Before our adventure started, Germany was seen as bit of a “less than exciting place”. But this as it turned out, was perhaps somewhat unfair, as Germany, in the short time we were there, has provided two of the highlights of our trip. There was Miniatur Wunderland (see previous post by my dear wife), Hamburg harbour, some of the friendliest people, and then, perhaps the pinnacle, “The Ring”!
The Ring or Nurburgring to be more accurate is considered by many to be the greatest road race track ever conceived. By the way, this may be a good time for the less octane interested folk to bow out of the post or fall asleep.
The Nurburgring is in the Eifel Mountains and in particular, I am referring to the historic Nordschleife, the Northern Loop section of track. Built in 1925, it is 20.8km long, has 73 bends and more than 300 metres of elevation change. It was taken off the Formula 1 calendar in the mid-1970s as it was deemed too dangerous after Niki Lauda had a near fatal accident, yet for about 20 or so Euro a lap, you can take your car around at any speed you want, if you are silly enough. Enter yours truly.
Now when the track is not open to the public you can see a variety of cars zooming around being tested by manufacturers. The morning we left we saw an array of Mercedes and something that looked like a Kia soft-roader being tortured around the track.
Most insurance companies will not cover you on The Ring, so there was no chance of taking the Citroen MPV around. Yippee! Yes it may have a DVD player but truly it handles like a wet sponge. So off to see the friendly Ron Simons at RSR (Ron Simons Racing we assume, MA worked this out, too complex for me).
Cars on offer for a small fee, starting from the top were the Lamborghini LP-560, Porsche GT3, BMW M3, then a Lotus Exige, or perhaps a Renault Megane. But being the coward I am and in need of a 4-seater (yes, we decided this was a family affair) we went for a Renault Clio Cup.
Now I should say at this point I did have serious concerns after a German friend of friend told me some months ago I was mad to drive around their unless I had some serious experience. Thus I had given up early in the trip of trying to organise this. But due to a string of coincidences and last minute travel plan changes, here I was looking at a bright green Hot Hatch (nicknamed the Frog), a terrifying race track and some rather dark clouds.
It would be fair to say at this point that my confidence was a bit shaky and was now being further tested by a steady shower that was getting heavier. The track would be open to the public from 6.00pm to 7.30pm and we were to be in France the next day, so it was now or never. I asked Ron if there were many accidents there (as I watched them load a bent Lotus on a trailer) and he said yes, but mainly with the faster cars being driven in the wet by silly people. He also said “there are no dangerous tracks just dangerous drivers”.
To help ease the nerves I arranged to have someone experienced sit with me and prepare me for the trickier parts of the track. As I was waiting to be given a briefing and the keys to “The Frog”, I spoke to a nice American who had done more than 150 laps here and he had decided to downgrade from the GT3 to a Clio, because of the rain. He told me to be careful here and be careful there and be careful pretty much everywhere and make sure to keep an eye on the mirror for fast approaching Porsches.
It was about 5.30pm now and it was raining quite heavily when I raised my eyes to the sky once again and took a proactive stance by willing things to work out perfectly. About now I heard Ron mutter something about the track perhaps being closed due to the rain. So at 6.00pm, with John my guide by my side, we headed to the track for the first of my allotted four laps. No queue, just a wave of a card and the boom gate opened with 21km of wild road before me.
The track was wider than I thought it would be and the rain had stopped, which was nice. Things started slowly and I suspect never got much above very dull, as judged by the advice coming from my escort. I don’t think I really went fast enough to make the dangerous parts dangerous because when I asked when would we see the slippery bits John said “you have just been through them”. I was spending a lot of time looking in the mirrors for that inevitable Porsche to come past. There was lots of “use more of the road”, “use more revs”, hit the corner harder and generally just go faster from my guide, but I didn’t care I was having a ball.
The curves were amazing and the rise and falls incredible. After 15 or so minutes the lap was over and I ran John back to base, feeling more comfortable and ready to take the family around.
With wife by my side and boys strapped in we headed off but this time I was going a bit faster with the boys super excited and requesting some G-Force. Yet still my faster had a Volvo station wagon and a nondescript van pass me. How embarrassing!
Lap 3 was better, the track was drying, I liked the Clio and I was using more road and more revs. Then it happened, I actually passed a car and then another. Of course I was getting passed but only by Porsches now. The last and final lap was looking good when Ed wanted to halt proceedings as he was just a little car sick. So the pace was slowed and lap 4 ended on a cooler but content note.
All I can say is The Ring is an amazing track and at no point did I think I was in any danger. In the end conditions were perfect, as many people and all bikers (bar one insane man) were turned off by the early rain, making for an empty and by the end a dry track. That said, I can see that at the limit this is a place that must be respected.
This must surely rank 100 on the fun meter!!!
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