My trip to the 'Ring
My trip to the 'Ring
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iluvmercs

Original Poster:

7,541 posts

251 months

Tuesday 29th July 2008
quotequote all
Last Christmas, my brother gave me a present of a trip to Germany this summer, which would include visiting the Nurburgring.

When we arrived there, we spent most of the day watching the German car club and the motorcycle would were using it. The track wasn't open to the public until that evening.
Neither of us had driven on any race track before and only my brother had driven the 'Ring on a Xbox a couple of years previous....and then it decided to rain in the afternoon. And as if we needed a reminder of how bad this track can be, when we arrived the motorcycle club were coming back in, after one of their guys had gone off. A German guy told us that the rider was air lifted to hospital and his bike was bought back in, looking rather mangled! There was oil on the track for the rest of the day, and all this occurred in dry conditions!
After oggling some tasty cars, we had a look round Nurburg, until the track was opened for public use.
We received some hints and tips from the few english people dotted about, the main theme being "be VERY careful" hehe We happened to bump into a couple of PHers, one being greg964, and I briefly glimpsed adamt, as he came back in, riding passenger in a slightly dented E46 BMW M3 CSL.
We bought our 4 laps for 70 Euros, and off we went. My brother drove first, the car being his and all! I took over for the second lap, and I have NEVER been so petrified behind the wheel of a car, as I was here. Needless to say round the entire Nordschliefe, I did not break 60mph paperbag
The 3rd lap was driven by my brother and the 4th by me once again (but slightly faster). The weather also improved slightly for the the 3rd and 4th laps.
All in all, a tremendous experience, and one which I shall repeat before too long!

Anyway, here are the photos from our day at the ring!
Enjoy!

PART 1
PART 2

Darren

cupra20vt

94 posts

213 months

Wednesday 30th July 2008
quotequote all
cool,

sounds like you had a good, and safe time.

My girlfriend and i are going for our 3rd trip in 2 weeks (for a week) and cant wait.

speedychrissie

2,994 posts

263 months

Thursday 31st July 2008
quotequote all
what car were you driving? i was there this weekend too so there is a chance i took a photo of your car.

your first circuit driving is always going to be scary and i think choosing the ring would make it even more so.

Robatr0n

12,362 posts

240 months

Thursday 31st July 2008
quotequote all
Looks like you had a great time Darren! How did the Cupra R handle it all?

iluvmercs

Original Poster:

7,541 posts

251 months

Tuesday 5th August 2008
quotequote all
Hi Robert! It's a been while. How are ya, buddy? The S2 running well?

Sadly it isn't the Cupra R he owns, it's the diesel equivalent(yer I know! rolleyes). It's the Cupra diesel 150bhp (pre-FR designation). Yup it handles well, but neither of us were anywhere near the car's limits.
We took out all unnecessary weight and folded the rear seats flat. My brother's idea, so whether it would make a difference remains to be seen hehe

Chris, you were there as well! Small world, eh? Did you see any of the motorcycle club and car club going around in the day, or were you just there for the public track session? Have you hosted any of your photos somewhere in the WWW? It would be great to see someone else's piccys! thumbup

Darren

speedychrissie

2,994 posts

263 months

Tuesday 5th August 2008
quotequote all
we went basically for the saturday and sunday just to drive the ring and didnt have much time to see anything else.

my photos are here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/speedychrissie/sets/7...

iluvmercs

Original Poster:

7,541 posts

251 months

Wednesday 6th August 2008
quotequote all
Some great photos there, Chris! Many thanks for posting the link thumbup
Alas, you didn't catch us on film, but still an excellent selection of motors!

Darren

[AJ]

3,079 posts

222 months

Thursday 7th August 2008
quotequote all
speedychrissie said:
we went basically for the saturday and sunday just to drive the ring and didnt have much time to see anything else.

my photos are here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/speedychrissie/sets/7...
[Andy from little Britain voice]I want that one![/Andy from little Britain voice]


y2blade

56,265 posts

239 months

Thursday 7th August 2008
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great report and some very cool pictures, i cant wait to get over there

cool


nice to see that Escort cosworth


petermansell

868 posts

230 months

Friday 8th August 2008
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Good post thumbup

y2blade

56,265 posts

239 months

Saturday 9th August 2008
quotequote all
speedychrissie said:
we went basically for the saturday and sunday just to drive the ring and didnt have much time to see anything else.

my photos are here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/speedychrissie/sets/7...
any info on this T5 engined gem cool