Wednesday 1st October 2014

Sevens to the Nurburgring: PH Blog

How better to complete your first laps than with a road trip and a Caterham?

---

Here's a little secret: in the dusty tome that is the PH style guide there's a section dedicated to the Nurburgring. It says 'Nurburgring (the) is NEVER prefixed 'notorious' or 'infamous'! The 'ring is acceptable as an abbreviation but make sure it doesn't come out as 'Ring, and it's Nordschleife, not Nordschliefe'.

Full of optimism at Calais...

You see, it's all too easy to get a bit carried away with that race track when writing about it. How many times have you seen the above adjectives used to describe the Nordschleife? Exactly. So I tried as hard as possible to remain level headed and calm about the whole experience. Yeah...

Anyway, that's to be discussed shortly. Last weekend, soppy though it probably sounds, was nearly as much about the trip as the destination. Three friends, a trio of Caterhams, the battle with Belgium, chatting to strangers at petrol stations and enjoying some great roads even before the track. We got lost (a lot), the convoy was separated at points, the Brussels ring road was torture and of course it rained. But given this started with a quite vague email of 'The 'ring would be fun. We should do it soon' there's a real sense of achievement at having done it.

The excitement of your first Nordschleife trip only delays the onset of boredom in Belgium; it can't prevent it. The motorway slog just seems interminable, the pre-paying for fuel idea is daft and I lost count of the amount of time vehicles would carve across lanes to make an exit at the last second. Not fun.

Lost.

We decided to take a more scenic route into the hotel at Hohe Acht which was well worth it. Fast, flowing and well surfaced roads were the perfect way to end the journey out there, even if we did struggle to find the hotel and therefore missed Saturday's evening session. D'oh. Instead we spent the evening on some fantastic local roads (the route to Mayen from Hohe Acht is superb; see here) before currywurst and Bitburger to end an exhausting day.

So, back to calm and level headed about the prospect of driving the never notorious or infamous Nurburgring. It lasted up until 0900 on Sunday when the track opened, appropriately enough with a siren. What if I missed a car behind being too concerned about lines? What if someone dumps fluid and I'm first on it? What if I lock up? Talk of this car going under eight minutes and that car going 20 seconds faster than its predecessor has arguably undersold the experience of a lap slightly. It's still very scary when that barrier raises for the first time.

But in fact the first lap was without drama. It was slow, it was steady but it was safe and that was the first priority. Gran Turismo is an excellent coach on where the track goes but it massively, massively undersells the camber and elevation changes.

Lost again.

You will no doubt have heard that before but it's the most striking element of the circuit; seeing nothing but sky on the way to Flugplatz, aiming for a kerb that isn't visible at Adenauer Forest and plunging down the road after Pflanzgarten are all really quite intimidating even at first lap speeds. But they're an addictive challenge, corners you want to attack with more speed and a better line immediately.

We managed to get our second laps in before the crashes started. It's the risk you take visiting the Nordschleife on a tourist day but even being forewarned I was surprised at how frequently the red light was illuminated. The upside is you get the opportunity to gawp at the stunning display of cars on show. The 'petrolhead Mecca' phrase is an hackneyed one but it does apply there. People make the pilgrimage from all corners of the world and from all backgrounds because they enjoy driving and want to experience the track. There were 4Cs from France, a British Volvo contingent, a 4.0 RS from Luxembourg and a friendly man from Toronto who really didn't get what a Caterham was. There's massive diversity but that common interest of driving that creates a really special atmosphere off the track. You're amongst friends, even if you've never met.

Not lost. Not crashing either!

As it happened I only completed five laps of the nine paid for because of the amount of crashes. It is rather unnerving just seeing a yellow flag to cover every kind of incident but you drive to that, not flat out but always wary that there could be a car strewn across the road very soon. That's a lot easier to say than abide by on the track though. It takes a man of stronger will than I to not get a little excited at the prospect of a half decent lap! But there wasn't even an 'oh s**t, that was a bit close' moment throughout the day which has to be a good thing.

The Nurburgring is overhyped on occasion but it really is a driving experience like no other. That's what it should be known for, not something that's going to spit you off at every corner. Go expecting a British track day type of experience and you will be disappointed. It's too chaotic for that. But approach like you would a trip to the Col de Vence or Futa Pass and you'll love it. Alright, it's more expensive to drive the 'ring than those conventional roads but it's the most relevant comparison I can think of. Stay off the kerbs and within your limits and you'll have a ball.

And the journey home? The least said about that the better.

Video here. Obviously I had to use kerbs to discover that they're best avoided... And this was only my fifth lap. Thought I'd best get that excuse out!

 

 

[Karussell pic: BridgetoGantry. Thanks Dale!]

 

 

 

 

[suffolk009]

Caterhams at the ring. About as much fun as I've ever had. It was the a Wheeltorque weekend - so closed circuit, the Caterham factory where there and I remember the buzz as Nearn did a sub 8minute lap in the R500. I also remember going full blast down the main straight, when a McLaren GTR (the West/Davidoff car) came by at about twice the speed. The noise was like getting suddenly buzzed by a low flying jet when you're out in the countryside.

I recall the Cross-ply formula ford wets on my superlight, the Belgian motorways, Polish Truckers and torrential rain being combining to be the scariest drive I've ever had.

Oh, and loving the picnic in your passenger footwell!

[suffolk009]

Matt Bird said:

Car goes back on the 22nd of this month so no more trips unfortunately. Still managed 7,500 miles though

But that's still three weeks away!