Nurburgring 14 Oct 2007
 

Just a quick post to update you guys on my trip last weekend to the Nurburgring.

What an amazing place. The trip was 635 miles each way from my house which did not include the crossing under the Channel Tunnel on the train. The car managed 30.3 mpg for the trip and my maximum speed on the German autobahn was a speedometer 147mph but the GPS was 141. The car felt great :-)

The Touristenfahrten day was Sunday and on Saturday there were some endurance races and the speeds they reached were incredible.

On Sunday we tried to get there as close to the 8.00am opening time and we were right to do so, the place was insane by 11am. Next time we wont be doing a weekend visit and will find a weekday session that should be quieter.

The track is incredible. Your Xbox is a great way to learn the lefts and rights as I genuinely recognised some of the corners, but it does not prepare you for the roller coaster effect of hitting the Karrussel or some of the major drops/rises in elevations you get mid corner. The number of blind crests was unbelievable.

I have attached some pictures but have not collected them all from other people or the professional web sites. With regard to the no filming rule, this was not enforced. I left my in car camera set up at home trying to be legal, I wont do it again, one guy from the Czech Republic had a 1980's VHS camera strapped to his MX5!

Some pictures:

1.My car in the train for the Channel Tunnel
2.Arrived safely in the hotel car park with my friends GT3. Later there were 6 other 911's arrived, waiting for the picture of that.
3.A picture of one of the longer straights, I love how it is parallel to the public road.
4.My car in the waiting area, lots of nice German machinery surrounding it
5.More car porn
6.Someone did not notice that I was a British car and blocked my drivers door, terrible helmet hair here too
7.Doing my best impression of the Stig from Topgear. Wife looking remarkably calm, it didn't last.
8.From the webcam at the entrance, ready to head out
9.My friends GT3 on track. Not found any of mine yet on the professional sites.

All in all a great experience and we will be going back next year and will break the trip up with a stop over at Spa in Belgium.

Have a look at my website next week and I will have filtered all the pictures and posted them there.

Sorry for the long post

Cheers

Continued.................

Awesome! Thanks for posting the pics. Driving Nurburgring is on my list of things to do before I die.

We met a couple from Washington, DC who rented an Alfa Romeo from Budget and went for a few laps :) His brakes were shot at the end. The rental car places actually list the 'Ring as a place you cant go, but as you all know there is no faster car than a rental car. A few years ago I took a 5.0 Mustang around Texas Motor Speedway that I think was from Hertz or Avis.

As you get ready to plan your trip have a look at this

http://www.nurburgring.org.uk/

Great information from a group of guys who go all the time.

Flights are cheap to Europe Oct-Mar, I come over to the US every couple of months and just booked to go to Boston from Manchester for 252 GBP about 500 US.

Noone,

Great pictures ! 147 mph on the autobahn, awesome :D

Thanks for sharing,

Nick

Living the dream...

Thanks for the update and pics. What a great experience! I'd like to do that or one of the Porsche weeks including the factory tour.

Drop us a reminder when the pics are ready on your site.

That trip looks amazing. very jealous of your trip to the ring. i doubt i'll ever get to drive my own car on that track. maybe a rental? do they rent porsches in germany? :cheers:

that guy "boxsterz" thinks you're a poser. i disagree.

I have posted a couple more on there, but have not done a scan of all the ones I have yet.

There are quite a few companies that rent cars to drive the ring, mostly BMW's and of course there is the famous Ring Taxi. A BMW M5 and they really move that thing along. Overtook me like I was in reverse!

Dont let it get to you. Whats wrong with posing anyway? If you have it; flaunt it. I am a child of the 80's :D

The Boxster has a reputation as a 'Girls car' or 'Hairdressers car' over here in the UK. I use mine at least 50% for track days and manage to change peoples minds pretty quickly when we lap a difficult track like Oulton Park faster than some much 'better' machinery. When my friend with the GT3 drives it , it is even faster, he is an ex bike racer and can push my car around the track in stupid times.

Life would be boring if we all shared the same opinion.

LOL - your post on this thread and that other one cracked me up... :D

Wow those pictures are inspiring, hopefully someday I will get a chance to drive the ring even if I have to do it in a mini van!

Noone-

Thanks for sharing and I am WAY jealous...

I guess us guys over here will have to be satisfied with the Dragon until we can afford to come over.

As long as the dollar is so weak vs. the Euro and pound, it may never happen!

:cheers: