Nürburgring - Motorsport

How many times have you seen the little hot hatch tearing around the town, the obligatory list of ‘sponsors’ slapped onto the wing just in front of the door shut line, perhaps a rear ‘wing’ that wouldn’t look out of place on an F1 car crudely attached somewhere near the rear of the car, all finished off with the “Nurburgring” sticker somewhere on the boot.

I guess that depends on where you live, but around here, it’s quite a common site!

We suspect that should anyone question their intimate knowledge of the ‘ring’, they may find it somewhat lacking. 

What’s it like to drive on?

Always the first answer to that question from us is SCARY. Proper scary. Forget all the F1 fanboys and kids who think they can drive, you’re more likely to be put to shame by a local driving a clapped out VW, one hand on the wheel, casually chatting to his passenger rather than a fully-fledged, stripped out racer (although you do get those as well!). 

Part of the problem is circuit knowledge (of course), but it’s also learning reference points – it’s quite a fast ribbon of tarmac, and unlike hooning around your local roads, there are no shops, buildings and reference points to give you the impression of just how fast you’re really travelling. 

And whilst you may have mastered it on your games console, nothing can give you the sense of the undulating ground beneath you, the rise and the fall of the tarmac, cresting a brow only to realise that you need to make a fairly sharp turn under heavy breaking. 

You can of course keep to the right side of the road and let everything else pass you as and when they see fit, but surely, part of the whole experience is to make progress. 
We’d suggest that if you’re anyway unsure of what it takes to get round it safely with some modicum of speed, then book yourself a ride in one of the ‘ring taxis – expert drivers giving it the big one in fairly sporty cars, bound to be fun!

However, driving a lap round it will at least give you the satisfaction of sticking a ‘ring sticker on your car and knowing that you’ve earned the right to do so, even if you can’t remember any of the names of the corners or if you spent the whole lap regretting the moment that you went through the automatic barrier and ventured on to one of the most feared pieces of tarmac known to petrolheads worldwide. 

It has to be in the top ten of motoring experiences although we think buying that private number plate tops the list.