Nurburgring Trip, June July 2005

[BenF]

The dates for the Circuit opening times are yet to be confirmed for 2005, but provisionally, who'd be interested in an IMOC trip over to the Nurburgring in June or July ?

Paul Port posted up these outline costs for the Easter Trip on the IMOC-UK List - prices would potentially be the same for the June/July trip

Ferry from Dover to Calais = approx 100 GBP (depending when you
purchase)
Calais to the Nurburgring = 280 Miles ( 11 Gallons @ 25mpg ) Lap of the Ring = 1 Gallon @ 13mpg Lap ticket = 10GBP Hotel ~ 50GBP / night

So, lets for arguments sake say petrol costs 4GBP per gallon (Cheaper in Europe) You travel out Friday and back Monday and do 12 laps.

Hotel = 150
Petrol = 11x4 + 12x4 + 11x4 = 136
Laps = 120
Ferry = 100

Total = 506 GBP

Plus food / drink whilst you're there ..

To whet your appetite, I've got some video Clips :

Video 1 : **Parade lap - NB 9MB download ** - This was from a trip I did with the folks from the SE Region of the DC, hence the title ..

I'll add more shortly - I've got 3 DVD's worth of footage from the various trips I've done in the last few years - I just need to rip some footage from the discs and Windows Media encode it ...

[Dave Couzens]

As I tagged onto the end of Paul's post before - it cost me about £800 in September. That was 24 laps and 4 nights accomodation (Seacat over). Things like euro breakdown and similar set me back about £80, and the overall cost included things like oil spare brake pads etc etc.

[BenF]

Yep, Paul's post doesn't include stuff like food/ drink and other car consumables - but it does give you a good idea of the real costs ..

[Lauren]

hoheacht.free.fr/vids/nordschleife_winter.mpg

[Driftlimits Performance]

Lauren, any more to that link?

[Lauren]

Lauren, any more to that link?

Not that i know of, was CP'd from FTLOG.

[Driftlimits Performance]

ooops

My mistake, it does work.

[BenF]

LMAO !

Lapping the 'ring with 5cm of snow everywhere ... the bloke's a nutter!

Looks great for gooning around on though

[Lauren]

LMAO !

Lapping the 'ring with 5cm of snow everywhere ... the bloke's a nutter!

Looks great for gooning around on though

I thought you might like that..

[paul port]

For Ref....

Sea France are offering 'liberty fares' - basically open return tickets purchased in advance but where you can change your dates before actually travelling.

For outward ferries before 6am, and return after 9pm : 90 quid
For other times: 109 quid

this is a fair saving over regular 5-day / open fares...
But you must book before 12 Jan

I plan to pre-book for Easter and perhaps a couple in the summer.
Best come up with some dates then..

Paul

[BenF]

For Ref....

Sea France are offering 'liberty fares' - basically open return tickets purchased in advance but where you can change your dates before actually travelling.

For outward ferries before 6am, and return after 9pm : 90 quid
For other times: 109 quid

this is a fair saving over regular 5-day / open fares...
But you must book before 12 Jan

I plan to pre-book for Easter and perhaps a couple in the summer.
Best come up with some dates then..

Paul

Cheers Paul,

Nice to see you around here again - hope things are going well

I'm probably going to hang back on buying tickets until I know when the 'ring is going to be open this year - the last couple of times I've bought tickets 'late' I've been able to pick up Seacat crossings for £130 if you go for a 7am crossing out and back at 8pm - ie off peak ..

[Rev2_mike]

I'd love to do this but ive got a couple of reasons why it wouldnt be for me: 1) ive got an NA and it seems that those that are going have all got turbo's, or am i missing the point?
2)Ive never driven any tracks before so am i being very ambitious to drive the nurburgring 1st time?

Cheers!

[Lauren]

I'd love to do this but ive got a couple of reasons why it wouldnt be for me: 1) ive got an NA and it seems that those that are going have all got turbo's, or am i missing the point?
2)Ive never driven any tracks before so am i being very ambitious to drive the nurburgring 1st time?

Cheers!

It doesn't matter if you have an NA, its not all about straightline speed, in fact nothing could be further from the truth.

I would recommend you at least do an airfield day or better still one at a circuit too as the 'Ring is the ultimate challenge really.

I think you could drive it with no previous experience but i think you would enjoy it more if you at least can get the basics of track driving under your belt.

[DoM]

I'd love to do this but ive got a couple of reasons why it wouldnt be for me: 1) ive got an NA and it seems that those that are going have all got turbo's, or am i missing the point?
2)Ive never driven any tracks before so am i being very ambitious to drive the nurburgring 1st time?

The Nurburgring really isn't about the power of your car, it's all about corners and mental gradient changes! You'll appreciate and enjoy it whatever car you drive it in. Anyway, no matter how powerful your car is you'll always be overtaken by locals in their stripped out golf's!!

It is great fun watching aswell, there are some amazing spectator points and plenty of interesting and expensive machinery on view and being driven very fast! If you get up nice and early you can watch the next years BMW's, Porsches, Mercs, Jag's, Astons etc. being tested on the limit! It's not only driving around the circuit which is the fun the whole area is geared towards the Nurburgring - it's completely unique.

My first experience of track driving was on the 'ring, and from that experience I think the main problem isn't car control but self control! You need to be very careful, the dodgiest bit is after you've done a few laps and your confidence levels increase, you start pushing harder and think you know what corner is next. It's very easy to get it wrong and end up with written off car and a bill for a load of armco! I can't stress that enough! One of my friends crashed on his first trip while I was in the car - I'm so glad he did because it made me slow down, I'm sure I would have done the same had he not!!

[Dave Couzens]

Hi Dom,

I was out there with Rog Hole and co in September, and i think i'm right ni saying that it was you we had dinner with a few times?

Rev 2 Mike

On a secondary note - I took my n/a out there for my first track time, had an awesome trip and you'd be suprised just how well the n/a goes round the circuit anyway - cornering speed is what it's more about out there not just the straights.

[RogH]

Hmmmm, while corner speed is key to any track - the 'ring IS one of the most power dependent track around - purely because of the long straights and very fast sections. That;s not to say you can't go round very fast in a slower car, just that if you were to jump in a more powerful version of the same car will speed up your lap a lot.

Of course, I am not including enjoyment in this post - just pace.

[BenF]

Hi Dom,

I was out there with Rog Hole and co in September, and i think i'm right ni saying that it was you we had dinner with a few times?

Rev 2 Mike

On a secondary note - I took my n/a out there for my first track time, had an awesome trip and you'd be suprised just how well the n/a goes round the circuit anyway - cornering speed is what it's more about out there not just the straights.

I'd agree - a NA is fine around the 'ring, what you're really enjoying is getting the corning lines right - there are very few parts of the circuit which are about stright line speed.

However, just as Lauren said I think it would be ideal if you could get some trackdays and tuition in the UK before heading over to the ring.

You can drive it as a first timer, but you really need to take it easy - its a circuit designed to test the best of drivers - but you can still enjoy it if you have the right attitude and don't try to nail it on your first lap.

It does take around 50 laps to learn the layout of the circuit and the lines through the 130-ish corners, so it would take a couple of trips before you can really drive it confidently.

[Dave Couzens]

Hmmmm, while corner speed is key to any track - the 'ring IS one of the most power dependent track around - purely because of the long straights and very fast sections. That;s not to say you can't go round very fast in a slower car, just that if you were to jump in a more powerful version of the same car will speed up your lap a lot.

Of course, I am not including enjoyment in this post - just pace.

Thought you weren't going to register on here?

And stop talking about the turbo vs n/a debate I have every day. Git.

[BenF]

The trip details are now confirmed - we're going for the 8-11th July. More info here :

http://www.imoc.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?t=4798