tetzlafh

RC, which wing is that? No US fighters near Munich?? No this guy isn't a slow mover, he was at the 'Ring the weekend he picked his car up and just about every weekend since. I'd say maybe more of a pilot with too much "flare" i mean it's a GT3 after a month of ownership and not an F-16 after years of combat

Sad thing is if he has one of the Stateside insurers he is coming out of pocket.

Nordschleife

In the Eiffel, not Munich - 'localish' to the 'Ring

R+C

Nordschleife

Exactly JW

R+C

tetzlafh

Ah yes 'localish' to me, like Spangdahlem I take it?!

RC, you are from Munich though? Trying to organize a group drive with some locals and military community, but I am in Bitburg.

Just was at the dealer again to get my paint fixed which didn't happen so much but walked around back to the cars in repair and sitting next to the pilot's GT3 was a Cayman S belonging to another individual from base that also seems to recently been victim to the Nordschleife. Starting to think they should invest in some Porsche Fahrschule before any more 'Ring time attacks.

RS Patrik

I am coming down for my 4th Spring Scuderia on Tuesday. Can't wait for the driving and for my Rahmschnizel und Bitte ein Bit!

icon

can you elaborate robin?
who do you go to the ring w/ ?

Nordschleife

Yes, I am usually based in Munich, presently I am looking after some projects in the UK - next on track venture 2cv racing at Snetterton - having a look this year to suss it out - more important than lap times are engine changing times according to my contacts.

R+C

Nordschleife

Jeff

Most of the guys who fly fast movers understand that driving a car is a full time occupation, and drive noticably better than a number of their com,patriots who draw disproportional attention to themselves by thinking about what they are doing only part of the time.

I understand that people serving in Europe do get lectures on how to drive in Germany, not all of them take much notice. We have all experienced thoughtless behaviour from other drivers, when the vehicle in question has plates which proclaim it to be the property of a member of the US forces, comments tend to get made.

My German friend commenting on how well some of the Fighter Wing pilots drove was paying a compliment.

As far as who do I go to the ring with - whoever wants me, but there is no truth in the rumour that I'm involved with AM.

R+C

I

Pierre

I second that. The guys at rent-racecar.de and ring-racing.de knows their job and are highly recommended. They recently rented a race car to a huge VIP from a major car maker who wanted to attend a VLN race anonymously. Besides, they take care of my little Clio Cup.

Larry Cable

here are the latest rules from the ring website:

http://www.nuerburgring.de/fileadmin...ordnung_NS.pdf

section 1.4 appears to define the situation:

Fahrzeuge mit Überführungs-Kennzeichen (rote Nummern) sowie Fahrzeuge mit Kurzzeitkennzeichen (04er Nummern) sind grundsätzlich nicht zugelassen. Ausgenommen von dieser Regelung sind Fahrzeuge mit Oldtimer-Wechselkennzeichen (nur noch bis 31.12.2003).

or translated by babelfish.altavista.com:

Vehicles with transfer characteristic (red numbers) as well as vehicles with short time characteristic (04er numbers) are not certified in principle. From this regulation vehicles with old timer change characteristics are excluded (only to 31.12.2003).

I believe the transfer red numbers refer to temporary (dealer) plates, I can only assume that 04 numbers might be ED/Zoll delivery plates.

hope this helps

hammerwerfer

I wonder if one could mask the red bit on the plate and apply a blue sticker with USA on it to the plate, to make it look just like the US Military plates. Plead ignorance if caught...

And don't blame me if you end up in jail.

Larry Cable

here is the scoop as I interpret the rules (as translated by babelfish) ...

US spec cars are by definition not 'type approved' for sale and operation in the EU (this would be done by a manufacturer with their national approval body, e.g: TUV in Germany, DOT in UK ..)
in short they have not been 'safety tested' against national and EU regulations; they are not in approved compliance with said rules. (this is what section 1.1 states I believe 'indirectly')

They are effectively illegal to operate in the EU.

If you were to personally import a U.S spec car into the E.U you would have to go through an individual vehicle approval process (I know this 1st had having done this with a car in the last 2
years) in order to gain approval with one of the member country national testing bodies who will
test and (hopefully) approve your U.S spec car has having met or exceeded these regulations on an
individual basis.

Since the ring requires that all vehicles that lap on public days are 'type approved' since U.S spec cars are by definition not so, they are prohibited.

The anomaly in this otherwise rational argument is that the national licensing body will issue temporary plates to allow these same vehicles to operate on any other public road legally.

So perhaps the only way around this would be (if possible) to take your car to such a testing station and have such a test carried out and try to get on with the said certification in hand ... seems like
a long shot at best, and I am not even sure that you could do this without actually 'importing' the damn thing ... which would forfeit the VAT deposit ... not even the ring is worth this amount of
hassle

all the best

Alan Smithee

Larry, see my post #50 in this thread. This doesn't have anything to do with Americans driving on the 'ring from what I understand; factory delivered cars destined for all countries, even those in the EU, carry the same 'Z' plates (if I remember correctly).

cosmos

Yep. All the foreign cars whether in the EU or not get the Zoll plates.