RobNL

Unless you're driving an DE, you won't even notice the differenc. But yeah, you're right, an Opel would be one of the last options I would choose. There are better FWD.

Swedeboy

Definitely check your ego at the gate - a local driver in literally any car can and will pass you as if you're standing still no matter what you're driving yourself.

bowmanm98

Where do you get information for participating in an event like this? Do they have packages that you can just go pick up your car and drive?

FixedWing

If a road racing circuit is meant to be a controlled environment which mimics the real world roads, then I would say that the Nürburgring Nordschleife has to be the best track in the world. Spa is not the Spa of days gone by. Now it is a lot closer to the “normal tracks” you find elsewhere.

I like Spa but there is no question in my mind which is the better track.

Stephen

M758

Ha...
My father did 3 laps of the ring in 3 cylider opel a few days before the GP there in 1999. I think the US verson of a Geo Metro. Crappy car, but it still got him around the ring.

jasoncuk

That was my point. Comparing them is nonsensical. They are different. Both good in their own ways. Agreed though that the Nordschliefe is unique.

jasoncuk

The ring is not an event. It is a toll road that you can drive whenever open to the public. A pretty unusual toll road...

SeaCay

Just drove the Nordschliefe this past Sunday after watching some of the Oldtimers Grand Prix. Had a rental Audi TT which made it much more fun than my previous Ford wagon rental. No papers are checked at the entrance, you just buy your tickets at a vending machine and pop them in the toll booth style gates to gain admission to the course. As advised earlier, check your ego at the door as the 'ring is a course that does not well forgive mistakes. There are plenty of blind turns and pavement changes as well as minimal runoff and ever looming railings which you will buy if you harm them.

As an aside, I rented the TT at the Frankfurt airport Sixt in the AM, drove the 75 or so miles to Nurburg, drove only 1 lap (I was at the races the good portion of the day and it rained for the majority of that) and then returned to Frankfurt. I filled the tank with midgrade upon my return and it still cost me 57 Euros. I did get the car for only 66 Euro, so that helped some.

It's still as much fun as you can have with your clothes on, but be careful, and let the locals go as it would be a difficult thing to explain to your rental agency how you wadded their vehicle at the 'ring.

DrRon

Spa over Ring - personall preference, and having a 951 racer that is not street-legal, so could not even drive on the Ring for Touristenfahrten. Guess it must be a matter of limited memory capacity for me, but I can actually remember where to brake and turn in at Spa, whereas I cannot even memorize the names of the corners at the Ring.

Kees offers a nice bit of advice - having seen what can happen when Porsche-drivers try to keep up with local folks in much-less competent machinery, I would definitely leave the ego at the starting gate, and just enjoy the experience (extreme case: in a popular TV programme, Top gear, one of the Ring-taxi drivers, Sabine, was challenged to drive a sub-10 minute lap, in a Ford Diesel Van. Her time fell just shy of the goal, but just imagine that you have just picked up your new Porsche at the factory, and this van is sliding by and you are not able to keep through the twisties....

ed devinney

One more reason to check and see if there's an opening with the Ring Taxi - if you're lucky you get Sabine driving. I didn't but it was still fun

DGaunt

When I was there in '98, the conversation went like this:

Me: "Are there rules?

Them: "Nein"

Me: "Track Map?"

Them: "Nein"

What do I do?

How many tickets?

Nno interest, no help, only natural selection.

I imagined at the time someone coming in from a lap and saying, "Hey Heinz, you might want to remove that body at turn 23...it's smelling pretty bad now."

No flags, bikes, busses and blindlingly fast cars all mixed in. I'd go back in a hearbeat. Even my then 18 yr old oh-so-cool son was giong OH, WOW! as we did our three laps. He's been on Mosport, Mid-Ohio, and the Glen too.

Enjoy your laps. But watch out for traffic; many of the corners are very blind.

hammerwerfer

Stay over for the night and enjoy a bit the next day. The 5 lap ticket is only good on day of purchase, but a 6 lapper is good for the year. Try to spend a little extra time there and you won't regret it.

Do not even ask about the insurance cover with the rental. The 'ring is legally a public road and you'll be covered, unless there is a specific exclusion in the rental contract. Noboday will check your insurance papers unless you have a shunt.

I may be around on the Friday or Saturday. I won't be there on the Sunday. Get in touch and I'll see if we can get together for a few laps in my car to get the recce bit out of the way for you. Nothing worse than paying for laps where you are just feeling your way around.

I do occasionally exit at Breidscheid, either due to mechanical difficulties or to nip into Aral in Adenau for some petrol. It is both an entrance and an exit. I'm not sure what happens to your lap ticket if you choose to do so though, as I have a Jahreskarte.

A 320d with a manual gearbox would be ideal. Check how much a Z4 would run you. There are a lot of them in the rental fleets and they are very good on the 'ring.

The museum is fairly interesting. Dinner in the Pistenklause afterwards with a Steak am Stein is a great way to end the day.

Darren

I did the BMW International driving school at the ring 2 weeks ago and had an absolute blast.

I think the hardest part to learn the track by yourself is where the blind turns are. A friend of mine who also went spent a lot of time playing the Playstation GT4 game to memorize the track. The game is very accurate, though its just about impossible to see camber and elevation changes correctly on the game. It will help you remember whether the next turn is a left or a right though

Studying the map won't help much in my opinion -- Adaneur Forst for instance looks like barely a turn on the track map. In reality if you don't know its coming, you are very likely to carry too much speed in and totally blow the turn (yes, I found this out by experience -- the faster line is straight thru the grass and back on!). That turn though, is one of the very very few places you can go off without making a nasty crunching noise.

I'll second (third) the opinion to get a BMW diesel. Many of the people in the school had diesel wagons and they were faster and had better fuel mileage than the gasoline equivelant.

Rich Sandor

Hammerwerfer, my father and I will be arriving at Frankfurt am on Friday the 16th, at 6am. i would really like to hook up and have someone local who is fluent in the language show me around a bit. My german is very very limited.

Both the ringhaus and motorsport hotel are booked for the 16th night. I am trying to find another hotel in the area, but may have to book a bit out of town...

DrJupeman

It'd be nice if some of these kick-*** diesels were available in the U.S. I'd buy one.