Friday 22nd February 2013

Ringside Seat: snowed in (still)

Snow: great for atmospheric pictures, rubbish if you want to fix or run a race track

---

When the old fella across the road told me the winter would be hard and long, I did consider giving him a classic dose of British humour. But I'm glad I didn't, because the hard-edged old chap was totally right.

Looks lovely but the novelty is wearing off

The temperatures here have been bitter, with a biting cold wind that only gets worse as you climb the hill to Nurburg. While Adenau, 300 metres lower, has thawed out several times, snow has been drifting around Nurburg for weeks now. A fine, dry, white powder blowing over and around the streets, the fields and the higher parts of the old Nordschleife.

And this is a problem.

Yesterday the 'ring management had to concede defeat to the elements and cancelled the first weekend of action, scheduled for March 9 and 10. The Saturday was planned to be the RCN test day and the 10th would have been a full Sunday of public driving. But now everything's now on hold until the VLN testing days on March 15 and 16. And the weather forecast for the next few days includes more snow and some double-digit negative numbers overnight.

Not much resurfacing going on here

It's a shame for those who'd gambled on an early visit to beat the summer crowds, and hard on all the businesses too, but a necessary evil. As per usual the 'ring is getting its annual makeover of new Tarmac and fresh fencing. But unlike most years, this year it's getting a lot. Almost 2km of the stuff, to be precise. Vast sections are getting totally resurfaced. Hatzenbach's being redone (again), Metzgesfeld and Wehrseifen too. Well, they're supposed to be, but the Eifel winter is proving troublesome.

The assorted heavy machinery near the top of the circuit has been snowed in for a couple of weeks. I'm sure the collective knowledge of the PH massive will tell me exactly why they're struggling to lay Tarmac in these temperatures, but I do know its a long distance for the lorries carrying the mix as they were arriving with number plates a good few regions away from here.

New wheels have opened up the options

As you can see from the photos, I've been checking the progress regularly. A task made infinitely more enjoyable with the latest addition to the fleet, a turbocharged all-wheel drive flat-four. Don't get too excited though, it's 'only' a Subaru Forester. Diesel.

I admit though, it's a helluva-lot of fun in these conditions. Owning a proper four-wheel drive with decent mud and snow tyres has opened up a whole host of routes to my favourite photo points.

Though having seen how utterly unstoppable it is through loose snow and mud, I now suspect the old fella with the Almanac and wintery predictions has been speaking to my bosses too. This new company car was only approved to prevent me from taking a snow day off...

 

[rtz62]

Is this just a 'filler'?
Very little information, of very little interest, including a very 'un-PH' Forester. diesel.
Disappointing....

[Chicane-UK]

Pfft. I found it an interesting read.

Edited by Chicane-UK on Friday 22 February 10:15

[rtz62]

It could be summarised thus;
"It snowed in Germany
The Nurburgring is closed.
Ive got a Subaru Forester to drive.
A diesel."
Just as interesting.
Just as factual.

[bakker110]

They won't be surfacing because if it's anything like over here you shouldn't be laying tarmac unless its +2'C and rising. If you do it tends to crack up when it shrinks due to it being laid hot and then getting really cold quickly.
This is how Tarmac do it in the UK anyway.

[MichelV]

The long, cold and hard winter is the result of Global Warming. Global Warming is the result of driving fast on the Nurburgring*.

• thought process of a left wing tree hugger. Same thought applies should the winter be short, warm and wet.

[snapper213]

bakker110 said:

This is how Tarmac do it in the UK anyway.

Have you seen the state of the roads in the UK??
Having travelled to Germany extensively, I think the people responsible for the roads in the UK can learn a thing or two from the Germans.

[bakker110]

The only reason for the poor roads here is the amount of large wagons salting of the roads and patchwork repairs due to lack of government funding for them to be done properly.

If we had mass closures on motorways etc like in europe every year the roads would be great. It's mainly the smaller roads over here that are affected and I bet they are still constructed in the same way in Germany unless they have a slightly different spec.

[snapper213]

Judge for yourself.....

[goron59]

Nice read on a hangovery Friday morning. Pretty pics of the 'ring.
Cheers.

[mat205125]

Subaru Forrester.
Winter Tyres.
Nurburgring Nordschleife.
A thick covering of snow.

Such potential for such a huge amount of fun.

[Dale Lomas]

Yeah, I've begged. I've prostrated myself for the management. I wanted to take the E36 328i around, but they said it wasn't safe. Then they said OK to the Forest Gump as it was an 'SUV'. But then they changed their minds again... just one lap in the snow and I'd be a very happy man.

Glad you liked looking at the photos, I enjoyed taking them too

-7ºC right now and I'm sat in the office sending cancellation emails to all the guys who had booked to drive on March 10th. Gutting.

[CraigyMc]

snapper213 said:

I think the people responsible for the roads in the UK can learn a thing or two from the Germans.

In many places I'd agree with this, but I've encountered some of the worst expansion joints in my driving career on autobahns.

C

Edited: typo

Edited by CraigyMc on Friday 22 February 16:14

[grosserbaby]

rtz62 said:

Is this just a 'filler'?
Very little information, of very little interest, including a very 'un-PH' Forester. diesel.
Disappointing....

It's just a very short piece on how it looks in the snow, but with so much snow you could have lots of Automotive fun on the right tyres in a Forester Diesel, it would probably go around the track too. Maybe he should have used a TVR, MX5, M3, M5, Caterham etc. etc. instead.

[Pip1968]

rtz62 said:

Is this just a 'filler'?
Very little information, of very little interest, including a very 'un-PH' Forester. diesel.
Disappointing....

rtz62 said:

It could be summarised thus;
"It snowed in Germany
The Nurburgring is closed.
Ive got a Subaru Forester to drive.
A diesel."
Just as interesting.
Just as factual.

Do not be so negative. Some Nordschleife lovers enjoy any news from there especially if they do not live there. I would love to buy a place out there (summer and winter residence) so keep on bashing away Dale.

Pip

[CampDavid]

Quite like Dale's updates.

I read them because I like knowing what's going on at the ring while I'm not there, which is sadly, nearly all the time.

[spudgun GB]

Hi there Dale,
A quick question kind of related.
Many moons ago on my first trip out we stayed at a hotel up at hohe-acht up on the junction up there. Just down over the edge were some ski lifts in a pretty sorry state.
Does the area do much skiing business or is that a thing of the past.

[spudgun GB]

Hi there Dale,
A quick question kind of related.
Many moons ago on my first trip out we stayed at a hotel up at hohe-acht up on the junction up there. Just down over the edge were some ski lifts in a pretty sorry state.
Does the area do much skiing business or is that a thing of the past.

[rohrl]

Dale Lomas said:

Yeah, I've begged. I've prostrated myself for the management. I wanted to take the E36 328i around, but they said it wasn't safe. Then they said OK to the Forest Gump as it was an 'SUV'. But then they changed their minds again... just one lap in the snow and I'd be a very happy man.

Glad you liked looking at the photos, I enjoyed taking them too

-7ºC right now and I'm sat in the office sending cancellation emails to all the guys who had booked to drive on March 10th. Gutting.

How about a Ski-Doo?

[BSC]

Video Porsche 996 on the Nordschleife in snow Watch from 1:07 min.

Jaco's Paddock Motorsport from Barweiler announced a two day track event in January 2009 on the Nordschleife, so called snow trackdays, one day in clockwise direction and the other counter-clockwise. Must have been fun if there was enough snow. Don't know whether it took place or not.

Edited by BSC on Saturday 23 February 01:52

[redback911]

Good read Dale, thanks for taking the time to do a write-up and post pictures.

Any updates on the financial status of the Ring? It just seems like business as usual for the near-term.