Rennen
08-23-2004, 08:24 PM
I spent the entire summer at an internship in Germany. Towards the end of my trip I finally made my automotive pilgrimage to the Nürburgring. I must say, it was the most amazing car-related event in my life! The parking lot was full of enough exotic cars to rival any car show. The track was extremely challenging, but still fun enough for a complete newbie such as myself. Even the towns in the area were all geared towards the automotive enthusiast, with tons of resturants with automotive memorbilia, many bed and breakfasts with racecar storage out back, and every kind of fabrication and parts shops.
The Nürburgring was built in 1925-27 as a place for German manufacturers and race teams to test thier cars, and lead to the dominance of Auto Union and Mercedes Gran Prix cars of the time. For this reason, the track has every possible combination of curves and camber conditions. The entire Nürburgring(Nordschliefe and GP track) contains 172 curves and the Nordschleife(north loop) is 21km long. The entire track was used as a Grand Prix circuit until Nikki Lauda’s firey crash in 1976. The north loop of the old circuit is now open to the public as a one way toll road with no speed limit. Any street legal car/truck/van/tourist bus can take a lap for 14€ (700€ yearly pass :eek: talk about cheap tracktime!)
This extremely difficult track combined with my complete lack of driving skill and 0 hours of track time experience meant that I would need a car that was signifigantly slow, handles well, but is still fun to drive. Enter the SMART Roadster, (see review below) this car was a blast to drive and reminded me of driving my dune buggy back home. For me, it was the perfect ring car.
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid133/p800dc0f6ec718e9783721dc4af8cadef/f78b34f1.jpg
I made the 6 hour drive from Munich to Nürburg and got to the track a few hours before they opened. BMW was having thier Drivers Training on the ring and it would not open for Touristenfahren( Tourist driving) until 5:15pm. I took this opurtunity to go exploring the surrounding area:
This is where the Nürburgring gets its namesake. The castle is called Nürburg... and the track makes a ring around it... yeah, I know, real creative.
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid133/p0d7d786a35dce3e653350e0fa76bb7f0/f78b2ec9.jpg
I visted the Museum at the Grand Prix circuit, they had lots of recent DTM racers, old Gran Prix cars, plenty of motorcylces, some F1 cars, and a few interactive displays. I also got to play Gran Turismo GT4 Prologue at the kids section.
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid133/pc3ce7facbd46fb7acb04c9a36d1bfdb2/f78b255e.jpg
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid133/pf114098acccbbf8527be42987086fb26/f78a8b9c.jpg
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid133/p189ea1b93eefe135908440794d22d16e/f78b2132.jpg
Many more pics of the museum in my gallery at http://www.imagestation.com/album/?id=4286000383
OK, now that I have my touristy stuff outta the way, I will head back to the Nordschliefe and buy some tickets. It was about an hour before it opened and the parking lot was starting to attract some rather pricey ring toys. I must say I saw more Porsche GT3s in that single day than the rest of my life combined. I saw at least 10 GT3s, 2 GT3 Carrera RSs, more than 6 BMW M3 CSLs, a handfull of other misc Porsches, a Ferrari, Lancia Delta Intregale(or however the silly Itailans spell those words), some Elises, a few Super 7 kit cars, some Maserati, a couple hundred motorcylces, and alot of old cars that I recognized as very expensive, but couldn’t identify. And this was all during a Thursday afternoon!!!
A few examples, many, many more in my imagestation gallery. Please go visit if you like these kinds of things
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid133/p13b038f60c36eb94f2171e74454b2aab/f78ae3e8.jpg
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid133/p01f26db28a91f9b7ab913f8264281b01/f78add2c.jpg
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid133/pe1c4a16d0ea76018584560ac443e3a0c/f78ad02e.jpg
yep, this tour bus is at the gates to go on the ring:
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid133/p550abef1283f1a6d4469a70419e22bcc/f78ac2a1.jpg
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid133/p11040188436d733ba9c3c80d01dbbacb/f78ab2fd.jpg
That was enough gawking at others cars, it was time to go see what the track had to offer. I went and read the track rules and bought tickets for a few laps, and waited for the track to quiet down so I could take my first lap. At this point, I was extremely anxious and nervous. It was like waiting in line for a roller coaster, except that this time I might die... I walked around the parking lot evesdropping on groups of people too see if I could find any english speaking people to take me on a passenger lap, but the only ones I could find were British bikers. So I finally decided that the track was clear enough and I should just go for it. I fired up the 3 cyl turbo Smart slid the manumatic transmission in 1st and headed for the entrance gate.
Now I had tried to learn the track through a free online racing simulator(www.racer.nl) but at this point I was nervous enough to forget it all. With only a vague familiarity of the track I had decided to take my first lap easy, then step it up for the next one.... That plan went out the window as soon as I worked my way up the gears on the front straight. I hit Tiergarten flat out in 6th, took the first couple bends with my right foot to the floor. Then slammed on the brakes and wildly slapped at the downshift lever as I came to a 2nd gear 90° right. The car was extremely well behaved, almost no body roll cause of the low weight and CG, and it seemed quite natural to fly through the turns. When the front wheels got really light at Flugplatz, I decided to back off a little bit. Soon the bikers caught up with me, and I spent more time signaling right and letting them plass than I did on the racing line, but I was still moving along at a healthy pace, and the first lap was quite uneventful..... Until I got to the left hander at Adenauer-Forst. As you enter, it looks like an average third gear 90° left over a blind crest on entry, but as soon as you come over that crest it turns into this viciously tight second gear left hander. The “Oh ****!” light came on in my head as I pleaded for the car to turn a little more. Saved by the Smart’s slowness, I managed to only get my outisde tires onto the rumbly strip things and still made the 90° right directly after. I could see all the spectators pointing at my car, disapointed that they didn’t get to see me sail into the sand trap, and I slowly accelerated out of there. The rest of my first lap was also uneventful, I would often have to get off of the racing line and signal for the Porsches and Bikes and... well and everything else to pass. The further I went the more comfortable I was with the car, and after letting a Z pass me on the straight, I kept up with him through the third or fourth gear sweepers at the end..... OH! The Karussell, I almost forgot. That turn was worth the trip alone, its a steeply banked 120° left but only a small section is banked, so I had to hit it just right. When on the banked part I could go full throttle the entire turn.
The second lap was more of the same, the only exciting part was when a group of Hondas passed me, two were Integras, the last one was a Prelude. I signaled right and let them pass on the straight, then tucked behind them on the turns. The Prelude kept braking while turning and was getting loose. I came over the crest of a hill to see him hit the brakes and do a nice 270° spin about 50m in front of me. Fortunately for him and me, there were no Porsches flying up behind us, and he kept it mostly on the track without hitting anything. At the end of my second lap a 60s Bently came flying past onto the main straight, and as we slowed down for the entrance/exit gate I could smell antifreeze. The Bently just barely made it off the track before his radiator blew coolant everwhere(250€ fine and banned from the ring for a week if it had happened on track)
While the rental car tires were holding up quite nicely, and weren’t rolling over much at all, I could tell that they had enough heat for a while, and pulled off to the parking lot to cool down.
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid133/pd329bb5004d3c41883739d4fd7892ffd/f78aa9ea.jpg
Later I decided to go find some good spots to spectate from, since photography or video have been banned from the track (to prevent stupidity/pushing too hard), you have to hike around to find good spots to watch from. From this spot I had a good view of Exmühle and Wehrseifen. All sorts of vechicles came by a volvo SUV with 7 people on board, tons of Porsches, lots of Golfs, and even this:
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid133/pbd46297ac9476a6a7ea325abdf6e9ef5/f78aa1bb.jpg
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid133/p4b3380466fa54bf04109a0d616f5dc81/f78a5f5e.jpg
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid133/p1ba814d6cac87b3beb6261a74ba55597/f78a9eee.jpg
again, lots lots lots more pics in the gallery, I just didnt feel like posting them all.
Smart Roadster Review:
My goals when picking a car to take to the ring were:
1.) slow
2.) handles well
3.) fun to drive
4.) not something I can drive in the US
5.) I must fit
While looking at the differnt companies online, one car came out that had all of the first 4 qualities: the Smart Roadster. After some convincing of a local car dealership, I got to do a test sit and found that it had tons of room inside. For those that don’t know me, I am hardly a small guy(6’4” 240lbs), but was pleased to discover that that I had plenty of head and leg room in this tiny car.
The specs aren’t too bad for this car either: turbocharged intercooled 968cc 3 cylinder making 82bhp at 5,250rpm and 81 ftlbs at 2,250rpm, 6 speed semi-automatic, weighs a little more than 1740lbs, 15x6” wheels front 15x7” rear with 205/45 tires all around. Unfortunately it didnt have the sport package which sets up to 16” wheels and paddle shifters. Its by no means fast, with a 0-62 time of 12.8s, but short gearing still makes it fun to drive. I would still never buy a new one, because it is priced up there with a Miata. Its more of a trendy persons overpriced toy, but it was cheap to rent, so what the hell, why not.
My first driving impression was that it was much like my dunebuggy to drive, noisy engine right behind your ears, absolutely nothing in front of your feet except two wheels and a steering rack. Only this car actually goes where you point the front wheels and it makes cool BOV sounds when you shift.
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid133/pb6a2c02dd90649f8be0d7d09e09c767f/f78b307d.jpg
Its just as wide as my uncle’s A4, but about half as long.
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid133/p19df7ebc7329ee8f533c413f9ac50d7f/f78b3431.jpg
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid133/p788af8977dadb7b134e06c6a16d5cb5e/f78b3393.jpg
Its got a trendy smartish interior, with (L>R) speedometer, smaller tach, boost, and temp.
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid133/pd897d617bc51c432182164773f322b9a/f78b3228.jpg
On the autobahn, it keeps up with traffic decently with a top speed of 175 kph, but with the top down and radio turned all the way up to compete with wind noise, it doesn’t seem that the alternator is up to the challenge, I killed the battery 3 times on this trip (using my mastery of the german language to get a jump start is fun)
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid133/p9473cde8b3043002577aaf58bbd3c3b3/f78b2ff8.jpg
In the twisties and on the ring, it handles great with its low weight, wideish tires, and low CG. The only drawback to all the fun is the transmission. Even though its an auto, it shifts HARD, its to the point where you must lift when upshifting, and blip when downshifting to get anywhere close to a smooth shift. This worked ok when I was in “manual” mode because I could just drive it like a stick without the clutch. The problem was on the track, when I was mid corner trying to hold a gear and it would suddently jerk into a higher gear without me selecting it. The gearing is very short, the long 0-60 time is actually because it takes 4 shifts to get there!! I thought that the car would brutally understeer because none of the weight is in the front, but it handled quite neutrally, all 4 wheels would break loose at the same time. Kind of like a large go-kart.
Oh crap, thats alot of typing, sorry for it being so long, and these are only a few pictures, the rest are all in my imagestation gallery at http://www.imagestation.com/album/?id=4286000383
-Matt
PS, if you work for any rental car agencies, this is all a ficticious story with photoshoped pics ;)
Oh, and also, if you want to see my pics from the German F1 Grand Prix, the Porsche Museum, etc. go here: http://www.imagestation.com/album/?id=4286111573 And if you are horribly bored and have an afternoon to kill at work, try sifting through my 470+ vacation photos with lots of car museums, touristy stuffs, and hiking here: http://www.imagestation.com/album/?id=4286810213
The Nürburgring was built in 1925-27 as a place for German manufacturers and race teams to test thier cars, and lead to the dominance of Auto Union and Mercedes Gran Prix cars of the time. For this reason, the track has every possible combination of curves and camber conditions. The entire Nürburgring(Nordschliefe and GP track) contains 172 curves and the Nordschleife(north loop) is 21km long. The entire track was used as a Grand Prix circuit until Nikki Lauda’s firey crash in 1976. The north loop of the old circuit is now open to the public as a one way toll road with no speed limit. Any street legal car/truck/van/tourist bus can take a lap for 14€ (700€ yearly pass :eek: talk about cheap tracktime!)
This extremely difficult track combined with my complete lack of driving skill and 0 hours of track time experience meant that I would need a car that was signifigantly slow, handles well, but is still fun to drive. Enter the SMART Roadster, (see review below) this car was a blast to drive and reminded me of driving my dune buggy back home. For me, it was the perfect ring car.
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid133/p800dc0f6ec718e9783721dc4af8cadef/f78b34f1.jpg
I made the 6 hour drive from Munich to Nürburg and got to the track a few hours before they opened. BMW was having thier Drivers Training on the ring and it would not open for Touristenfahren( Tourist driving) until 5:15pm. I took this opurtunity to go exploring the surrounding area:
This is where the Nürburgring gets its namesake. The castle is called Nürburg... and the track makes a ring around it... yeah, I know, real creative.
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid133/p0d7d786a35dce3e653350e0fa76bb7f0/f78b2ec9.jpg
I visted the Museum at the Grand Prix circuit, they had lots of recent DTM racers, old Gran Prix cars, plenty of motorcylces, some F1 cars, and a few interactive displays. I also got to play Gran Turismo GT4 Prologue at the kids section.
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid133/pc3ce7facbd46fb7acb04c9a36d1bfdb2/f78b255e.jpg
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid133/pf114098acccbbf8527be42987086fb26/f78a8b9c.jpg
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid133/p189ea1b93eefe135908440794d22d16e/f78b2132.jpg
Many more pics of the museum in my gallery at http://www.imagestation.com/album/?id=4286000383
OK, now that I have my touristy stuff outta the way, I will head back to the Nordschliefe and buy some tickets. It was about an hour before it opened and the parking lot was starting to attract some rather pricey ring toys. I must say I saw more Porsche GT3s in that single day than the rest of my life combined. I saw at least 10 GT3s, 2 GT3 Carrera RSs, more than 6 BMW M3 CSLs, a handfull of other misc Porsches, a Ferrari, Lancia Delta Intregale(or however the silly Itailans spell those words), some Elises, a few Super 7 kit cars, some Maserati, a couple hundred motorcylces, and alot of old cars that I recognized as very expensive, but couldn’t identify. And this was all during a Thursday afternoon!!!
A few examples, many, many more in my imagestation gallery. Please go visit if you like these kinds of things
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid133/p13b038f60c36eb94f2171e74454b2aab/f78ae3e8.jpg
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid133/p01f26db28a91f9b7ab913f8264281b01/f78add2c.jpg
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid133/pe1c4a16d0ea76018584560ac443e3a0c/f78ad02e.jpg
yep, this tour bus is at the gates to go on the ring:
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid133/p550abef1283f1a6d4469a70419e22bcc/f78ac2a1.jpg
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid133/p11040188436d733ba9c3c80d01dbbacb/f78ab2fd.jpg
That was enough gawking at others cars, it was time to go see what the track had to offer. I went and read the track rules and bought tickets for a few laps, and waited for the track to quiet down so I could take my first lap. At this point, I was extremely anxious and nervous. It was like waiting in line for a roller coaster, except that this time I might die... I walked around the parking lot evesdropping on groups of people too see if I could find any english speaking people to take me on a passenger lap, but the only ones I could find were British bikers. So I finally decided that the track was clear enough and I should just go for it. I fired up the 3 cyl turbo Smart slid the manumatic transmission in 1st and headed for the entrance gate.
Now I had tried to learn the track through a free online racing simulator(www.racer.nl) but at this point I was nervous enough to forget it all. With only a vague familiarity of the track I had decided to take my first lap easy, then step it up for the next one.... That plan went out the window as soon as I worked my way up the gears on the front straight. I hit Tiergarten flat out in 6th, took the first couple bends with my right foot to the floor. Then slammed on the brakes and wildly slapped at the downshift lever as I came to a 2nd gear 90° right. The car was extremely well behaved, almost no body roll cause of the low weight and CG, and it seemed quite natural to fly through the turns. When the front wheels got really light at Flugplatz, I decided to back off a little bit. Soon the bikers caught up with me, and I spent more time signaling right and letting them plass than I did on the racing line, but I was still moving along at a healthy pace, and the first lap was quite uneventful..... Until I got to the left hander at Adenauer-Forst. As you enter, it looks like an average third gear 90° left over a blind crest on entry, but as soon as you come over that crest it turns into this viciously tight second gear left hander. The “Oh ****!” light came on in my head as I pleaded for the car to turn a little more. Saved by the Smart’s slowness, I managed to only get my outisde tires onto the rumbly strip things and still made the 90° right directly after. I could see all the spectators pointing at my car, disapointed that they didn’t get to see me sail into the sand trap, and I slowly accelerated out of there. The rest of my first lap was also uneventful, I would often have to get off of the racing line and signal for the Porsches and Bikes and... well and everything else to pass. The further I went the more comfortable I was with the car, and after letting a Z pass me on the straight, I kept up with him through the third or fourth gear sweepers at the end..... OH! The Karussell, I almost forgot. That turn was worth the trip alone, its a steeply banked 120° left but only a small section is banked, so I had to hit it just right. When on the banked part I could go full throttle the entire turn.
The second lap was more of the same, the only exciting part was when a group of Hondas passed me, two were Integras, the last one was a Prelude. I signaled right and let them pass on the straight, then tucked behind them on the turns. The Prelude kept braking while turning and was getting loose. I came over the crest of a hill to see him hit the brakes and do a nice 270° spin about 50m in front of me. Fortunately for him and me, there were no Porsches flying up behind us, and he kept it mostly on the track without hitting anything. At the end of my second lap a 60s Bently came flying past onto the main straight, and as we slowed down for the entrance/exit gate I could smell antifreeze. The Bently just barely made it off the track before his radiator blew coolant everwhere(250€ fine and banned from the ring for a week if it had happened on track)
While the rental car tires were holding up quite nicely, and weren’t rolling over much at all, I could tell that they had enough heat for a while, and pulled off to the parking lot to cool down.
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid133/pd329bb5004d3c41883739d4fd7892ffd/f78aa9ea.jpg
Later I decided to go find some good spots to spectate from, since photography or video have been banned from the track (to prevent stupidity/pushing too hard), you have to hike around to find good spots to watch from. From this spot I had a good view of Exmühle and Wehrseifen. All sorts of vechicles came by a volvo SUV with 7 people on board, tons of Porsches, lots of Golfs, and even this:
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid133/pbd46297ac9476a6a7ea325abdf6e9ef5/f78aa1bb.jpg
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid133/p4b3380466fa54bf04109a0d616f5dc81/f78a5f5e.jpg
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid133/p1ba814d6cac87b3beb6261a74ba55597/f78a9eee.jpg
again, lots lots lots more pics in the gallery, I just didnt feel like posting them all.
Smart Roadster Review:
My goals when picking a car to take to the ring were:
1.) slow
2.) handles well
3.) fun to drive
4.) not something I can drive in the US
5.) I must fit
While looking at the differnt companies online, one car came out that had all of the first 4 qualities: the Smart Roadster. After some convincing of a local car dealership, I got to do a test sit and found that it had tons of room inside. For those that don’t know me, I am hardly a small guy(6’4” 240lbs), but was pleased to discover that that I had plenty of head and leg room in this tiny car.
The specs aren’t too bad for this car either: turbocharged intercooled 968cc 3 cylinder making 82bhp at 5,250rpm and 81 ftlbs at 2,250rpm, 6 speed semi-automatic, weighs a little more than 1740lbs, 15x6” wheels front 15x7” rear with 205/45 tires all around. Unfortunately it didnt have the sport package which sets up to 16” wheels and paddle shifters. Its by no means fast, with a 0-62 time of 12.8s, but short gearing still makes it fun to drive. I would still never buy a new one, because it is priced up there with a Miata. Its more of a trendy persons overpriced toy, but it was cheap to rent, so what the hell, why not.
My first driving impression was that it was much like my dunebuggy to drive, noisy engine right behind your ears, absolutely nothing in front of your feet except two wheels and a steering rack. Only this car actually goes where you point the front wheels and it makes cool BOV sounds when you shift.
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid133/pb6a2c02dd90649f8be0d7d09e09c767f/f78b307d.jpg
Its just as wide as my uncle’s A4, but about half as long.
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid133/p19df7ebc7329ee8f533c413f9ac50d7f/f78b3431.jpg
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid133/p788af8977dadb7b134e06c6a16d5cb5e/f78b3393.jpg
Its got a trendy smartish interior, with (L>R) speedometer, smaller tach, boost, and temp.
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid133/pd897d617bc51c432182164773f322b9a/f78b3228.jpg
On the autobahn, it keeps up with traffic decently with a top speed of 175 kph, but with the top down and radio turned all the way up to compete with wind noise, it doesn’t seem that the alternator is up to the challenge, I killed the battery 3 times on this trip (using my mastery of the german language to get a jump start is fun)
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid133/p9473cde8b3043002577aaf58bbd3c3b3/f78b2ff8.jpg
In the twisties and on the ring, it handles great with its low weight, wideish tires, and low CG. The only drawback to all the fun is the transmission. Even though its an auto, it shifts HARD, its to the point where you must lift when upshifting, and blip when downshifting to get anywhere close to a smooth shift. This worked ok when I was in “manual” mode because I could just drive it like a stick without the clutch. The problem was on the track, when I was mid corner trying to hold a gear and it would suddently jerk into a higher gear without me selecting it. The gearing is very short, the long 0-60 time is actually because it takes 4 shifts to get there!! I thought that the car would brutally understeer because none of the weight is in the front, but it handled quite neutrally, all 4 wheels would break loose at the same time. Kind of like a large go-kart.
Oh crap, thats alot of typing, sorry for it being so long, and these are only a few pictures, the rest are all in my imagestation gallery at http://www.imagestation.com/album/?id=4286000383
-Matt
PS, if you work for any rental car agencies, this is all a ficticious story with photoshoped pics ;)
Oh, and also, if you want to see my pics from the German F1 Grand Prix, the Porsche Museum, etc. go here: http://www.imagestation.com/album/?id=4286111573 And if you are horribly bored and have an afternoon to kill at work, try sifting through my 470+ vacation photos with lots of car museums, touristy stuffs, and hiking here: http://www.imagestation.com/album/?id=4286810213