Ringside Seat: The Nordschleife popularity contest

Sale worries are cast aside as punters continue flocking to the 'ring

By Dale Lomas / Friday, 11 October 2013 / Loading comments

The Nurburgring is full of both rumours and facts this month. I'm trying to ignore the former and concentrate on the latter.

'Ring still popular with a few then!

First fact; the weather might be cooling off and the forests beginning to hue orange and brown, but this place is busier than ever. Just take a look at these photos I snapped at last Sunday's public session.

Hundreds and hundreds of cars queuing down the Dottinger Hohe after another big closure. It was a four-day session of public driving, and the weather on the first two days was rubbish. So when the weather finally dried out, everybody took to the track at once.

It's an amazing sight and, as annoying as it is when you're stuck in it, it's reassuring for those of us worried about the Nordschleife's future. It shows that enthusiasts from all over Europe and the world still love to make the trip here, and there's no ebb in the old circuit's popularity.

"Quick lads, the rain has stopped! Oh."

The second important fact is that the Nurburgring still matters to manufacturers as well as customers. Nissan dropped countless thousands of euros on the table this week when they paid for the whole Nordschleife on a private basis.

Safety teams, timing lights, film crews and photographers. All of them looking after a solitary NISMO GT-R test mule.

The rumours can't be avoided now; 7m10s and 7m06s. Several different sources have told me they expect the new NISMO to go under 7m10s on a lap of the Nordschleife. That's ridiculously quick for a car that won't cost a million euros. The 7m06s is either the time it can theoretically lap according to the engineers' calculations, or it's the time that the car has actually achieved.

Where else was a NISMO GT-R going to be?

Personally, having driven the

standard GT-R

quite a bit, I find it a little far-fetched. But then, nobody really knows the spec of the NISMO car.

If it's a no-holds-barred brawler with too much boost and a lot of aero, then it's possible. Certainly the newly-extended rear wing and the epic compressor stall echoing through a very open intake would suggest this. I'm not sure that wing will make it through type-approval here though as it probably obstructs the rear view. That could hint at the new car being a JDM model only. Of course, that's just my own speculation.

And while we're descending into rumours, let's just touch on the Nurburgring's impending sale, privatisation or investment opportunity. Whatever you want to call it.

Rumours of a sub-7m10s lap abound...

There have been so many organisations linked to the sale, I don't know where to begin. From energy drink giants to car manufacturers, Asian utility companies to Californian investment firms and even English businessmen. The rumours border on the absurd right now. And the fact is that interested parties will not even be confirmed in public until later next month.

So I'll just stick with the facts; the Nurburgring is as popular as ever and I'm happy about that!