Well we are back having lapped the ring more than a few times..
It was for me the ultimate pilgrimage/mecca which i've wanted to do for a long time.
I wasn't dissapointed, it really is the best circuit i've ever driven. Got there on a very wet Friday afternoon (torrential rain).
Thanx to Dom (white ITR) who took us all out so we could have a quick look at the circuit. I went out for a recce and found it very slippy, loads of standing water and the first tight right hander i came to (Hocheichen) resulted in something of an unexpected wash out understeer moment. I quickly gathered it up though so it didn't get to the point of being scary, but realised that grip levels were going to be unpredictable in these conditions.
The first few sections are very fast (was seeing 120mph in my MR2) but i didn't push it too much on my first lap.
The next morning it was hot and sunny and this totally transformed the circuit. I followed Ben (Formesyn) round for a couple of laps and was having a whale of a time in the latter sections of the lap after Brunchen.
The Karussel is totally bonkers, really steep banking and you kind of drop into it and the car bounces around over the concrete blocks, but due to the banking you can go pretty quickly around it.
After about 4 laps i was wary of feeling confident as i've heard the horror stories, so i tried not to be complacent, but found that GT4 was surprisingly accurate and meant that i knew which way the next corner was going which obviously helps over blind crests.
I had some fab little scraps (we weren't racing of course) with Stuart (faulds) in his BM though he knew his way round better than me. Went out with Rachel which was tops and then took her out in my car and managed a drift up on to the kerb on the exit of Briedscheide which left a nice 3 feet until the concrete wall. This was about as fast as i ever want to go through this corner and i think Stuart who was following commented that he expected impending doom, but really it was fine. I had paid my euros so wasn't going to use just half the track.
Managed a goon (ie sideways) all the way round the 'mini-karousell'
Overall bikes zoomed past on the straights but were very slow in the corners, resorted to overtaking one on the outside round Brunchen.
Went out with Slambert in the caternail and he managed to make me scream, as we got seriously airborne just before Flugplatz.. Was a blinding lap though. Mucho impressed!
Overall. Ettiquette was okay, though a little hit and miss, but didn't really find it a problem, plus the cars seemed to spread out a bit the further round you got.
Pics:
taken by anon photographer:
http://circledriver.the-developer.net/g ... 18&max=345
Me @ Brunchen
Stu, Ben, mine and Michael one of the German MR2 crowd we met:
Sabine in Ring Taxi @ Breidscheide:
SLambert's Caternail I hitched a lift in:
Stuart's BM who i had much fun playing with:
First Ring trip July2005
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First Ring trip July2005
Last edited by Lauren on Wed Jul 13, 2005 2:40 pm, edited 3 times in total.
Re: First Ring trip July2005
Still crying that I missed it, though the concert I went to was great
Did you see that lap Sabine did in the Transit on Top Gear - seriously seriously impressive stuff, a 10.8 in a diesel van!
I still want to go!
T
Did you see that lap Sabine did in the Transit on Top Gear - seriously seriously impressive stuff, a 10.8 in a diesel van!
I still want to go!
T
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Re: First Ring trip July2005
tonigmr2 wrote:Still crying that I missed it, though the concert I went to was great
Did you see that lap Sabine did in the Transit on Top Gear - seriously seriously impressive stuff, a 10.8 in a diesel van!
I still want to go!
T
Yep, saw it last night.
JFDI basically.
Re: First Ring trip July2005
Lauren wrote:JFDI basically.
here we go again
what?
looks like a top trip btw
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Re: First Ring trip July2005
quigonjay wrote:Lauren wrote:JFDI basically.
here we go again
what?
looks like a top trip btw
JFDI = Just F'ing Do It.
Twas a top trip.
Re: First Ring trip July2005
did anybody capture any video action?
Re: First Ring trip July2005
I was there at the weekend, I saw a red mk1 MR2 but wasn't sure who it was.
There was a couple of mk2 turbo's knocking around aswell. One overtook my mate in a 200sx at quite a pace with a nice flame licking out of the exhaust.
My Mr2 didn't make it though as it dropped all it's coolant on the m25 on the Friday morning. Was so anoyed as I had spent ages trying to organise this with my friends.
Still I had a great weekend and did some laps in my friends cars and a nice brand new vw passat
All in all was the best driving experiance of my life and will be making it an annual trip hopefully.
There was a couple of mk2 turbo's knocking around aswell. One overtook my mate in a 200sx at quite a pace with a nice flame licking out of the exhaust.
My Mr2 didn't make it though as it dropped all it's coolant on the m25 on the Friday morning. Was so anoyed as I had spent ages trying to organise this with my friends.
Still I had a great weekend and did some laps in my friends cars and a nice brand new vw passat
All in all was the best driving experiance of my life and will be making it an annual trip hopefully.
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Re: First Ring trip July2005
MR2_RICH wrote:I was there at the weekend, I saw a red mk1 MR2 but wasn't sure who it was.
Must have been me. Didn't see any other red MK1s all weekend.
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Re: First Ring trip July2005
quigonjay wrote:did anybody capture any video action?
Ben did.
I personally don't bother. I used to, but found that i never watched it.
Re: First Ring trip July2005
Lauren wrote:Ben did.
I personally don't bother. I used to, but found that i never watched it.
its not for YOUR viewing pleasure - its to show other peeps ya skills
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Re: First Ring trip July2005
quigonjay wrote:Lauren wrote:Ben did.
I personally don't bother. I used to, but found that i never watched it.
its not for YOUR viewing pleasure - its to show other peeps ya skills
Ah i see.
Word of mouth works okay for me.
Re: First Ring trip July2005
next time....
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Re: First Ring trip July2005
Speedy wrote:
next time....
JFDI
Re: First Ring trip July2005
Would have seriously considered it in the silver slug if we hadn't just bought the other one..
Re: First Ring trip July2005
Speedy you have to (:
Lauren I didn't know you were a screamer! (;
It did sound like you had fun!
Ben hurry up and get that video posted
I'll hopefully be up for a trip next year when I'm back from my travels...
Lauren I didn't know you were a screamer! (;
Lauren wrote:Went out with Slambert in the caternail and he managed to make me scream, as we got seriously airborne just before Flugplatz..
It did sound like you had fun!
Ben hurry up and get that video posted
I'll hopefully be up for a trip next year when I'm back from my travels...
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Re: First Ring trip July2005
vashy wrote:Speedy you have to (:
Lauren I didn't know you were a screamer! (;
Lauren wrote:Went out with Slambert in the caternail and he managed to make me scream, as we got seriously airborne just before Flugplatz..
It did sound like you had fun!
Ben hurry up and get that video posted
I'll hopefully be up for a trip next year when I'm back from my travels...
I'm not normally a screamer! I never scream through sheer speed, but combining that with getting airborne at 130mph was enough to do it.
Re: First Ring trip July2005
Ahh, I'm still unpacking and sorting things out, but it was a great trip.
On Friday, Si Cook and I were driving up from Lucern and the plan was to arrive at Nurburg at 5pm and do a few laps with everyone else, but some Blokes on their Bikes who normally cycle around France had wandered into the part of Germany we were driving through - roads were closed, and with a couple of big accidents on Motorways we only made it Koblenz at 9pm.
Saturday morning we got a early start from Koblenz to head to the Ring for opening time at 8am - but it was quite foggy en-route, and even though we arrived just after 9am at Breidsheid the circuit was closed due to fog. That gave us enough time for a coffee and to buy some Nurburgring stickers for the cars.
When it did open, it turned into a warm sunny day which was unexpectedly quiet on the track, given the Truck Grand Prix that was happening at the main Grand Prix circuit.
I spent most of Saturday getting to grips with the Roadster on the circuit - you can tell its much lighter than the Mk2 Turbo as it feels much more responsive to steering and throttle inputs. I spent the day doing a few sighting and pace laps, even getting a couple of laps in where I didn't see anyone else out on the circuit. By 6pm most people had left, leaving us to carry on. I did 8 laps through the day on Saturday ..
Saturday night back at Koblenz we heard the open air Anastasia concert that was going on next door, and headed out to a recommended Italian for food, wine and beer, getting back rather late ...
Sunday morning the weather looked good, but the day before had taken its toll on a few people and they opted for a lie-in rather than getting to the circuit for 8am.
Sunday was a lot busier at the circuit, and I used the remainder of my 12 laps up, plus another couple from Dom, making a total of 14 laps for me this time. The last two laps I did at the circuit were really good - I was deliberatly making really smooth my steering and throttle inputs, and the Roadster did some really nice laps. I didn't time them and unfortunatly didn't get any footage of the laps as the camera's battery came off just as I was joining the circuit.
I've only got half a lap's worth of footage of me joining the circuit just after lunch.
A nice surprise was to meet Michael with his Yellow Roadster from the German MR2 forums who had a very nicely kitted and modified Roadster:
http://www.my-mr2.de/modules.php?op=mod ... pic&t=5570
and I took him for a drive in my Turbo'd roadster. We also got some pics of all the MR2s that were there on Sunday:
I've got more pictures and video clips which I'll post up later this evening - but all in all, a really good trip - Si Cook in his RX7, DoM in his Integra, Lauren and Mark in their Mk1 NA, and Myself and StewartE with Roadsters , plus Alex who was along to blag rides in anything and everything
If anyone is tempted, I know of a trip that is being planned in September, but I'm not certain that I'll be able to make that one myself- if you're interested in joining that one, drop me a PM and I'll put you in touch with Roger H who is organising that trip ...
Cheers!
On Friday, Si Cook and I were driving up from Lucern and the plan was to arrive at Nurburg at 5pm and do a few laps with everyone else, but some Blokes on their Bikes who normally cycle around France had wandered into the part of Germany we were driving through - roads were closed, and with a couple of big accidents on Motorways we only made it Koblenz at 9pm.
Saturday morning we got a early start from Koblenz to head to the Ring for opening time at 8am - but it was quite foggy en-route, and even though we arrived just after 9am at Breidsheid the circuit was closed due to fog. That gave us enough time for a coffee and to buy some Nurburgring stickers for the cars.
When it did open, it turned into a warm sunny day which was unexpectedly quiet on the track, given the Truck Grand Prix that was happening at the main Grand Prix circuit.
I spent most of Saturday getting to grips with the Roadster on the circuit - you can tell its much lighter than the Mk2 Turbo as it feels much more responsive to steering and throttle inputs. I spent the day doing a few sighting and pace laps, even getting a couple of laps in where I didn't see anyone else out on the circuit. By 6pm most people had left, leaving us to carry on. I did 8 laps through the day on Saturday ..
Saturday night back at Koblenz we heard the open air Anastasia concert that was going on next door, and headed out to a recommended Italian for food, wine and beer, getting back rather late ...
Sunday morning the weather looked good, but the day before had taken its toll on a few people and they opted for a lie-in rather than getting to the circuit for 8am.
Sunday was a lot busier at the circuit, and I used the remainder of my 12 laps up, plus another couple from Dom, making a total of 14 laps for me this time. The last two laps I did at the circuit were really good - I was deliberatly making really smooth my steering and throttle inputs, and the Roadster did some really nice laps. I didn't time them and unfortunatly didn't get any footage of the laps as the camera's battery came off just as I was joining the circuit.
I've only got half a lap's worth of footage of me joining the circuit just after lunch.
A nice surprise was to meet Michael with his Yellow Roadster from the German MR2 forums who had a very nicely kitted and modified Roadster:
http://www.my-mr2.de/modules.php?op=mod ... pic&t=5570
and I took him for a drive in my Turbo'd roadster. We also got some pics of all the MR2s that were there on Sunday:
I've got more pictures and video clips which I'll post up later this evening - but all in all, a really good trip - Si Cook in his RX7, DoM in his Integra, Lauren and Mark in their Mk1 NA, and Myself and StewartE with Roadsters , plus Alex who was along to blag rides in anything and everything
If anyone is tempted, I know of a trip that is being planned in September, but I'm not certain that I'll be able to make that one myself- if you're interested in joining that one, drop me a PM and I'll put you in touch with Roger H who is organising that trip ...
Cheers!
Re: First Ring trip July2005
BALLS!!!!!!!
I've just come on here to see if there are any trips planned for nurburgring and you've just come back!!!
Oh well.....When ya goin next? How much did it cost per person for the trip?
I've just come on here to see if there are any trips planned for nurburgring and you've just come back!!!
Oh well.....When ya goin next? How much did it cost per person for the trip?
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Re: First Ring trip July2005
Laney wrote:BALLS!!!!!!!
I've just come on here to see if there are any trips planned for nurburgring and you've just come back!!!
Oh well.....When ya goin next? How much did it cost per person for the trip?
£500+ i would say depending on how many laps you do.