Living at the Nurburgring sometimes it feels like I'm a million miles away from the real-world. No shopping centres, no hypermarkets, and my iPhone 3 still trumps the Nokia 8810s down at the bar.
Mercedes took its first win in the event
Then at other times it feels like the world revolves around the Nurburgring. No longer am I marooned on some far flung archipelago, but I'm at the centre of the automotive world. Last week was one of those weeks, helped massively by a couple of different things.
The first was the amazing, the spectacular, the absolutely-bonkers-awesome Nurburgring 24-hour. This year I managed (by the skin of my teeth) to negotiate a fabled purple bib out of the organisers. Access all areas. Paddock, of course. Pit boxes, naturally. Stand in the middle of pit lane, Canon pressed to my face, as AMG GT3s bark past me, pinned against the speed limiters? Umm, not recommended, but I did it.
It was a very interesting race, with the GT3 cars of Aston Martin, AMG Mercedes, Porsche and BMW all taking their turns to lead it. The nine-hour stop for rain and fog wasn't much fun, but having seen the conditions with my own two eyes, and nearly aquaplaned my own Forester straight off the public road at 3am, I think it was a perfectly justifiable decision.
A little close for comfort to some of the action
Just before the end of the race I found myself shooting at the entrance to Aremberg, the high-speed run out of Schwedenkreuz on my right, the panoramic exit under the bridge to the left. I'd already told another photographer how dangerous this spot could be, when I heard a small squeal of tyres followed a silence and then a massive bang. Not a crunch. Not a smack. But a bang. This was the Mathol Porsche Cayman over-cooking Schwedenkreuz and eating guardrail at well over 120mph. Both wheels were broken off in the impact, and I found myself running away from the predicted impact zone and turning around just in time to catch the final collision and one, very poetic, smoking wheel rolling away down the hill.
It was a race of firsts, as the Black Falcon AMG was the first Mercedes to win the N24 overall and Sean Edwards was the first Brit to take to the top step as well.
Safer view from up on the bridge...
The transformation from centre of the universe, with over 200,000 people and manufacturers holding expensive brunches every day, back to sleepy Eifel village took a little longer this year. Hyundai, who fielded two cars in the N24, called a little press gathering to reveal their own Nurburgring strategies. More on this in due course.
But it's a sign that not all is lost over here at the Nurburgring, and even after the glamour and hubbub between race meetings dies down there's a lot of solid business going on behind the scenes. It might be quiet again right now, with the village back to its relaxed normality, but I know for sure that the 'ring is still at the front of a lot of people's minds.