Nurburgring - the review

[John]

Well kids, I finally popped the cherry this past weekend and all I can say is WOW! (although my wallet doesn't seem to agree)

Costs:
BMW Z4 for the weekend - 250Eu
Petrol - 200Eu
Hotel - 70Eu
Laps - 180Eu
Food and beer - enough
Driving the 'Ring - priceless

Finally indulged in the opportunity on Sunday - rented a Z4 from the rankfurt airport and headed to the legendary circuit. I was with a friend who helped split the rental costs, petrol, and 'Ring tickets, and since she wasn't feeling all that well, I drove all laps except for one (yay for me). Anyways, to the story... we had lunch on Saturday in Koblenz, where I noticed a huge scrape on the front right corner of the bumper. %&@#! When I did the initial walk-around of the car, I never noticed it, and even though I purchased insurance, I had no idea what the policy stated (since my German is elementary). I know I hadn't scratched it, but I feared the worst when I was going to return it (the damage was already on record with eSixT thankfully). In the end, it all worked out.

Now to the 'Ring. Upon arrival, I met up with a Boxster driver from the UK who gave me a ridealong to orient me with the track. It really helped me get comfortable with the track surface and layout. I found that I picked up the track pretty easily, but I still needed to build consistency and momentum throughout the track. By the time I left, I had really picked up a lot of speed.

The place is like a circus - all sorts of vehicles show up. Racecars, exotics, expensive land yachts, motorcycles, busses, you name it. And there is no safety standard, so I saw lots of roll cages with the drivers having no helmets. The most basic rule is that you pass on the left everywhere, and slower cars need to indicate with their signal. I was the only one using hand signals since that was what I was more comfortable. Also, the 'Ring is technically a toll road, so you buy tickets and around you go. I bought several 5-lap tickets for 60 Euros a pop. The track layout I'm not going to go over - so bear with me.

Most of the track is spent in 4th gear, and you're at WOT for a significant portion. The hills are really steeps, and the track is truly about fluidity, smoothness, and momentum. You fly down the hill in Fuchsrohre in 5th gear, then up the hill. Then a little farther you climb up the mountain 1000m, nearly all of it in 4th with your pedal to the floor.

I only got the car up to about 220km before Schwedenskreuz, didn't feel omfortable enough with the bumpiness of the track. I did have one little ff in Hochheichen (I think) where I apexed too early for the first turn, plowed a bit, and drove straight over the dirt for the left hander - no problem getting it back in line though. Had a nice little drift in Adenauer-Forst and also near Hohe Acht (I wish I knew the names of the turns better). I passed a biker going down the hill to Fuchsrohre (sp?), and then going up the hill he saw me in the driver's seat trying to coax the car up the hill at which point he pulled up along side and mimmicked my hand motions. Hilarious! Other highlights include the spectators who clang cowbells and shout even louder when you flash your lights and honk at them as you pass by. And on my last lap, I pointed Sabine by in the M5 'Ring taxi, and she gave me a nice pair of tire-smoking drifts right in front of me.

As for the Z4, I was quite impressed with the car. The chassis is incredibly rigid and the car felt nimble and quite predictable. While it's down about 100hp from my 350Z, it did have a lot of shining traits. The gearbox was incredibly smooth, and I had no problems heel-toeing with the pedal layout. BMW really thought out the car well. And with the weather being what it was, it was perfect convertible weather.

My only regret this weekend is that I shouldn't have explored Luxembourg on Saturday. Instead, I should have gone straight to the 'Ring to watch ractice and qualifying for the LMES (I had no idea it was this weekend). Not to mention it would have spared me one 67 euro tank of gas.

I definitely need to find an extended weekend to spend at the 'Ring - perhaps next time my company pays me to fly to Frankfurt.

Oh, and a short list of the exotics seen this weekend.

Ferrari F430 (hotness)
Gallardo
Murcielago
CLK GTR (real deal)
TVR Cebera (?)

Perfect convertible weather but a bit breezy on the Autobahn


Town in northern Luxembourg


Me standing next to my utility of choice


T13



Hocheichen


Flugplatz


Aremburg


Adenauer Forst


Metzgesfeld


Ring Taxi


CLK GTR



Caterham 7


TVR Tamora


Skyline

[ScottyB]

awesome.....i'd love to see some pics too. would you say the track fits the "green hell" namesake? :lol:

[Evan]

I was with a friend , and since she...

road head on the 'ring?


because we really cant have a thread without a tasteless comment, now can we?...

[BLINGMW]

because we really cant have a thread without a tasteless comment, now can we?...

yeah wow that didn't take long!

thanks for the writeup! Someday I'll get there....

What company did you rent from?

And the all important question.... what was your best lap time? :lol:

[Sijray21]

soo jealous :finger:

that sounds like an awesome time

i remember watching the TG video of the van and 10minutes, it looked like a circus...i only wish i can go there and do that, but DAMN that sounds expensive.

[Ryan T]

soo jealous :finger:

that sounds like an awesome time

i remember watching the TG video of the van and 10minutes, it looked like a circus...i only wish i can go there and do that, but DAMN that sounds expensive.

damn expensive is right, with todays exhange rate thats $592.96.

[Feersty]

Sure glad I didn't visit the Ring, cause I didn't have a car anyway! Although watching would have been fun, got to drive it to get that full experience!

[JackoliciousLegs]

Man, that sounds like a hell of a trip. Seems almost worth it to visit w/o a car.

[Myuki]

man, I wish i had gone that fast when i was on it. Course, I wasn't driving. Not that I would be that fast, parsay, just to go at it like that, though.

[Chris]

incredible!

[John]

thanks for the writeup! Someday I'll get there....

What company did you rent from?

And the all important question.... what was your best lap time? :lol:

I rented from eSixT - you have to monitor their rates since they flucuate so often.

Lap times I didn't record. I gave a ride to a more experienced ringer from the UK, and he said I was pretty quick (high 8 minutes) - but since you don't really do a full lap (you pit out and pit in on the same lap), you can't compare to the game. Also, they time their laps from a certain point to a certain point, and it cuts off a small portion of the straightaway (~1km maybe).

[BLINGMW]

that's very cool that you found some people to ride along with and to ride with you! I figured as much on the lap times, but good to know. :thumbup:

[REED]

Would I be correct in assuming you rented the 2.5 Z4 ?

[John]

Would I be correct in assuming you rented the 2.5 Z4 ?

Yes

[BLINGMW]

so I thought pics on track were no longer allowed? I guess no-one came chasing after you? :dunno:

that pic of Luxembourg btw is awesome :thumbup:

[Maengelito]

so jealous john, now essen my shieza for driving the 'ring