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      04-05-2016, 08:26 PM   #1
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European Delivery Order and Journal

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This is my first post after watching this forum for several months. I placed an order for a European Delivery for a M235i. Today I received a call from my CA telling me that my first choice of a delivery date (7/6) has been approved. I was worried that a July delivery date would cause a problem due to the change from a 2016 to a 2017 model, but it turned out it was not an issue.

This is how I built it:

'16 M235i
Manual Transmission
Black Sapphire Metallic
Black Sensa Tec
Brushed Aluminum trim with black accent
Driver's Assistance Package
Technology Package
Orbit Grey Wheels w/non-runflat summer tires
Heated Seats
All Weather Floor Mats
Moonroof Delete

The car is schedule to be built by June 11th. In the meantime, lots of paperwork.
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      07-04-2016, 07:40 AM   #2
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Day 1, Flight from Atlanta, Munich

We have arrived in Munich. The red eye flight from Atlanta (not incuding connecting flight) was 8.75 hours. Fairly smooth, except after we landed the pilot got lost on the taxiway and almost could not turn around. Flew on Delta business class which was just as good as first class. The sleeper seats were fine but a little tight when fully flat. Going through customs was fairly simple. Just a few questions from the Polizie and we were through.

We were picked up Sixt in a brand new, black 7 series. As decribed elsewhere in this forum, the driver was professional but quiet. A very quick drive and we at our hotel.After a brief rest we visited Marienplatz and rode the Underground. We even took a picture of the local BMW dealership.

Right now we are trying to catch up on some sleep. I know that may not be the best for jet lag but we are both very tired. Tomorrow we are scheduled for the BMW factory tour and museum visit. The delivery is on Wednesday. The best part, my son still has not realized we are doing a ED. He thinks we are just renting a car from the Welt.
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Last edited by RacerDad; 07-05-2016 at 10:17 AM.. Reason: Added Title
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      07-05-2016, 10:42 AM   #3
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Day 2, Munich, BMW Welt and Museum

My plant tour was scheduled for today, so I took the opportunity to check in at the BMW Welt to get my paperwork ready for tomorrow's delivery. Of course, the cat is out of the bag for my son, but it was fun watching him try to guess which car I was getting. At one point he was very dejected at the though of a 2 series Active Tourer.

Here are a few of pictures from the BMW Welt customer lounge and balcony.







One from the second floor walkway.



The museum did a good job documenting BMW's history. Multiple levels and exhibits off to the side made navigation challenging, but it was worth it.













Can you find your badge?



I don't believe the feather duster was a factory option.



The factory currently makes the 3 series sedan and touring, along with the 4 series. They said they did not make the M4 there, but we saw one coming off the assembly line for final testing. No pictures allowed on the factory tour, so this is all I have.





The Welt (random tourists in the pictures)





Look what is parked in the Welt lobby. No sunroof on either one!!


Last edited by RacerDad; 07-05-2016 at 11:09 AM.. Reason: Added pictures
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      07-05-2016, 04:52 PM   #4
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Awesome pictures. Keep them coming!
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      07-06-2016, 02:53 PM   #5
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Day 3, Vehicle Delivery at the Welt

Today's the day!!! I picked up my new BMW. After taking the Underground from my hotel (which included missing my stop, realizing an alternate train runs a limited schedule, and having to backtrack two stops), we arrived at the Welt. Part of the delivery includes a 10 euro voucher to the Welt shop, a free keychain with custom engraving, and two reflector vests which needs to be in the car at all times while in most European countries. I used my voucher towards two T-shirts.

We stopped by the customer lounge until our delivery time. Of course I had to take a sneak peek from the balcony. Notice the white M235i? Anyone here pick up their car today as well?



We met with the delivery specialist (who's name escapes me) and he walked us down to the viewing level to see the car. He personally owns a 1991 E30 convertible and a 135 2 door hatchback. The car looked better than I anticipated, especially with the orbit grey wheels.





Finally, up close and personal.











The specialist went most of the features of the car and put the required stickers on the windshield (emissions pass for Germany, toll vignettes for Austria and Switzerland). He was very thorough, but I will need more time with the Nav system. I really like that the memory buttons can be used for audio and navigation presets.



Now for the traditional pose with car.





Finally, pictures outside the Welt.







Next up: First driving impressions and Innsbruck, Austria.

Last edited by RacerDad; 07-06-2016 at 03:43 PM..
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      07-09-2016, 01:13 AM   #6
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Sorry for the lack of posts hese past few days. My Internet reception is very spotty here in Modena. I will try to get the updates to you tonight.
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      07-09-2016, 10:59 AM   #7
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I'm picking up my 230i 3 months from tomorrow...so going to follow along here!
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      07-09-2016, 03:08 PM   #8
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Day 3, Innsbruck

After leaving the welt around 12pm, we headed south towards Innsbruck. Driving through Munich traffic was a little intimidating as this was my first time driving in a foreign country. However, it did not take long for me to settle in and start driving on the Autobahn (A8).

My first impression is that this car has TORQUE. I could leave it in a higher gear and still accelerate into traffic, or in the left lane on the autobahn. The sound of the engine and the feel of the shifter reminded me of my old E36 race car. It does move around a bit at speed, but if I wanted the ultimate cruiser, I would have bought a 7 series. The navigation system is fairly complex with a lot of options. I am going to have to spend more time learning it when I get home. Hopefully it can also be reliable (more on this in a later post).

Innsbruck is a wonderful little city in Austria. I wish we had spent more than an overnight stay there, but we had a fairly tight schedule. We spent the evening in the old part of the city along with the other tourists.







Of course, one glamour shot with the car. It will not be this clean much longer.



Next stop, Italy!!!
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      07-09-2016, 03:29 PM   #9
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Day 4, Jaufen Pass & Merano

No trip to the Alps would be complete without driving their famous mountain roads. The original plan was to take the Austrian autobahn to Italy and then take their state roads through mountains. The navigation system had other plans. It took me through the Austrian mountain roads that criss crossed the autobahn. By the time I was able to get on the highway, I had to take the next exit. No problem. It was good practice for what lay ahead.

The Jaufen (Giovo) Pass takes you from Vipteno to Merano through a set of winding switchbacks. 50kph is the speed limit on these narrow roads, and first gear turns are not uncommon. Motorcycles rule this road and bicycles make it even more adventurous. As this a state road, buses and large trucks are not uncommon. The car did fantastic, especially when overtaking. The entire time I kept in Comfort mode, mainly because I forgot there was a switch. Going down hill was primarily in second gear as all I could do is follow a Toyota Auris.

The view from the top (2409 meters, 6970 feet) was amazing, and we had a lot of great car glamour shots.













From there we headed south to Merano for a lunch stop. A great small Italian town, with some tourist attractions. The best part, I had pizza in Italy. REAL. ITALIAN. PIZZA!!!! (sorry, no pics of food, I was too busy eating).





On to our next destination, Modena.

Last edited by RacerDad; 07-20-2016 at 08:18 PM..
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      07-09-2016, 04:09 PM   #10
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Day 5, Modena

You are probably wondering why we picked Modena over other great Italian cities like Venice and Rome. Modena is an industrial, gritty town with a traditional old town center. However, there was ultimately two reasons why we went here: Ferrari and Lamborghini. That's right, Modena is in between the Ferrari and Lamborghini museums. Additionally, the Enzo Ferrari museum is in Modena.

First stop, Museo Ferrari in Maranello. This exhibit was nowhere near as large as the BMW museum, but it was still awesome. There was also an F1 simulator that you can pay 25 euros for seven minutes. My son and I went heads up at Monza (another hint he didn't get right away). He beat me by four seconds (it's ok, I am still faster than him on the real ones at home).











And of course, one pic of the car.



Touring the museum didn't take as long as we anticipated, so we headed out to Bologna to visit the Lamborghini museum. After seeing the BMW and Ferrari museums, we were slightly disappointed in the small size, but the displays were great.









A few from historic Modena







Gelato!!!!



Up next, more driving impressions, Monza, Como, and a navigation system failure.
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      07-09-2016, 04:45 PM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RacerDad View Post
Up next, more driving impressions, Monza, Como, and a navigation system failure.
I did a road trip in Europe in September of 2014 in a 2014 420d 6MT vert (engine of our 328d) Anyway, I had several navigation system (BMW nav system) failures in remote areas/small towns in rural parts of France and Italy...interested to hear what happened to you.
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      07-10-2016, 03:14 AM   #12
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Day 6, Monza and Como

Heading out of Modena on the Autostrada we turned north towards Como. I have now had some driving time in the car in a variety of conditions (highway, city, local streets, traffic) and I am very pleased with the car. Here are some critiques and/or things I need to learn more about:
  • The shifter is a little notchy. Not bad, any maybe will improve with time.
  • The A/C seemed weak, until I realized that the automatic recirculation was switching between fresh and recirc. Leaving it on recirc made a big improvement.
  • At a steady cruise at 80mph, switching the drive mode from Comfort to Sport increases the sound of the engine noise through the speakers.
  • There is some SLIGHT turbo lag at lower speeds. This is a non-issue to me.
  • Black cars get very dirty (I have owned black cars before).
  • I am still trying to find a comfortable seating position. This will take a little more time playing with adjustments.
  • The nav system does not remember previous destinations (not the issue I mentioned earlier). More education for the driver is in order.
  • I like the cruise control marker on the speedometer.

When I was planning this trip, I noticed that Monza was relatively close to our destination. After two hours, we had arrived. Monza is an old racetrack whose facilities are old and in disrepair in some places. The track is a national park as well and visitors can walk around the track and grandstands. We found our way to the tunnels that went under the track. Not sure we were supposed to be there, but no one stopped us.















Back on the road again, we drove a half hour north to Lake Como. Specifically, the town of Como. I will let the pictures speak for themselves.







Black cars do get dirty.



Now for my navigation problem. When we got back into the car to enter our next destination, the screen was asking for the verification code. One problem, I don't have one. They entered in for us at the Welt when they installed the European maps on the flash drive in the car. I tried removing and reinstalling the drive, cycling the key, and changing screens. No luck. Also, I could not find any phone numbers for European Delivery customer service, only roadside assistance. Good thing we had enough reception for Google Maps to work on my phone. We stopped into a BMW dealer just over the Italy/Switzerland border to see if they could help, but they had closed three hours earlier. When I arrived at the hotel, I e-mailed the US European Delivery contact in the US to see if they could arrange for a dealer to reactivate the system.

Last edited by RacerDad; 07-10-2016 at 10:58 AM..
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      07-10-2016, 11:26 AM   #13
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Days 7 & 8, Lucerne

Today, we are in Lucerne, Switzerland. I went downstairs to the parking garage to take a picture of the nav screen and now the unit works. I hope this will not be a recurring problem. It makes me nervous that this had happened in the first place.

For this part of the trip we parked the car in the underground garage and left it there while we were sightseeing. The city center is very busy with lots of tourists. Trying to drive around would not be worth it. I will mention that the restaurants along the Reuss River are VERY expensive. A lunch for two with water cost $56 CHF. Better deals on food and shopping are to be had on the lower level of the city's train station.

Some of the best views of the city and Lake Lucerne were from the towers of the Musegg Wall which made up the original cities defenses in 1366.











Another site was the Spreuer Bridge built in 1408.







We took a cruise around Lake Lucerne. Very pretty and peaceful. The scenery was similar to Lake Como.









There are MANY tunnels in Switzerland. Here are the ones in Lucerne.









Found this 1er 3 door parked in the city. Haven't seen many 3 doors, mostly 5 doors. Don't know which engine it has because there was no badge (very common in Europe).



That's all for today, there is some sort of big soccer match tonight between France and Portugal. Tomorrow, we will be in France. I hope they win because if not, it will not be a happy country and I need to find a laundromat.

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      07-11-2016, 03:08 PM   #14
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Day 9, Strasbourg

Greetings from Strasbourg France. This is only an overnight stop, but I couldn't resist the opportunity to experience France. The reason we picked this location is that is halfway between Lucerne and our next location (sorry, you will have to wait to find out where).

I took this opportunity to show you what the trunk space looks like. We have one large rolling suitcase and two medium size travel backpacks (carry-on size) in there and still have some additional space left over.



Also, stopped to get gas. Germany, Austria, and Switzerland have you pump first, then pay. Italy you can pay a kiosk before pumping, however only one pump out of three accepted my card. This picture was taken in Switzerland off the A2. I am currently averaging 22.5 mpg in mixed driving. This includes steady 80mph runs for several miles on European highways.



We stayed at a Holiday Inn Express in Strasbourg (who knew). I'm not sure if this was their driveway, but the car was small enough to fit.



I also took the opportunity to show an underside picture while parked in the garage.



What is the first thing you do when entering foreign country after seven days? Laundry of course. The best way to experience a country is to live among the residents, not just go to the tourist attractions. I had to visit the local supermarket in several locations and use the same services the residents do. It is a very different experience than just going to the usual places, especially when you have to learn important phrases very quickly.





Strasbourg is small French city with a heavy German influence. As in all the cities we visited, there is a difference between the local and tourist areas.











Dessert



I was amazed to see this car in France in the condition it was in. I had an '82 Celica ST Coupe.



I didn't see any Citroen 2CVs, but I did find this Renault 4 in pretty good condition.



Tomorrow we will be back in Germany. I will have some more driving impressions and a report from our location. I am not sure how reliable the internet will be so it may take a couple of days. Stay tuned.

Last edited by RacerDad; 07-11-2016 at 03:24 PM..
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      07-12-2016, 03:33 PM   #15
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Day 10, Nurburgring Nordschleife

No trip to Germany is complete with a visit to the Nurburgring. I am not talking about the resort, casino, and theme park. I am talking about the public road/racetrack that you can drive for 29 euros per lap. The track is open on most weekdays from 5:30pm - 7:30pm. On the weekends it open almost all day, but is very crowded in the summer. Another reality of the Nordchleife is that the weather can change quickly on different parts of the track. My session would start in the rain.

I was somewhat anxious about driving this track. I have road raced cars for 14 years on various tracks in the U.S., but this one is completely different. Other than watching YouTube videos and playing the track on Gran Turismo, I had no experience on this course. Add to that I am driving my one week old BMW and you can understand the source of my anxiety. THe best advice I heard was simply this: take it slow. You are not going to win a trophy during the Touristenfahrten (Tourist Laps). Take you time, learn the track, and don't be offended when you are overtaken by a Golf.

I switched the drive mode to Sport and headed out. I wasn't going to push the car past my comfort level. The car was very quick on acceleration and doesn't seem to run out of breath. This is something I learned on the the unlimited speed sections of the Autobahn. (How fast did I go? Fast enough to realize I don't have to pass EVERYONE on the road.)

The Nurburgring is a different story. You have almost no time to relax. Just when your confidence level and speed increases, the next turn comes up. Remember, I am on track with people who have no experience and some who have hundreds of laps.

The car never lost its composure, even when I missed my line. The brakes, while a little touchy, were strong throughout each session. The grip through the transitions was very good, although I wasn't pushing hard on a damp to wet track. I know there are complaints of a lack of steering feel. Again, not driving the car at 10/10ths, I can't say if that is an issue or not.

I don't have pics of my car on track yet, but I can share some that I have taken.

















Look what was parked next to us at the hotel. He just picked his ED on Monday.



Tomorrow, day 2 from the Nurburgring. We are going to take another shot at the track. Hopefully, I can upload the rest of the pictures as well.
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      07-12-2016, 05:55 PM   #16
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Hey great thread! It was cool to randomly meet another European delivery guy out here at our basically empty hotel! Good luck on the track tomorrow and maybe I'll see you out there.

Beautiful car by the way.

Here's some pictures I got of our cars in the parking lot.


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      07-12-2016, 08:48 PM   #17
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RacerDad View Post
No trip to Germany is complete with a visit to the Nurburgring. I am not talking about the resort, casino, and theme park. I am talking about the public road/racetrack that you can drive for 29 euros per lap. The track is open on most weekdays from 5:30pm - 7:30pm. On the weekends it open almost all day, but is very crowded in the summer. Another reality of the Nordchleife is that the weather can change quickly on different parts of the track. My session would start in the rain.

I was somewhat anxious about driving this track. I have road raced cars for 14 years on various tracks in the U.S., but this one is completely different. Other than watching YouTube videos and playing the track on Gran Turismo, I had no experience on this course. Add to that I am driving my one week old BMW and you can understand the source of my anxiety. THe best advice I heard was simply this: take it slow. You are not going to win a trophy during the Touristenfahrten (Tourist Laps). Take you time, learn the track, and don't be offended when you are overtaken by a Golf.

I switched the drive mode to Sport and headed out. I wasn't going to push the car past my comfort level. The car was very quick on acceleration and doesn't seem to run out of breath. This is something I learned on the the unlimited speed sections of the Autobahn. (How fast did I go? Fast enough to realize I don't have to pass EVERYONE on the road.)

The Nurburgring is a different story. You have almost no time to relax. Just when your confidence level and speed increases, the next turn comes up. Remember, I am on track with people who have no experience and some who have hundreds of laps.

The car never lost its composure, even when I missed my line. The brakes, while a little touchy, were strong throughout each session. The grip through the transitions was very good, although I wasn't pushing hard on a damp to wet track. I know there are complaints of a lack of steering feel. Again, not driving the car at 10/10ths, I can't say if that is an issue or not.

I don't have pics of my car on track yet, but I can share some that I have taken.

Look what was parked next to us at the hotel. He just picked his ED on Monday.

Tomorrow, day 2 from the Nurburgring. We are going to take another shot at the track. Hopefully, I can upload the rest of the pictures as well.
Can't wait to see your pics...I, like you am a little apprehensive about the Ring. I don't track my cars and my whole goal would just to take it nice and slow around the thing. My big concern are the other characters out there. If I go, it'll be like a Thursday in early October...so likely not as busy, I would hope. Your thoughts on the crazy Ring-goers?

Quote:
Originally Posted by ejonsson90 View Post
Hey great thread! It was cool to randomly meet another European delivery guy out here at our basically empty hotel! Good luck on the track tomorrow and maybe I'll see you out there.

Beautiful car by the way.

Here's some pictures I got of our cars in the parking lot.
What Hotel are you guys at and do you recommend? Thanks!
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      07-13-2016, 12:58 AM   #18
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For the most part, the other drivers at the ring knew what they were doing and did not cause any problems. You have to be very aware of the faster cars and use your turn signal for communications. Right turn tells the overtaking car you are staying to the right and it safe for him to pass. Left turn tells the slower car you want to pass. The slower drivers are slow enough that passing them is not difficult. It is not like the US where the slower driver speeds up to prevent you from passing. Just like driving in any crowded situation, you have to be mindful of your surroundings. Drive at a speed that is comfortable for you. By my second run, the track was empty. I only got passed twice and had many miles of empty track. A weekday in October should be the same. Just check their website to know what days it is open. Sometimes the track is reserved for testing all day.

We are staying at the Land Gut (chain name) Hotel Zur Burg (local name). It is a basic hotel just three minutes from the Nordschleife entrance and across the street from Rent 4 Ring. I will say the bed and pillows are not the most comfortable, but not too bad. The bathroom is very nice. The internet comes and goes. There is no air conditioning, but it is not necessary as today's high will be 61. We haven't tried the restaurant yet. I found this hotel through trip advisor (I used this site for all my locations).

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      07-13-2016, 08:38 AM   #19
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RacerDad View Post
For the most part, the other drivers at the ring knew what they were doing and did not cause any problems. You have to be very aware of the faster cars and use your turn signal for communications. Right turn tells the overtaking car you are staying to the right and it safe for him to pass. Left turn tells the slower car you want to pass. The slower drivers are slow enough that passing them is not difficult. It is not like the US where the slower driver speeds up to prevent you from passing. Just like driving in any crowded situation, you have to be mindful of your surroundings. Drive at a speed that is comfortable for you. By my second run, the track was empty. I only got passed twice and had many miles of empty track. A weekday in October should be the same. Just check their website to know what days it is open. Sometimes the track is reserved for testing all day.

We are staying at the Land Gut (chain name) Hotel Zur Burg (local name). It is a basic hotel just three minutes from the Nordschleife entrance and across the street from Rent 4 Ring. I will say the bed and pillows are not the most comfortable, but not too bad. The bathroom is very nice. The internet comes and goes. There is no air conditioning, but it is not necessary as today's high will be 61. We haven't tried the restaurant yet. I found this hotel through trip advisor (I used this site for all my locations).
Cool, thanks. About what I expected. I already checked the opening times and either of the days I would be there it's open for a couple hours in the evening. My guess is the short tourist window means it's less crowded that time of year. Regardless, given the short window, it'll likely also be weather dependent for me. Two of the things I really appreciate about driving in Europe, and especially on the Autobahn, are the lack of pokes in the left lane and nobody speeding up to prevent passing.
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      07-14-2016, 07:30 AM   #20
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Our internet connection is not strong enough to upload our pictures. I will complete the reports and updates when I return home on Friday.
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      07-16-2016, 10:36 AM   #21
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Days 11 & 12, Nurgburg and the Nurburgring

The next day we decided to see what the town of Nurburg has to offer, which turned out to be not much. We did explore the local castle, but we were not there very long due to the rain and construction on the facility. We were able to get some pics though.









Just two minutes from our hotel was BMW's test center. Couldn't resist a photo op.



The next stop was to visit the Nurburgring main facility. We found a go kart track and put down some laps. My son beat my time in the first session, I got even in the second.





Some pictures of what is parked in their parking garage.







We were able to find a good view of the track at Brunnchen and take some great shots of the closed sessions. My son felt like spy photographer.









We met the owner and his wife of this Cayman GT4 who were on their ED. Turns out they were not the only ones.



At 5:30pm, the track reopens for tourist laps. The sun was shining and the track was dry. It was time to put what I learned from the previous day to good use. Again, I will say that I was not nearly as fast as the regulars out there, and I still had to keep in my head that I was driving unfamiliar track in an unfamiliar car. That said, I was able to pick up the pace. Once you start to string a set of turns together, the speed increases. However, that also means that you come up to the next portion much faster and have to use the brakes even harder. The brakes were doing well, but I was using them more than necessary. The tires had great grip. I was impressed that a car with stock brakes and tires was able to perform that well.









The parking lot looks like the best cars and coffee meet you have ever seen. I am proud to say that I was the only M235i I saw in two days.











A few things to note.
  1. This is a public road which means all local laws apply. Touristenfahrten is not a timed, competitive event.
  2. The "line" is something that is learned over many, MANY laps. You cannot learn it all in two days.
  3. If you ever do a ED, you have to do this. (Seriously, I think forum administrators will ban you from the site if you don't ).

In case you were wondering about the line, here it is. It is MUCH different when you are driving it.



That evening when had dinner with the Porsche couple at the Pistenklause in the Hotel am Tiergarten, located in the town of Nurburg. This hotel is owned by Sabine Schmitz's family. We had a great time.





Which car looks out of place?



Tomorrow, dropping off the BMW.

Last edited by RacerDad; 07-18-2016 at 05:35 PM..
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      07-16-2016, 10:43 AM   #22
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Wow, so cool. The pics are great! thanks for sharing! Did you drop the car off in Frankfurt at BLG - I'd assume so based on the fact you came home right after the ring? How was that? Where'd you wash the car?
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