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Nurburgring driving advice please!


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Advice please.

 

Just received an email from my son who has flown to the UK for his best mate's wedding. Included in his itinerary is the phrase "Drive to Nurburgring, rent Renault twingo for 4 laps" :unsure:

 

Fortunately his mother will have no clue whatsoever as to the implications of this (and I will only explain if asked), but I'm also concerned because (a) he has limited car racing experience and that was at least 10 years ago (B) the Twingo looks like an absolute slug (presume that was all he was prpared to pay for), and © I've read numerous accounts over the years of serious accidents there including slow cars being taken out by very fast cars.

 

He's not scheduled to be there until 2nd May, so any advice I can pass on to him beforehand would be gratefully accepted :) :)

 

Gavin

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No problem to drive there for an experienced, normal driver.

It is a normal one way road where normal street rules apply.

Sometimes you can find busses there, driving slowly.

 

On normal days I would expect to meet about 5-10 cars on the track

one one round, not more.

 

If somebody is approaching from the rear I would let him pass by

clearly moving to the right side and giving signs that he may pass you.

 

There are two corners you should know, because they are slower

than the others. Its before Breitscheid and Adenauer Forst.

 

Good luck and have fun, its a pleasure and experience to drive there!

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Hello Gavin,

The Nürburgring is a very dangerous snake. You never know exactly where the head is straight.
Respect must be had and everything will be fine.

Ralf

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I guess he is hiring from this company. If he wanted you can always hire an instuctor to go with you or for the first lap.

http://www.rsrnurburg.com/car-rentals/renault-sport-twingo-rs

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Gavin I've had this on my bucket list for years, not sure I'll ever get there, as I get older the thought gets more scary ! but have a look at this

 

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I drove the ring last year with my son in his Golf GTI, on a "tourist drive day", when everyone with a normal driving licence can have a go.

A friend who has done a 1000+ laps offered to lead us, and drove "slow" in front of us, and I'm glad we took his offer!

It was still an intimidating experience for me, as everyone tries to go as fast as possible, cars ranging from a Scoda Octavia lease up to M3, 911 and McLarens, all on the track at the same time.

As co-pilot I used the navigation system to predict/estimate corners for my son, that helped.

Every hr or so red lights on the track for an accident, sometimes just a tow car was needed, some times including ambulance.

But overall an exiting experience, not only the track itself, also the scenery / cars in the small town invaded by race enthusiasts (and some lunatics).

This year we will go again!

 

I would recommend to follow an experienced ring driver for the first laps.

Waldi

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I got a ride round there back in about 86 with a BMW factory tester in a 635 twin turbo (Yes I know they never offered them for sale this was a factory test mule) That was very entertaining especially as that guy knew the whole course inside out! On a side note we did take a tour bus round as well!

 

Stuart.

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Good in the 'Taxi', but this is in a Triumph:

Sorry about the sound - turn it off, or down.

Don't be put off by the follow-up - that was in race practice.

 

If your son has the 'Ring as an ambition, he will certainly have studied it online, and will know far more than you!

But pass him a tip - instructors often leave small cones at the turn-in point and apex of the corners, and if they aren't there, small paint markers to show the track workers where to put them. If he uses them, he will be safer than trying any other line through the corners.

 

John

Edited by john.r.davies
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Thanks everyone for your comments. I must admit I feel a bit happier now that no one has given any really dire warnings, in fact I now wish I was with him to share the experience!

 

I will pass on the tips all the same.

 

Gavin

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The other traffic can be alarming with some scary speed differentials.

 

Did a flying lap in 2009 during a Club Triumph 10 CR. Sunday morning tourist day and we were on there very early having driven up from Italy overnight. Consequently there was relatively little else on the track, though what there was seemed to be very much faster than we were in a Triumph Vitesse.

 

I let my co-driver, who has track and considerable hillclimb experience, drive it as it was his birthday and it was certainly an experience I'll never forget! I think the time was more than respectable given the car and total absence of 'Ring experience and a "local" friend advised that if we went out again and tried to beat the time we'd probably crash..... so we didn't! The brakes were more or less on fire anyway..... Mpg on that tankful was a record low!

 

If I were to go again I think I'd take a Ring Taxi - they come highly recommended. A friend of mine (also a hillclimber) and 3 of his racing mates were fortunate enough to have Sabine Schmidt as their chauffeur (this is years ago, before she was well known) and he reckoned the "women driver" comments and general bravado dried up pretty early in the lap as they all went looking for their personal brake pedals.....

 

Nick

Edited by Nick Jones
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I did the ring in my 6 soon after I finished the resto, I had taken it down to the Oldtimers event.

 

Caution on the ring is your number 1 friend. when we were on there were several race teams that had come along with exotic Porsches and the like on trailers and they we really pushing the track to its limits and yes there were other vehicles on at the same time including 52 seat buses. All this can be dealt with as long as you keep your senses alert at all time, especially for what is coming at you from the rear. But the bikes really do scare me. They really do throw caution to the wind and there is a procession of smashed bikes being brought back to the start finish on the back of a truck.

 

One member of our party was in an E type and was hit from behind by a bike at over 120mph. The whole incident was recorded and both driver and rider were carted of to the police for an analysis of the event on video.

 

Outcome was that the police decided the E Type driver had strayed from a recognised line and was at fault and had to pay damages to the bike owner who luckily was only suffering from minor injury. This entire episode took almost two days before they released the car and the wrecked bike back to the owners.

 

be warned the Ring can cause you and or your wallet serious damage.

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