Hey all.
Wake up,no dozing off.
Here,s a run down of the trip,with pics,vids and other general stuff on the trip.
I,m fortunate enough to work for a company run by petrolheads.So when thoughts turned to an employee jolly,the Nurburgring was
at the top of the list.
Now at the time It was posted I was still in MKIV ownership but 5 weeks away from the GTI.The trip was 9 weeks away leaving me 4 weeks to get used to what my missus calls "the teutonic tw4t".
The first thing you do is hit YouTube.Mistake.....crashes,spins and general mayhem.Then you watch over and over the Clarkson Jag vid.
"The most challenging and terrifying track in the world" piped the permed giant.Then the horror stories of the financial cost of an accident.Not just the motor but paying to fix the bloody barriers. Telling ya,very nearly bottled it.But then you delve a bit deeper,Some tips from other "ringers" and the one that sorted me out,Ben Lovejoy's website.Packed with advice on how to survive and all the tips to make sure of an incident free trip.Sorted.
Living oop north we decided on Friday, Hull to Zeebruge for outward journey,returning Monday, Calais to Dover.Total cost £170 inc cabin.
Also because I,m from the north and extremely tight I filled the GTI with 3 others making it a cheap journey.
Party Boat.
The bar was open as soon as we got on board,but had to lay off because of driving early next day.
Somebody had the bright idea of filling up in Belgium as its cheaper....Yorkshire men.
So coming down the ramp,entering foreign soil,computer said.."5 miles till empty".Not a petrol station in sight..3 miles later and I,m starting to lose it,one appeared.Was it bollox cheaper,more expensive than the UK.
Filled up and thoughts turned to the Autobahn.Still a way to go to reach em but when someone swears we have to take an unristricted one you start to get a bit giddy.Another balls up,traffic jams for the vast majority of the journey in.
6 hours later we arrive at the Am Tiergarten.
Hotel car park.
Got my space.
All that day the VLN championships were on and a viewing point was 300yrds from the hotel....
We were all meeting up at the entrance after the race,thats when they opened it up for the tourists.So after watching the VLN from various viewing points we set off.The place was packed.Everybody who watched the racing were lined up in their GT3,s etc itching for the off.I did,nt help that they had to clean the track from various smashes so opening was put back till 7pm.That meant 1 lap only before it closed for the day.
So I lined up in the queue,two lanes open,around maybe the 30th heading thru.Got on the track on the first long straight,the half way point of which is on the video above so you can imagine the speeds.Every fecking GT3/Beemer and various other beasts,revved up by watching the races sped past me like I was in reverse.It made it worse that I forgot the weeks of learning the bends and was completely dis-orientated.The end of that first straight,you know the fast one shown above,there is a triple bend,1st quite fast but the Second "S" you gotta get in the racing line.Impossible,I managed it only for the guy behind to start flashing at me to get outta the way,I spent the entire lap,with the indicator on,missing every racing line,moving over for the entire German nation and their bloody grandmothers.Not fun. 15,yes 15 agonising minutes later I was off,in the car park shaking like a leaf..1 lap only then shut..Nightmare.
We packed up heading back to the hotel just 1 km away.Showered,bar,food and an early night.It opened at 8am and we were determined to be 1st.
Up at 7am,brekkie that headed off for the 8am start.This was more like it.Car park was nearly full again but not many queueing for the early runs.
Got on a 8.15am,this was more like it.Not empty but providing you drove the track well you were not going to be hassled much.
It all came back,I knew what was coming over the blind crests and what waited for me around the bends.Even managed to overtake 5 cars,3 at once,and 2 motor bikes.I am the stig....Then the GT3,s showed up again and took the mick a bit but I did,nt mind this time..I was flying.. Took the first carousel,could,nt remember doing it yesterday but everything fell into place. Did a flying lap,but my mate forgot to film it on his fone.
The ring taxis were fully booked up a year in advance,so we took our own.Enter the company car.....
Of course we had no Sabine to drive it so we brought along John Bussel.The British Porsche Cup Champion.Man that guy can drive.He said he,s done over 1000 laps of the nurburgring and it definately shows.I sat in the front and held on for dear life.Theres only 3 braking points on the entire circuit he said.Could have fooled me mate I never notice him braking once.Part of his job was to take us round in our own cars,instructing as we drove.So we hopped in mine,he puts his helmet on,
and I instruct my mate to film it.There are 2 accidents going round,the second one he had to put his arm down as filming is not allowed.
That polo half way thru that blasted by me said 1.2 on the back... haha,Stealth.
We took it in turns to drive the company bus with John instructing.I hopped in the back and filmed a rear view.
Audi R8.
Lunchtime and the car park got really busy with all sorts of beauts.
Us whites stick together.
Ring Viper
After about 9 or 10 laps we wanted to move on to the viewing points.So we ate some food and found a few.
Got to about 5pm and we called it a day.It was red hot and needed a drink.Back to the hotel bar.Sat on the terrace and saw this lady on the next table.
Now the plan was,I take the 1st pic then swap,but she did,nt hang about. dammit
I aint gonna bore you with the drinking and eating tales,reckon you,ve had enough.There are loads more pics but it took an hour to load these few.
leaving the next day,heading back to Calais..Jumped onto the autobahn for the trip home.. Now i,m doing 90mph and still they taking me.Increased to 100mph,then 110 more to 120.Yes the autobahns were open and its a free for all. I finally stuck at 125mph and honestly they were still coming.Man thats unreal.One thing that made me smile..I never dropped under 31mpg all the way back to calais,very rarely did we slow up,dead impressed with the lump.
Right thats it,its late and I,ve run out of things to bore you with...
maybe one more.
Gulf
