Personal lap times in your GT3?
12-27-2011, 08:44 PM
#16
Rennlist Member
if only ...
christian (I forget his RL username) with the SY 7.1 GT3 is quite a bit faster than I ... he turns 7:4-5x BtoGs ...
christian (I forget his RL username) with the SY 7.1 GT3 is quite a bit faster than I ... he turns 7:4-5x BtoGs ...
12-28-2011, 12:30 AM
#19
Race Director
On my flight back home tonight I read that the new 991 Carrera S with PDK did 7:40 at the Ring. It didn't mention what tires where used like most Ring time articles never seem to mention this.
12-28-2011, 12:50 AM
#20
Rennlist Member
12-28-2011, 02:43 PM
#21
Nordschleife Master
Welcome!
Not many of us have been lucky enough to drive the RIng, let alone master it enough to post a decent lap.
I only have a few laps in a rental car and I think anyone going for a fast lap within the first 100 laps is suicidal ;-)
Larry Cable?
Carreras Jim?
Northschleife?
Not many of us have been lucky enough to drive the RIng, let alone master it enough to post a decent lap.
I only have a few laps in a rental car and I think anyone going for a fast lap within the first 100 laps is suicidal ;-)
Larry Cable?
Carreras Jim?
Northschleife?
12-28-2011, 02:55 PM
#22
Rennlist Member
When I went there for the 1st time in 2001 (see avatar) I attended the BMW 3 day school which breaks the track up into sections, does lead-follows thru the sections, the full laps before turning you lose ... which helps a lot, but you do get lulled into a sense of false security ... once you are out there on your own without another car in front of you to "follow" you soon realize that its a long, complex track to be out on in a GT3 ...
the following year I learned from that experience and found a small number of full lap videos from youtube, downloaded those and watched them ad nauseum with a track map until I visually memorized the track ...
since then I have just been honing my line, working on increasing speeds etc ... and I lost count of how may laps I have actually done!
if you haven't driven it ... add it to your bucket list!
p.s
I dont personally find any of the video games helpful, if anything I think their lack of feedback probably engenders a false sense of mastery of the line and the physics associated with it ...
12-28-2011, 03:02 PM
#23
Rennlist Member
My first time at the Ring I went in totally blind with no preparation at all -- no video games, no youtube-studying, not even really looking over a track map.
I was slow where I couldn't see, botched a few of the turns pretty consistently, but overall it worked out just fine. By the end of the day I was turning what felt like a great pace for the car and pushing it pretty hard through the corners I liked. As long as I looked ahead it mostly all worked out fine. We did spectate a few of the corners the day before, so I had a few corner sequences figured out. My girlfriend helped a bit from the right seat reminding me sometimes "this is the first set of corners where we watched yesterday" which was quite beneficial.
My gut feeling? 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 differential that the public days entail. For an inexperienced driver it's surely nerve-wracking. If you've done any wheel to wheel at all or white run group 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 your average blue solo driver it's a lot to keep track of, but for a junkie it's just a hoot.
It's near impossible to be fast in fewer than 50 laps, for sure. But I don't think any DE junkie should feel intimidated to just go and drive. Difficult to master the track, but I didn't find it too difficult to be safe and have fun. Just don't take a stopwatch and make sure your goals are aligned with your experience level.
I was also worried that my Texas experience with our limitless runoff wouldn't well prepare me for the close walls and often narrow track. In practice I didn't find that to be any problem at all. I didn't feel claustrophobic and the walls didn't leave me nervous about using all the track. That was a relief.
I was slow where I couldn't see, botched a few of the turns pretty consistently, but overall it worked out just fine. By the end of the day I was turning what felt like a great pace for the car and pushing it pretty hard through the corners I liked. As long as I looked ahead it mostly all worked out fine. We did spectate a few of the corners the day before, so I had a few corner sequences figured out. My girlfriend helped a bit from the right seat reminding me sometimes "this is the first set of corners where we watched yesterday" which was quite beneficial.
My gut feeling? 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 differential that the public days entail. For an inexperienced driver it's surely nerve-wracking. If you've done any wheel to wheel at all or white run group 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 your average blue solo driver it's a lot to keep track of, but for a junkie it's just a hoot.
It's near impossible to be fast in fewer than 50 laps, for sure. But I don't think any DE junkie should feel intimidated to just go and drive. Difficult to master the track, but I didn't find it too difficult to be safe and have fun. Just don't take a stopwatch and make sure your goals are aligned with your experience level.
I was also worried that my Texas experience with our limitless runoff wouldn't well prepare me for the close walls and often narrow track. In practice I didn't find that to be any problem at all. I didn't feel claustrophobic and the walls didn't leave me nervous about using all the track. That was a relief.
12-28-2011, 03:12 PM
#24
Rennlist Member
My first time at the Ring I went in totally blind with no preparation at all -- no video games, no youtube-studying, not even really looking over a track map.
I was slow where I couldn't see, botched a few of the turns pretty consistently, but overall it worked out just fine. By the end of the day I was turning what felt like a great pace for the car and pushing it pretty hard through the corners I liked. As long as I looked ahead it mostly all worked out fine. We did spectate a few of the corners the day before, so I had a few corner sequences figured out. My girlfriend helped a bit from the right seat reminding me sometimes "this is the first set of corners where we watched yesterday" which was quite beneficial.
My gut feeling? 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 differential that the public days entail. For an inexperienced driver it's surely nerve-wracking. If you've done any wheel to wheel at all or white run group 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 your average blue solo driver it's a lot to keep track of, but for a junkie it's just a hoot.
It's near impossible to be fast in fewer than 50 laps, for sure. But I don't think any DE junkie should feel intimidated to just go and drive. Difficult to master the track, but I didn't find it too difficult to be safe and have fun. Just don't take a stopwatch and make sure your goals are aligned with your experience level.
I was also worried that my Texas experience with our limitless runoff wouldn't well prepare me for the close walls and often narrow track. In practice I didn't find that to be any problem at all. I didn't feel claustrophobic and the walls didn't leave me nervous about using all the track. That was a relief.
I was slow where I couldn't see, botched a few of the turns pretty consistently, but overall it worked out just fine. By the end of the day I was turning what felt like a great pace for the car and pushing it pretty hard through the corners I liked. As long as I looked ahead it mostly all worked out fine. We did spectate a few of the corners the day before, so I had a few corner sequences figured out. My girlfriend helped a bit from the right seat reminding me sometimes "this is the first set of corners where we watched yesterday" which was quite beneficial.
My gut feeling? 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 differential that the public days entail. For an inexperienced driver it's surely nerve-wracking. If you've done any wheel to wheel at all or white run group 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 your average blue solo driver it's a lot to keep track of, but for a junkie it's just a hoot.
It's near impossible to be fast in fewer than 50 laps, for sure. But I don't think any DE junkie should feel intimidated to just go and drive. Difficult to master the track, but I didn't find it too difficult to be safe and have fun. Just don't take a stopwatch and make sure your goals are aligned with your experience level.
I was also worried that my Texas experience with our limitless runoff wouldn't well prepare me for the close walls and often narrow track. In practice I didn't find that to be any problem at all. I didn't feel claustrophobic and the walls didn't leave me nervous about using all the track. That was a relief.
a number of the corners are pretty technical (esp at speed) many are blind, and involve camber/surface changes, the number of accidents, injuries and deaths there are a testament to something ...
the tourist days are nuts, there is the whole spectrum of cars and skill levels, hell they even let bus tours on the track ... and as for the bikes well I think this says it all:
12-28-2011, 03:44 PM
#28
Rennlist Member
12-28-2011, 03:47 PM
#29
Rennlist Member
if you hold the title on your car then you can ship it into the EU for up to 6 months without penality or a requirement to register it (as long as your local registratiojn remains valid).
You can ship it on a RoRo for around $1500 one-way or pop it in a 40' container at a higher cost.
getting temporary insurance is problematic, a bunch of us looked into this last year and could not get anyone to underwrite it (GEICO overseas) although I believe if you have USAA then it is easier ...
mission accomplished
12-28-2011, 03:49 PM
#30
Advanced
The guy driving in the Youtube video is Manuel Metzger, one of my team mates at Black Falcon. He is the current overall VLN champion and production car champion. He is a fantastic driver and it was only his eight lap ever with a GT3 on the Ring. His personal best in the Z4 3.0 full Nordschleife with short GP circuit is around 9.30, my personal best in the same car is 10.08 in this year's VLN.
I just bought a GT3RS MK1 in green two months ago but haven't tracked it yet.
Cheers
Mike
I just bought a GT3RS MK1 in green two months ago but haven't tracked it yet.
Cheers
Mike