Friday 5 June 2009

Nurburgring June 2009

As a fairly last minute thing, I went off to the Nurburgring with Andy to meet several others out there. Originally we were due to go on Friday, but then Andy had an interview for a new contract, so we decided to go on Saturday first thing and catch the 8am ferry from Dover to Dunquirk.

The story of how we got from Leatherhead at 6:45 to Dover at 7:40 in order to make the 8am ferry and avoid a 2 hour wait for the next one is not really one for the Internet, but it certainly kick-started the holiday. Once on the ferry, the idea is to make a B line for the breakfast bar otherwise the queue gets massive. 2 breakfasts, a sea view, and we'll be in France in a couple of hours. The Dunquirk port cuts about 50 miles off the journey, so it's quite a good way of crossing.

We saw several nice cars on the way through France and Belgium, and a couple even ended up at the 'Ring with us. My favorite was a yellow Gallardo Spyder who gave us a wave.

On the way down, Sam had driven her Audi S3 over a breeze block at the Brunnchen viewing car park, and broken an auxiliary water pump for the turbo. Luckily an English-speaking German had waited with them to translate what Audi Assist were saying. They then took her off to the nearest Audi dealer where it was fixed. Excellent service.

Once in Germany, the last 50 or so miles of the trip and all superb and the mountainous roads and scenery is fantastic. I photographed it, but it's really hard to make it come out well. You'll see what I mean if you ever drive through it yourself though. During the German country roads, Andy and I decided to make out own Fast & Furious trailer which you can see on the left.



We got to where we were staying (Haus Marvin) and checked in. We were told that because of our late booking (3 hours before) we would be in the guest house next door to our other friends, but this was no problem at all. Haus Marvin is such a nice place to stay. It's around 1.4 miles from the 'Ring entrance, but really quiet, friendly, and very much like renting your own house instead of a hotel.

Once we dropped our stuff off we headed to the 'Ring to meet the others. Munch, Alex, Scott, Sam, and Jaymond. What I was surprised about on the way in was the sheer number of Megane R26.Rs around. I did worry that most of the owners of these cars would all buy them and never track them, but I counted no less than 6 just driving into the place! It's nice to see them being used properly.




Andy bought 4 laps as he wanted to do the trip on a bit of a budget, and we went straight out for a lap which felt really good. Unfortunately the track suffered a lot of closures, so there was a lot of waiting around. With lots of us there though, time passed fairly quickly.

I then headed out for a lap in Jaymond's Smart car. He wanted someone to come along who knew the circuit, so I jumped in with him just to give him an idea where he was going. We got overtaken by a Police car on the circuit. We didn't realise it, but he was going to tend to an accident just ahead of us at Eschbach. When we got to the accident we were asked to stop which was a bit unpleasant, since there was 1 car and 3 bikes all smashed. One of the bikers was not in a good way at all. He was laying completely still and they had a neck brace on him and were supporting his head. Eventually we were told to move past carefully.

We heard the biker died, but I'm sure these were just car park rumours as always. I very much hope they were anyway since it's never nice to see. Unfortunately, bikes always come off worse.

Apparently, a couple of the bikers saw a racing Porsche dropping oil and felt this was the cause of the accident. The Police came over to talk to the Porsche owner who is a 'Ring regular, which turned into a bit of a which hunt as everyone crowded. There was no oil though. The car seemed mechanically sound.

The rest of the day was very much the same, more closures and not much driving. We called it a day, got back to the rooms, and then headed out for dinner at a great restaurant called Pinochios down in Breidscheid. They do massive pizzas for virtually no money. For me though, the best thing about meal times is weissbier (or white beer). I love the stuff. Not as much as Alex does though. He ordered 4 litres of the stuff as photographed!





What's so nice about evening times is the cars that drive around and park up. There are always plenty to look at. We sat opposite a new Titanium coloured GTR with a really cool number plate as pictured We spent a bit of time there, had a few drinks with out food, and then went off to paint the ring.

I drew a mural for Sam, which featured an Audi logo (which Scott had to draw for me), and then a breeze block to commemorate what happened earlier with her car. Then we drew a giant thumb and a face. This was spawned from when Andy gave a lady a "thumbs up" earlier to express happiness instead of use our limited German, but Scott pointed out it was about an inch from her face when he did it, so that was "documented" on the 'Ring too :) After a bit of messing around we then headed back to the hotel as it was getting late.

The idea was to wake up early on Sunday and head to the 'Ring as TF started at 8am, but Andy and I didn't even wake up until around 9:30. We got up, showered and got ready, had breakfast, and then met the other guys at the circuit. Andy went straight out for a lap, but once again the circuit got closed due to an accident.

A group of girls were in the car park promoting a "Fast & Furious" style car event that was to be held at the GP circuit and the loud music and dancing was very poorly received by the average Ringers, so we told Scott that if he went up to them and had his photo taken with them, we would buy him his steak at the Pistenklause restaurant. Well he didn't disappoint (see photos). The track was shut more than it was open today, so we headed off to a jet wash to clean the cars, and then have some lunch at a really good cafe which is literally under the bridge at Exmuhle. It's cheap, and really good.

Sam was unsure of the circuit, so I did lots of laps with her just telling her what was coming up next, which became known as "Frost-nav" :)


Sam let me drive her car which was really nice of her. I would normally say no, but since I didn't have my car there I thought I would, so just put in a gentle lap as I didn't want to damage anything. Andy took Sam's car out, and towards the last third of the lap had locked horns with a Subaru. Andy really wanted to get past him, but the extra weight (4 of us onboard) made it difficult. It was very funny to watch though.

Once the circuit closed we went back to out rooms quickly to freshen up, and then to Sabine's parents restaurant (Pistenklause) for fillet steak on the stone. It was up to its usual high standard. We stayed there for a bit, and then headed down to a bar in Adenau for a few drinks to finish the evening and reflect on the day.




Monday was a national holiday for the Germans so there was literally a whole day of TF available. Andy and I had of course overslept again, but so had the others so we made breakfast with the others, put some sun cream on, and headed to the 'Ring. Thw weather was scorching hot and the car park seemed a lot quieter as a lot of the weekenders had gone home. Today promised to be a much better day than the previous two.

I did a few more laps with Sam and Andy, then the rain came in and the circuit closed due to an accident just as I was due to go out and do a lap with Alex in the 205. I really wanted to see how his car drove, but the rain spoiled that. There was so much heat in the ground though, so once the rain stopped the track dried really quickly. We went out for a lap and I was really impressed with the Pug. It doesn't really drive like a hot hatch and I was suprised at how precise Al could be with it. It could do with another 20bhp though as the hills are its only downfall. A very well sorted car though.


I then went out for another lap with Sam, and then she lat me do another lap in her car. I drove carefully once again, but still had lots of fun. The S3 really drives nicely. Scott filmed the lap which I'll be posting up in the near future. After this it was back to the Pistenklause for more steak, and then out for drinks again. Today was a much better day than the other two in terms of driving.


Once again, Andy and I overslept, but Sam had stayed in our room also so she too became a member of "Team Oversleep" that morning too. We had breakfast and then met the others. Jaymond was taking some really good photos of Alex's 205 and they were at a viewing point near Hoe Acht so we met them there. Once the shoot had been done we started the journey back which took no time at all.


On the way, Andy (who is a big of a connoisseur of the 80's music period) dug deep into the collection and treated the neighbourhood to one of his particular favorites. "Enjoyment for everyone" he exclaimed, but no one enjoyed it more than he did (see below).



Not having my own car there really didn't drag like it has before, and the closures were a pain, but did not cause too much of an issue as I was with a really great bunch of people, so plenty of laughter etc. between closures.

I can't wait to go back, and I'd quite like to do it again in the Evo before it's sold. In reality though, I think I want to drive the Megabusa there more :)

Full photos of the trip here:


Nurburgring June 2009

No comments:

Post a Comment