Nurburgring Annual Trip No.3

Housey · 1 Jun 2018 at 19:26

Heading down to the Nurburgring next Thursday for a few days, staying at Spa on Thursday evening for dinner and then off to the Ring from Spa first thing Friday morning. Planning is a full day Friday and Saturday weather allowing and then routing back to the UK on Sunday morning, probably getting home around 8pm.

Again we have a good group with my R8, couple of GT3's and GT3 RS's, couple of V8 M3's an M2 and McLaren and probably a couple of other cars I have missed. Same group of mates I've been with before so good mixture of driving experience and banter is bound to be excellent.

Will try and do a bit of a road report and take a few pictures along the way, but can't wait!

Kreeeee · 1 Jun 2018 at 19:59

Enjoy and good luck with the weather.

EdwardTeach · 1 Jun 2018 at 19:59

What is the cost for something like this?

Diddums · 1 Jun 2018 at 20:03

What's the record for a beetle on the ring anyway?

Havana_UK · 1 Jun 2018 at 20:12

EdwardTeach said:
What is the cost for something like this?

It can be fairly inexpensive, around €60 for a night at a guesthouse, and then £55 for a channel tunnel return, around €230 for 9 laps of the ring plus the fuel you use.

timmeh · 1 Jun 2018 at 20:22

I thought you'd be taking the Polo tbh but i guess you can still have fun in the R8.

Housey · 1 Jun 2018 at 20:23

EdwardTeach said:
What is the cost for something like this?

A lap is circa 30euros I think, I have a few left over from my last visit so will use them all being well. Hotels we tend to do sensibly so maybe 120euros a night or less and then it's just food and beer money. Hell I am even sharing a room with a mate so even I can do budget. Previously we have done Saturday night in a city for a proper session on the beer and clubbing but this year we are not planning to do this unless the weather goes crap then that's exactly what we will do! It really doesn't have to be expensive and frankly we don't got there and spend hours blatting around. We do a few laps in the morning, nice long lunch, few in the afternoon then head for dinner. The trip is about track fun and the social aspect of being with mates in a place for of like minds.

Housey · 1 Jun 2018 at 20:23

timmeh said:
I thought you'd be taking the Polo tbh but i guess you can still have fun in the R8.

I respect Bellof too much frankly and I don't want to appear in Autosport/Motorsport etc.

Blackhawk47 · 2 Jun 2018 at 18:26

Jealous...will be going back either August or September time.

We always get the ferry from Hull to Rotterdam - which was rather expensive last time for what it is. I wonder if it is worth considering the the channel tunnel route but it just means a lot more driving to get to Nurburg.

Housey · 3 Jun 2018 at 19:31

Washed, levels checked, pressures checked and travel/track bits in boot. We are all set, roll on Thursday morning!

Phil W · 3 Jun 2018 at 19:51

Not long got back from a trip over there.

We did the overnight ferry from Hull to Rotterdam. If anyone else does this, call to book - don't do it online. You can book a cabin for 4 people, split the cost and add the cars on. Think it worked out to £140ish return per person. Much better than driving from Shropshire to Dover.

Have a great trip, Housey. For me it's about the whole weekend with mates, road tripping, good food and a few good laps of the ring.

I did a hot lap with Dale Lomas this time in the F-Type SVR. Mega experience!

Housey · 3 Jun 2018 at 20:15

Phil W said:
Have a great trip, Housey. For me it's about the whole weekend with mates, road tripping, good food and a few good laps of the ring.

Agreed, so much more than a drive to the Nurburgring so you can drive the track. That is just part of it, it's the time away from work and normal life with a bunch of mates, some good banter, some big speeds on the autobahn and some beers.

NickXX · 4 Jun 2018 at 05:44

Are you doing Tourist sessions, or are you booked onto track sessions? If the former, can you now get fully comp insurance?

Havana_UK · 4 Jun 2018 at 07:35

NickXX said:
Are you doing Tourist sessions, or are you booked onto track sessions? If the former, can you now get fully comp insurance?

Every UK insurer has a specific exclusion for the Nordschleife, bu you can buy separate insurance from some motorsport insurers. It's very expensive (I've been quoted ~£500), it has a large excess (~£3000+), and only covers your car, not other cars and not the track itself.

howler · 4 Jun 2018 at 16:52

Considering going over August bank holiday, any recommendations on where to stay? Quite a lot of places seem to be booked up now

ShivP · 5 Jun 2018 at 22:28

TF sessions with the stupid fines for crashes would put me off going on a none track day to be honest

Blackhawk47 · 6 Jun 2018 at 12:56

Shivy011 said:
TF sessions with the stupid fines for crashes would put me off going on a none track day to be honest

Just take it easy and you’ll be okay. I took out the additional insurance for a rental car I took round the ring. It was worth it for the piece of mind, and covered up to €4000 of damage to the Armco.

Phil W · 6 Jun 2018 at 19:19

^ True this.

I'd say a good 80-90% of crashes happen because people are simply driving outside of their limits (driving like Wally's).

Housey · 6 Jun 2018 at 19:33

It's the same on any track day really. People go off because they get over confident or get red misted to hell. The issue at the Ring is it's much easier to take others out or get involved in other peoples dickish driving. My first ever lap I was nearly collected by a Type R thing that was DESPERATE to get past me. I was on my first ever lap so in my mirrors most the way around and I saw him coming, gave him room for him to bin it into the kitty litter right in front of me. I said to my mate next to me "there is no chance this guy is going to get around this bend" as he sailed off across the grass and into the stones.

Idiots will idiot, double eyes, no risks and make lots of allowances and you should limit your risk....but you can still easily bin it.

Nurburgring Annual Trip No.3

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