The Nurburgring Thread

[king_panther]

Hello ladies, gentlemen, transgendered, & sentient animals;

In September I'm off to Europe for 9 weeks.
I'll be in Germany for a period & I really want to take a spin on the Nurburgring.

Has anyone here done it? If so, how do you rate the experience?
I know it's no comparison, but I've been practicing on Gran Turismo 4 (yes, #4) & I keep spinning off the damn circuit.

So who's done it & what company did you use? There's a few I've been looking at, & I am trying to get my hands on something a little 'exotic'.

 

[LDundon]

That sounds awesome!! I have some German friends who could suss it out for you??

 

[trotty]

Wow. Much envy. If u keep spinning out u think exotic is a wise decision? Keep practicing. It's a long track.

 

[king_panther]

Wow. Much envy. If u keep spinning out u think exotic is a wise decision? Keep practicing. It's a long track.

Dude, if I have to go, then WHAT A WAY TO GO

About the best I'm going to be able to get my hands on potentially is a BMW M3 V8.
I've got a mate in Koln (Cologne). Just curious of anyone here in Oz who's gone & done it & what their opinion of it was.

 

[whats_doing]

An M3 would be fantastic. Or a hot hatch. Depends on your flavour.

 

[Dice]

I looked it up when I was planning a Europe trip, it's very expensive to do a track drive through a track car company. I think $1000 eud. I hear people take their hire cars to track days so it's cheaper lol

 

[king_panther]

I looked it up when I was planning a Europe trip, it's very expensive to do a track drive through a track car company. I think $1000 eud. I hear people take their hire cars to track days so it's cheaper lol

Nah hire companies crack down big time on that. I don't care the expense really, I mean it's bit of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
Although I will be driving on the autobahn for a second time

 

[bogan bob]

I've been a couple of times now, its awesome.

Last time I was in germany, we got bumped up to a Porsche cayman rental car and they explicitly told me it was not to be used on the nurburgring and made me sign a separate clause saying I won't! I went to nurburgring but didn't risk it by going on track with it

The visit before that I did a couple of laps in a Renault Clio race car, sorry I can't recall the name of the company, but they were one of the main ones. They had plenty of other more powerful cars but the Clio matched my budget. If you're planning on doing a large number of laps, get something more powerful like an m3 and watch your lap times tumble as you learn the track and car but if you're just after a few laps to get a taste of the track and have a bit of fun like I was, a Clio or similar in race trim will do the job.

 

[jungle]

Work colleague went to you're a gem I am on other places and the actually paid about 5000 Aus to race around the Nurburgring in a Renault cup car love that!
Did about 12 laps 8 with prof instructors

 

[king_panther]

Cool, but yea I'm pretty focused on the Beemer

Some go down to Toyota 86s or Suzuki Swifts, but I'm not travelling that far to have one of those.
There's also choosing a car for the autobahns. Last time I had a Mercedes Benz E270 CDI. Did 220km/h without breaking a sweat.

 

[cyber_scriber]

www.rentracecar.com

Track prepped Renault RS200 and RS275.

Cage, suspension, semi's, race pads, race seat with harness etc.

You'll probably lap quicker in the RS275 than you will in the BMW.

Other cars available here:

http://www.rentracecar.com/?page_id=348

For driving pleasure, pick of the bunch there for me is the Cayman S.

 

[king_panther]

Oooh flappy paddles, though I can't find a mention of the RS275?

Come on passport.... I'm waiting...

 

[king_panther]

Wondering if I should just say 'fuck it' & hire the Porsche GT3 PDK....

 

[king_panther]

I think they do film it actually. I know the hot laps (where you're a passenger) they film it.

Do have to suffer a DSG transmission though..

 

[king_panther]

Might go a hot taxi lap in the Porsche. I'd be too shitscared of opening her up.

Compare a regular BMW M3 4L V8 vs race-prepped BMW M3 3.2L 6-Cyl?

 

[Unco_Tomato]

My guess would be the race prepped 6 would be faster than the factory 8 by a fair margin.

 

[king_panther]

I'm thinking the same. V8s sound great, but the sound of the double VANOS straight-6 would be something nice to hear as well.

 

[Colonia]

Do you mean the Ringtaxi? Have you looked on their Site? Have look there and there are no Tickets available that time. Or do you want to drive self?

 

[king_panther]

Yea looks like the 23rd and 26th are trackdays?

I'm looking through http://www.rsrnurburg.com/calendar?t=full&m=10&y=2015
I will contact them. Thanks for the warning Kenan

 

[king_panther]

Ok I got a reply back from the company at the Nurburgring.

Sunday October 18 is available, for either a hot taxi lap in a Nissan GT-R (35) &/or 4 laps in a BMW. Either a 135 or M3 V8.
Awaiting confirmation