Wednesday, October 12:
Today is Nurburgring day!!! I’m up early and on the road out of Switzerland. Once we hit the German border, it’s like a Star Wars hyper drive moment…light speed!!! Today is the first time we break 150 mph. We get to 152 on the GPS and about 158 on the speedo. Before Nürburg, I head over to the Black Forest Road via the gorgeous little town of Oppenau.
The Black Forest Road is also stunning. Quick coffee stop at the Mummelsee.
The only car that passes me on any of the mountain roads was this Audi A1...it was MOVING!
I head down into Baden-Baden and over the Rhine into France (mainly so we pick up France for the car).
Cross back into Germany and onto Nürburg. Here I saw a Volvo also on ED!
The main autobahn exit is closed, so the alternative takes me through picturesque German countryside. Then I end up behind a Porsche carrier…we know where he’s going!
Seeing the Ring for the first time.
At the Ring, I scheduled a private instructor in my car for 149 EUR for the 4 laps. I bought the lap card and paid the instructor with cash. Arranged through RICHARD JORDAN of
www.Rent4Ring.de…he was super cool and extremely helpful throughout! Provided me with safety briefing and helmet.
I had really NO TRACK TIME going into this, so I tell them my goal is to go around safely and maybe have a little fun. My instructor, Andy Carlile (more on that later) is phenomenal. Guides my through the first time to get a feel for me and the car and conditions. Superb in every way. We progressively dial it up with a break after lap 2. I was happy to hear he thought I did all right for a guy with no track time. Good with throttle control but need to learn to be more aggressive with the brakes! He estimated I was going around at about a 10:30 pace and that I did the Karussell at about “as fast as it (my car) would stick.” I thought that was GREAT!
After it was over, and it went by so fast, I mentioned I’d have loved to do a taxi. Andy said, well I could take you round. He said he would take it relatively easy because the car was new and wet and that he'd go just a little quicker than I did so I could see what it would be like if I practiced. Because I distinctly my check-in specialist saying it "would be no problem" if someone else drove the car, I hesitated for about a second and was like, yea let’s do it! So I handed over the keys of my brand new car to a Nurburgring pro and let him have a go.
This was a real treat…insane. He estimated we were a bit over 9 minutes with him at the helm and it was intense and fun and incredible and at the same time he said he was taking it easy - he did the outside of the Karussell and slow!!! I realized after I should have done one consecutive video instead of just bits!!
video 1 of 2:
Video 2 of 2:
Unfortunately, I think I missed the photo guy that day…but I do have webcam images of me coming off and Andy going on.
I ask Andy what his fastest time is and he says just about 7 minutes on his bike YZF-R1 I’m like wow, OMG! So of course later that night I go to the wiki page for the Ring and there he is, Andy Carlile,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...es#Motorcycles, the fastest guy round on a bike. And I let him drive my car!!!
At Andy’s recommendation, I ate at the Pistenklause. Food was great, steak am stein…can’t go wrong there!!! I ask if Jeremy Clarkson signed the wall anywhere and the owner says, no, just drank!!! Overnight was at Hotel Zur Burg, which had some issues with my booking but they had open rooms so they let me in. It’s a pretty basic hotel…Nürburg is all about one thing...and it ain’t the hotel!
WHAT A DAY!!!