AUSringers.com

By Russ on Feb 5, 2008

WOW! <—- this sums up the nurburgring for me pretty much.

I live in Sydney NSW and im 24, and going to the ring on my 1 month holiday in September 2007 with 2 mates was always on the cards.

We stayed in Koblenz the night before, then drove out there in our rented VW TDI Jetta.

We did 3 laps altogether, mixed in with spectacting from various view points.

We were there the whole day, and were completely amazed at how beautiful the track was and how exciting/dangerous it was to drive on.

My 3rd mate, was happy to sit in the back seat and watch us go around the track. He was too scared that he would understeer the car off the track.

I will definitely be going back there in 2009, and this time in a faster car without 3x 20kg+ suitcases in the back.

BEST THING IVE EVER DONE IN MY LIFE!

Anyone reading this, book your flight to Frankfurt Germany!

By Ryan on Feb 5, 2008

I was the other driver in the car with Russ. Beating a porsche in a rental jetta was definetly one of the best moments. Also hounding a newish civic with said luggage and 2 passengers was great too. Loosely timed, I managed around a low 12 second lap from memory. Most of that was moving out of the way of various porsches and bmw’s though

I had found heaven for that one day. A day which I will never forget. Planning to make the pilgramage again in ‘09 with something a little more faster and agile

By Ryan on Feb 5, 2008

Oh and great site too! Funnily enough, my nickname is Ringers too haha.

By Terence on Feb 14, 2008

Hi

I just stumbled over this site. I am an Aussie originally from NSW but am now living 120km away from the Nordschleife in Luxembourg. I am trying to get there at least once a month to do a few laps. Just fantastic. Last year was lapping in my wifes Station Wagon but have bought a Porsche 968 to be my ring tool this year. Have done about 24 laps in total. Totally addicted.

By Terence on Feb 15, 2008

Fair enough - I am a lucky bastard. To be so close is to good an opportunity to waste. anyone coming over post a message and if I can help you out let me know.

By Dave on Feb 19, 2008

Nice looking site Liam, good to see a few Aussie ring enthusiasts getting togeather online. I’m originally from Hobart but moved out 6 years ago and have been living in Holland for the past 3. I’m not quite a close as Terrance, about 250km for me but still quite close enough for day trips (especially since a good chunk of the commute can be done at 200kph

I’m a pretty frequent visitor, having racked up about 900 laps since moving to Holland so there is always a good chance of catching me there. If any Aussies are looking for a bit of help or advice on organising a visit I’ll do my best to assist. Passengers are welcome, I drive a black Elise on Dutch plates, say g’day if you see me in the carpark.

Terrance, we should catch up and swap some laps, when are you going next? I might be there again this weekend, will watch the weather and probably make a last minute decision on Saturday morning. I had thought that conditions would be just too dodgy at this time of year but last weekend was brilliant. It was dry but they salted the hell out of the track and all the dust combined with the sub zero temps made for an ultra low grip experience. It was kinda spooky to begin with but turned out to be brilliant slidy fun. If I get around to writing a mini trip report I’ll post it up here.

Cheers all,

Dave

By Martin on Feb 21, 2008

Hi Liam,

Thanks for your comments on my Nurburgring story… You’d be glad to know that the bluey grinning like a loon next to me for most of the trackday is my Sydneysider girlfriend living over here in London at the moment - I’ll see if she has any uniquely Aussie comments to make beyond “strewth!”…

/bfg

By dominic on Feb 28, 2008

hey guys i have a few questions to the “been there” guys…..

first of all let me say i hate you all and im very very jealous, secondly id like to ask you a question

for just say….. 10 days, purely just to go to germany to race on the ring… what would the holiday budget be? including tix, rental car, the whole shazam??

cheers guys

dom

By Terence on Mar 4, 2008

Dave

I will let you know when I am going. Have been travelling last 4 weekends so have not been. Last weekend looked pretty wild with the weather.

If this weekend is good probably be there.

By Chris Harris on Mar 5, 2008

Another year and already had my first trip! Have just booked my second trip at Easter now! Any ausringers going to be there over Easter? The place where I store the Golf ( http://www.nurburgmotorsport.com/ ) is having its open day over the Easter holiday and anyone is free to pop down!

By Dave on Mar 6, 2008

Terence, doesn’t look like much chance of good driving this weekend, its either going to be still covered with snow or at least wet.

However, we do have a plan if the snow sticks around - taking the Zakspeed quad bikes around the ring in the snow. Will have to wait and see what the weather brings.

By Mc_Crash_mkv on Mar 16, 2008

Hi to all.

I’m going to Nurburg the 20th of march,driving with my car..a 2008 golf gti euro spec.

I’ll take thousands of pics and do some laps on the ring.

I’ll tell you how it went..thanks.

By Terence on Mar 26, 2008

There was a Ford Falcon FPV up at the ring over Easter. Lime Green colour.

Bit of a surprise when I parked next to it. Could not find the owner but it was registered in Jersey.

By Kent (NSW) on Apr 7, 2008

i was lucky enought to visit the ring back in 2001 (from memory) with a good mate.

My friend had organised to meet up with some VWVortex guys, so i just happened to get a ride in an old 90’s GTI, and a few laps as passenger in a new Porsche 911 Turbo… awesome did not describe this experience.. and i think it would be second only to a trip in the ring taxi

By williamsf1 on Apr 9, 2008

G’day, I’m lucky enough to get to Frankfurt with work at least 4 times a year! and have done over 100 laps in the last 3 yrs…

best bit of advice given to me, and now to be passed on here is not to time a lap till you have done at least 10 laps… as its asking for an crash! and there are no small crashes here!!!

I will be back there in may, and was recently there over Easter… sadly 1 foot of snow!

cheers,

and go the aussies…

By Snowman on Apr 9, 2008

Hey All,

Just came back from my 1st ring experience last week (was there on Friday April 4th). I tee’d up a car from Theo and Heidi at http://www.rent-racecar.de/gb/ and I can’t speak highly enough of them and the state of their veichles.

Also - a hot lap with Theo is an experience of a lifetime as he four wheel slides his Golf around a corner at 140km/hr with one hand on the wheel whilst pointing with the other at some point on the wall where some famous person had once crashed into.

Anyways - since I’ve done a little bit of motorsport back here in Oz I decided to use their BMW 135i which after arriving I was told was their most difficult car to drive (decent power + RWD + short wheel base = very twitchy).

And after my hot lap with Theo in his golf I set out for my 1st exploration lap and discovered how right they were about the car but also how right everyone else was about just how difficult this track really is. The two biggest things for me were the fact that there was no “rest” stages at all (most tracks have one or 2 straights you can catch your breath and just shift gears for a few seconds for), and also how basically there was only 2 or 3 places you can actually see 2 corners ahead. So it made it very hard to know how fast or slow to take each one as you never knew what was around the corner.

Still despite all this - and despite knowing it was “illegal” I had brought along a GPS and the Racechrono software with the ring BTG track built in so set off for a hot lap. The main aim I had in my head was to at some stage in the day break 10mins. I ended up doing my first lap in 9.12.3 (which Theo later tells me puts me in the insane class to run a time like that on my 1st lap).

But in some senses it was lucky I ran my time on that first lap because when I started my second it started to really bucket down with rain and half way around the car infrom slammed into a wall - for really doing nother wrong other than just touching a ripple strip. The little RWD BMW I was in was struggling for rear grip as well and since I had a $20K excess over my head I lost heart very quickly in pushing hard. I ended up just doing a couple more “tourist” laps bringing along some friends that had come to watch but just cruising at a max 100km/hr around the place. But that one dry lap has left me wanting to come back for more and I hope to do it again in the not too distant future.

Cheers

Snowy

By Wayne on Apr 9, 2008

Snowy, please do tell us more about the 135i. What mods has been done to it? What size tyres was it running? How was the power? I am planning to turn mine into a track car when I pick it up next month. Probably not straight away but over the next year perhaps. I can’t wait!

Wayne

By Terence Ledger on Apr 18, 2008

All

Doing the the GLP this weekend at the ring. This is a regularity trial where you have to lap in exactly the same lap time.

Will provide a report. Doing it with Dale from Bridge to Gantry in an Alfa.

By Ric Shaw on May 2, 2008

This year will be my 5th at the Ring and again in the Mazda RX7 i built from the ground up here in Aus. i hope to better my two second in class finishes from 2002 and 2003. Look out for car 104 a white RX7. come say hi if your at the track.i am in class SP3T. some minor changes have been made for this year and i hope to match the lap time again of my mate Mal Rose in the V8 we drove together in Sepang12hr.

By Terence Ledger on May 7, 2008

Ric,

I will be up there spectating. Will bring the flag to cheer you on.

There seems to be a lot of Aussies in the 24 hour this year.

By Terence Ledger on May 7, 2008

Guess you would call me Captain slow guys. It was raining like hell in my stint and I had never driven around in the wet. Anyway we fell foul of the 15 minute rule. Although I lapped consistently at 15.44 it incurred huge penalties. Dale from RSR Nurburg who was the co driver(See Bridgetogantry.com) was in faster form and I would recommend anyone going to Nurburg to take a lap with him. Brilliant driver, we drifted the whole circuit for 6 laps. He taught me heaps about the circuit and I am now much faster around there in the road car than before.

The wet line is very different to the dry line.

It was a hoot though and starting an event on the full Nordschliefe with 143 other cars was an experience in itself.

By Cal on May 28, 2008

I’ve been to the Ring twice, once in 2003 in a rental car and once in 2006 in one of Theo’s race car rentals. I have written stories on both trips, but perhaps they are a bit large to post here?

By Shane on Jun 1, 2008

Hello there

I’m moving to Melbourne from the UK, I’ve done a fair bit of driving around the ring (tourist laps, working/testing and a bit of racing). I was wondering whether there is a cheap(ish) form of racing in Oz? I’d really love a shot racing a big V8!

Great site by the way.

Shane

By Shane on Jun 25, 2008

Thanks Liam

I’ve seen their cars at the ring. I’ll give him a call when I arrive in a few weeks.

I’ll keep in contact via Ausringers!

Shane

By Corey on Jul 10, 2008

First of all I would like to thank Liam for putting together this site - it’s nice to know there are other liked minded people in Australia.

I first visited the Ring in 2005 when my father and I went to Europe on our motor sport holiday. Before venturing to the Ring I bought a car in England (Evo 3) and took in the festival of speed, French grand prix and the BMW and Porsche factories.

Now my first mistake was not preparing the Evo before hitting the Ring. The car was fresh of the boat when I bought it in England and the tires were shot - hard as nails, but I thought lets give them hell on the Ring then replace them.

After doing 9 laps on the Saturday (and snagging a ride in the Ring Taxi with Sabine - with out even having a booking!) I ventured out on my first lap Sunday morning. Confidence riding high I asked the old man to time me - second mistake.

Going for it coming over Flugplatz and into the double right hander I took to much curb on the first apex and the front right hand tire burst! Sending the car in to a wild 160km/ph drift at which point I made my third mistake - snapped of the accelerator - turning me round backwards into the very expensive railing. We then bounced back out into the middle of the track. After checking that the old man was OK I looked up to see a Porsche GT3 heading straight for us but luckily just missing us. The doors where jammed shut so I climbed out the window and ripped off my shirt to start waving down cars screaming round the blind bend.

I have to say that other ringers where very helpful and by the time I was out of the car 3 other cars had stopped to help and by the time I got about 10m from the car a marshal had already stopped and forced the door open to get Dad out of the car.

My last 2 semi laps of the ring where 1. in the tow truck and 2. in the marshal’s car - so I did not laeve with the best memories.

Because of this I returned to face my demons in 2006 in a Clio V6 but this time with my 8mth pregnant wife - I took things a lot easier to say the least.

I am currently in Europe again and head back to Green Hell on the 20th of July.

Sorry about the long post but I thought I should warn others how quickly the Ring can bite if you don’t respect it.

Kind Regards

Corey

By Ben on Aug 12, 2008

Hey guys,
Just found this site and I’m very excited.
I’m heading to the Ring on the 3rd of October and I’m in the middle of organising a Ringtool for the day.
Rentaracecar are booked out and I’m still waiting on Dale from RSR and Jaco from Jaco’s Paddock to return my emails. Really want to get something booked as I don’t have a lot of time go.
I’m planning on about 10 laps for the day and would be happy just to lap at a brisk pace and enjoy the track.
Any hints, tips and info would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,
Ben

P.S. 31yrs old Newcastle NSW.

By Dave on Aug 14, 2008

Ben, there is always a chance I’ll be there but I tend to decide a few days before, depending on the weather & who is going to be around etc

If I’m there feel free to catch me for pax rides, sighting laps, local info, whatever. Look out for a black elise on Netherlands plates.

Dave
(originally from Hobart, now Holland)

By M@ on Aug 14, 2008

Hiya Guys,

I am from Seven Hills, NSW and I have just returned from a trip OS that included the Ring. I didn’t find this site until I got back (SIGH). I was at the track from the 10th to the 12th of July with my drive on the 11th. I saw a black Elise there, Dave was that you?

I had booked my car from Theo and the crew at rent-racecar.de. Great people and as Snowman said, the lap you get with Theo in his GTI Golf is great. The group of 3 GT3’s and a GT2 Porsche that he passed seemed a little ticked of hehehe. When they said they would “show me the track” when I booked it, I thought they meant on tape :-).

I wound up with a Golf GTI (long story) and I never realises just how much poke they have. I only had 4 laps as I didn’t want to push it and only had limited budget :-(. My wife was my passenger and she timed a lap for me and didn’t tell me that she was doing it (which worked out well as I didn’t go stupid).

The track is just spectacular (even with the odd sprinkle of rain). Corey is right about having to respect the track as I saw more than 1 person who didn’t and they had lovely modifications to various body panels and handlebars. Seeing cars and bikes parked on the side that we a little bent (but all people OK) was a nice reminder that this was not a game.

For me, the feeling of dropping into the Carousel was just brilliant. That and the stretch from Bergwerk to Klostertal was just so scenic and so quick! The landscape is breathtaking and you can feel the history. I had a lump in my throat just catching glimpses of the track on the way in. The track truly is something that needs to be experienced to appreciate.

I must admit (and I am happy to be corrected) that I found that GT4 (with a basic car) was a great help in preparing. I know its not real and all that but I did find that it helped me to know the corners in order and roughly where the track goes. This made it far less stressful than going cold or trying to learn it form YouTube. I also found a “for Dummies” page (Google “Nurburgring for Dummies”) and the pointers he gave on the lines for corners was very helpful. My wife chuckled at me sitting in the loungeroom with the PS2, reading the lines like pacenotes (as I navigate) but it helped me quite a bit.

Saturday Morning I had a Ringtaxi ride with Walter Haupt and then got to meet Sabina Schmitz. I tell you what, that M5 has some Serious poke and is a hell of a ride. Somehow the lap in the golf felt more on the edge but I put that down to the several hundred thousand dollars difference in the price :-).

All in all I loved it and hope to return. Thank you for this site Liam, I am glad that there is a place for Aussies to share their experiences.

By Ben on Aug 15, 2008

An update on the search for a Ringtool.
I’ve organised myself a BMW E36 328i coupe for 10 laps. Car has a cage, buckets, brakes and suspension. Should be the perfect vehicle for an introduction to the Ring. 395 euro not including laps or fuel. If anyone is interested check out rent2race. They have been very helpful.

Cheers

By Julian on Sep 5, 2008

Hi all,
A mate and I are tentatively planning a 4-5 week driving holiday in Europe for this time next year, take in some F1, MotoGP, WSBK and all the nice roads and the ‘ring of course. After looking at car hire for the trip and also racecar hire for the ring we have come up with the idea of buying an E36 M3 in the UK to use for the trip and then sell again at the end of the trip. Has anyone else done something like this?

Cheers,
Julian

By Terence Ledger on Sep 5, 2008

Julian

It is possible to do but is dependant on your status. If you have a European passport should be no problem if you have a residential address in the UK, i.e a friend or relatives place. Otherwise you are only entering on a Tourist visa you may encounter problems in getting registration and Insurance. Maybe someone in Britian can advise further.

I would be wary of getting a UK car anyway as if anything goes wrong and you bin it or worse UK insurance companies are reluctant to pay out on the Nordschliefe. Check out the threads on Northloop.co.uk for further reading.

Another downside of having a UK car on the continent is the location of the steering wheel. Ok if you are always 2 up but downright annoying if you are by yourself and need to get that ticket out of the machine for the barrier to go up for the car park - Or pay tolls on the French motorways. So get a LHD UK registered car if you are spending the majority of the trip outside UK. Though RHD is no problem on the ring, they cater for RHD.

By Frank on Sep 6, 2008

G´day all! Great to see so many Aussies with a passion for the Nurburgring! Im here in Europe (Spain) having a bit of a holiday and am looking to go alone to the ring to do a few laps.. in the next week or two. I´ve been looking to see whats available for a weekday visit but so far havent had many responses.. There seems to be rooms available (Ringhaus) but cant seem to get responses on room and cars.. If anyone is going to be at the Ring in the next couple weeks (Mon 8th-Sat 13th or Tue 17th-Fri 19th) and is willing to take on a passenger id love to tag along and share costs before driving it myself.
cheers
Frank

By Julian on Sep 6, 2008

Thanks for the info Terence, we had already thought of the LHD thing and would go that way if we had the choice. Hopefully a LHD M3 would be cheaper in the UK than a RHD anyway I was surprised to note how cheap E36 M3’s (around 4k) were in the UK compared to Germany. Has anyone got any suggestions for where LHD ones can be picked up for a reasonable price? I don’t have a European passport so everything will have to be done as a tourist, I’ll need to look further into the topic of insurance/rego etc…
Cheers,
Julian

By Terence Ledger on Sep 6, 2008

Julian

You will need an address in the UK. I live in Luxembourg and can only register and insure a car here as I have a certificate of residence. Likewise I cannot pop over the border and register a car in germany as I am not resident. Solve this and you will be ok.

Buying LHD in UK could be even better Idea as you could probably sell the M3 in Germany for more money than LHD in UK.

By Julian on Sep 10, 2008

Terence,

Want to buy an M3 for me in about 12 months

Julian

By Terence Ledger on Sep 11, 2008

Ahhhh no… I already have 3 cars in Lux and another 2 in Australia. I think I have enough now..

By JB on Sep 23, 2008

Good job with the Webpage Liam,
My wife and will be in Germany mid Decemember, and i’ve talked her into visiting the ring, id be happy to just do a few laps, sounds like you have to book well in advance though? Im so excited though always been a dream to drive a lap. Hey You guys that drive a lot around there should put together an Aussie Racer, can just imagine a big aus V8 ute with a bluey in the back, would make for spectacle at least…

By Blaise Paris on Sep 25, 2008

Hey crew,

just a brief reprt on my recent trip to the Ring. I was tere for the Toust Day on Saturday 30th August. I had hired the 135i from Rent Racecar.

We were set to fly in to Frankfurt 24 hours prior to our day at the ring. I had hoped that this woudl give us a little time to get on to the local time zone. Unfortunately we were delayed 24hrs. So we flew into frankfurt on the Friday night, picked up our rental car for our 2 weeks holiday and headed to Kalenborn about 30 mins from the ring. (Bout 2hrs from Frankfurt.) Was a renault one make series race on at the GP track so it was a busy weekend there. Apparently also a long weekend and also a couple of tourit days in a row so despite booking accomodation 3 months before it was dificult to get any closer.

First impression was their freeways. Pulled on to a freeway with an indicated 130kmh speedlimit. People were passing us like we were standing still!!! So up the cruise control to 200kmh and off we went. Made the trip to Kellenborn a very exciting one!!

Quick nights sleep. Traditional breakfast of strong coffee, fresh baked rolls and mixed meats and cheese and then off to pick up the car.

Met Theo at his base about 5 mins from the entrance to the trac and quickly filled in the paperwork and got the car sorted. A beautifully presented and well sorted (half cage and race seats and harnesses etc.) new 135i with the twin turbo 6 in it.

Off to the track. Theo offered us a passenger lap in his R32 golf which we accepted. Just as we were lined up to go through the boom gate, on went the flashing amber lights… Track closed… Apparently a Porche split his radiator hose and doused the track. From there 3 cars and two bikes went off the track into the weeds. Thankfully no one hurt. But the downside was the track was closed for about 3 hours for the cleanup. Nervous times thinking I had come a long way to sit in a car park for a day.

Finally the track opened and we went out on our passenger lap. The man is an animal. The tyres were protesting the whole way rond the track. Track knowledge certainly makes up for brute power and we rounded up several porsches and other exotica. Nothing could prepare you for the changes in altitude and the pitch on the track. No in car video comes close to capturing it.

Now my turn. The first laps were pretty nervous as you really need to keep one eye on your mirors and one on the track. Quite a challenge as you are learning the track at the same time. There is no doubt bout it. This is petrol head nirvana!!!!! Freightraining through Hatzenback in a convoy of Porsche GT3R’s and Lamo Gallardos is an experience I will never forget. As the day wore on (9 laps done in total…suffered more closures) I really started to take advantage of the blind sections and hold it flat through sections I was a bit nervous to at first. The Lauda link to Bergwerk, through flugplatz to schwedencris (forgive spelling…no time to chase up correct spelling)through flugplatz…down into the fox hole. All sections of the track that were very rewarding once you started to put it all together.

Some of the car porn on display included GT3R’s (like bums…semmed everyone had one) Carrera GT, F430 coupe and spider, (coupe went into the wall hard) Lambo Gallaro and Murcielago, R35 GTR and as a ducati owner and fan there was also a desmosedici getting punted hard.

The day ended all too quickly but was one I will never forget. I had to pinch myself a couple of times and actually say out loud “I am driving the nurburgring” as I dropped into the Karussel to wake myself up to the fact that this was no dream. Call it jet lag. Totally surreal!!

Highly recommend it to anyone. I cant wait to get back. Planning will commence immediately!!!

By M@ on Sep 26, 2008

Blaise,

Theo is an animal. When I was there in July he had a GTI and I thought that was quick. My wife in the back seat said her palm were sweaty. When we passed the 4 porsches, not only did he pass them with ease but they seemed pretty upset about it :-).

I would hate to think how much faster Theo would be now that he has upgraded to an R32. Hmm, think I may need to see Theo’s new car for myself…… *wanders off to check bank balance*

By Ben on Sep 26, 2008

Oooohhh I’m getting nervous and excited now. I fly out tuesday and only have one more week till I get my first drive at the Ring.
Thanks for the report Blaise.

By Daniel Capicchiano on Sep 30, 2008

I posted this on another website back in March but forgot about this site until then….Heres my writeup:

Lapping the Nurburgring Nordschleife has been on the agenda for quite a while now. Always one of those ‘I would love to do that one day’ type of things, but not really thinking it would happen. My girlfriend was happy enough for me to go but finding the time and justifying the cash required was proving hard. When my friend told me he would be in Portugal for Business and wanted to visit me in Germany and drive the ring, I knew it had to happen.

I made a few enquireries with http://www.rent-racecar.de and spoke to Heidi, wife of the owner Theo. She was very helpful and before I knew it I had booked the 318ti for half a day on a Saturday. One of the easiest booking procedures ever. Pending the weather and and open track, we were finally going to do this!

We woke up on the Saturday morning after attending a German house party but of course leaving at a reasonable hour to be able to wake up at 7am for the 3hr trip to Nurburg. I didn’t get the best sleep partly due to the nerves and partly due to the storms over night. High winds and rain were making me wonder if this was going to result in a closed track. Regardless, we woke up on time and began our trip in our Opel Astra hirecar. I asked Heidi to call me if the track was not going to be opened, because we hadn’t heard anything we thought maybe the weather up there wasn’t too bad. The area is known for having totally different weather to the surrounding region, even having different weather on different sections of the track.
The way up was treacherous. Wind, HEAVY rain and lightning. But Nutz kept checking the webcam on his phone and the weather up there looked ok, wet, but ok. When we arrived at rent racecar around 11am, Theo told us that over night the storms brought down 9 or 10 trains (I think he meant trees) and they are hoping to open the track up at 12pm. In the meantime we made our way down to the track to check it out. The drive there gives an indication of what to expect on the circuit, dips, crests, sweeping bends. They could put a gantry on this road and charge people for it.

The track was almost a ghost town, there was a few dedicated Brits there waiting patiently in their Gti to stay out of the rain and hail, a R8, GT3 RS and a few others. When we spoke to the guys in the control hut, they said it looks bad, could be 2pm at minimum until the trees are removed but doesn’t look good. We had a quick look around and had lunch at a restaurant (not at the track, a small roll for 6.5 Euro is a bit steep) then went back to the track. When we asked again, they said the track was closed and would open again tomorrow morning, the damage was too much to clean and not worth the danger of opening today. I was shattered. So close, but oh so far away! Nutz likened it to having a super model in your bed but not being able to do anything.

We went back to meet Theo and he again told us the track was closed, but we were more than welcome to come back tomorrow, the car would be ours again. We weren’t too sure if we should stay near the track or go back to Stuttgart, but coming back was definitely going to happen. For me, no change of clothes or anything and a not so happy girlfriend back home made the choice easy, so we went back to Stuttgart. Three very disappointed hours back home.

The ring gods were not smiling at us. In retrospect, I think they did us a favour. The conditions were waaaay to hazardous for a couple of ring virgins.
The next day, same thing, up at 7 to get ready and made our way back to Nurburg. The weather while not looking perfect was a lot better than the previous day. The wet and threatening conditions we thought would keep the bikes away and also make the track less crowded. When we arrived again, Theo took us to his garage to show us our racecar. He opened a door to an Aladdin’s treasure of four wheeled hotness The garage is spotless, huge and well lit. Parked nicely was a brand new M3 in white getting new suspension installed, an assortment of other BMW’s, a Caymen, Gti’s, 350Z, E36 M3. All up about 10 ring prepped cars in there. He showed us our 318ti which was the ugly duckling of the bunch. There was an older 318ti (black one) which I thought was ours but we had the newer blue one. I asked why and the answer was because of traction and stability control. Both of which the black one didn’t have and would cause new drivers to point the wrong way down the track. That said, he did show us how to switch off totally the baby sitter systems in the blue one and for a second I thought we should do this, but then I remembered where we were going and thought best we forget how to do that. The 318 had Biltstein suspension, a cage, racing buckets, harness and totally stripped. I was surprised how low I sat in the car, but this further enhanced the racing feel and speed.
We followed Theo in our BMW to the track in his Gti…raced him to the track is a better word, but Im sure he was only playing with us. But it gave us a good preview to how this car would perform. Because the car was stripped of everything, the sound was pretty intrusive but we both loved this, the car felt solid and stable and didn’t crash or bang over any bumps, seemed like he had the setup perfect.
Theo came to the track to give us a preview lap in the Gti so we could learn the track, this I later figured out is total B.S because it’s impossible to learn all 70+ corners in one lap, 30 maybe, but his real intent was to scare the absolute crap out of us while laughing like a maniac! Going through the gantry for the first time, you couldn’t wipe the smile from my face, my first lap of the Nordschleife, couldn’t believe it to be honest.
Right from the beginning, even through the tight witches hat lined entry he floored it and didn’t let up for maybe 9 minutes. Through every single corner, he took more speed than I thought was possible even on a dry track, and this being a wet drying track (the worst conditions he said) it was just unbelievable. Lifting off to swing the arse around to tighten his line, the ESP and traction were flashing like vegas. Now, this has been said before, but nothing, and I mean nothing can prepare you for the elevation changes on this track. GT4, GP legends, video, forget it. Apart from the start finish straight, I cant recall a straight piece of tarmac throughout. Some of the dips were just ridiculous and downright scary. We came over the crest of one turn and the road disappeared, Im not joking, it disappeared. Its not until the car began travelling down I realised where it went….About a 20 degree descent, into a dip then back up, my stomach was in my mouth, it’s like a roller coaster ride, that’s for sure.
All the while Theo was laughing and loving every minute of it. I asked him how many laps he’s put in, about 6000 he guessed and it shows, he knows every bump on this 20km track.
So many times I thought we were going off and each time the car hit the apex, he knew what he was doing. I loosened my grip on the door handle when I realised we weren’t going to crash….until he saw the GT3. ‘That’s my friend from Ireland’, he said. ‘Good driver, comes here many times……I must pass him.’ No way, I thought…A GT3?!!? But we’re in a Gti!!! Never the less, the little Gti was gaining on the porka, even keeping up with it on the straights, we were right on the arse of Gt3 with Theo laughing again he late braked into a corner and sat on him on the entry, almost forced the porka put on the right indicator to signal him to pass. I couldn’t believe it. I was speechless.
I couldn’t believe also how long the track went, its just relentless, on and on winding through the forest. When we finally got to the finish the porka driver came alongside and had a good laugh about it with Theo. Im sure his ego was deflated just that little bit knowing he was beaten by a little Gti.
It was now Theo said ‘That’s your first lap of the Nordschleife, now its your turn. Please, take care, respect the Nordschleife or it will bite. Remember, this isn’t playstation’ and there we were. Two guys with a racecar at the Green Hell.
We were shaking too much to drive straight away, so we walked around the car park for a bit and bought the tickets. 135 Euro for an 8 lap ticket….it aint cheap to come here. The plan was to do 4 laps each as we had a km restriction in the BMW and every km over was 1 euro. After calming down, I strapped myself in and drove to the entry. Like I mentioned earlier, the fact the weather wasn’t ideal kept most away so I drove straight up to the gate, put the card in and drove right through. No line at all.
My first (and I hoped only) mistake of the day happened right at the beginning, I clipped the last witches hat on the entry…oops. Once I got onto the straight, it was foot to the floor. The car moves or seems like its moving surprisingly fast for only having 140hp, we hit 4th by the first corner, then hard on the brakes for the right hander. The grip this car had was awesome, not that I was hammering on my first lap, but I wasn’t going slow either. Not before too long, I passed the first car, I cant remember what it was, but nothing worth bragging about. I went around and tried to put distance between me and him and perhaps overcooked it around Hocheichen. We were warned it was slippery here but I forgot and ran a little wide off the drying line and onto dirty road, the car stepped out but it was caught easily, I would love to say I did all the work, but I think the ESP helped a little here. Lucky! going off here doesn’t stuff your lap time or mean being pulled out of the kitty litter, the Armco and walls are just so close to the track, some sweepers have no room for error, miss a turn in or lock up and your into the wall….no run off, just wall. No wonder F1 is banned here. There were a few locations where there were skid marks heading straight ahead at a corner into where a new Armco has been installed. I wondered how many had never come home from a day at the ring. If you go off…at best it will just be an expensive day.
There wasn’t much traffic, but I would always check the mirrors for something quicker coming up fast. This happened when a classic WRX filled my mirror lights on and his indicator on telling me to move. I obliged and he was gone within one corner. This thing was pretty quick.
The highlight is going through the Karoussel for the first time, the high banking means we could stick it in third and put the foot to the floor, it was un natural how much the car stuck to the corner, all the while, bumping and scraping, the exit is daunting, its not so much of an exit as it is an ejection, the car is almost thrown out of the bend.
Its also not uncommon to get the car airborne over some of the crests, while I don’t think we were going quite fast enough to get the wheels in the air, the car was getting very light over some of them, a very un nerving feeling while moving at 140-150km/hr
I was more relieved than anything else that I brought the car home safely after the first lap, but it’s such a good feeling knowing I had finally driven the ring. After my lap my friend drove and we kept switching like this for the rest of the day. In between we would walk around the car park checking out the ring weapons. My third lap (which we videoed even though its not really allowed) was probably my best. Not the best lap time because I was help up by an S4 and BMW, but most satisfying. I felt like I did almost everything right. About ¾ through the lap a bugeye WRX that I saw at the entry gate behind me had finally caught me, He was still a fair distance off so I braked and indicated, once he was gone I followed….I couldn’t believe I was keeping pace with him. He was further ahead, but he defiantly wasn’t making ground up on me. When we got back to the car park, we parked near him and spoke to the guys, they were a couple of Brits who visit the track with some friends a few times every year. Had a bit of a chat then continued out again and again until the laps were completed. We headed back and returned the car undamaged to Theo, these guys were so friendly and I wouldn’t hesitate on recommending them or the 318 for a first timer. Just make sure they know you are Australian because I don’t think the Brits are loved over there. I’ll post up pictures and Video when I get a chance to host them. But if you’ve read this far, congrats.
I cant say enough about this place. A absolute MUST for any car enthusiast, nothing else like it in the world and will exceed your expectations. I guarantee. One of the best (and scariest) days of my life. Do it.

On a side note, Im still here living in Germany, I’ve made about 6 more trips to the ring since this write up, unfortunatly not driving. Although I was lucky enough to score a pax lap with Steve Glenny (targa tassy winner) in the rent racecar porsche. That was pretty insane!

Cheers!

By Jason Tavares on Oct 11, 2008

So I did it. All I can say is the Nurburgring and driving in Germany was BRILLIANT.

I flew into Cologne and from there drove to Nurburg. The hire car was a brand new Merc C180 estate and by brand new it had 400km on the clock. It was a bit over an hour and was really easy to get to. The driving experience on the Autobahns is just magic. You could not ask for better roads or better mannered drivers.

I stayed at a place called Haus Marvin http://www.hausmarvin.de/en/index.php which was a family run bed and breakfast, a great little place and only 10 minutes away from the track. They also hire out track-prepped cars but I didn’t realise this until I got there.

I went to the track on a Sunday when it’s open to tourists all day. The car park alone left me speechless. Porsches and M Series BMW’s are everywhere; to add to the mix there’s a collection of Ferraris, Lambos, Astons and fast Audi’s.

I had gone to the ‘Ring with ridiculously high expectations but it managed to exceed them all. The track is just amazing and insanely difficult. Nothing will properly prepare you for the experience. I’ve watched a heap of videos and played it on GT4 but all they really do is let you know what corner is where. None of the videos I’ve seen properly capture the constant changes in gradient or undulating nature of the track. Then you have the blind corners (most of them) and jumps which can and will bite you in the ass if you’re not careful.

I’ve found this corner by corner guide to the track which is a great read for anyone heading out there:
http://www.bmw.com/generic/com/en/fascination/bmwm/automobiles/specials/_pdf/bmwm_nordschleife.pdf

I hired out a Golf GTI from Rent Race Car http://www.rent-racecar.de/gb/index.html and that was a great car. It had upgraded brakes, suspension and tyres. I wanted to go with a RHD Renault Clio from RSR Nurburg but Rent Race Car were much better with their responding to my queries so I went with them. Before going I was concerned about the whole RHD to LHD thing but after driving LHD I prefer it. It took me about half a lap to get used driving manual and once I adjusted, LHD is a much better layout – it’s so much more natural (well for right handers anyway). What took the longest to get used to was the where exactly the right wheels were.

For an amateur it doesn’t matter how much power you have, speed there really hinges on track knowledge (and balls). For example in my second lap I was barely managing to keep up with a VW Caddy and on my final lap I had an M3 CSL closing in at the end of the main straight but once we properly hit the corners he fell way behind.

There is no real room for error on most part of the track. You have about 6ft of run-off on either side and this is pretty much all the way around. The road itself is so dam small and there places to safely overtake can be few and far between. Fortunately, like most tracks, slower drivers are usually considerate enough to let you through (you do have the odd pricks though).

The day I was there it was raining, not what I had wanted. The track in the rain is another story in itself. The early parts of it are so slippery - there’s no grip at all then you get to the other parts and there is grip till next Sunday. To make things more interesting, it was pouring in some places while in others it was completely dry.

My favourite parts of the track would have to be the run out of Adenauer Frost to Kallenhard and then the steep down-hill left- right hander out of Kallenhard leading into Wehrseifen. This run is absolutely gorgeous. My other favourite part of the track is the down hill into Pflanzgarten and the run out of it. There’s a little crest in Pflanzgarten which if you don’t know what you’re doing you cannot for the life of you see it.

I didn’t time myself properly but before going out I kept an eye on my start/finish time on the car’s clock. I was running 10-11 minute laps and that was when I was stuck behind traffic and also had to slow down for the yellow flagged sections. My aim before going out (aside from staying clear of the Armco) was to get a sub-10 minute lap (which I aimed to do in the dry) but I managed to get it in the wet. I was stoked with my bridge to gantry time - went out 13:30 came back 13:39. I actually think it was a mid to low 9 minute lap because I had just entered pit lane when I remembered to check the time. I was lucky on this lap though because there was minimal traffic and no incidents.

There was way more left in the car but I didn’t want to chance it, the ‘Ring in the wet is hell. Then there as also the small matter of the 8000 Euro excess for a right off plus the abundance of crashed cars along the way (mainly Porsches) to remind you of who’s in charge.

The following day I went back to the track. Aston Martin had booked out the track and were doing testing there of some road and race cars.

For anyone interested in going, I say DO IT.

I was initially going there as a spectator but then realised how much of a dumb idea that would be so I hired out a car and did it properly. This was the best decision I have ever made. Be warned though it’s not cheap. I paid 150 Euros for the hire car (which I got at a very cheap rate through a friend); 140 Euros for 2 nights accommodation; 500 Euros for the GTI (all day hire which gets you 250 km or approx 11 laps) and lap charges which are roughly 20 Euros a lap. This doesn’t include the flights to and from Germany, food and petrol which was about 1.40 Euros per litre.

By Ben on Oct 27, 2008

Hi all, back from my travels.

There are some things that you build up in your mind so that when you actually get around to doing them, it dosen’t quite meet your expectation……. the Nurburgring definitely does NOT fall into that category.

OMFG this place is absolute driving nirvana. There is simply no driving road on earth that you can compare it to. There is no video or simulator (I spent 100+ hrs on Forza 2 memorising corners) that does this place justice. Everything is twice as steep and when you watch it on TV it looks like it actually has small straights between the corners. This is not the case. The car is moving constantly and until you get onto Dottengen Hohe after 20km you don’t dare take a single breath. After my first 3 laps I had to stop because I felt physically sick, like I just been riding a rollercoaster for 30mins. There is so much vertical movement, its like diving in 3D for the first time. This place is epic.

First lap out and I’m trying to get a handle on the new ride, virtually no suspension, cup spec tyres, button clutch and larger brakes as well as trying to drive sedately around a track which strangely I know like the back of my hand but have never driven before. The result is I keep having to tell myself to slow down, check my mirrors for the inevitable 911 flyby and keep in mind I have a 5000 euro excess if I get it wrong. All goes well for the first 10kms and as I tip into a 2nd gear right hander, the front starts to push wide with a little understeer and I’m out of the throttle a little to bring it back on line, I must be going fast except I can hear a high pitched buzzing noise??? Just then to my left I catch glimpse of a white blur. Sabine Schmitz in her V10 M5 Ring Taxi drifts around the outside of me with an extra 20km/h on board and thick smoke billowing off the rear treads. OK maybe I wasn’t going that fast after all. I actually laughed out loud and couldn’t believe I was actually doing this.

2nd lap I took my wife for a ride. She even took photos at the risk of prosecution. Twas a slow lap indeed but swearing was kept to a minimum (well sorta) and we have some lovely on-track pics.

Each lap you get a little more comfortable and it pretty much works like people said it would, you start braking earlier for shorter periods of time and carry more speed into the corner and pick up the throttle sooner. Everything starts to flow but you’re well aware of the fact that you are wasting seconds on each bend. This is rammed home when you get overtaken by something with half you’re displacement travelling twice your speed. This however is offset the first time you roar past a rich balding man nannying his Porsche.
I did a total of 7 laps before a car put down some coolant and took out two bikers. I retired for lunch and then the rain came. It bucketed down and at 8 degrees C it was pretty much all over. The hire company would let me do a total of 10 laps but I’d had a great time with no accidents so I went back to my hotel room and called it a day.

About 2mins later my brain started telling me that wet laps would actually be a good idea, race drivers drive in the rain all the time. So stupidly I went back to tackle the slippery Nordscleife.

I can now honestly say that I have clamped my arse tight for over 15mins consecutively. The first two were just downright scary but the last…

Big understeer into Metzgesfeld had me on the lockstops and the tyres bit just before I was on the grass. Another moment at Wehrseifen when I went to the outside to give a 997 GT3 RS some room, instead I got crossed up and scared the shit out of him. I decided to go really slow as it was the last lap and I didn’t want anything to go wrong. Thats when I had a big lose in 3rd gear in front of an Evo XI. It was just dumb luck that I didn’t hit anything and I made very apoigetic hand gestures to the driver of the Mitsubishi. The fact that he and his passenger were in histerics and both gave me the thumbs up indicated that it must have appeared more deliberate from their vantage point.

It is a definate must do and I really can’t convey how fantastically awesome the place is. You will now just have to go and experience it for yourself. It was about $1150 AUD by the time everything was paid but I challenge you to find a grand better spent.

Life is short….. what are you waiting for!

Liam, if you want any pics let me know.

By Ben on Oct 27, 2008

Oh forgot to mention it as I cut and pasted, Car was a E36 328i coupe from Haus Marvin. David and Dianna were extremly nice and the car was great.

By Rob on Nov 8, 2008

Hi all, firstly I’d like to thank Liam for this site, it was very helpful in planning my trip.
I went to the Nurburgring on the 24th and 25th of September 2008 and managed to get out on the afternoon on the 25th. Below is a copy of a post I put up on another forum.

Firstly I must admit that I was very concerned about driving on the Nordschleife, Ralf the owner of the accommodation we stayed in cautioned me the night before on the dangers of driving the ring (he being a retired driver himself) and it was with those words that the next day saw us fronting up at Rent-racecar’s http://www.rent-racecar.de/gb/ office.

Let me say that those butterflies in the stomach were quickly put to rest once Heidi and Theo’s warm hospitality was experienced. Theo is genuine warm and friendly man with a strong hand shake and could sense the worry we all had at driving the ring for the first time. Us being a father and son from Boston (who we meet up with later in Stuttgart at the Mercedes Benz museum), a couple from New Zealand and two guys from Perth who I think were driving it for the second time.

Once the paperwork was filled out it was off to the entry point to await the opening of the public session (the day we were there it was on open late in the afternoon from 5.15 to 7.30). Theo explained the ticket buying and the circuit layout on the LED board and once open he took us out in his car for a familiarization lap.

Theo drives a Megane 225 and that lap with him, my son and the son of the Boston man in the back is something I won’t forget for a very long time. The way he drove the ring, talking as he went with tyres squealing and the G forces felt in my head with the boys in the back laughing is worth the price of the hire. I can still remember him saying “stay wide here, turn in late” or “don’t go on the ripple strip, you will unsettle the car for the next turn” and “see, you must link two turns into one” all at warp speed with the skill and precision that only hundreds of laps of the ring can achieve, even Heide his wife commented that he is a very lucky man, doing what he loves everyday!

Once back into the car park he turns around and says to my wife and my other son “well would you like to come out too?” the both jumped in, I turned to my younger son and said” mums going to shit herself”. When they came back I asked her “ well how’d it go, were you scared?” she replied “no, it was fast but I wasn’t scared” I said “well all those years in the passenger seat with me has conditioned you!”

My first lap was my worst I went in sloppy into nearly every turn and nearly lost it braking too late on entry to Adenauer-Forst and having the rear of the Golf step out. It’s such a long and ever changing circuit with so many camber changes, blind turns, fast downhills with tightening radius exits that it would take many laps to get right. Probably my second last lap (of 5) was my best as the nerves settled and the layout became more familiar but it still was slow buy anyone’s standards.
I was overtaken and I overtook others, there is no hero points, everyone was out to drive the ring at their own pace, although we did see two accidents, one involving an STI hitting the Armco and ending up in the sand, the other involved a biker which all I could see was that his back had a great big slide mark down it’s full length.

The Nordschleife is what everyone says it is, addictive, dangerous, beautiful and challenging but above all you must respect it, the scenery is spectacular and it deserves the title “The Green Hell” having now experienced it I know what they mean.

I only have high praise for Rent-racecar and Theo and Heidi’s operation. The cars were all clean and tidy and well set up for the ring, my choice of the DSG Golf was right I really wanted a manual car but in hindsight the DSG allowed me to concentrate on the track and keep my left foot firmly planted on the brace. If anyone is planning to go they should consider Rent-racecar, yes they are expensive but they are fully insured and the cars are all new. I did see the Alfa 75 Experience cars on the day and they looked old and tired compared to Theo’s.

If you need accommodation I can recommend Gastehauses Dederichs http://www.eifelfreizeit.de/ which is in Gilgenbach, Ralf and Karin are warm and friendly and the house is in a perfect quite location. Although it is outside of the ring it is the perfect place to explore the area, if you have a car it will be easy to get around.

The area hold so much of interest aside from the Nordschleife from walking trails to mountain biking (you can ride around the whole circuit) to just relaxing in a beautiful part of Germany (I will go back for a longer time next time) and even if your not a car or bike nut you will enjoy the place.

Ben Lovejoy’s website http://www.nurburgring.org.uk/ is invaluable and the notes for first timers are very helpful.

If any one of you are heading over try and get there you won’t regret it.

Rob.

By Frank York on Jan 1, 2009

Liam

My buddy Matthew and I spent one week at the Ring in July 2006. We had a Porche 997-911 Carrera S 6 speed manual for the week. 285Kw of German art and engineering. It was the perfect car for the week as it had all the capabilities we needed to enure we had fast and safe laps.
I have written very comprehensive story for several magazines and have many photos that can be shared also if you want them for this web page. We are going back in July 2009 and again plan on using Porsche, this time GT3 perhaps. Great work on the web site. cheer, Frank (MELBOURNE)

By Frank York on Jan 2, 2009

This is the story of one phase of our ‘trains plans and automobiles’ tour of the UK and Germany and takes my travelling buddy Matthew and I to Germany. Our objective is to drive what could be described as the most famous race track in the world…..the Nurburgring.

The Ring….scene of many famous Grand Prix beginning from the late 1930’s, and most notably the venue where Nikki Lauder had his famous close call with death in a fiery crash that destroyed his F1 Ferrari and almost took his life. This piece of road is revered by anyone who enjoys motoring, no…… driving!

Matt and I departed Heathrow on our British Airway jet heading for Frankfurt. I’d not been to Germany before, and as a consequence of my British heritage, I was wondering what it would be like to be ‘behind the lines’ in enemy territory.

We landed at Frankfurt and the immediate impression was one of German precision. This airport, one of the busiest hubs in the world, presented a stark contrast to the chaos that we had left behind at Heathrow airport.

After grabbing a bite to eat, we sought out the Hire Car Rental desk. Finding it in the airport wasn’t as easy as one would have imagined. We spent some time trying to understand how the inter-terminal automated railway worked. It wouldn’t let us off at the platform we were told we should alight at!! It is an automated rail system so we couldn’t even complain to the driver! Eventually, after several back and forth trips, we found our way to the Rental desk….although, somehow, we found ourselves at one point on the wrong side of the customs hall……without Passports!

We had booked two cars for our trip to Germany. We had initially booked an Audi A3 for our day-to-day driver, and had booked something more special for later in the week to attack the Nurburgring with.

After breaking through the language barrier, the lovely German girl at the rental desk advised that we had been upgraded to a…………wait for it ……. new Volvo V50 wagon. Upgraded ??? This wasn’t my traditional idea of an “upgrade”, however we took the Volvo thinking that it may be fun. The first task was to attach a large Australian Flag decal to the back window, to alert other motorists that we certainly were not locals and hopefully to extract some sympathy if we turned down a road the wrong way or did something else similarly silly, after all, neither of us could be called experts with left hand drive vehicles and German road rules.

The Volvo was brand new and had only 13 kilometres on the clock when we picked it up, but by the time it had 17 kilometres on the clock, Matt had already run it up and over 175 kilometres per hour. Perhaps it came as no surprise then, that the Volvo’s entire array of dashboard warning lights (until this point all lit in green) suddenly all lit up in red. Trouble? It was hard to tell really. All of the messages were in German of course, however we guessed that as each message ended with an exclamation mark, that this probably meant the Volvo was protesting. We backed it off to 130k and the lights all turned green again. Phew!

The autobahn took us directly to the village of Nurburg. We only made a couple of navigational errors along the way and our understanding of German improved with each signpost. It’s a drive of about 140ks and the first impressions of Germany are that the roads are great, the scenery is pleasant, and the traffic is FAST.

We arrived at Nurburg and settled in to our Villa, which later we learn was used by the German F1 Team from the 1930’s through to the 1950’s as their base for the German Grand Prix at the Nurburgring. Our Villa is situated on the access road to the Nurburgring, so we’re only 200 metres from the entrance. Perfect.

Many black and white photos of the era adorn the interior walls of the villa, whilst the main garage doors of the villa bear three super large paintings of three of the most famous German F1 cars of the period, each of which was maintained in these very garages. We’re surrounded by so much history………but then, that’s not unusual in Europe.

The weather here remains very hot. After surviving the hottest day in London in 98 years (38.5 degrees), Germany continued hot and sultry. At least it was great weather for drinking the local brew…Bitburger beer. Beautiful!

After taking our first look at the Nurburgring (from the outside) in the Volvo, we decide that we should not attempt a fast lap of the Ring in the Volvo. Rather, we should telephone the hire car company and ask if we can bring the booking of our second car forward. They agree that it is available, and early next day, we drive back to Frankfurt to return the Volvo and pick up our replacement.

What did we book? Matt has a soft spot for a particular German marque, so when it came to making an appropriate selection, he chose Porsche. And so it was to be. We picked up our new Porsche 997 Carrera S and tried furiously to contain our excitement, lest the rental staff decide that they should withhold the car from us. They hand the keys over and we’re off. Our 6 speed manual, 285Kw 3.8 litre flat six boxer engined beast awaits.

The first task again is to attach a very large Australian Flag decal to the back window. Matt drops into the left hand seat and takes the wheel. After spending some time trying to work out how to start the bloody thing (we didn’t dare go back and ask the rental clerk) , we started it up in the car park. (You have to hold the clutch hard against the firewall before she’ll kick over). Within the confines of the underground car park we give the loud pedal a few stabs. A crescendo of music emits from the flat four and it’s four large exhaust pipes. Windows down! This is glorious!

Fast-forward to the Nurburgring, and the track is open for the public at various times during the day, however over the few days that we are there, it was basically open at 5pm for two and one half hours. During the remainder of the day, a motorbike riding school was using the track. This is a good thing, as the days are still hot. At least as the afternoons roll around, the worst of the days heat is over.

The Nurburgring is a public toll road. Whilst all normal German road rules apply, during normal use, the authorities turn a blind eye to speed and taking the racing line. Traffic is only permitted to go in one direction, and the support services are on hand, just like any modern race track. Medical staff and towing staff are on hand should something happen……….and generally it does, particularly with the motor bike riders.

Having purchased our lap tickets (you can buy any number of laps, and you receive a ticket, much like one you would get in one of our local car parks, and this is fed into a reader at the boom gates at the start of each lap. The machine keeps track of how many laps you have credit for, and how many you have completed.

I take the wheel of the Porsche for my very first drive of it. And my first drive will be around the Nurburgring. I’ve completed hundreds of laps using Playstation2 and Grand Tourismo 4, however this time there would be no opportunity to press the reset button should I hit a wall so that I could magically return to the track undamaged.

I move up to the boom gates and insert the ticket. The boom gate rises. I turn the headlights on (compulsory according to the local track rules of etiquette) and move out onto the main straight. I quickly work the Porsche up through the gears and drive the Ring like I know it like the back of my hand. Matt is holding on, not really knowing what is ahead of us at this early stage of our developing affair with the Ring.

Training my left hand (usually the gear changing hand) to stay put on the steering wheel takes some doing, whilst using the right hand now to slot the car through all 6 forward gears gets easier as the kilometres pass by). The track is busy and fast cars and bikes quickly surround us. One bike passes us so fast that both Matt and I are amazed. We’re less amazed when we arrive at the 11-kilometre sign post that is placed on a quick right hand bend, when we see the aforesaid bike rider lose control and throw his bike and his body across the track and into the Armco. We stop, as do most of the cars around us to render assistance, however we decide to move past and finish the lap. Our hearts are in our mouths, and this serves as an early reminder that what we are doing is dangerous. And fun. We lose valuable track time whilst the track is closed to allow the rescue teams to go out to recover the bike and rider.

Whilst back at the car park, riders and drivers chat, and we discover that one day earlier, another rider lost control too. His bike hit the Armco and he flew over the Armco, hitting a tree. He was decapitated with obvious consequences. Dead. And in the previous week, two riders were also killed. Bikers feature highly amongst the statistics here.

Once the track reopens, Matt takes the wheel and completes his first lap. The Ring is just over 20 kilometres long and features 170 corners through the Eifel Forest. It’s an amazing piece of engineering and design. Playstation’s graphic may be good, but they don’t do it justice. You simply have to drive it in all three dimensions.

After a couple of laps each, the session comes to an end and the track is closed. We head to the circuit café and bar, and sit on the balcony with a couple of cold Bitburgers as we watch the sun settle over this famous race circuit.

Over the next three evenings, Matt and I repeat the process. We take turns to drive a lap, and naturally we get faster with each lap as our confidence grows. The co-drivers role is to watch the mirrors and to call the corners and best our memory serves. We quickly learn where we can go flat chat, and also learn where this road can bite. Choosing the Porsche 911 as our vehicle for this venture turns out to have been a very sensible choice (don’t tell the rental company …. I think in the Hire Agreement there is a clause that prohibits hirers from taking their cars to Nurburg (das verboten!!!!).

The 997 S is fitted with Brembo brakes and very stiff suspension. It corners, goes and stops with such confidence and sure footedness that it allows us to explore the limits of our ability….and as each lap passes and our learning of the track develops, we get faster and faster.

During one of our pit stops between laps, (where we let the car cool down before heading out for another lap) we noticed that a bright green Porsche 911-977 Carrera GT3RS has arrived at the car park. Our attention was immediate. This is a model that has not yet been released, even in Germany (Aug 2006). Matt and I walked around the car and admired its weight saving design. It looked like a race car. Well, that’s what it is really, Porsche have developed this model as a road legal race car. Run it on the Sunday at your local circuit, and then drive it to work and park it in the executive car park on Monday morning.

As Matt ventured out on our next lap of the Ring, we noticed that this bright green Porsche GT3RS was also preparing to hit the track. Matt was immediately intimidated, but with my assurances that I’d watch the mirrors; he set out on completing his lap and putting in another PB (personal best).

We were one third our way around the lap and Matt was on the racing line. Simultaneously he yelled out F#@k and yanked the steering wheel to the right. Before I could enquire what had upset him, the afore-mentioned green Porsche GT3RS flew past us on the left hand side on the bare amount of tarmac we had left between the racing line (where we were) and the grass verge. “Bloody hell” I exclaimed. “Apart from being rude, that was dangerous! He would have had no idea which side of the road we would pull to when (and if) we saw him coming!!”

Most English visitors instinctively pull to the left to give way, where in fact, in Germany, you need to pull to the right to give way. One bad decision and you have a big crash!!

“Don’t worry Matt. When we get back to the car park at the end of the lap, I’ll let him have a piece of my mind “ I said. With this, Matt got back up to speed and we completed the lap.

We arrived back at the car park, and sure enough, the green Porsche was there, and the crew were already out of it. They’d beaten us by quite some margin. As I commenced making my way towards the driver, I recognised whom in fact it was that was at the wheel.

Walter Rohrl !!! Yes, not only is he the number One test driver at Porsche, he is a multiple Works Rally Champion and master of some awesome Group B Rally cars like the Audi Quattro and the Lancia 037. Anyone who has seen in-car video of Walter driving will recognise that this man is super human. Anyone who can think and act fast enough to keep up with the driving demands of a works 800 bhp Audi Quattro Sport Evo going full speed down gravel roads where the crowds are so thick that they part just as the car arrives at full speed……deserves some respect.

So, rather than admonish him I ask “Walter……may I have my photo taken with you please?” He is pleased to be recognised. Most of the folk in the car park are then drawn to the man that they hadn’t recognised and he quickly becomes the centre of attention.

I can still see in my mind, the green Porsche GT3RS passing us at the Ring (on the way down to the foxhole) and I can still recall how much faster he was than we were. And we were doing near 200 km/h at the time. He must have been close to 300 km/h! Truly amazing.

The only other car to pass us during our few days at the Ring was a racing Dodge Viper V10 coupe. He passed us as we crested a hump, and again, I can still see his car becoming airborne as it pulled along side of ours, and I can still see the sparks spraying from the underbody protection as it landed again…..before he raced off into the distance. Amazing!

The car park provided several other stories too, like the Aussie who spotted our Australian flag on our Porsche and asked if we were Australians too. Yes, indeed. After introductions, this chap asked where we got our Porsche. Very quietly, I advised that it was an hire car. He went on to tell us that he had a 997 booked too, but when he arrived in Berlin to collect it from the rental desk, the clerk advised that unfortunately, the previous hirer of the Porsche that he had booked, had inadvertently filled it up with diesel instead of premium petrol. AAAarrrggghhh!

How could someone so interested in driving as to book a Porsche then be so dumb as to fill it up with diesel? Once only hopes they recognised the error before they turned the key. Starting the engine would destroy the motor and leave them with a Euro10,000 excess to cough up.

The hire car company substituted the 997 with a 4wd Cayenne. Needless to say, our new found Aussie friend was less than happy.

So our time at the Ring came to and end, and it was time to return the car to the hire car company in Frankfurt. We were pleased that we’d survived the Ring and hadn’t even put a scratch on the car. I only hoped that they wouldn’t measure tread depth when we returned the car.

I took care to clear the data from the onboard sat-nav system. The last thing I wanted was the clerk to download a list of our (verboten) destinations. This proved a master stroke, as indeed, as upon our return to the rental desk, the clerk very carefully ran a magnifying glass over the car from head to toe, and then kicked over the sat-nav and downloaded the trip data.
** Empty – no data saved **
Phew !!

And so, as we walked away from our friend the Porsche (we walked backwards so we could keep it in sight for as long as possible), we shook hands and promised to do this again. We’d both had the best holiday of our lives !!!

And so, fellow motoring enthusiasts, put the Nurburgring on your list of things you must do before you die. It’s an awesome piece of road. One which playstation and other video games can’t hope to do justice to. Get yourself over there and have some fun. I’d be happy to carry your bags.

Now, it’s time to get back to earth and to get that bloody Escort rally car project finished !!!

Cheers, Frank York

By Ben on Jan 15, 2009

Wow is the simplest word i can think of that best describes describes The Green Hell. I travelled there in november 2007 and booked a ring taxi ride. It was a foggy and drizzly day to the point where seeing 5 meters infront of you was near impossible. They nearly canceled the ride.

Evevtually things cleared a little and the 3 M5s appeared with Siebene and 2 other drivers (who luckily all signed my ring taxi model) The Zakspeed vipers also emerged and lapped together taking people around.

The place is totally amazing i knew it was good from GT4 but in the flesh totally mind blowing. The speeds we acheived in the conditions was awe inspiring. We also had no traffic by the time we had got to go out the track was closed to the public due to the unsafe conditions. There were hundreds of cars from MKII golfs to road going Mosler M900Rs. To those who havent been or are planning to go although it mite seem near impossible to get there becuase of its remoteness let me tell you its worth it. The public transport system is fantastic.

We stayed in Adenau. Nice little spot. We met some blokes from the UK who were part of Ben lovejoys site. One was driving a pegeot 405 with his and bens websites plastered down the side. And everywhere you went in this sleepy village was a car built for the ring outside just about every house. If only the same sort of spirit for cars and the culture was the same here.

Im hoping to go back and drive it myself one day soon and go to the 24H which is disapointing isnt shown on tv here considering the size of the even and that theres an Australian contingent entering every year.

Anyway thats small sample of my visit to the ring.
My favourite international Destination

Regards

Ben

By Frank York on Jan 15, 2009

Ben,

Channel 31 in Melbourne did produce a four part TV series that focused on the Australian Team entry into the 24 Hour Race. A DVD is available too. Check out their web site for a copy or enquire with Channel 31. cheers Frank

By Mel on Feb 11, 2009

Hey everyone, Me and my partner Jason are going to europe in april and I’m trying to book a ring taxi ride. Does anyone have any tips about this? To me it’s looking unlikely as I read somewhere that they’re booked up to a year in advance. Are there ring taxi rides every tourist track day? or only on the weekends? We’re hoping to be there on the 23 or 24 April.

Cheers,
Melissa

By dixon matthews on Mar 2, 2009

hellow liam, just a short note iam part of mal roses team, have been to the ring every time, (the guy wearing the pink shirt in mels big greenhell at the start).
Have been in the forest during the race repairing cars on th side of the track quite a few times, the fans come to the fence with race tape, zip ties, petrol or what ever it is needed to get the car going (back to the pits) will write it all down in detail one day, quite a story within mals story, i always find the cars & get them back to the pits. part of the fun.
cheers dixon.

By Wayne Moore on May 17, 2009

Greetings All…

From that smokey casino doubling as an internet cafe in Adenau village.

Crazy on the Nordschleife this weekend (as usual before the 24 Hour Race). Four big stoppages yesterday… all for motorbikes (which begs the question, “Why are cars and bikes mixed on such busy tourist days?” It´s a volatile combination as the ideal line characteristics and capabilities are sooo different.

We watched one poor rider flown away by ADAC helicopter (which actually landed on the track) after he had landed on the forest side of the armco above Breidscheid.

There´s a new “cash” here too… in the form of a Ring Card which stores both laps AND cash separately… and is creating a bit of angst as some guys loose track of their laps and have to reverse away from the barrier.

Otherwise, all good. I´ve completed 15 laps in an Audi A4 tdi which included a couple of milestones incl my 800th lap of the Nordschleife. The car is beautiful to drive and some of those laps have been in the wet… as the weather is as fickle as ever.

TKN (Team Kiiwi Nurburgring) are here but I´ve yet to see any Aussies. Heaps of Btits and Dutch.

Campers are queueing at many rest areas and beside the campsite entrance roads as they don´t open till midnight… and there´s an AvD raceweekend meeting (no, I don´t know either) taking place on the Grand Prix course.

While frenetic activity is taking place to complete parts of the Euro215m Nurburgring 2009 development before the fans open their wallets and the B278 roadway is totally closed behind the Dorint hotel.

Our race car (number 136 in box 31) arrives from Wolfsburg on Tuesday. I´m ready to go racing and look forward to the reunion with our German team. Please come and say, “Hi!” if you´re at the race.

Speed Safely
Wayne
Driver
RS Motorsport Golf V

By dixon on May 24, 2009

hi liam
sitting in melbourne watching the 24h on live stream not at the track this time, will
leave for spa next week to do the spa 12h with mal (cant spend too much time out of the workshop) any way mal is in good spirit, got takin out by a corevette, broken wheel & panel damage then the clutch problems later on, Not to worry on to spa & enrouge for the next big adventure,
Cheers dixon

By Chris Smith Sydney on May 25, 2009

I went to the ‘Ring,in 1996,with Peter McKay,and a bunch of other Aussie’s and Kiwi’s,including Ray Lintott.
Peter & I had never driven there,so we watched a video,In Car 956,by Derek Bell.I thanked Derek at Goodwood a couple of weeks later,for saving our lives.We watched that video about 15 times,went over Raced a Honda Mugen, lil weapon,which ran like clockwork for the full 24 hours,(With the exception of a fuel tank strap which broke after one of the German boys,as co drivers in the event,backed it in,around Adenaeur bridge).
If you fancy your Race craft,try the ‘Ring.It is THE BEST RACE CIRCUIT,IN THE WORLD,including Bathurst,Phillip Island and every other Circuit in Australia.I’ve raced those,and while good circuits,nothing comes close to Nurburgring.
I did it again,in a Pom BMW E36 M3 in 1999, and was there in an Audi Tdi 3.0 Litre Wagon,in 2007,after a half a week thrashing Pagani Zonda’s through from Milan to Monaco.After that high speed Northern Italian jaunt,Speed was not an issue,thanks Adam.
Each time I’ve been at the ‘Ring, I’ve stayed at the Am Tiergarten, with Sabine Schmitz,and her sister,Suzanne and her Mother Ursula Schmitz.
Sabine raced a Luftwaffe training aircraft,against a Mercedes SLR 722,after the 24 Hour,on the Tuesday,in 2007,highlighted by the pilot flying under the main straight bridge! Sabine also took the Pilot for a Flight,(She has a Chopper Licence).The Family are part of the ‘Ring experience.They are warm and friendly,and provide good food and times drinking,in the Keller Bar.
I think it was Mark Skaife,whom after his first drive in an HSV,and E55,and a BMW M5,wrote on the ceiling of the Pistenklause Bar,”Forget Bathurst,THIS is the Place”.
That sums it up.Google Am Tiergarten,for their site.When you get there,make sure you’ve done it twenty times on the Simulator First!!
Regards
Chris

By Ryan McBride on May 29, 2009

My Name is Ryan and I was lucky enough to visit the ring in October 2008. I got Married in Manly (Sydney) a few weeks before and jetted off to Paris with my new wife.

When organising our Honeymoon I found out about the “Taxi through the Green Hell” aka the “Ring Taxi”, BMW’s pair of M5 that were built for no other reason that to lap the Ring at warp factor 12!

I managed to book a ride on the ring taxi, which was no mean feat in itself. So after a week in Paris we follow the directions of Mr Garmin and headed off to Nurburg in our Hire Car.

When we got there I forgot all about my wife and turned into a little kid on Christmas Day. Seeing Ferraris, Lambos, Porsche’s, R35 Godzilla, and every other car worth of fantasising about, and they just kept coming in!

Anyway we arrived at the ring and went to the BMW Ring Taxi office and checked in, while I was waiting I saw the list showing what passengers were scheduled in what taxi with what Driver. I was stoked when I saw that my driver was going to be none other than “Sabine Schmidt” (http://www.excelerate.com.au/downloads/ryzz/ring-taxi/ring-taxi.jpg).

We finally get time for our lap around the ring, i’m in the Australian drivers seat and my wife sitting behind me in the back seat. Sabine was piloting the M5 from the “wrong side of the car”. We pull out onto the track and she nails it, much to my surprise that M5 can really move.

Anyway I videoed my lap around the ring with our little Point & Shoot Canon Ixus, so for anyone interested in seeing the video, its here (http://www.excelerate.com.au/downloads/ryzz/ring-taxi/Nurburgring%20-%20Ring%20Taxi%20(DivX).avi) ) or you can find it on YouTube here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlVFedfFXow)

After this we got back in our 1.3 Oil Burner renta car and followed the directions of Mr Garmin all the way to Geneva. One of the best days of my life, bar none!!!

I’m now trying to convince the wife to let me go back over so I can hire a ring tool (fully insured Track Car) and go nuts with myself behind the wheel. This is a work in progress!!!

By Frank York on Jun 5, 2009

We’re off to The Ring for our second visit in July 2009. We will be there just after the running of the German Grand Prix, for a few days of high speed ‘ringing’. We were last there in 2006, and we are looking forward to being there again with much anticipation. I’ll post a review after our return from Gemrany (also attending the Goodwood Festival of Speed and the Eifel Rally). cheers Frank

By Choppy on Jun 8, 2009

I am trying to find information on who, how, what and where to go to find information on being an official at the Ring for the 24 hour race.

As a CAMS official here in S.E. Qld I am hoping to get a group of us together to go to Germany and work as officials or at least be able to get behind the scenes for an event of this magnitude.

If any one knows where to begin please let me know.

Thanks

By Bryan Fitzpatrick on Jun 10, 2009

I have made 4 trips to the ‘ring, only ever in rental cars.

Easily the best was an Audi A4 diesel with s-line suspension pack, rented from Avis.

After the first trip, having scared myself, I bought a copy of GT4 and a decent steering wheel, and did hundreds of laps on the PS2. It really helped. the next time i went back I had so much more confidence, not to treat life like a game, but just to know what comes next, and which corners to treat with more respect.

I have now done over 60 laps, in diesel ren a cars, with a fastest b2g time of 9:47, in an a4, (damp january track), and 9:53 in a merc c200d wagon (something like that) in the dry.

This july i have rented a megane R26R, and am so excited.

i dragged out the playstation again last week to brush up.

It is the best part of my trip (although the f1 grand prix will be great too)

IMHO the ‘ring is the 8th wonder of the world.

By Craig on Jun 30, 2009

Hi Liam
Craig(35) from brisbane (formally from NZ)I have just stumbled across this site..I wish I found it last year when my wife and I went for a holiday taking in World Superbikes at Monza and a trip to the ‘ring’.

Firstly I noticed that most have been round either hiring racecars or in the ‘ring-taxi’.
one chap made mention of the Zakspeed vipers that also take passengers round, which is what I booked my lap in, for May 4 2008.

We stayed in Cologne which was only about an hour drive from the ‘ring’. Like everyone I/we were blown away by the size, number of people and amazing variety of cars.

The lap I had was utterly unbelieveable, I am a big fan of motorsport, have raced motorcycles and passengered in rally cars, but nothing prepared me for this. If anyone gets the oppurtunity - get a ride in the Viperjet!! Rumour has it that everybody moves aside for the Vipers.
I was ‘lucky’ enough to have clear track for my lap as some poor lad/lass crahsed their Impreza which required the track to be shut for a period of time.
It was magic, I said to the driver going to the car “don’t be shy, I’ve come half way round the world for this”..and he wasn’t.
I don’t know what time he did it in but I felt I couldn’t do the circuit justice if I had driven myself.
It was over a year ago now but you can still hear the big V10 climbing up the revs.

Cheers Craig (hoping to get back in the near future)

By Terence on Jul 3, 2009

Vipers are history now. Nurburg GMBH have Aston Martins instead. Zakspeed have been sent packing

By Matt on Jul 27, 2009

Just spent a fantastic week at the ‘ring in late June and managed 30 laps. As an Aussie living in London I was able to drive my Elise down, with a best of 9:05 B2G. A wonderful experience and a must for motoring fans. Anyway, I wonder whether any visitors to your site know the story behind the large Aussie flag I saw painted on the armco at the Karussell when I was there?

By Brett on Aug 9, 2009

Where was this website when I was looking for Nordschleife info earlier in the year?

My wife Emma and I left our Melbourne home in Werribee at the end of March 2009 for our Europe 09 Holiday.

We had 4 days in London, 4 days in Paris and then flew out to Casablanca for 11 days. Then off to Rome for Italy / Greece tour. After that, it was off to Frankfurt for a Central Europe tour, finishing in Frankfurt again.

I had Monday May 11th booked in for a “ME DAY”. My day to hire a 911 Porsche and cruise the Autobahn. After scabbing a lift back to the Airport with our tour bus, we got our Luggage and headed for the Rental Cars.
I went straight to Avis, supposedly the only major Rental company to rent Porsche’s. I couldn’t rent one of the three they had because we haven’t got a gold credit card. Doh! I really wanted a Porsche.

After cracking the sads majorly, I went to the Europcar counter and just wanted something flash, having given up on the Porsche dream.
I ended up hiring a 600km old CL500 5.5L 7Sp Auto Mercedes Benz, Black. Nice. We got the Tom Tom because the factory nav unit wasn’t working. Turned out of the park waiting for the Tom Tom to locate satellites. Waiting waiting, started pressing buttons mucking around with factory unit, still n/g, Tom Tom got put back in the carry bag with much swearing and cursing.

I drove out onto the motorway, my first Left Hand drive car since our Indy 500 trip in 2007.

I knew we wanted to get to Nurburgring but now had no GPS’s or “MELWAYS” to get us there. The only thing we had was a Printed out bit of paper off the internet from back in February. We were half way there then the factory GPS greeted us, Bingo, we’re back in action.

We got to Nurburg about 11am, totally pumped that I’m finally here. I went to the gift shop at the Entrance and bought numerous caps and Tshirts and stickers.

I found out that there was still a track day on and the Nordschleife wouldn’t be open till about 5pm. A long boring arvo for my wife coming up.

We drove down to the main Nordschleife carpark entrance, parked the Mercedes and looked in awe at the number, make, models and colors of the cars ready to go.

I walked the carpark numerous times, taking photos of GT40’s, Ferarri’s, Porsche’s, VW golfs, R8 Audis, Bikes, BMW’s and god knows what type of clubman style kit cars.

I’m a motorsport fan and I was in Heaven, finally here at Nurburgring!

I bought 2x single lap pass cards for 22 Euro per lap ($88 Aussie dollars total) and set about asking every Porsche owner/driver/poser if I could “buy a lap with them”. I got a lot of no’s and I don’t understand english (they knew what i wanted)

One guy pointed out his mate with an M5 BMW with a number on the side and a cage inside. “Go and ask him”
“Him” said yes, he’d take me free of charge! How good is this? I asked how many laps etc and about the car.

Turns out he’s done over 300 Laps in various cars, the BMW recently had the suspension redone, was running big brakes, big rubber and big power.
PERFECT!
Yep, a total stranger about to take me on the lap of my life! No need to worry about keeping right and checking mirrors in the now 800KM CL500. I ran back to the Merc and told Emma, who by now had finished the soduko puzzle book and was well on her way with reprogramming the Mercs factory Nav unit.

I grabbed the video and ran back to the BMW. I was asked if I wanted a helmet. “Nah, I’ll be right” I said. He replied, “I wear helmet” that’s when I thought, maybe this bloke is really pretty good.

I strapped on the helmet and jumped into the RHS of the BMW.

We Went through the boom gate (he has a season pass) and hit the track, with me hitting record and trying to steady a video camera whilst trying to hang on.

Straight away, he was on it. How excited was I? Passing a car before the first turn then reeling in car after car. Overtaking a Porsche, a Ferrari, a whatever. We were flying!

The power of the car was great and the brakes were even better… I thought my face was going to fall off!

The only thing we couldn’t get past between probably 1/2 & 3/4 lap was a motorbike. It was the widest thing on the track. He didn’t check mirrors or look over shoulder the whole time. We managed to Late brake and got up the LHS of him into a turn and then left him for dead.

We come back in. We lapped in 8:44. Bloody quick I thought, considering we were held up by the bike.

All these High Performance cars with Low Perfomance drivers, the BMW that I doubted made me rethink my whole Porsche idea.

I hopped out of the car, thanking him profusly.

“You want to go again or your wife?” He asked. I asked Emma, (hoping she’d say no) She said no. Woofo!

“Can I really come again?” I asked. “Sure” he replied, “Get in”

Again, we took off an gobbled up the competion. Again, we did not get lapped. Again, I was like kid in a lolly shop.

After completing my 2nd and final lap of the Green Hell in 8:31, I again thanked him and after a few more photos, tried to sell my 2×1 Lap passes to punters.

I sold the 2 passes to one guy for 40 Euro (nearly money back… who cares)

I went to the merchandise area to purchase more stuff when an English bloke commented on my “CHARGER” Tshirt I was wearing.
Turns out he’s got a Charger also, similar to my VJ 770 (318&904)

I had an absolute ball here. We jumped into the CL500. Emma Set the SatNav to our Hotel in Frankfurt and we headed off.

Driving down the road, one of the first songs to come on the Radio was “Age of Reason” by John Farnham.

Of course we sang along!

The next day we took the car back to the airport and flew to Heathrow and rented a Ford Mondeo turbo Diesel 6sp Man for a week up to Scotland and back.

Any ideas on how to contact the owner of the BMW I travelled in?

It’s Sweedish Rego “WAS 550″ a black M5 BMW with 1107 on the door (from previous day May 10 Nurburgring Day, apparantly he was 3rd in whatever race/class)

Like many other cars you see on the road over there, My Ford Territory now has a NURBURGRING sticker (with the track) on the back LHS.

Thanks for a great website, pitty I didn’t know about it before we went.

Brett Sellers
0417 559530

By Frank York on Aug 25, 2009

Hi Liam

We’re just back from 6 weeks o/s, starting at The Goodwood Festival of Speed, where I was a co-driver for a mate of mine on the Forest Stage, then off to Spa Francochamps race track in Belgium, beoroe hitting The Ring and then seeing Mark Webber win the German Grand Prix. What a trip!

Rather than risk the Avis porsche this time, we hired a race prepared 2009 VW Scirocco from “Rent a Racecar” located in Nurburg. The operators were fantastic and really helpful (and spoke good English). We ran a Golf GTI on the first day but found it rather skittish around the Ring at full noise, so moved to the new 2009 Scirocco on subsequent days. Its got a much wider track (more like the Porsche we used last time) and as a result was much more sure footed at full noise. Sub 9 minute laps resulted. Rent a Racecar’s cars are all fitted with roll cages and they offer the use of helmets too. They prepare all the cars so you know you’re in good hands. The cars we drove had the DSG clutchless manual gearboxes (paddle shifts) and these were fantastic to use. It meant you could keep both hands firmly on the steering wheel but still change gears on demand. Great for someone used to changing gears with the other arm ! This was our second trip and we managed to get in a lot of laps over the 4 days we were there. Since our last visit in 2006, it clearly has become a lot more expensive (lap prices have doubled) however we still had a lot of fun. It was crowded too with a lot of bikers on track (one less by the end of the first day……). Since our 2006 visit, it seems the Ring has become more popular and as a result, less enjoyable because its always so busy.

We met Sabine Schmitz and I had my photo taken with her. This was THE highlight of the trip (especially kissing her goodbye)….and meeting the face of the Nurburgring (she really is THE perfect woman).

We left our few days at the Ring satisfied, but cured. I don’t think we will be rushing back, unless someone offers us a Nissan R35 GTR or Porsche GT3 RS to drive at a track day, rather than a public tourist road day.

It remains a great piece of road, and one that I suggest every driver visits at least once.

Have fun out there, but stay safe.

Cheers

Frank York

By Barry on Dec 22, 2009

Hi
Just discovered this site. Fabulous.
My wife and I have done two trips to Nurburgring. First one in 2006 when we went to the DTM race in July 2006 and then to the OldTimer races in Aug 2008. P.S. best historic race meeting anywhere.
We had booked a ring taxi ride in 08 but the only spot they had available was at 3pm which would have meant missing out on a fair portion of the races so decided to cancel.
Met some great people racing Triumphs and will possibly try and organise a drive with them in 2010. The 50 lap sports car race on the Nordschleife would be the best one to do but sprint races on the GP circuit won’t be sneezed at if it comes off.
Will try and do some laps in a rentaracer before hand though. Lots of great contacts on this site to help with that by the look of it.

By Bernd Felsche on Feb 7, 2010

I spent an evening at the ‘ring in June 2007, as part of a longer holiday covering Germany, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Austria. The visit to the Nürburgring was towards the end of the trip. My sister tagged along to operate her video camera, etc.

We stayed at a holiday apartment in Remagen on the Rhine. Rudi Caracciola was born in the town; which is another of at least 4 good reasons to visit. Another of the 4 reasons is that it’s about an hour’s drive through the vinyards to the Nordschleife.

The circuit opened in the late afternoon; about 20 minutes after we got there. I weighed up the chances of getting in laps and bought a ticket for four. The car wasn’t carrying alot of travel paraphenalia so after all the loose bits were secured, we joined the queue to the boom gates.

The first lap was a pure “sight-seeing” drive; a little bit of orientation but no speed higher than what one would drive on a similar country road (in Germany). The highest speed was attained on the final straight; and that wasn’t even 170 km/h.

Returning to the carpark, my co-pilot looked a little green. It’d been quite involved driving around the circuit but I’d not really pushed the car or myself. I’d even stayed on the road through the carousel. It has been no worse than negotiating the narrow mountain roads in Switzerland.

So, after a restof about 20 minutes, I took the car out “solo” for the second lap. As Iwas in the queue, the weather started to move in. There were dark clouds but no rain at the start.

Passing through the chicanes after the boom gate gave a bit of room to accelerate for a more serious run. Although I’d seen numerous vidoes of other doing a quicker lap, nothing quite prepares you for the reality. The track was dry at the time, but the graffitti on the tarmac was distracting under some lighting conditions; because you couldn’t tell if it was paint or debris on the surface.

Approaching Karusel I made sure that I had plenty of speed and took the banking; which is a VERY ROUGH RIDE indeed. It’s also very noisy as tyres and suspension get to work very hard. But exiting prematurely is probably suicide so you hang on until you see the line you want to exit. The change in surface produces some ungraceful chassis lurches.

As I approached the top of the “mountain”, there were patches of drizzle and damp spots which produced some interesting traction effects. The electronic anti-slip diff and stability controls became more of a hinderance when the car approached the limits — which I thought quite odd and counter-productive. The car became decidedly “wobbly” at times; perhaps due to soft suspension overall.

The experience became too interesting further down the hill, where I still had wet tyres; but the road was dry. One quickly comes to appreciate that driving in a race under these conditions is only for the highly experienced.

I finished the lap. Again, not having bothered to “time” it at all. It’d been quicker but I felt mentally drained by what seemed an eternity of concentration.

So off to the carpark; have a drink of water, then go and have a cup of coffee.

The weather was still “undecided”. Had all the track been wet, I’d have gone out for another gentle one without electronic stability control turned on. But it was still dry-wet-dry-wet-dry and it was too much like hard work to cope with that; especialy while on holiday.

So it was back to our digs in Remagen. But not before we ducked off the main road again and watched others trying their best around the circuit for a few minutes; from a vantage point I think near Brünnchen.

By mike rimmer on Mar 14, 2010

I have raced for years with Aussie Llynden Riethmuller ,at the Ring who sadly was killed last July in an avalanche in NZ. We are looking to fill the “Legends” seat with a Nurburgring experienced driver for the 2010 24 hr race in the Sp3 t SR Motorsport Subaru - a class winning car in vln and at the 24 hrs … contact me !

mike@rampage-events.com

By Markus from MPZ on Apr 9, 2010

He friends, nice to have some “Ring” Fans down under.

Best regards from Germany, Markus

PS: Check my youtube vids, there some clips from the Ring, but only from the GP Track.

By Wayne Moore on Apr 25, 2010

Greetings All!

Excitement is building for the N24… 13 - 16 May with many teams using this weekend’s 4H Race as a final shake down.

RSR Motorsport (who I have the privilege to drive for) tested at the Nordschleife on 9 May. Traction and handling were brilliant (awesome to hear as sometimes we’ve ‘wandered’ on Dottinger Hohe… which is pretty fearful), brakes are brilliant BUT power was down 30% from when the Golf V tdi was tucked up for winter. Smiles can very quickly turn to frowns in this game.

Since then a crack has been found in an intercooler pipe and the GPS and dyno numbers are now spectacular. I can’t wait as we are significantly quicker than ‘09 when we finished 4th in class.

The Entry List is now published with 209 cars c/w 170 last year and a pretty impressive field. We’ll do well to qualify 140th so look for reliability and a driving team (Eberhard Rattunde, Heiner Immig, Maurice O’Reilly and myself) who are consistent to move up the overall order. There are 11 cars in the D1T class including the Peugeot RC Z’s that have featured on AUSringers.

Check out the entry at:
http://adac.24h-rennen.de/2010.4213.0.html

There are Aussies & Kiwis throughout the field and N24 pits are open to fans. We’re in box 31… come and say; “Hi!”

Speed Safely!
Wayne Moore
Driver RSR Motorsport, Wolfsburg

By Wayne Moore on May 7, 2010

Greetings from Paradise!

Adenau village within the Eifel Mountains… home of the Nordschleife.

The North Loop is closed for two days for a comprehensive driver training school. The race track is segmented and trainees practice each section multiple times… by convoying back to their start point. I’ve seen this before… but it still looks strange seeing cars going the wrong way!

I’ve completed 12 tourist laps (850 total now) and will collect some more over the weekend. The Nordschleife is in pristine condition in preparation for the 24H. There are new sound or sight screens at Breidsheid… so it’s no longer possible to sit at the roadside cafes and keep an eye on the track activity. Shame. Still large numbers of fans climb the steps and lean on the railing to watch the spactacle. And it is a spectacle… with more CLK AMG Mercedes, GT3 RSR, Apollos, Audi R8’s, et al passing in 5 minutes than are registered in Aust/NZ.

The ring boulevard, Eifeldorf (restaurants, bars, cafes), fanshops, Ferrari shop, Nissan showroom, Yokohama showroom, Brabham shop, ringwerk (museum, games, kids space, theatres) are happening with a steady stream of tourists. Albeit freezing cold for spring. 3C at 10:00am this morning and foggy! Schloss Nürburg has disappeared. I saw our race car more than once which is always a buzz on a 4D movie. Yup, 4D… as it includes a water spray (representing rain and ultimately champagne). The world’s fastest roller coaster is eerily quiet. Rumour says it has only run once… with noise and vibration concerns.

24H teams commence arriving on Monday and the new Welcome Centre alone will improve the logistics as this huge circus comes to town. Coincidentally Top Gear will be here too with their live stunt show. I wouldn’t be suprised if this double billing raises fan numbers to 250,000 this year… and I’ll pop a couple more words on here in a day or so.

Speed Safely!
Wayne Moore
Driver RSR Motorsport, Wolfsburg

By Terence on May 10, 2010

I am going to be trackside again for the 24 hour race! Bringing my son this year.

Wayne we will be cheering you on!.

Terence

By Simon Henderson on May 10, 2010

Hi All,

I’m a first-time Ringer travelling there on 16th June 2010. Absolutely cannot wait but I’ve got a major problem!

Given the Ring’s infamy (and my lack of experience) I was happy to take some ‘taxi’ laps. Been trying to book something for months but no success for this date.

So if anyone (with Ring experience) is going out on the 16th and doesn’t mind taking a passenger, please let me know! I would be very grateful and can chip in for fuel, beers etc! Im trying desparately to find someone - failing that its just showing up on the day and praying!

Cheers
Simon

By Simon Henderson on May 10, 2010

Thanks Liam

I’ve got a Benz C class hire car but I read that youre not allowed to take them on the Nordschleife. I’d be keen on hiring a specific race-prepped car but again - cant find a provider for this date.

Regarding the pax I’ve been talking to Dale from RSR who’s been great (he’s chasing up the new R35 GTR taxi) but apparently its stuck in red tape so might not happen…

Can anyone recommend other dedicated Ring rental companies (other than RSR and rent racecar?)

Thanks again!

By Terence on May 10, 2010

Simon

there is rent4ring.de

Log into Northloop.co.uk as that seems to be the most active forum for English speakers at the ring.

I will most likely be there in either a Fiat 500 Abarth of Fiat Coupe 20v Turbo on Luxembourg plates if all else fails and you want a pax lap. (for free)

By Wayne Moore on May 10, 2010

Hi All!

Thanks for your thoughts Terrence. The place is already buzzing as fans trundle their caravans and trailer loads of beer and firewood through the quaint Adenau streets. Hope you also have an awesome race. Very foggy this morning - Monday (so just as well the circuit isn’t open as it wouldn’t be… if that makes sense). It’s also been VERY cold 5C high some days… which may well be good motor race weather! Please come and say Hi (box 31) if you visit the pits.

Hey Simon! If all else fails… just ask around in the pits as cars approach the gantry. Some guys love a passenger to balance the handling. And may even be sympathetic when they understand how far you’ve travelled.

The ‘crazy’ tourist-lap weekend has now past… with only one stoppage yesterday for a major car incident at Brunnchen.

Bumped into a lot of Kiwis and I guess there were Aussies around too making the most of the opportunity to build some mileage. Speaking of which… despite hundreds of vehicles literally pouring onto the circuit it’s amazing how they diasappear. I had two laps very first thing Sunday morning where not one single vehicle was passed and nothing passed us. Unbelievable! Paradise!

Our adavnce team and race car arrive this afternoon… so not as much time as this week goes on for idling away on a foreign keyboard.

Happy Race wherever you are.
Speed Safely!
Wayne Moore
Driver RSR Motorsport, Wolfsburg

By Wayne Moore on May 17, 2010

Hello… and greetings from the smoky internet cafe in Adenau!

No trophy for us this year… but not for want of trying.

Frei training was held on a wet, miserable race track but the car felt unbelievable with more power and far better grip and handling. The other side of the coin was that our competitors appeared quicker too. Two factory Puegeot RC Z’s were a bit of a mystery as they had not practiced at 4 Hour Races at The Ring. Our Golf was also seriously airbourne over many of the Nordschleife’s infamous bumps… and I’m not sure whether that’s good or bad. Often makes for good photos…

Qualifying was on a drying track but freezing cold and really hard to warm tyres. After 4 laps our tyre temps were mid 30C’s and they only start working in the 50’s. I had a harmless spin on turn 2. Just no grip. We chose - for reasons that will remain a mystery to a non-German speaker - to only do 4 laps and then parked-up and race-prepared the car. So languished on the starting grid 9th in class/162st overall.

Languishing didn’t last long though. I had the privilege to start the race which was dry throughout and still cool. As the sun appeared we had a meteroric rise through the field. After 6 hours we were 1st in class/81st overall and the car felt amazing. We were trialling a rear view camera this year. The camera was mounted in the right exterior mirror and the monitor is just to the right of the dash. A brilliant little creation… as it’s picture perfect and negates a roll cage blind spot.

We haven’t been first in class for a few years but smiles in the box didn’t last too long though… as the car pitted with no clutch. The age-old conundrum of more power… is the moving weak-point and usually in the drive train. That replaced we were battling again… amid massive carnage on the racetrack. 7th in class, then 6th with 4h & 5th three laps ahead, 7 hours to go, me driving again… and the gearbox let go. And that was it… as we had no spare that would fit straight in.

Our first mechanical dnf in 17 years… and all a bit deflating. For five minutes. Then you start thinking of next year…

Speed Safely!
Wayne Moore
Driver RSR Motorsport, Wolfsburg

By Terence on May 17, 2010

Wayne. It was a top effort. I came past your pit a few times but it was all to busy to barge in. I got a number of photos of the car on the track if you are interested. (Indeed all the Aussie and NZ cars) send me an email if you would like a copy terence underscore ledger at hotmail.com

By Harmannus on May 19, 2010

Great effort Wayne, good to read about your efforts again this year, safe travel home mate, Sis, Nick and kirra here with me at the mo.

H

By Carolyn & Nick on May 19, 2010

Hello Neighbour

What a shame, oh well 2011 you & your car be dangerous.

Not long until we all home and catching up again.

Safe travels and look forward to seeing you soon. XOXO

By Simon Henderson on Jul 28, 2010

Hendo’s Story

Gday Ausringers

A few months back I posted a desparate request to get a pax lap on 16 June for my first Ring experience. In the end I came to my senses and booked an instructed self-drive with Rent Racecar in a modified E46 M3. Man am I glad I did.

My instructor Christopher (the man!) drove in front with a VW Sirocco and talked on radio. This was perfect for a first timer because I could follow his line which allowed me to drive faster / safer around turns and really enjoy the drive. I still smile with a child-line grin every time I think about it!

The M3 was incredible and the track was something else. So complex and addictive I am not surprised how many people are fans. Just when you think youre having fun theres something to give you an ‘oh sh!t’ moment! I know its been said before but the bumps dips and gradients on that track really change the game.

Anyway we did 2 laps, took a break and had a chat and bit of a car perve. By the way among the porsches I saw one Aussie car - a black Holden VE Clubsport. Anyway it was a perfect summer afternoon, not a cloud in the sky and being a Wednesday it was relatively quiet. However the racing gods did not smile on me for long - the buzzer and lights go off and we hear that theres a major oil spill at Adenauer Forst and the track was closed for the rest of the day.

But I was so stoked from my drive that I really couldnt feel bad about it. Theo and Sabine from Rent Racecar was very sympathetic and gave me a partial refund which was very nice of them (the contract I signed said ‘too bad’). I highly recommend Rent Racecar to anyone and will be returning to them once Ive saved up enough to revisit the Ring.

Cheers!

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