Get yourself an international driving licence from the AA, probably OK in Germany.

Marton

 

a bit off topic.
I have seen numerous videos and pics from the The Ring, but what is the best video game out there that replicates it in the"digital world" as well as car dynamics. Be a good way to practice learnign the course.

great pics!!

 

A certain Vermonter runs The Ring in "Racer" which is a free game. Last time I tried it the "beta" version didn't work too hot.

http://www.racer.nl/download.htm

 

Best game = Gran Turismo 4 for PS2

I should be at Ring at end of May. 20 cars including few 928's and over 30 Porsche Club Finland members will be there for four days. Track should be open from 8:00 to 19:30 on three of those days.

 

My son has Gotham Racing 2 on his X box. Seems pretty good. Car dynamics are very different for different cars. Several Porsches, but no 928

 

Tony, I've got Project Gotham 2 on XBox and didn't really know how real it was until I saw the full clip of Hans Stuck doing a flying lap in a BMW M3 GT car. In real life the track looks a lot more narrow however that could've been due to the lens as well. There are a couple of places on the track where you have to make an odd shift or two and much to my surprise and delight Stuck made the same shifts. The video of Stuck has a small window in the upper corner of the bigger picture showing him in profile while the rest of the picture is out the front of the vehicle.

 

it is narrow

Marton

 

At least it's not a Zaparozhets, or however it's spelled. And just maybe, the 928 is doing the passing on the outside.

I was there for the 1976 F1 race with the goofy 6 wheel Tyrell. I'd like to go back and do a few laps now.


Doc

 

Exactly

 

No, the Skoda was passing me, in fact everything was passing me, I was driving like a vicar, in fact you could have passed me if you were walking quickly.

It was my first time at the 'Ring, the first set of pictures were taken on my first semi-dry lap. The first thing that happened when I turned us was that I decided to go out on the F1 track even though there was torrential rain. I span out on the 3rd corner, which wouldn't have been too bad as there are huge run offs on the GP circuit except I then pulled back in to the path of an on coming car. It was only down to his good driving and my frantic attempts to get back out of the way that he managed to avoid me. My trip to the 'Ring had almost come to an end within one minute of track driving.

I didn't do any more F1 laps, even though the circuit remained open over some of the following day. Instead I headed for the Nordschleife (the 13 mile Ring track) where it was still raining, with plenty of surface water. I did one lap constantly on the brink of losing the rear of the car. Here there is no run off, no second chances.

The following morning it was still raining heavily and I did another nervous wet lap. I then decided that it was no fun at all, and simply waiting hoping the track would dry out during the day. In the afternoon a semi dry line appeared, which you can see in the first set of pictures. The 'Ring rules are that if anything catches you up you have to pull over to the right and let it pass, as soon as it is safe for you to do so. As soon as you pull over you move off the dry racing line and there is the added risk of losing grip, so as soon as I saw anything approaching I would slow immediately to let it past, what ever it was, so I could then get back on to the dry line.

I was very cautious, not only was I relying on my car to get me home to the UK (even though it didn't in the end) but I had no funds to pay for any repairs to my car, and no funds to pay for the track repair bills you get if things go wrong. As I arrived at the 'Ring the first car I saw was a Viper about two foot shorter than it should have been. Next I saw a F355 that has made a less drastic mess of it's nose, but as I paid for my 8 laps, which cost about $140, the guy driving the Ferrari handing over his credit card to pay the $3k Armco bill. My 928 buddy came off later over the weekend, also doing some front PU damage, and his track repair bill was $900 even though the only damage to the Armco I could see was that he had left some of his black paint on it.

The recovery truck driver is probably one of the busiest guys at the 'Ring (and at $175 a time fairly well off too). I lost count of the number of trashed high end cars I saw over the three days I was there.

I was one of the slowest cars on the track that weekend, but I've now done six and a half laps, I can now remember about 20% of the circuit, and I still have a car that I can drive, sort of.

 

Okay Paul, sounds like discretion was the better part of valor for that weekend. Glad you're semi-safe and sound without loosing any more bucks (Don't have the British Lb symbol on my keyboard). It's one of the toughest tracks, if not THE toughest in the world, I don't blame you for your convervative driving, I would likely do the same,

Doc

 

the aa membership is an interesting option but it would mean i need someone to drive me and the car out of england, lets hope it dosent come to that though! i think if i were driving the ring for the first time id most likely take it really easy too, no sense in trashing the car and walking home, that would be ****!

 

I shall see you there then! The ferry is booked and the I have began work on the Porsche. 5 weekends should see me through. It would be nice to form a fast 928 convoy...

 

Make sure you don't have the negative upside-down for the poster. Your steering wheel is on the wrong side!

 

Should have known you are going to be there. We should have '87 S4 and '93 GTS on hand. Both are automatics. S4 will have SC kit and GTS brakes in it if all goes according to plan.