Car Life>> A Day At The NÜrburgring

On Thursday morning I woke up extra early to pick up a friend and head to Germany. Our destination was the famous Nürburgring. I'm not sure what it is but when you get in the vicinity of the circuit there is something in the air, you just know you're getting close. All of a sudden you see Porsches and other special cars driving through the twisty roads that surround the circuit.

First we headed out to the village Nürburg itself and from there we headed out to some cool photo locations that surrounded the track. Our first idea was to check out the entrance of the Nürburgring and to see if there were any cars that were going to hotlap the circuit. Unfortunately, as you can see in the opening picture, there weren't any cars because the circuit was closed. It looked like a testday for some manufactures like Mercedes and BMW.

In the city of Nürburg itself you can find the BMW test center, this is where they prepare the ring taxi. The car they use is a BMW E60 M5, it will cost you 195 euro but you will be driven by experienced racing drivers. I tried to get inside for better pictures but the lady at the frontdesk didn't let me in unfortunately. Better luck next time.

Here is a few of the bend at Pflanzgarten. It amazaed me at how much writing there was on the pavement. After inspecting the site a bit better, it seemed that you could climb over a fence not higher than my hips. After climbing the fence you could easily find your way onto the circuit. I guess during racing days the audience get up at night and paint their best wishes or whatever they fancy on the pavement.

Here we see some of the cars that were doing their rounds. In the front we see a Alfa Romeo. It looks like a Alfa Mito. In the back we see a car that is much more interesting, it's the Lexus LF-A. This was the only time I got to see it, the other pictures I took right after this one were all blurry. What I can tell you is that it sounded great.

It is really cool to see these kind of cars in real life, normally you would only see them in spy shots taken by ‘experts'. But on a ordinary day you can see and hear them run yourself.

There were a lot of BMW's on the track, we even saw some of them when we visited the BMW test center. The drivers were really pushing the cars to their limits.

The red R8 had a tough time keeping up with what seemed to be a S5. Maybe it was because of the driver or the black Audi has something different under the hood. Could it be the Audi RS5?

Here we have the price list for the 'touristenfahrt' on the Nürburgring.

This is the long straight at the entrance of the Nürburgring. You get real close to the cars when they go past you on full speed.

This car got me puzzled at first, but after looking at the car without the camera in front of me I recognized it as the McLaren MP4-12C as featured here by Andy Blackmore. I even got a small video of it going past me on full throttle, just listen to that sound.

Because it was BMW month, I was trying hard to find some BMW's on the parking lots that surrounded the circuit. This was the only one I could find.

I had a lot of fun visiting the circuit and I will be doing it more often from now on. So if any of the readers have some dates planned, share them with me and maybe I can join you and take some pictures.

-Jeroen Willemsen

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1

Nice video of the McLaren! Although I don't think anything will ever top the F1, hopefully this machine will prove astounding

2

some good pictures there.... espeically the camo'd cars

3

Grate article. I think that is the upcoming alfa 149

4

You should have call me, i would take you for a ride with the M3.

5

Some day I'll get to the Nürburgring! That McLaren was a good spot, it's great publicity running a car around the ring.Oh and btw there is a pink e36 next to that red one, so you must have seen 2.

6

"This was the only one I could find." - lol, what about the pink one that is sitting right next to it?

7

The MP4-12C is not intended to be the new F1. I'm not sure why people keep saying that. I cant wait to see more of this car. Really nice photos, I'll have to visit the Ring myself one day.

8

@Antonio - just be glad you didn't see the rest of the car ;)

9

@Stephane - I wish I had your number ;) I will contact you by email.

10

Did you get to stay at the track hotel? Nothing beats waking up flipping through a couple of channles through your grogginess to find live track cameras on your TV FTMFW. Ohh its easy to get into the back of the test center. You just need to tell her the following: " Gut Morgen! (Using loudest screaming voice possible) Ich bin der Schweinefleisch schwertmeister. Ich bin hier, zu ruck das welt.



Trust me, it works every time.

11

^------ It's pink, it doesn't count. :P

12

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S58cFApFM28&feature=fvsr

Here is a link to a nice video with an BMW high speed-drifting almost the entire Nurburgring

13

Nice pics! Always loved the Ring and how open it is to the public. Truely one of a kind.



Someone should make the US eqivalent of the Nurburg in the midwest someone. I vote South Dakoda........ Not like there doing much with the state anyway..lol

14

so you are telling me it is 1,650.00 USD to lap Nurb once!?

15

@ Super _X

NOLA Motorsports Park that is planing to be build in the Metro area of New Orleans is going to be one of the bigger ones here in the states at 5 Mi in its longest configuration. Thats longer than Nürburgring's GP-Strecke (F1) layout of 3.2 mi (5.148 km) not not as long as the Nordschleife its self at 12.93 mi (20.81 km) As said by some of the comentariat on other sites: I guess this will bring "DNF'ed due to water pump failure" to a whole new level.

16

@peebrain

Nope Just around $32.27 Crazy American Dollars on open track day. Commas are Europe’s decimals.

17

@peebrain if you look better you can see that one lap costs 22€



That is the price for the annual ticket...

18

@ peebrain - no, that is for a season ticket or Jahreskarte, which gives you unlimited laps until December 31st

.

@ Jeroen - check one of these before you go next time: http://www.nuerburgring.de/en/events-dates-nuerburgring.html or http://bridgetogantry.com/index.php?option=com_events&Itemid=72 as they tell you what is going on and when. Touristenfahrten is the best time to go for pics and variety, and to keep waiting down to a minimum!

19

What's with all the graffiti?? makes it look like some abandoned ghetto. Waterblast that shit off you lazy Germans.

20

*points to the comment above*



This person knows nothing about the Green Hell :P

21

@ M4XVLTG3



I am the pork sword master. I'm here to ruck the world.



i lold

22

wow... I wish there was a way we I could get my car there and drive around it myself... :(

23

Jayzedex100: You have failed.

24

Whatever. Losers.

25

That alfa is the new Alfa Mito GTA :) 1.8 turbocharged!

27

I was there yesterday and also so that red Bmw from the last pic, nice pics also.

28

Dude.. same shit happened to me... I was driving through Germany... and I also wanted to go have a lap on the Ring... but it was closed =( Next time is a must.

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