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. 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. Nothing can really prepare you for the real thing except for having a lot of track experience. The place is overwhelming - all sorts of turns and camber designs. And no, GT4 and Forza doesn't even come close to giving the 'Ring justice.

Upon arrival, I met up with a friendly 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 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 Z, 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 Tamora

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

 

sweet story!!!!! sounds awesome. :cheers:

 

I envy.

 

Wow! I'm jealous! All I got to do this weekend was watch a video of Hans Stuck doing a VERY hot lap at the 'ring in a BMW M1 GTR. Looking forward to the pics.

Here's a link to some videos:

http://gamelle71.free.fr/

Check out #2, #13 & #16.

 

Oh man, you have just lived one of my dreams. One day I will make it there, but until then its GT4 for my 'ring fix.

 

Dear lord am I jealous... I think I need to fully leverage some of these StopTech connections and get over there asap!

 

YOU SUCK JOHN!! I actually fly into Frankfurt a good 6-12 times a year and have yet been able to find time to make it to the Ring. I did race go-karts at Michael Schumacher's go-kart track (http://www.ms-kartcenter.de/), but never to the Ring. I've got to go back over in Oct and thinking about going to the Hockenheimring to catch a DTM race. Maybe I can fit Nurburgring in too??

How long did it take you from Frankfurt to Nurburg?

Auf Wiedersehen!
Jason

 

Nice!! Great review!

 

This just in. Video of John lapping the ring...


http://xfer.gofastvideo.com/gallery/.../121/1/aae.wmv

 

wow that video was crazy...

 

reading your review, I got all homesick. My home used to be about 60miles away from "the ring". I am happy for you. Isn't it the best experience you could have in a car? I just wish I could fine at least a little track here in New England like this. I miss driving like this sooooooo much. Did you check out the Nuerburg? The old fortress is really cool and there are soo many other around there.
Oh man I better stop before I cry

Viel Spass

 

Frankfurt is about 1.5 hours from the Frankfurt airport - about 170km if I remember correctly. I had no idea you visited Deutschland that often - perhaps we could coordinate a trip to split the costs?

I saw the fortress on the hill, but didn't get a chance to explore it. It sure was nice coming down the straightaway to see a castle to your right.

 

That was great John !

I did the Ring 2 years ago with a buddy of mine (he's now a test driver for Maseratti...). With a rented BMW 320i

Did your Boxer friend point out the dots marking the turn-in points on the track ?

Anybody who plans to go should log as many laps as possible on a PS2 or XBox. The more you know the track, the less intimidating it is.

I hope you didn't forget to buy your Ring sticker !

Here are my pictures of my week-end at the ring. That place is just Driver's Paradise...

http://public.fotki.com/kolia/courses/nurburgring/

 

We're not worthy! We're not worthy!

 

Well John, now that you've done it once you'll never stop thinking about the next time. I was lucky enough to be there (Germany) in May for work. Since we flew out of Frankfurt, the 'Ring was a natural choice for the last Saturday we were there. It is truly an amazing experience and the problem is that the people you tell it to are 1)not car people and don't care or 2)car people and are so green with envy that they aren't too excited you got to go and they didn't.

Of course, I was there and I only got to do 2 laps in our BMW 320, certainly not a Z4. So now I think I'm jealous of your trip. But congrats, man, I'm glad there are more people out there doing this. It's like a pilgrimage.

Wasn't it ridiculous? All those cars you dream about, the world's best road course, no drivers meetings or safety courses,.... I have to go back!

 

John, you have inspired me to start planning a trip to Frankfurt.

 

That video of the guy lapping the ring was scary. It was hard restraining fear-induced tears. I would have lost it on 64 of those turns, and died on 48 of them.

John, great review btw.

 

If I ever go there, I will seriously consider a tatoo commemorating the day.

 

Note to everyone:

GO!!!! You won't be disappointed. It's enough reason to plan a whole trip around. Plus, look at it this way:
even when you add in airfare it is still less than many 5 day driving schools and it's on the sweetest track in the world! And you get to enjoy Germany.

 

I'm off to Frankfurt on Saturday for the motor show, but I don't think that there will enough time in my schedule to make it to the Nurburgring this trip. Only 1.5 hours away, though - hmmmmm...