off to The Ring

[Neil - UK]

off to Nurgbergring very early saturday am with a few of the UK members, a couple are taking their vipers, others in their sporty runabouts, I'm co-piloting with Joel in his Autobahn Banshee

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looking forward to some fast no limit speeds (where possible )

we catch a ferry at Dover over to Calais, dash across France into Belgium before crossing the border into Germany, about 12 hours of fast tarmac travel
so look out for the pics next week.

 

[Bill Pemberton Woodhouse]

Be careful with those 170+ turns in the 14 mile curcuit, and I am envious of all you guys. Ran the track with my dad in the 60s and it was the birthing of my love for racing. There probably isn't a track in the World that is such a rush, and though dangerous, it is the Number One E-Ticket Roller Coaster Ride of all time. Have fun and give us all the breakdown,and hopefully we will see some video shots as well.

Best Wishes

 

[Viper Wizard]

WAY

Have fun for all of us!

 

[Casey 111]

Its my dream to drive that track sometime. Bring back lots of pictures, have fun, and be safe!

 

[plumcrazy]

have fun

 

[Neil - UK]

Had a fab time everything went perfectly (pics later) for our group at least. To say the track was AMAZING is a understatement, cant imagine any other track in the world comes anywhere close (except Isle of Mann) and i've been to a few, very intimidating 160 or so bends over about 12 miles ! its at 2000 feet above sealevel, and the way you dropped down steep hills, go fast over blind crests and then climbed again not knowing what was coming next was truely scary stuff.

These 2 corners alone must have dropped 50 feet

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Its a place you need to have lots of runs to have any chance you knowing where your going and taking the right line. Good knows how the racers got around this track years ago. You pay 15 euros per lap, there's no waiver to sign just buy a ticket and go for it !

Lots of very fast cars and bikes are on circuit at the same time which is another worry been driven to their limits, everything pure no compromise performance no place for posers. There was quite a few crashes which delayed things, oil on the road bringing down bikers but worst of all a biker died yesterday on the track... grim stuff which brings you back to reality

The viper ring GTS taxi was out yesterday (270 euros per lap) buts its no a race car, just a decaled OE viper with a roll cage and harnesses but includes a proper race driver to scare you

We also spotted Sabina the famous BMW M5 taxi driver, she arrived in a 360 Modena, she has completed over 15000 laps !

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a few Taxi facts. The tyres are changed after 10 laps. The brakes are changed after 20 laps, and the car gets a full inspection at the same time (this is the reason it can only do 20 laps a day). The running costs (excluding the cost of the car itself) are €300-400 a lap, so after the €160 charge it runs at a considerable loss, but of course this is made up for by the huge PR value. At the end of the season, the cars are sent to the BMW lab for analysis, and then are crushed.

There was also a couple of german vipers, a few C6's, a Zonda, Porsche GT 2 seater etc...

 

[Neil - UK]

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a few pics here

 

[Vic]

Ha ha, that is just too cool! Must be a blast to run there!

Did you say you go 160mph around a turn? Fastest turn we got out here in the west is 130+, at WillowSprings. At 160, does the car even turn? :-D

 

[Viperfreak2]

If you want to 'learn' the ring. Buy an Xbox and the game project gotham II. At the end, the whole ring is unlocked and it is very realistic.

 

[Neil - UK]

no not 160mph around a corner, there around 160 actual bends/corners/kinks in the track !

Around 130mph was acheived, on a uphill straight before having to brake,
the fastest part of the circuit would by the start/finish, but they slow you
down there as other cars are entering the track as you leave.

A couple of the guys used games to help them learn the track to give them an idea of what was coming up next, they reckoned it was quite realistic, but of course gave no sense of up and down hills, cambers or banking etc

 

[scottgf]

Wow,
I am so jealous....
Someday i am going to do that.......

Cheers,

 

[thebigsnake]

How the heck can I read anybody else's post now?
Sounds like a fantastic experience. Thanks for sharing.
Jerry.

 

[Neil - UK]

We spoke to a guy from Toronto there were quite a few US folk about as well, the canadian guy (M3 at home) had hired a merc from the airport and had five laps in it he also managed to get a cancellation booking and get a ride in the BMW taxi on his own with Sabine, which was very lucky as its usually fully booked. The Zakspeed viper taxi for 2005 was fully booked some time ago

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should have some inboard footage sorted at some point.

Things are pretty cool here car wise at the moment, a big 'supercar' type meet this Sunday, its Goodwood time ! and a trip to Rockingham UK's only banked Nascar type circuit the following weekend, then followed our annual summer Viper BQ. With a few different track events for the racers and a weekend trip over to the Isle of Mann, no speed limits out of the towns sweet

 

[Topawam]

Fantastic trip !!!
Thanks for sharing.

 

[dennis]

If you want to 'learn' the ring. Buy an Xbox and the game project gotham II. At the end, the whole ring is unlocked and it is very realistic.

PGR isn't even close, in GT4 I found the bush I pissed on at the 24 hour race... Now that's realism.


Concerning the speeds, on the long straight "Döttinger Höhe" which actually isn't the start/finish area, just the start of the "visitor laps", car with over 400 hp easily each 140 to 150 mp/h.

The fastest corners are "Schwedenkreuz", after the Flugplatz, which some cars can do with close to 120 mp/h. A few hundred meters farther you're going down the "Fuchsröhre" which is a combination of sligh left-right corners really extreme downhill.
After that, you go left uphill, and it feels like you're starting in a fighter jet with up to about 150 mp/h.

My farvourite corners are the left-right after the "Kallenhard".
You're going through with over 100 mp/h and it has different kinds of asphalt, is banked and HUGE waves in the surface.
A friend of mine drove his '73 bimmer throuh there and the door frame opened for about one and a half inches.

Also the "Wippermann" right-left-right downhill is amazing.
Since you just passed the "Hohe Acht", which is the heighest point in the whole region, you're now again going slightly fast downhill.
And you often see Golf's make Porsche drivers look stupid, since hp isn't that important in this combo.

And of course the huge jump after the "Pflanzgarten", where Stefan Bellof ripped his 956 into shreds.


Nice pictures btw!