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 Post subject: Nurburgring anyone?
PostPosted: April 2, 2014, 10:15 pm 
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Location: Fort Worth, Texas
Due to a case of the stars aligning right, it looks as if I'll get to go drive the 'Ring, June, 2015. I'll be in Cologne & Bonn.

I did a quick search to see what I needed to know and was blown away at the sheer number of sites. So before I get too deeply into gong the wrong direction has anyone done it before and can steer me to the direction I need to look?

I know I can rent a car and drive there, can I bus it there and rent a car there?

What kind of expenses should I budget for?

Isn't there some sort of insurance I need?

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 Post subject: Re: Nurburgring anyone?
PostPosted: April 2, 2014, 10:24 pm 
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A friend of mine did this. Rented a car, all seemed pretty easy. Here's what he had to say on our forum:

"I was visiting a friend in Germany last week and the ring was not too far away (3 hours) so I decided to take a couple of laps.

"We rented a Suzuki Swift that was very well set up with R888s, cage, race pads, Ohlin shocks, race buckets and harness. The track was busy during the day and open to the public between 5:30 pm and 7:30 pm. There were between 100 to 150 cars and motorcycles at the track. The first lap was bit crowded. However, it got a lot better by the 2nd lap when the cars are spaced out over the 12.8 mile track.

"Epic was the only way to describe driving the "Green Hell" with its famous guardrails and trees lining the track on both sides. My friend and I only had time to do 2 laps each due to an accident that closed the track in the middle of the session. But that was enough to get us both hooked. The shear number of turns, elevation changes, unexpected decreasing radius turns and the very high speed sections make it very challenging on the drivers. I was literally shaking with all the adrenaline after the first lap. I don't think there is anyway for me to describe the experience to do it justice. I think every motorsport nut has to try it at least once..."

And he got his picture taken:
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 Post subject: Re: Nurburgring anyone?
PostPosted: April 2, 2014, 10:38 pm 
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I could live with a Suzuki Swift although I'd prefer a real wheel drive.

"Nurburgring for Dummies", no matter how hard I search I haven't found that book. :P

There's no doubt I will enjoy the crap out of it even if I were to drive it in a dump truck!!!!!!!!!!

My first time on the Tail of the Dragon was in a fully loaded pick up with all my son's belongings loaded in the back and we had a blast. You can go a lot faster than you think you can if you drive it like a momentum machine. Smooth was the key.

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 Post subject: Re: Nurburgring anyone?
PostPosted: April 3, 2014, 7:26 am 
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Check out the new issue of 'Grassroots Motorsports'. Just got mine in the mail yesterday. They've got nine pages devoted to driving the 'Ring!

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 Post subject: Re: Nurburgring anyone?
PostPosted: April 3, 2014, 8:48 am 
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carguy123 wrote:
My first time on the Tail of the Dragon was in a fully loaded pick up with all my son's belongings loaded in the back and we had a blast. You can go a lot faster than you think you can if you drive it like a momentum machine. Smooth was the key.


I did it with a trailer full of motorcycles, it was still awesome!

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 Post subject: Re: Nurburgring anyone?
PostPosted: April 3, 2014, 10:55 am 
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ngpmike wrote:
Check out the new issue of 'Grassroots Motorsports'. Just got mine in the mail yesterday. They've got nine pages devoted to driving the 'Ring!


Well if past history tells me anything it means I'll get my copy in 2-4 more weeks. Texas is so big that it takes the mail longer to get here, or so GRM tells me.

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 Post subject: Re: Nurburgring anyone?
PostPosted: April 3, 2014, 3:46 pm 
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Here's a little primer.
http://www.spiegel.de/auto/fahrkultur/t ... 24476.html

Click on Fotos and then continue through. It is a book review; some sample pics. Would make a great souvenir.

Stefan Bogner: "Tracks - Nürburgring Nordschleife", 224 Seiten, 226 Fotos + Booklet, Delius Klasing Verlag, 29,90 Euro.

I'm jealous.

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 Post subject: Re: Nurburgring anyone?
PostPosted: April 3, 2014, 7:26 pm 
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Location: Houston, TX
I went in October 2012, it was one of the coolest experiences of my life.

-I'm not sure about a bus or train, but I think in my research I found that the easiest way to get to the area was to rent a car. Plus, you get the experience of driving on the autobahn, which was also one of the best car related experiences in my life. So orderly and non-infuriating when slower traffic always moves over for faster traffic. We left from Frankfurt (which conveniently has a non stop flight to and from Houston), and it was less than 2 hours drive. The rental car is also nice because the ring is surrounded by small towns. There's not a whole lot of public transport, so it is easier to drive. We drove to different towns for dinner and went to the Nurburg castle.
-I also rented a track prepared Suzuki Swift from http://www.rent4ring.de. I wouldn't worry too much about what type of car you drive...I wouldn't be able to even approach the limits of any car the first time out. It's quite scary with expensive car after expensive car passing you haphazardly when you're just trying not to crash into barriers and guess which direction the next turn is in. The Swift was lowered, stripped, and equipped with sticky tires and was actually really fun to drive, but I personally love FWD hot hatches. There's just a non intimidating puppy dog fun factor to them. Not much worry about spinning out if you give it too much gas or go into a turn a little hot.
-I'm sure you've read about not driving a regular rental car on the ring. There's no insurance that will cover any damage, and rumor has it that rental car companies monitor the ring to see if someone drives one of their cars onto the track. You can decide whether or not to do it, but for me the risk wasn't worth it. So yes, I rented two cars...one to drive to the ring and another to drive ON the ring. rent4ring provides you with some amount of insurance, but if you take out some crash barrier, you'll definitely have to pay out of pocket. Just don't crash. :D
-There's a calendar on the official nurburgring website that tells you which days the track will be open for tourist driving (Touristenfahrten). Make sure you keep checking, I hear the calendars can change with short notice if a manufacturer books the track. Also hope for good weather, I got lucky with a beautiful sunny day.
-All in all it was pretty pricey to rent the Swift, pay for laps, regular rental car, hotel, etc, but it was totally worth it. I can't recall how much exactly everything was.

http://nurburgring.org.uk/ That website is British based so it is all in English, and it has a wealth of information along with a calendar. It was instrumental for me, read through the whole thing.

Any other questions, feel free to ask.


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 Post subject: Re: Nurburgring anyone?
PostPosted: April 3, 2014, 9:10 pm 
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The regulars must freak every time they come up on one of those Swifts.


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 Post subject: Re: Nurburgring anyone?
PostPosted: April 3, 2014, 10:13 pm 
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That isn't too bad of a price for the Swifts. Great experience. When we were in Italy we went to Monza and we were going to do a lap or two of that but Ferrari was testing that day so we couldn't. Had to sit there and watch a couple of prepped Enzos zoom around :lol: That was fun though. Did get to drive the Monaco circuit though :cheers:

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 Post subject: Re: Nurburgring anyone?
PostPosted: April 3, 2014, 11:21 pm 
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I have a particular time I have to be there so please, OH PRETTY PLEASE, be a time period when I can drive. I don't think I could stand it to be there and not be able to drive.

The Swifts sound like fun and would probably be one of the safest cars to make your virgin journey on. Enough prep to be safe, controllable & fast enough to be fun (except for the higher speed portions). I seem to remember there are some BMWs also you can rent.

I have so much to look through. Thanks for all the info guys. Now I've got over a year to wait, research and dream.

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 Post subject: Re: Nurburgring anyone?
PostPosted: June 10, 2014, 8:30 pm 
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I have been there a couple times. It is so much fun. Not only driving. Also just standing at the start, watching all the different cars. "Bruennchen" and "Pflanzgarten" are very polpular parts of the track where you can watch the so called "tourist drives".
you can be very lucky and it it not busy or the track could even be closed because of an accident. Accidents unfortunately happen too often. Three of my friends spun out already, two of them hit the guard rail


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 Post subject: Re: Nurburgring anyone?
PostPosted: June 10, 2014, 9:11 pm 
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A buddy of mine has been blacklisted by several car rental businesses for running their cars there.

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 Post subject: Re: Nurburgring anyone?
PostPosted: June 10, 2014, 9:34 pm 
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Carguy, a suggestion might be to get a car sim with the track and start doing lots and lots of laps to become familiar with it so you know where you will be going. Some of the sim's tracks are extremely accurate.

A close Mate of mine has run a couple of 24 hour races there, lucky guy.


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