Nurburg is obviously famous for the race track that surrounds it, but there's more to the place than just car racing. Our hotel the Lindner Hotel Eifeldorf Grune Holle is a quaint little German style building.
Across the road is the Eifeldorf's parent hotel - the Lindner Congress & Motorsport Hotel. In the background, you can see the roller coaster that is next to the main straight of the Nurburgring GP track.
Walking around, there's no denying that you can't escape the reminder of cars and racing. Here we see the main straight of the GP track.
There was some open wheeler practice on the GP track the day we were there.
The visitor center provides a huge facility to hold functions and displays.
Preparations were taking place for the Nurburgring 24 Hour race event the following week.
Nissan has a large presence at the ring, given the amount of testing that took place there for the R35 GT-R. There is a showroom and fan shop.
A Juke Nismo...
The current model year R35...
The 370Z Nismo...
In Nurburg town, there is one main road looking up at Nurburg Castle which dates back to the 1100s.
Spring in Germany brings out the tulips.
There is a BMW test center in town, where M cars are brought to be tested on the Nordschleife.
Here we are at the castle.
The view from the castle is absolutely beautiful. It really shows why the place is called the Green Hell.
The hills are alive, with the sound of engines...
After having a taste of driving the Nordschleife, it is an experience that leaves me wanting more. People who love track days will know what I mean. I will be back, and I highly recommend making the trip there if you are at all interested in cars.
After leaving Stuttgart, we drove to our next destination. I said in my previous post that this place is special because it's a place that I have wanted to visit (and drive) for the last few years. Some say that there are two rings of marriage - the engagement ring and the wedding ring. Some say that there is a third ring - the suffering. I say there's a fourth - the Nurburgring. So with that being said, it's only natural that it be part of our honeymoon.
The area around the ring is all about motorsport, where else would you find a 996 parked in the lobby of your hotel?
I had booked a drive on the Nordschleife on a public day to get the full experience. We arrived in Nurburg the night before and met up with Kam, who had flown in from London. The next morning, we were up bright and early with much anticipation. We filled ourselves with the generous buffet breakfast and headed over to RSR Nurburg, the company that we were renting track cars from.
RSR offers a wide selection of cars to rent and drive on and off the ring.
For our drive, Kam and I had hired a Toyota 86 and Renault Sport Clio Cup respectively. Kam has driven the Nordschleife before, so he was going to try the 86 which is a more challenging car to drive on the ring. I chose the Clio because it's plenty of power for a beginner on the ring and yet is a very fun car to drive.
Before we could head out on to the track, a mandatory drivers briefing took place.
The briefing included a series of in-car videos of what not to do on the Nordschleife, and the consequences of doing them.
With the formalities out of the way, it was finally time to head out for my first lap! On public days, a lap of the Nordschleife is known as the Bridge to Gantry. That is, the lap starts at the Bilstein bridge (around Antoniusbuche) and ends at the Audi gantry (around Dottinger Hohe).
So without further ado, here are some videos...
My first lap - Watch out for the BMW 1 series that overtakes on the right hand side.
My third lap of the ring following a Golf for most of the lap, who was just as tentative as I was. I caught up to them at the carousel and decided to pass. Highlight was watching a 997 fly past with an R35 in chase.
My fourth lap of the ring. Getting more comfortable with the track and there was less traffic and less cars overtaking for most of the lap, allowing me to practice more of the racing line. Highlight of this lap is the multi car accident at around the 18 km mark. Porsches and BMWs flying past aren't even highlights anymore, they're a dime a dozen at the Nurburgring.
The accident took some time to clear and the track was closed for almost 2 hours. During that time, we explored the track car park, which was a visual feast in itself.
The car of choice on the ring right now seems to be either a Porsche or a BMW.
After having a look around the car park, we headed into Nurburg and had lunch at Hotel am Tiergarten (which belongs to Sabine Schmitz's family).
It was quite surreal to be in a small country town like Nurburg and have sports cars parked everywhere.
Don't mind this, just another GT2 sitting around.
After lunch, the track was open again and we headed back out to complete our laps. I drove a total of six laps and was still wanting more at the end of it. My best lap was the final lap, with a time of 10:48.2. The analysis can be seen here.
I vow to come back the drive the Nordschleife again one day.
