Nürburgring... finally

[MikeD]

Just in case I have been out of the loop for too long and need a little re-introduction, I've been living in Germany for a bit over 2 years now. Started a family, sold my Boxster. But of course, I still, and will always have Racer and Porsche in my veins.

Last weekend I finally made it to spectate at the Nürburgring -- we had planned to "swing by" on our way north however, it turned out to be the Qualification race for the "ADAC Zurich 24h race". Did not get a chance to see much of the Nordschliefe this time there. But the Grand Prix area was still fun to walk around and become familiar with.



Next steps:

• Drive the Nordschliefe on one of the Tourist Drive days.
• Obtain a class "A" (or even "C") race license -- with Nordschliefe permit.
• Race on the complete circuit.

Hopefully, each of those will not take 2+ years to complete

[lrayner]

Thanks for posting Mike. I love hearing about these sorts of adventures, and daydreaming about doing the same ( those mugs are filled with Stone Berlin beer).

[kjr914]

Mike,
About 5 years ago, I got my first taste of the Nordschleife via the Touristenfahrkarte. I'm not a gamer so I'd never even run it in simulation, and I got about 1/3 of the BMW turn-by-turn breakdown read the night before. I was woefully under prepared.

I used rentracecar.de to get a car (haha and I grabbed a helmet from them as I was leaving....it wasn't any requirement at all...), which was a Suzuki Swift 2 door with some of the interior stripped, slightly better tires and a single hoop roll bar bolted in.

It was simultaneously the most immensely exciting and the frickin' scariest bit of driving I've ever done. Dive-bomb passing by motorcycles and GT3's mid corner, immense closing speeds between supercars and the 140HP Suzuki Swift... I did 2 laps back-to-back and had to take a break for 15 min to get the heart rate down... before doing 2 more. Before I go back, I'll do more homework/simulation and be ready for it. Regardless, it was SOOOO worth it.

[ttweed]

Next steps:

• Drive the Nordschliefe on one of the Tourist Drive days.
• Obtain a class "A" (or even "C") race license -- with Nordschliefe permit.
• Race on the complete circuit.

Hopefully, each of those will not take 2+ years to complete

Good to hear from you, Mike! Those are some nice "bucket list" items you have planned. Have a great time achieving them!

Cheers,
TT

[MikeD]

lrayner: Thanks for the beer, love it. My brother-law has me hooked on some of the Bavarian beer, but will have to give "Stone Berlin" a shot.

kjr914: I understand what you are saying. On one hand I want to be surprised as that's part of the experience. On the other, I'd really like to be as prepared as possible. At the moment, I think the wife will be OK with me taking out daily-driver Mini Countryman SD ALL4 for the touristenfahrten. Anything more than that though, and I would likely have to rent... or even buy a track toy.

ttweed: Thanks Tom. I think they'll be fun to pick off as well.

BTW, did anyone happen to catch the ADAC 24h Nürburgring this past weekend? 24 hours of racing and it was decided on the last lap, after the lead car missed the checker by 35 seconds. Very exciting to watch.