Nurburgring 2017

[baronbennyt]

Jim1556 said:

Seems you may have dodged a bullet with the Macca, going on this weekends horrendous pile up due to coolant loss!

Enjoy your time there...

Thanks, bullet dodged indeed. McLaren really must sort out their coolant hose popping issue before yet more damage is done. Crazy that they're having these problems, especially since they pride themselves on the mantra: "developed on the track". That is why I decided to go back to Porsche - the only brand of car in my experience that can consistently lap the ring and other big circuits without issue (or modification).

Given my previous Cayman R was the most beautifully balanced and grin inducing car I've ever taken to the ring (if not the very fastest), I have high hopes for the GT4...

[baronbennyt]

Digga said:

I'm not doing this DN, but have fun; the GT4 looks superb! Might catch you in 2018.

Cheers, see you at DN 2018

[baronbennyt]

ukkid35 said:

Probably crossing on Saturday, but will definitely look to hitch a ride with you at some point.

Cheers - Paul

See you down there then Paul. Can't wait but crossing every finger for dry weather. Cheers, Ben

[baronbennyt]

Order66 said:

You're joking surely. The 991 GT3 is plagued with engine issues, there won't be a car out there on its original engine, and there are tales of cars on their 3rd/4th engine...and don't get started with the 4.0RS.....

Well, I did say in my experience...I've driven hundreds of laps of the ring in my previous Porsches: Cayman R, 997 GT3RS and 997 GT2 without a single issue. Whereas when I took my Audi R8 V10 the brakes went after two laps, Aston Vantage V12S overheated, BMW 1 Series M Coupe ran out of brakes too, and my McLaren 12C blew a coolant hose at high speed, which almost sent me into the armco.

I've never owned a 991 GT3 or 4.0RS so can't speak from experience, but I assume you have? If so, that's not encouraging but since the GT4 has a "standard" Carrera S engine I trust it will prove reliable.

Time will tell...

[baronbennyt]

[quote=Pdelamare]I'll be there for DN18.

I'll be wobbling around trying to find my way around in this.

Wowzers! That looks a beast Peter. First time in this at the Ring or first time at the Ring?

[baronbennyt]

RSbandit said:

Hi Benny I'll be on the 09.36 Eurotunnel on that Sunday doing both track days, taking the R8 V10+ for the first time (4th visit to the ring but have always rented from RSR til now)...interested in what you said above re the brakes were they standard steel ones have ceramics on mine

I'll be in the GT4 on the 08.20 Eurotunnel on the Sunday but I don't drive particularly quickly on the way to the ring so I might see you power past me in your R8 V10+! Do you have a picture of the R8?

I had a R8 V10 Spyder manual but it was on steel brakes. The car's (steel) brakes struggled to do a full lap at "full' pace and wilted badly when I tried to do two flying laps, but other than that it was mega. I'm sure your ceramics will be absolutely fine.

Although the ring isn't particularly hard on brakes it still goes without saying that you must do a warm up and, even more importantly, a cool-down. I've learned the hard way on a few occasions and seen worse when drivers come straight into the pits at speed without having done a slow-down beforehand only to find they've knackered their brakes!

[baronbennyt]

Currently going through my Nurburgring archive so thought I'd post the cars I've owned and tracked at the Green Hell.

The most fun? Perhaps surprisingly the "slowest" car: the Porsche Cayman R.

[baronbennyt]

RSbandit said:

That 12c really is a beauty shame about the unreliability, was toying with the idea of one but read a few too many things that put me off ...are u holding onto it ?

I'm planning on selling the McLaren 12C so the Porsche GT4 and Lotus 3-Eleven will be my track day toys, going forward.

[baronbennyt]

RSbandit said:

lovely combo nice colour scheme on the Lotus. Meant to ask do you get trackday insurance for the ring trips? If so who do you use?

I don't bother getting Track day insurance at the Ring since it's very difficult to secure and usually the excess is pretty extortionate.

Usual insurance quotes of £550 per day with 10% excess. Friend got a quote for £480 for both days with £1700 excess from Morris, which seems pretty reasonable though. But you'd have to check it out. I can't vouch!

[baronbennyt]

RSbandit said:

Loving that blue

[baronbennyt]

stradman said:

I'll be at the Ring on 28th and 29th August.
I'll be in this. First time at the Ring.....

Christ, first time at the Ring in a Viper ACR - good man!

May I ask where you bought the Viper from? I was going to import one through a UK specialist but then the costs starting getting out-of-hand so I reluctantly pulled the plug.

[baronbennyt]

terryb said:

I'm on the same train in a yellow GT4, along with a GT3, Exige and a number of others - maybe see you there. Doing both DN days too.

You'll love the GT4 at the Ring - epic car

See you at Folkestone

Edited by baronbennyt on Sunday 20th August 19:57

[baronbennyt]

Just loaded on the Eurotunnel. V excited now. See you all at sign-in later today! Safe travels.

[baronbennyt]

Great two days' lapping at the Ring in my Cayman GT4. The weather was brilliant - too hot even! Wonderful to meet up with old friends and make new ones too. The GT4 ran faultlessly, unlike its owner who had to have a quick nap on day one after too much excess the night before. Good times!

[baronbennyt]

RSbandit said:

Was nice chatting to you on Monday Benny I never got round to having that lap in the GT4 next time for sure or maybe the 311?? Hope the GT4 performed as well as you hoped.
Serious withdrawal symptoms on my side christ that place is epic so much to look at in the paddock awesome array of cars, lots of sound people about as well was chatting to one of the guys who shipped their GTRs from California for the week...now that's commitment ! Will post a frozenspeed pic once I get round to looking at them

Sorry we didn't get to go on a lap in the GT4 together, next time for sure. Yes, it was epic thank you - lots more to come from car and driver on DN19!

Really pleased to hear you enjoyed lapping your wonderful R8 too at the Ring

[baronbennyt]

Pdelamare said:

I had a good 4 days, though my M3 suffered an injector issue on Sunday which meant being recovered by Bongard from the car park to Tom Schirmer's place where he let us investigate and resolve the problem.

Monday and Tuesday were a little too hot for me really, 51 degrees track temp were too hot for my tyres too lol. But, I achieved my aim of learning the track to a level where I could start committing to some lines and corner speeds.

First video is me wobbling around in 8:25, a whole minute slower than my car is capable of

2nd video is my buddy Jon chasing Porsches.

https://youtu.be/-uy80vmC7sU

https://youtu.be/w1Q93w4ubdc

What's the spec of your M3 Peter? It looks mighty fast - supercharged?

I noticed at the beginning of your video run a slower BMW which, whilst probably being peddled as quickly as it could go, did get in the way somewhat (as it did with me). Hope I haven't just insulted someone on this message board!

[baronbennyt]

iguana said:

Ha well almost! My car, but I'm in the passenger seat on that one!

Personally I'd have pulled over at 1.14 on the vid, a tiny lift kept right & he could have slipped by, and really he should have done just that & I did say that at the time, as I do remember Peter's car coming up behind us & naturally assumed my pal would have let him past there, but I think it was something like his 3rd lap after a 12yr gap & he'd compromised to that point so many lines to faster traffic & he just thought i want to actually get this bit correct & I'll let him by on the straight in a sec.

Peter's comments above proves he got that entirely, exactly how it should be, he was way off the potential of his car, just as my pal was driving mine, you can't just expect folks to dive out the way, mate was pretty intimidated by the pace of the fast stuff.

However is interesting your view on being held up tho, seeing as when I was driving you did exactly that to me, yes with hundreds of laps I'm pretty experienced at 'ring, but blimey that 380bhp GT4 porker was a bit of a roadblock to the old 230bhp £2k BMW shed, but I didn't think to come on here & be tetchy about it, I knew it was your car from the pics you posted, but why would I comment? I just assumed the car was in limp mode or something, as didn't think GT4 s could go that slowly as I've tracked one, so i hope it was an easy fix

I didn't mean to cause any offence old boy; personally, I think you've over-reacted somewhat. I appreciate many drivers are new to the track and are likely looking ahead rather than behind but one of the things one learns over time is to keep checking mirrors. If I really did the same to you (which I certainly don't recall) then I hold my hand up and apologise. Still, I'm glad everyone had a great time which is the most important thing.