Nurburgring 2018

[Wh00sher]

Jamonit said:

Hi Ben ,

Thank you . All sorted . I guess there's no need to book it too soon ? Now all I have to do wait for 9 months . Still I've got the summer to look forward to getting used to my new GT3 . I tend to do PCGB track days but would be interested in other " grown up " events . I noticed your photo of the Lotus was at Goodwood . What sort of stuff do you do ?

Rob .

Rob, don`t leave accommodation late. Once your dates for the trackday are confirmed, book the hotel at the same time. They usually fill up well in advance.

I help out on quite a few DN events and always write up a report afterwards. it`s something I`ve done for the last 12 years from all my trackdays, but I`ve recently started sharing them on here.

Here are a couple of are my reports, one from Ringmeisters in July and the other from DN18 last August. If renting you won`t have the same car issues but it should give you a pretty good feel for what the whole event is like.

Ringmeisters Prime 2017 Trip report

Nige`s DN18 trip report



I`m planning to attend the Circuit Days trackday in April, then Ringmeisters in August and DN20 in September


All I would suggest is that you don`t want to worry about the spec of the car you are hiring. Loads of people hire Suzuki Swifts, Clios etc and people who have never driven them often turn their nose up and think "Pah, low power FWD, that`s no good, I need 300+BHP and RWD to get the most out of the trip". That`s completely the wrong approach and many regulars who have driven 1,000`s of laps still drive that sort of car just because they are so much fun to drive.

[Jamonit]

I was interested to read that no less a Nurburgring specialist than Walter Rohrl believes cars such as the Porsche GT2 RS are too fast for the circuit . So much so that he wasn't prepared to do the official factory speed test lap .

Now given this is the man who has driven the Ring in darkness during rain and fog at full race pace and anticipated each corner by timing rather than sight , this speaks volumes .

Does it make sense that anyone with the readies , regardless of talent , experience , skill and knowledge , can take such a car out and all other track users have to rely on the driver's common sense and self preservation to keep them safe ? And what if he doesn't display these qualities .

Of course I appreciate that our chosen sport is potentially dangerous but surely we should mitigate the risk were we can ? How to do , that's the difficulty .






https://www.motorauthority.com/news/1113777_walter...

[lucido grigio]

Even Herr Rohrl makes mistakes sometimes and we all know how little run off there is.

The YouTube videos don't lie.

[Digga]

lucido grigio said:

The YouTube videos don't lie.

IME driving the circuit for the first time, having watched plenty of laps beforehand, it generally felt narrower and tighter to me than I'd expected. Even more so than the videos portray.

Oh, and I'm hoping to book onto DN19, possibly one of the other DN dates too.

[nigelonich]

baronbennyt said:

So, a few private track day dates have already been published for the Nurburgring in 2018:

- Tuesday 24th April - Circuit Days
- Friday 25th May - #DN19
- Mon and Tue 28-29 May Grand Turismo All inclusive event (60% booked already)
- Monday & Tuesday 27th & 28th August - Ringmeisters Prime
- Thursday & Friday 27th & 28th September - #DN20
- Friday 26th October - Circuit Days

Added the GT event. Almost tempted to do DN19 ad GT but three full days there and something is going to wrong....

Planning: GT (2days) Prime (2days) and DN20 (2 days) all with the M235i Racing.

[e30m3Mark]

Some useful info here - thanks. Plan on going over in the spring with my E30 and using some of the services offered by Apex.

[baronbennyt]

I’ve been fortunate enough to have driven some pretty quick road cars around the Ring over the last 10 years or so: Porsche 997 GT2, GT3 RS, GT4, McLaren MP4-12C, Audi R8 V10, and BMW 1M (tuned) to name but a few. But the one which gave me the most confidence and pleasure? Porsche Cayman R without a doubt. The most scary? The GT2, well that was until the McLaren decided to dump coolant onto its rear tyres just as I was approaching the end of the start/finish straight at high speed...

[e30m3Mark]

Great pics.

[Jamonit]

Excuse my ignorance Ben but was the Cayman R the only mid engined of the set ? I only ask because my Cayman GTS gave me confidence from the first time I tracked it .

I've sold it now and will be replacing it with the GT3 soon .No doubt it will present me with a fresh set of questions / challenges !

Rob .

[kiethton]

Watching with interest - very much considering the September DN dates (cost dependent). Was also looking at instruction - would ~5 laps be enough (split into 3 to learn the basics and 2 more later on to improve)?

Only other worry is the car, insurance sorted easily enough, but would a NA S2 Exige suffer on some of the long straights at the ring?

[Digga]

kiethton said:

Only other worry is the car, insurance sorted easily enough, but would a NA S2 Exige suffer on some of the long straights at the ring?

Don't worry about it; let the bigger horsepower cars past on the straights and then gobble them up again on the twisties.

Seriously, as others on here have said, you can enjoy the Ring in a huge variety of cars and, in certain respects, the highest-powered cars are not the most enjoyable.

On DN you get about 30 mins plus of sighting laps at the start of the day, where there's (officially) no overtaking and you have the ability to begin to learn the corners and get warmed up. I'd say instruction is always going to help, but make sure it's with the instructor in the car; the DN 'free' stuff is with you following the instructor in his car and him picking up the pace which IME, when there's faster stuff mixing in between the two of you, is not always ideal.

[kiethton]

Digga said:

kiethton said:

Only other worry is the car, insurance sorted easily enough, but would a NA S2 Exige suffer on some of the long straights at the ring?

Don't worry about it; let the bigger horsepower cars past on the straights and then gobble them up again on the twisties.

Seriously, as others on here have said, you can enjoy the Ring in a huge variety of cars and, in certain respects, the highest-powered cars are not the most enjoyable.

On DN you get about 30 mins plus of sighting laps at the start of the day, where there's (officially) no overtaking and you have the ability to begin to learn the corners and get warmed up. I'd say instruction is always going to help, but make sure it's with the instructor in the car; the DN 'free' stuff is with you following the instructor in his car and him picking up the pace which IME, when there's faster stuff mixing in between the two of you, is not always ideal.

Indeed, it would be in the car for definite - also have a friend that's been a few times that does a bit of track instruction so would definitely be bringing him along too! (sure he'd want to in any event)

For the DN sessions, are both days compulsory or can you just do one?

[Digga]

kiethton said:

Digga said:

kiethton said:

Only other worry is the car, insurance sorted easily enough, but would a NA S2 Exige suffer on some of the long straights at the ring?

Don't worry about it; let the bigger horsepower cars past on the straights and then gobble them up again on the twisties.

Seriously, as others on here have said, you can enjoy the Ring in a huge variety of cars and, in certain respects, the highest-powered cars are not the most enjoyable.

On DN you get about 30 mins plus of sighting laps at the start of the day, where there's (officially) no overtaking and you have the ability to begin to learn the corners and get warmed up. I'd say instruction is always going to help, but make sure it's with the instructor in the car; the DN 'free' stuff is with you following the instructor in his car and him picking up the pace which IME, when there's faster stuff mixing in between the two of you, is not always ideal.

Indeed, it would be in the car for definite - also have a friend that's been a few times that does a bit of track instruction so would definitely be bringing him along too! (sure he'd want to in any event)

For the DN sessions, are both days compulsory or can you just do one?

I'm pretty sure you can pick and choose. I know I did last year on my first one. I bagged a few passenger laps (first with Whoosher in his crazy Golf Pinderwage - a story in itself!) on day 1 and then did my first laps driving day2.

[kiethton]

Digga said:

I'm pretty sure you can pick and choose. I know I did last year on my first one. I bagged a few passenger laps (first with Whoosher in his crazy Golf Pinderwage - a story in itself!) on day 1 and then did my first laps driving day2.

Thanks, just reading the website, it seems to only give a 2 day price for September, think I'll need to contact them to ask about a single day?

http://www.destination-nurburgring.com/2018-nurbur...

[Digga]

kiethton said:

Digga said:

I'm pretty sure you can pick and choose. I know I did last year on my first one. I bagged a few passenger laps (first with Whoosher in his crazy Golf Pinderwage - a story in itself!) on day 1 and then did my first laps driving day2.

Thanks, just reading the website, it seems to only give a 2 day price for September, think I'll need to contact them to ask about a single day?

http://www.destination-nurburgring.com/2018-nurbur...

Can't quite remember how it worked last year, but yes, contact Darren I'm sure he'll be helpful.

[Wh00sher]

Single day bookings mean extra drivers briefings on the second day, more paperwork and are generally avoided in favour of people booking both days.

IF there are spaces still available near the event, then you may be able to book a single day but I doubt that will happen. The reputation for the quality of the events has meant that every DN trackday I`ve done in the last several years has easily sold out and had waiting lists with people turning up on the event offering to pay extra to be allowed on. They have to wait until someone either doesn`t turn up, or has an incident that means their place become available but personally I wouldn`t go all that way and risk it incase there are no places that come up.


Honestly, if you have never driven it before, you won`t get anywhere near to the full capabilities of your car anyway and sometimes faster isn`t better. That`s not a slight against your driving capabilities at all, but at the nurburgring experience and circuit knowledge counts for a huge amount so I`d always suggest you take a car you are comfortable driving quickly rather than the fastest thing you own. If that happens to be the same car, then that`s even better

kiethton, a n/a Exige would be absolutely fine ! The ring is about so much more than just straight-line performance and to be fair, they are pretty quick anyway.


Because of the number of YouTube videos around, people often watch the quicker ones and then are concerned if their car will be too slow. I went out with a fellow Golf MK2 owner in July when he was there in his 1.8 8V. On the straights it was pretty gutless but we didn`t care in the slightest ! It was a fun lap and we both came back to the carpark with big grins on our faces.


You won`t be the quickest there so forget about your laptime. Nobody cares if you did a 10:59 or sub 8minute lap so just go and enjoy the lapping for what it is.

[e30m3Mark]

Forgive me if this sounds daft, but is using a computer game (Project Cars) accurate enough to be helpful in trying to learn the corners?

[kiethton]

Thanks, been talking to a few friends, now talk of signing up for the 2 days with 3/4 drivers to maximise track/rest time in either my Exige or a SC MX5, both similar HP & weight

[Digga]

e30m3Mark said:

Forgive me if this sounds daft, but is using a computer game (Project Cars) accurate enough to be helpful in trying to learn the corners?

Been a long while since I played any video games. I'd guess it'll help with the lefts & right, less so for the ups and downs and probably not much at all for bumps and cambers. Watching the videos is pretty good IMHO though, because you know what you're seeing is at least, on some level, realistic.

kiethton said:

Thanks, been talking to a few friends, now talk of signing up for the 2 days with 3/4 drivers to maximise track/rest time in either my Exige or a SC MX5, both similar HP & weight

Wh00shers advice about booking better as he's obviously closely in contact with DN.

Also, as he says, there's really no need to worry about which car is best/fastest, especially for a first trip. I'm trying to talk a mate into coming and he's just got a new Elise 250, but also has a McLaren 650S. As I told him, for a first trip, there's absolutely no need to bring something even as powerful as the Lotus, let alone the McLaren and he might even rent something too, instead of running his own car.

[Pdelamare]

e30m3Mark said:

Forgive me if this sounds daft, but is using a computer game (Project Cars) accurate enough to be helpful in trying to learn the corners?

Yes it will, undoubtedly. You'll then learn the way around the real track a lot faster. I also watched lots of videos and Whoosher's excellent tutorial sector videos.

It help me a lot when I realised that over each of the totally blind crests the track goes straight/ever-so-slightly left. There's no right handers over any of the blind crests, this helped me a lot, your mileage may vary.

Flugplatz I don't consider a totally blind crest as there's plenty of straight before the double-right hander.

Edited by Pdelamare on Wednesday 13th December 13:06