Rent4Ring, which was an easy experience and is about 100 feet from the hotel, so walking distance. I ended up renting a Suzuki Swift Stage 2 with a friend and splitting 12 laps. I did not feel like the car was limiting me at all (even though it is arguably the slowest car you can rent), and would recommend this car for a beginner. It's cheap to rent, insurance deductible on it is cheap in an accident, and you can push it to the cars limit and still be in your comfort zone. The setup of the track was surprisingly good and very easy to get on and off in an organized manner. Like others said above, don't take a non dedicated rental car there, i've heard of people getting banned by rental companies for this.

I attached a video of me "crashing" below, don't do what I did, haha. I suggest studying videos/games to try to get a good feel of the layout before going if possible. I'd suggest driving it if you can over a taxi service. We were likely one of the slowest cars out and didn't have any issues by following the rules correctly and taking the first few laps slow. I'd say 6 laps per person is a good number (I was exhausted by the end of the day from the adrenaline).

http://www.nuerburgring-hotel.de/

http://www.rent4ring.de/en/

[ICantAffordAnLFA]

Originally Posted by kodyo

don't take a non dedicated rental car there, i've heard of people getting banned by rental companies for this.

I think the issue is more like this; you bin someone else's sparkly 911 GT3 with your rental car, or you knock a biker off who ends up paralysed. Your rental company has to pay up but they say 'hey' you have breached your contract by driving on the Ring so we are coming after you for what we paid out....... which could be a lot.

[SirBrass]

Originally Posted by ICantAffordAnLFA

Choose your rental cars carefully. Local dedicated ring rentals e.g.rent4ring, are fine, but normal rental cars may(will) exclude use at the Ring. If something goes wrong on a TF day you could end up in a whole pile of costly legal shit.

Only do organised trackdays their myself now, which is the more prudent option for a british registered vehicle.

Not to mention that normal rental cars available are just crap to drive in the first place: auto trans, weak as hell, etc. BLEH!

[kodyo]

Originally Posted by ICantAffordAnLFA

I think the issue is more like this; you bin someone else's sparkly 911 GT3 with your rental car, or you knock a biker off who ends up paralysed. Your rental company has to pay up but they say 'hey' you have breached your contract by driving on the Ring so we are coming after you for what we paid out....... which could be a lot.

This may be a rumor, but I've read and heard of rental car companies monitoring the GPS in the vehicle for laps on the nurburgring. So you can get in trouble regardless of whether there is a reported incident or otherwise. I don't know if this is true or not. Regardless, a lowered car with slicks, racing harness and helmet is a much better car to drive.

[Porsche]

Originally Posted by kodyo

TRegardless, a lowered car with slicks, racing harness and helmet is a much better car to drive.

And a CAGE! Don't forget the cage, because the 'Ring is the most unforgiving motor racing circuit in the world, with minimal run-off areas and lots of Armco barriers sitting mere feet from the road surface.

Many drivers have occasion to USE their cage at the 'Ring.

You were fortunate to have extra room when you fell off the road at Adenauer Forst. There is at least one youtube video comprised of nothing but crashes at that very spot. You did the right thing, by the way, to just allow the car to run off the road, rather than try to pinch it in. Many drivers roll their cars onto their heads at that point as they try to avoid running wide off the right side.

Glad to see you had a good time.

[strat61caster]

Originally Posted by SirBrass

Not to mention that normal rental cars available are just crap to drive in the first place: auto trans, weak as hell, etc. BLEH!

Europe is still predominantly manual transmission:
http://travel.usatoday.com/tips/2010...el03_ST_N.htm\

Looking at a rental company in Germany their example cars include: Ford Focus/Fiesta, VW Golf, Scirocco, Toyota GT86, Mustang, BMW 1, 3 and 6 series, Porsche Panamera etc.

http://www.sixt.com/php/fleet/vehicle_group_list

Economy cars no longer have to be dull affairs, just because most people rent a Malibu or Hyundai doesn't mean you have to. I know I wouldn't complain about thrashing a MT Fiesta or Scirocco around Germany for a couple days even if I could only drool at the Nordschleife (ok I would probably complain about missing that).