Trip Nürburgring 9 March 2003

Click here to find photo's of the event at the Nortschleife

Getting up early on Sunday morning at 5 o'clock wasn't the biggest hassle of the day.  Today was the day the Nürburgring opened their doors again. At 6 o'clock I picked up my friend who would join me to the ‘Ring.  A long four hours later saw us driving up through the industry zone where Jaguar Racing, Opel Performance Centre, and several other Racing Teams have their test centres.  As we approached the parking area I could already see Ring enthusiasts giving their cars a final inspection, and I could already see the black E6 Spezial from N.Ring (MLR Forum user), which I parked alongside.

We recognized each other and had a little chat before he went for his first stint to test the improved EVO VI Spezial.  I was really stunned by the way the car was modified.  It was completely stripped (no airbags, no aircon) with roll-cage, just one drivers seat which was lowered to the bottom of the chassis to lower the point of gravity, even fitted a lighter battery of just 4.5kg (10 pounds).  N Ring had spent a lot of time and work on his Evo, and from my point of view the car may almost be perfect!  The only option that remained were the electric windows for putting in the Jahres Ringcarte into the ticket machine at the barrier.

After two rounds of the Nordschleife, N.Ring came back in and drove a couple kms further on normal roads to give the car the chance to cool down nicely. After being able to sample in the parking area you could feel how the awesome Movit brakes were just by ‘breathing’ on them, especially when they had just withstood the hard braking of the second lap which had only taken just over 8m15!

It was my friend’s first visit to the Ring and he couldn't wait any longer to have a go.  We had taken pace notes (which I use during rallies) to take down the circuit details and it's 155 corners on paper – all via a movie we've found on the net.  After fine-tuning the notes on the first lap, we had our first real run where we tried to find a good rhythm to drive the track.

We had a rough time measured from the barrier to the bridge on the end of the straight, of 10m55s. It took a lot of concentration to understand each other whilst driving at those high speeds where wind noise is inevitable in the Evo.  The third lap was a lot better were we overtaken in a flash by N.Ring at around 170kph, just as though we were standing still! - and at that moment our feet were back on the ground!! Although every lap was a big improvement I still had problems following the ideal lines, but that will be resolved when I get more used to the circuit.  Also the fact that I didn't trust the standard Brembo brake system was a worry. Maybe I will have to contact N.Ring to get a set of Movits on my Evo – along with a Proflex suspension set which will also be considered!

Whilst on our fourth lap of the day we were woken up by a big crash of a yellow Audi 80 coupé.  Many people had stopped already to help so we drove on to finish our lap, but when accelerating up on Ex-Mühle we saw the black EVO VI of N.Ring parked down the grass with the bonnet open, so I stopped immediately to offer some help.  While taking on Ex-Mühle, N.Ring had lost his gears and had to parked the car on the grass.  We checked the car over and guessed that the clutch may have failed.  As the track would be closed for an hour for cleaning up the track and getting the crashed Audi away, we were awaiting a Ring car with a rope to get the car of track.  Unfortunately that ended N.Ring’s day and our meeting with another MLR member.

Later that afternoon when the track was re-opened we went for an extra two laps, and our last lap was clocked from the barrier to the bridge in 9m35 which would be a BTG time of 9m20s. We were very happy with the result after this 6th lap of the day, as it was only only my eleventh ever lap at the Ring.  That and just being overtaken three times by a GT2 Porsche and twice by N.Ring isn't bad for a starter without taking any risks, and bearing in mind that my driving style is still more rally minded then circuit I think this is very promising - I can't wait for N.Ring to join me to give me even more advice!!

I look forward to seeing more MLR members in the Summer when you come over for your Nurburgring trip in July!