injuner

Wow, that is a fantastic write-up along with some beautiful pictures. I hope to one day be able to make the pilgrimage to the ring myself!

Dan in Florida

[QUOTE=DrJupeman]
My overall impressions of the Nordschleife are hard to put into words. .[/QUOTE

Indeed. Many thanks for a terrific post. Your description is enough to convince me that Norschleife is an experience not to be missed. Can't wait!

Dan

hammerwerfer

Charlie,

It was nice meeting you and I'm glad to hear that you enjoyed the experience. It's a damned good thing that the Atlantic is in the way, or we'd be swamped after such a glowing report. As it is, we are inundated with British drivers these days! Yep, the place is an automotive Mecca for sure.

There are a good few locals who are only too glad to help out the newcomer. Anyone should feel free to approach us.

Here's a shot of my car from Sunday, you might check to see if Jochen has one of you as well.:

jgrant

Great writeup and pics... thanks for sharing.

Nordschleife

and you wear your underpants outside your trousers?

R+C

hammerwerfer

I saw him changing in the telephone booth as well!

carreracup21

Awesome write-up Dr J. I think driving the Nordschleife has just entered my must do list. Hmm... now if I can just convince my wife that we need to take a little trip to Europe for some track driving.

jasoncuk

I strongly echo this. Top Gear etc place far too much emphasis on the lap time. If it is bridge to gantry it is not the same as the manufacturer's times anyway. The track is more than challenging without worrying about your laptimes. Given traffic etc, the only real way to do laptimes is with a cleared track on a specialist course. Worry about the line, that is hard enough.

38D

Guys. Charlie is a very experienced driver, multiple region & national instructor, and class winning club racer. He's not exactly a rookie that is going to do something stupid to get one good lap time.

jasoncuk

Wasn't questioning his CV, just agree with the previous poster that timing laps on the public days is not really appropriate. On those days it isn't a racetrack. Anyway, didn't mean to come across all serious. It is a great track but the fatality stats involving vehicles with running stopwatches on public days are pretty horrendous.

The following link is to what is usually regarded as the definitive site on the 'ring in english anyway: Ben Lovejoy's site

BobbyC

I will second that. Charlie was also my instructor and a verygood one at that...will ride with and take instruction from him anyday, any track

Darren

I did the BMW school with Bobt993 this past summer, and I really can't say enough good things about the school. And they are almost desperate to get more people from the US to go to the event. In past years they have had 3-4 groups (of 20 or so) people from the US. This trip they had only 2!

Our group's lead instructor was Bob Fassl (in the pic demonstrating what its "supposed" to feel like when you come out of the carousel!), who is a BMW factory test driver, and also one of the 2 drivers of the BMW 'ring taxi. Who better to teach you the track than a factory test driver who has had 10,000 km on the track??

So start planning your schedules, lets get some more US PCA guys out there next year!!!

Rich Sandor

Since everyone is sharing thier Ring experience. I may as well share mine:

I was just there on the 15th of Sept this year. If you are track junkie, consider a trip to the ring a mandatory pilgrimage. It is awsome beyond description. You just have to be there.

Here are some photos of the GP circuit from our trackside room in the Dorint hotel, and some various GP circuit and Nordschleife circuit photos:

Rich Sandor

Ed, sorry I missed you. I will be back soon, hopefully we'll run into each other then.

Thanks to Anders in his GT3 and Fredrick in his A4 for the pax laps, they were simply awsome.

Swedeboy

Jupe - nice write-up. Sorry to have missed both yourself and Rich's visit (by only a few hours).

I agree with Ed - there is a time and place for lap times - Touristenfahrt is not it. There is no way to know how much track experience (if any whatsoever) the drivers around you have.

Great to see you enjoyed yourself. Personally, I think a wet day is the best to first drive the track as the speed differentials with more experienced drivers are much less. That way you can focus on the track in front of you a lot more than watching the rearview mirror. If you think the stretch at Breidscheid is steep try walking from Brunnchen to the Karussel. It's hard to even remain upright at certain parts.