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Re: Nurburgring trip report



Jonathan,
Loved the report in the 'ring'.  I have never ridden it on a bike but have attended two BMW (the car) sponsored three day drivers schools there and it was the best time I've ever had at a track.  The only thing I would like to stress to anyone trying to tackle the north section is to take it slow and get in as many full laps as possible before cranking up the speed.  The reason for this being the track is so long with so many turns (100+ and many of these blind) that it is easy to get lost and not know which way the next turn goes.  This happened to me on my first
time there after the 2nd day and I ended up stuffing a new BMW 318is into the armco at 80 mph when I thought the track went left when it actually was going sharply to the right.  Once committed to a turn there is no way out as the are no runoff areas and guardrails as close as 6 ft. to the edge of the track  Hit one of these on a cycle and you will kiss most of your appendages good-bye as an unfortunate rider did about a month ago there.  He ended up off the track on the guardrail and became detached from the bike about the time his leg detached as well.  The rider
flew into the woods and the bike continued a long way down the armco until stopping upright against the rail as if the rider had simply gotten off and left the bike leaning on the rail while he relieved himself in the woods (this is a common thing to do at the ring).  Others on the track never thought anything of seeing the bike sitting there until after a few laps and the end of the day approaching with it still sitting there. Eventually a search party was sent out to find the rider but took way too long as they were searching near the bike and not back the 200+ yds.
where he had fallen off.  By the time they found him he had long ago bled to death.  Another potential problem for cycles there is that the track is actually considered a one way public toll road so that on an open day anyone who pays their money has access to the track to drive it in any manner they like with any vehicle they have.  This means you have tour buses, bicycles, cars, people on foot etc. all out there acting as moving chicanes at the worst times.  One of the BMW factory drivers even had a Frenchman driving his Citroen 2CV the wrong direction through the
carousel meet him head on about halfway through resulting in a prototype BMW ending up destroyed in the woods.  The 2CV driver was cited for driving the wrong way on a one way road and BMW lost their car.  I could go on and on with the stories but all I really want to get across is to take it easy and enjoy yourself at the track, but keep in mind the potential for a crash at any given moment.
Dan

BTW if you do have a mishap at the track you are on your own as there are no corner workers and only the rules of highway driving are in effect.  The Germans get really upset if you damage guardrails, signs etc. and you may have to pay for their replacement.  The good thing is usually your insurance will cover things as you are on a public road, just make sure you check the policy beforehand.

Jonathan Schulster wrote:

> Hi St'ers
> Just got back from a fun 3-days touring along the Mosel valley, from Trier to Koblenz and the wonderful 'mini-passes' up from the sides of the river valley.   This ended yesterday with a run around the famous Nurburgring.
> The sound of screaming engines as you get near the track, and bikes shooting up the straight at 250kph+ is enough to scare even hardened track day riders.   The track is huge, and only the long straight and two corners visible from the Nordschliefe entrance.  The GP circuit section is closed off and a short and bumpy bypass detours onto the 15 miles of the Nordschliefe.
>
> We were warned of the one frightening, blind bend at the top of Adenauer Forst, where you come over the crest and it looks like the track bends right, when in fact it enters a left sharp bend!  No idea how this optical illusion comes about, but everyone noticed it :)
>
> The ST was great, even with loaded luggage boxes - it pulled like a train and reached 240kph down the straight.  I was really nervous of going out, never having been on a track - but it was a great experience - I had a section of 10km all to myself, but overall got passed by 6 bikes a Ferrari 355 GTS and a Porsche Carrera 4.  There were probably less than 20 vehicles out on the total 23km track at any time, and with lights on it was easy to see faster bikes/cars coming up behind and pull in or indicate to let them pass.  If you are there on a weekday GO AND DO IT!
> Jim G. is there for 3 days of training and full day track sessions, with 120 other riders from the UK Nurburgring riders club.  If the rain lets up they will have a great time!
> A great web page, with braking markers for each bend, hazards (!) and photos of track sections:
> http://cbsgi1.bu.edu/bmw/fuchsrohre.html
>
> cheers
> Jonathan
>
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