Hey Tim, I remember you! It will be nice to catch up again
Nordschleife was spiritual haha
I'd always wanted to go and last year my friend who speaks German moved over for 6months in the middle of summer which was perfect.
Because my friend speaks german, we found a site through the net which rented us a GTI 5 door, manual, black, sunroof, leather, bi-xenon, ipod (similarities anyone? haha) for about $1000 for 3 weeks I think. I'm not sure but it was about the same price we were getting quoted for 1.8L diesel astas on all english websites.
We ended up staying in a little hotel/B&B inside the track which is where most people stay.
The key to Nurburgring is to stay nearby and get there as early as possible. We were one of the first runs of the day and the track was empty so we went flat out.
It was rediculously cheap compared to a trackday. something like $20/lap which is equivelant to 1 session at a trackday. The most bizzare thing about Nurburgring is it's complete lack of safety. Because it is a public toll road, not a racetrack, you're not allowed to have track mods, i.e. you're car has to be street legal including the spare tyre inside. There is no inspection and all you have to do is put a ticket into a machine like at a carpark exit. You're out there driving next to bikers (who always seem to be killing themselves). This is really wierd to adjust to cause I've done a alot of trackdays in Melbourne and the emphasis is always on safety.
But after driving through europe for 3 weeks, I realised they do things differently and they are damn good drivers so it works. The way we drive on cruises is how they drive everywhere in Italy haha.
you can watch video's a million times or play it on Forza/GT4 but immediately, the track feels so much shorter. I nearly missed one breaking area cause the long back straight heading into the 1st carousel seemed to be half as short as it was in the games/DVD's.
No track I have ever been on compares to how incredibel Nordschleife is. The way it changes direction so violently with so much camber swapping keeps your adrenalin pumping the entire lap...there is no let off. It leaves you an addict- you've been warned!
I remember one corner -adenauer forst like i did it yesterday.You come down this massive hill building up huge speeds and as you hit the uphill section, the car almost bottoms out and your spine just compresses so much you feel dizzy then immediately there's a sharp left then right but the road dips a little as your about to turn in after the uphill so the car completely unloads and you have almost no grip to make the initial turn. If you're not 100% switched on, you'll go straight ahead into the wall head on at 100+
There's a huge crowd of spectators there waiting for you to crash :laugh:
My first warm up lap became my timed lap because the rest of the day rained out
It suited me though cause I'm ususally better at doing fast out laps then slowly chipping away at my times all day so I felt comfortable in the car so I wasn't upset. In the afternoon we came back and I did a wet lap by accident. I started the lap and as I left the toll booth, it started pouring. It was probably the scariest driving i've ever done as the golf had absolutely no traction. It's wierd cause there are spectators even when it rains. I got cheers from druken spectators as my golf just kept sliding through the first couple of corners before they warmed up...they were willing me to crash haha
The wet doesn't stop everyone racing though which suprised me! I remember towards the end of the lap being pushed wide on an off camber corner by a porsche and golf who thought they were quicker. We were all simililar speeds as it turned out and we went 3 wide through the corner almost touching and I got pushed onto the wet grass. I was certain they were going to puch me in the wall. I would have let them pass but there were so many more cars behind us who i figured were going to do the same so I put the foot down and went ahead...also a bit of pride made me want to beat them haha. It was extrememly nerve racking but satisfying when i made it safely back to the pits. The track is so huge, it could be sunny on one side and raining on the other side so you have to pay attention to the weather. My advice is do not go out when it's wet or looking like raining, I wouldn't do it again, it's just not worth the risk cause there is no such thing as a runoff area on Nordschleife!
I have a video of my dry warm up lap and I'll try to post it up if anyone is interested. From memory, I think my time was about 9:30-40 from bridge to gantry but I'm not sure, I'd have to check the video. I had a passenger who recorded it. If anyone wants to know some info about my trip for their own plans, feel free to PM me cause i kept a whole diary of my trip so I can go back again.
Excluding airfares, I spent $3000 in total for 3 weeks on food, car, premium petrol, a sat nav, accomodation and entertainment so If you want to do europe on a budget, I'd love to help!
