fbroen

Getting close to pickup time for 991 at Zuffenhausen. I see that there are Nurburgring Tourist Ride times overlapping with our schedule. Would be curious to hear feedback whether driving a lap would be nutty for someone without track experience. I understand my limitations, but am wondering how the traffic around would be. In other words, how crazy does it get, or is it not that bad? Can one enjoy a lap at moderate pace without being a bother to others?

Mike in CA

Yes, do it! The are race cars, uber fast bikes, street cars and even the occasional tourists co-existing on the track. Pick a pace you're comfortable with and watch your mirrors. Before taking several laps on my own, I took one with a boot full of luggage and my wife in the passenger seat at a moderate pace to give her a ride and let me get some feel for the track. I strongly recommend doing it if you have the opportunity.

911SLOW

Do it!

Don't bother timing yourself, don't attempt to drive fast. Just enjoy the experience and you will be fine.

Great timing btw. Larry Cable posted this today. A MUST READ

https://rennlist.com/forums/9433863-post23.html

Carrera GT

Lazza doing his best Sabine impression. Entertaining!

Larry Cable

when are you going? ... I will be there 5/25-28, if you are around, I'll take you out for a lap or two...

traffic, especially at the weekends can be intense, particularly the fast locals, but if you watch for fast approaching cars and let them pass you will be fine!

dont forget to schedule a factory tour and a couple of hours at the museum!

Kelderek

Do it, but drive in your own pace and have fun! You'll see everything from vans to Lamborghinis there, so it's fun for everyone.

Nürburgring is an extremely challenging track, lots of blind corners and lots of altitude changes. Even people with track experience have a hard time doing fast lap times the first time there. But that also makes it a very rewarding experience.

Keep your eyes open, especially the rear view mirror, look out for faster cars and allow them to pass safely. The things I have found scary is when there is a lot of motorcycles there. They have a different pace around the track: they are much faster on the straights, but slower in the corners... They also brake less efficiently than a car, so when approaching a corner it can be scary with a motorcycle behind you.

fbroen

Thank you for all the feedback guys. Very much appreciated. I was half expecting some 'don't do it:s' as well... ;-)

On the tickets, I see that one can buy ahead of time, but is it also possible to just show up and buy them on the spot? (Not sure exactly which day).

And on the insurance, I see that technically it is regular German road rules. Anyone know what the deal is with the PAG ED insurance, if it has special exclusions?

Larry -- I will miss you by just a few days. Thank you for your kind offer -- for sure would have enjoyed that.

Kelderek -- I was just in Gothenburg a couple of months ago. My sister lives in Halmstad.

Larry Cable

go to the control hut by the entrance to the track, there is a ticket/ringcard machine, or if you want a LOT of laps, go inside they will give you a ringcard ...

when I did euro del in 07 there were no exclusions on PAG ED that would impact you lapping the ring ...

sorry I will miss you, have fun ...

my recommendation is to do some preparation, it will improve your experience, and make it safer too, go get the autosport .pdf of the line (or PM me with your e-mail I will send it to you) and watch some full lap videos ... learn the corners and the line...

Larry Cable

here is an example of a biker at the ring that does not use his mirrors and/or believes that a faster car does not exist...

911 Crazy

Need a travel mate?

Kelderek

Cool, I just passed Halmstad today on my way home from a trip to Malmö

As for tickets, just buy them on the spot, there is a ticket machine.

Nugget

A big part of the reputation that the Ring has for being an overwhelming track comes not from the track itself but from the high tempo traffic management and ridiculous car/driver performance differences that the public days entail. For an inexperienced track driver it's surely nerve-wracking. You can be zooming along at the limits of your skill and boom -- out of nowhere there are three nose-to-tail GT2 RS's that pass you in the middle of a corner like you're standing still. Then you round the next (blind) bend and there's some doofus in a VW Vanagon with his eight kids in the back going 40kph off-line. It's a skill and car performance differential like nothing you've ever seen before.

If you've done any wheel to wheel at all or advanced run group HPDE driving you'll pretty easily have the situational awareness to spot approaching faster traffic and manage passing without much drama. At least that was my experience. You've just got to watch your mirrors and read the other drivers while still leaving enough mental energy to stay on the pavement.

For a novice or even "blue solo" (HPDE2) track driver it can be a lot to manage. You're spending what energy and attention you have on car control and staying off the armco and you need to have enough focus left over to still watch all your mirrors and predict the behavior of the other drivers. Those are skills that are hard to develop on the street.

Just keep your speeds low enough that you still have enough attention to spend on your mirrors and staying in front of the car.

Larry Cable

I dont think you should underestimate and/or discount the technical challenge of the circuit itself; most of the mayhem that occurs there, is (IMHO), not due to the challenge you describe, but is due to a lack of knowledge of the circuit itself and/or the skill level of the individual to drive a line at speed safely.

If you look at the majority of ring crash videos on youtube the vast majority of them are caused by single driver error. I agree that the volume and variety of traffic adds to the cognitive challenge of any driver, but its not the primary challenge for the beginner or intermediate driver.

YMMV

fbroen

Thx again guys. I have been sucking up the info provided here. Getting close to D-day. If if live, i"ll post here to tell...

MHC2S

Go there on a week night or late afternoon. Do not go there on the weekends since it's a mad house. The best was back in the early 90's during the week, I pretty much had the entire place to myself with hardly anyone there. Those days are long gone.