Gent's,

In the process of planning a trip to the Ring. Hoping to rent and drive some laps and also ride some laps. I will be traveling with my gal and have about 14 days to do this, take in the local culture, get to Stuttgart and then come home. I don't need any super detailed responses. Just some suggestions on lodging, what Ring service to use and any other "must haves" on the trip…

This would be next April or May..

Thanks Fella's

 

We just went back in July for the first time...from my research / experience I'd recommend the following.

Stay at the Lindner Congress if you have your wife with you. You will thank me later :-)

Eat at Pistenklause (Sabine's faimly restaurant) and get the steak on a stone

I'd also suggest Pinocchio's at Adenau for dinner.

Stuttgart, as corny as it is we enjoyed our stay at the V8 Hotel at MotorWorld and had a nice walk through their complex after breakfast and before heading out for the various stops around town the days we were there.

Spa is only a couple hours away from the 'Ring and open to the public every day. We got lucky and they had Ferrari customer day while we were there so I got to watch old V8 and V10 F1 cars lapping the track while we had a coffee at the cafe on site.

I rented through RentRaceCar.de and had a fine experience. No complaints with any of it and they now have a presence right at the public entrance to the 'Ring which made pick up and drop off super simple as it's literally in the parking lot of the Devil's Diner.

**edit** Study video and drive as many laps on a simulator as you can. I had the whole place memorized and I felt I was relatively up to speed within just a couple of laps. I ran probably 60 laps on iRacing in the weeks leading up to our visit. A couple of my friends just went and didn't study or do laps on the simulator prior and they said in 2 full days of lapping they still couldn't figure out more than the first few minutes of the track.

 

Thank You AudiOn19's…


You have confirmed a few of my thoughts already! Thank you.

 

We stayed in Daun at Hotel Panorama - a lovely little hotel in a residential neighborhood within a 5 min walk to restaurants and shops. Didn't shop but ate dinner in town every night. No A/C at the hotel (which seemed common) and we had very cool nights (50's F). With window open it wasn't an issue - but if it had been warm/hot I would have been unhappy as temperature is important for good sleep (for me).

Daun was not at all touristy - about a 25 min drive to the track. (pronounced down). There was an Italian restaurant in town which was excellent - I can get the name if you want it.

Food at Devil's Diner was great! Perfect for breakfast or lunch.

I agree on memorizing the track. I spent many hours over a couple months driving on a PS4 simulator with Asset Corsa, and I had it mostly memorized. I still got some of the middle of the track out of order - but knew enough that as I'd see it I'd remember and know where I was. But I was unable to repeatedly drive full laps in my head and get the order 100% correct. It is daunting!!

There are track car rental places all over and I can't comment as we were driving my friend's GT3 which he shipped over for 6 mo. But the rentals right at the 'ring couldn't be more convenient from location standpoint.

One of the more important aspects worth investigating is trying to find a "private" track day outfit so you can avoid public days and the craziness of being amongst SUV's and people who have no clue where they are going or what they are doing.

We were there with Destination Nurburgring. Darren runs a top notch event. It's just like doing an advanced solo lapping day here. Everyone registered has a track appropriate car, is wearing a helmet, and probably has some clue of what they are doing. First day there were "sighting" laps the first hour (low speeds with helmets for orientation). Second day it was 30 min sighting laps.

Be sure to understand the rules - it's different. They run windows up at all times. and they use turn signals. You indicate to which side of the track you will remain (just like on the street indicating which lane you'll move to). The overtaking car will pass on the other side. Passing signals were optional but most seemed to use them.

The flags are a bit different - but main difference being that red flag means session ended and come in (rather than stop and wait for further direction). Their red is like our black.

There are probably lots of clubs that offer private track days. The biggest advantage is besides avoiding the public "crazies", you can do full, complete, consecutive laps rather than have to come in every lap and then go through the "toll" to go out again. When you pit in you miss a good portion of the straight where you'll achieve the highest speeds of the lap.

Just mind the petrol level - at 12+ miles per lap it's easy to run out of fuel! Happens all the time!

 

If you're going in late May perhaps you might be able to time it with the N24 if you're interested. I'd also definitely go to Spa while there as it's only about 1.5 hours away and it's always a great experience to drive along the public road for the 'old' Spa racetrack.

Midweek evening TF laps are your best bet if you don't want to take on a full trackday. A few german organisers which offer road cars only (no slicks) are the ones I tend to go to but as mentioned DN also have quite a few trackdays there.

The nicest hotel is the Linder as mentioned already but there are loads of other places around to stay. Personally I'd pass on the Pistenklause for food, dropping in for drinks is fine though.

 

i went on a tourist day and while it was fun seeing all the types of cars that were out there, it was definitely a zoo! lots of traffic, people going super fast and people going super slow made it a bit hectic. and a number of track closures throughout the day due to crashes. was in a friend's few days old Cayman S that we picked up in Zuffenhausen, so main goal was to not wreck the car and just have fun driving the ring.

if you want to get a fair number of laps in without all the craziness, i'd def look for a track day event like others have suggested.

 

One other suggestion:

The parking lots that circle the Devils Diner are insane - even on a track day. Unlike here in the US - even if you unload your car and leave gear at the back of a parking space - the moment you leave the space someone likely will park there. Every time out on track you don't know where you'll park when you come in.

We set up paddock in one of the "lower" lots. They are grass / gravel / dirt - but we set up our chair and all types of gear. It sat two entire days unattended much of the time. There was never an issue. It was much more relaxing being in the lower paddock, and the view is stunning and you don't have craziness all around. It's a one minute walk up to Devil's Diner where we'd sit on the deck and overlook all the action.

The lower lot is just beyond where the ring rides and taxis are parked. That lot is also insane and very small. We saw someone back into someone else's car on our way to our paddock. It was minor but there was damage - and people park so tightly that my friend wanted to protect his GT3 against the idiot factor.

If you're in a rental it's not as much concern.

The other cool thing about the lower lot is if there is a problem on track beyond the first emergency exit - they flat bed comes off track and goes up through lower lot. You see first hand who ran out of gas (or worse and of course everyone hates to see a wreck). But we knew when the track was about to go hot after a red flag.

The second day we were paddocked in the lower lot and came back to the car to find a white, Porsche Museum 918 Spyder parked next to us. It turned out to be Mark Lieb who was there being interviewed about his ring record in THAT 918 (or that's what we were told). We saw him return to the car and leave (completely silent which is freaky).

Pics:
Mark Lieb in Porsche Museum 918 Spyder
Mark Lieb chatting in background - our gear in foreground
View from lower paddock over GT3 wing

 

Great replies fella's. All makes sense. More questions…

Thoughts on what level car to rent? Lot's of choices obviously. I only have a few track days under my belt and want to make sure to do this right in terms of driving/safety and not be concerned with speed etc. Would it make sense to rent a car with DCT or PDK to stay focused on just the circuit? Also, flying into Cologne the best option? Lastly, has anyone had any dealings with Apex? Obviously they are young, smaller and new to the market. Anything to look for when "riding" on a faster lap with someone?

 

See my signature link.
First stop was the Ring.

If you haven't been Dale from BTG has 2 handy intro videos on your Uber for 2016 and the 2017 changes.

Any questions, email me.

Do more tracks.

 

The Ring is the absolute mekka for car guys.

If you are renting a car, please rent the swift on Rent 4 ring, it will provide sub 9 min btg if you are up to it, and it gives joy aorund the track in a safe way.

Im there 1-3 times each year, going with my 951 in april (easter ) next year if the winter project is going good.

Adenau has some Hotels, Blau eche is a nice one. Otherwise there is Pistenclause, Dorint and some other hotels close to the track ( hotels.com app is a genious thing )

When driving, keep right and indicate right when the faster cars are coming.

Dont drive fast in the wet, it gives you HELL if you don`t know the track.

Stuttgart and Porsche Museum is 3 hours of driving.

Spa francorchamps is 2 hours.

The N24H is always late in May, a super good experience, but no TF driving the week before.

 

For food, try Il Cavallino in Müllenbach. About 10km's from Nurburg. Nice, reasonably priced Italian restaurant with friendly atmosphere. And the food has always been excellent!

 

Hey Trackcar!

Thanks for the tip...

I will be sure to reach out when I have questions..

Mj

 

Good info. Thank You.

 

Thanks, should I trust a Fin on food?