Nordschleife Built: 1925 – 1927Opened: 18/19 June 1927
Costs: approx. 15 Million Reichsmark,
employing up to 3000 unemployed over a period of two years
Length: 20.8 km
Upward slope: max. 17%
Downward slope: max. 11%
Highest point: 620 m at the starting and finishing line
Lowest point: 320 m at Breidscheid
Altitude difference: approx. 300 m
Number of bends: 33 left bends, 40 right bends
Me and my brother have been at Nürburgring alot of times, driving around the circuit in my brothers cars (Porsche 911SC, Golf and a high performance Mini). But there is no way you can learn that big race circuit well, by runing only 5 or 10 laps (100-200km!) over the weekend. So if you want a great driving experience, buy a ticket for a seat onboard one of the BMW M5 Ring Taxis with a professional race driver.
I once booked a seat in one of the BMW M5 Ring Taxis. We where tree guys in the car and a girl behind the wheel with alot of driving skills, I don’t remember her name but it was not the famous race driver Sabine Schmitz. The antispin was turned off and the M power button was activated to give an extra 100hp, going from 400hp to 500hp :-) She really knew the track and the car, She could easily make a high speed four wheel drift while chatting whit the passengers :-) It was very fun and well worth the money, I would deffently do it again some time. If you want to book a seat in the Ring Taxi, you should do it months before you meet up. It can be difficult to get a seat, especially weekends with big events.
My best driving experience ever was back in 2001 at the Nürburgring Nordschleife. My brother and I went down to the “pit area” around the restaurant “Grüne Hölle” to look at cars (Porsche, Ferrari, Lamborghini every sports car you could imagine). My brother is in to Porsches so we talked to some of the Porsche guys. That’s how we meet a very nice guy called Heinz who lived not far away from Nürburgring. Heinz spend alot of money and spare time racing his street car at the ring in the weekends. The car was a nearly stock Porsche 964 (911) RS leightweight, the only thing that was modifyed was the 3.6 liter engine that now gave around 300hp. Heinz said we could get a ride with him for a few euros if we wanted. We didn’t think twice and said yes. He had all the right safty harness and a helmet so it should be quite safe to ride with him. Heinz knew the circuit very well, he had done around 800-1000 laps at that time (16000-21000km!!)
The 964 RS leightweight is a very nice car. The body shell is stronger and lighter, with aluminium front lid, seam welding, lighter doors and 3mm versus 4.7mm side windows, lightweight rear bumper, underbody sealant deleted, an in built battery cut off switch, special ultra light Magnesium!! 17" Cup wheels, 40mm lower suspension and much uprated dampers and springs. Turbo front brakes brakes with re-tuned ABS.
Inside you got lovely lightweight carbon fibre 'Recaro' race seats, 4 point safety harness, no air con, no heated window, no electric windows or central locking..
Trim is sparse, very basic door cards, a little strap rather than a handle to pull the door shut, little soundproofing, the rear seats are removed -even the interior light is deleted in effort to save weight. The roll cage is optional from the factory.
I got in to the seat, and tightened the harness. Heinz said it was too loose so he pulled the straps even harder. I thought to my self how tight do they need to be? I almost felt claustofobic. But when we got out on the track, I could see it was necessary to be straped down that hard. I have never imagined how much G-force this car could pull, when going up hill, down hill, cornering and braking. Even when I was strapped down hard and holding on to the roll cage, I was moving around in the seat. Heinz didn’t spare the material, he realy drove the car hard. I was surprised how fast this car could take the corners. I got it on tape, so here is a video of the ride with Heinz. Too bad you can’t feel the speed and G-forces on the video. You can’t se the speedo very well on the You-Tube version, so I have writen som of the speeds in the right lower corner.
Klik here to see another video of a Girl taking a ride with Heinz.
No comments:
Post a Comment