Googling for somthing else took me to pistonheads where there is a thread on the Nürburgring full of "if you're there when I am I'll take you for a spin round it if you like" posts.
Now, going round the 'ring in the first place is a game for nutters, but being a passenger with a complete stranger...
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Hmmmm I wouldn't really race my own car round there and I certainly wouldn't get in a car with a complete stranger......did they not listen to the warnings when they where younger ;-)
I would though drive normally round given the chance, I do so on home circuits when marshalling however never race - I can't afford to slam it into the Armco, and I like my car to much not to do that anyway.
Each to their own though - in the meantime I'll stick to racing round it on a video game thanks.
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You know those stickers people with Citroen Saxos like to put on their tailgates, the depiction of the circuit of the Nurburgring? Well, I saw one the other day in the shape of the M25. I burst out laughing, the wife didn't get the joke of course.
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I've seen a few outline of the Nurburgring stickers but with 'Notbothering' as the caption, which is mildly amusing.
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>> Each to their own though - in the meantime I'll stick to racing round it
>> on a video game thanks.
Me too. That's enough to teach you that a mistake on most parts of that circuit will result in a very big repair bill, or worse. Stunning track, but incredibly unforgiving.
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You'd have to be mad to take your own car round it on a regular day due to the insurance situation. There isn't really an acceptable policy available unless you go for one of the hire options. Nothing would possess me to take my car, even a banger bought for the purpose.
The legal situation's not like taking your car on track here, for uk residents anyway.
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>> Hmmmm I wouldn't really race my own car round there and I certainly wouldn't get
>> in a car with a complete stranger......did they not listen to the warnings when they
>> where younger ;-)
Depends what they have - if it's something like a Bugatti Veyron or Porsche 917 then yes please.
Porsche 917 only has one seat though. Damn.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=KafugzkqHmk
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I've been round the Nurburgring.
However, it was in 1958, in a coach, on a school trip to Rhondorf on the Rhein. I've got photos of the coach...but not at the Ring.
Here are two likely lads posing there...not me, I hasten to add.
I do know who they are.
Photo taken on an Agfa Clack,,,about 12 DM...we all bought one !
tinyurl.com/6l56v39
Happy daze...still taste those lovely German chips at the Hotel Bellevue !
Ted
Last edited by: Ted on Tue 5 Jul 11 at 15:20
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I've never even seen the Ring. But my son-in-law has taken his tweaked Skyline GTR there a couple of times, and done a respectable lap time too, not 'competitive' for that car but well under 10 minutes anyway.
In a way I am envious, but the enterprise is expensive and a bit risky so it also makes my thin ageing blood run cold. A couple of years back the car needed some cosmetic straightening after a single-seater tried to defy the laws of physics in a chicane at Castle Combe. He wasn't hurt or anything but it cost him money and the car was off the road for ages.
He wants to keep doing it but he has a nipper now. I would be the last to murmur a word of discouragement, but such words do keep occurring to me.
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Ho many people are actually killed on the Ring every year?
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I haven't a clue. But quite a lot of fates short of death have a seriously tiresome side. One doesn't want to exaggerate though. As I said, I would be the last to say anything discouraging.
There's some fabulous slowed down monochrome film of Fangio in a GP Maserati I think making the Karussel look like child's play.
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And to think people used to drive 600hp supercharged V12 mid-engined Auto Unions there on crossply tyres in the nineteen-thirties... we live in an age of pygmies. Bottle was bottle in those days.
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>> And to think people used to drive 600hp supercharged V12 mid-engined Auto Unions there on
>> crossply tyres in the nineteen-thirties... we live in an age of pygmies. Bottle was bottle
>> in those days.
Stood next to a V16 Auto Union at the Goodwood Festival of Speed on Sunday while it was being fired up. The noise was fantastic, made my hair stand on end. The great thing about the event is that you can stand right next to everything, hear and smell it and there's no voices telling you to keep your hands off. And the tyres were very narrow AC - beautiful finned brake drums though. I never saw it do the hillclimb but the F1 cars were mesmerising - I know that they rev high but experiencing it for the first time a few feet away as they shot past was exhilarating. 1.16 miles in 48 seconds uphill.
You're right about bottle. You look in the cockpits of those old cars and they have propshafts running past the drivers seat a few millimetres away and the diff is against the back of the seat. There are sharp metal boxes, pipes, and switches all within close proximity of the driver. To think that these men used to drive at over 200mph and fly over humps in the ground in these cockpits is jaw dropping in this day and age. But in a way I'd like to be transported back in time just to experience the sheer rawness and excitement of those races.
The guy starting these monsters was the same one sitting in the Auto Union at Goodwood.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=myxMudtFX6g
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>> Ho many people are actually killed on the Ring every year?
About one a week on average. Mostly motorcyclists. :-(
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Now that is folly, mixing the bikers and cars on a racetrack
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A colleague of mine, a very softly spoken, unassuming sort of chap, showed me a video recently of himself setting a 7 minute, 58 second 'bridge to gantry' Nordschleife lap on his lightly modified 2005 Suzuki GSX-R 1000 back in 2009. Incredible footage.
The disparity in speed / competence of other track users is as terrifying as the sheer mix of traffic. He's clearly a very skilled rider, but there were times when he definitely had his life in other people's hands. Even if I had the ability, I am far too much of a wuss for such things.
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>> Now that is folly, mixing the bikers and cars on a racetrack
>>
Do you not recall the Top Gear featuring Sabine Schmit in the Transit van going around there?
ISTR the bikers were getting in her way around the corners:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KiC03_wVjc
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>> >> Ho many people are actually killed on the Ring every year?
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>> About one a week on average. Mostly motorcyclists. :-(
>>
That, apparently, only includes those that die on site. Many more don't make it after being transported off in the ambulance.
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My brother-in-law does it every year on his Ducati molto-fastio somethingother. He's normally quite sensible until he gets on his bike.
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Been there, done it, twice. Best time was first time, in the V6 Omega, but with my own tyres and a balick seat full of cases of beer sliding from side to side I won't mention what the time was.
Second time it was closed when I arrived due to an accident, saw the helicopter, presumably taking away the victim. Got on it shortly after re-opening (I let the nutters go first) only to find an accident part way round...
Great fun but I don't think I'd do it again as driver, and as passenger I'd only go round with a pro (Ring taxi or the Viper outfit, whatever their name is - but €260 a lap last time I looked!!)
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ive driven several bog standard family cars at full speed around goodwood abd it takes a lot out of you and the car.
been round the nurburgring twice in a testarossa and even with a excellent driver who has been around before it was terrifying
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Nürburgring - Redviper
