6:00 a.m. Saturday. I make coffee in my Rubystone Porsche cup and prepare for a 100 km drive to a village in the middle of the Eifel in Germany. The destination? Nürburgring. The event? None of them.
No races, no shows, just a casual visit to one of the world’s most famous racetracks. The Nürburgring is open from March to November when it’s not being used for events, record runs or R&D testing, and I live only an hour and a half away.
I never take the motorway to the Ring. Instead, I take the more scenic route through the Eifel National Park. It’s a shorter distance, but overall the journey is longer. My little Daihatsu Copen he enjoys winding roads through villages and forests more than speeding at 130 km/h.
This time the thick fog made the journey even more interesting. Sometimes I couldn’t drive above 50 km/h. It was so bad.
After an hour of driving, the road signs start to show how close you are, and that gives you the urge to drive a little faster. Soon you will be driving under the GP track and onto the Nürburgring. But the road still has something to tell.
Drive a little further and the Döttinger Höhe is suddenly on the left. It seemed surreal the first time. You’ll hear the roar of the engine as people start it up Touristenfahrten in a circle. From then on, Porsche 911 GT3s were suddenly a common sight on the roads.
While I was taking photos at the ED gas station, a friend of mine happened to drop by with his BMW 1M. His car wears M-car’s signature “Ring tool” look. Carbon splitter, wing, roll cage and BBS E88s to finish things off. Upgrades were supplied by Team Schirmer Parts, as with many fast M cars at the ‘Ring.
What I love about the Nürburgring is how approachable it is. Any street legal car and motorcycle can enter with some restrictions. This results in a number of ‘Ring tool builds’.
While the structures at the Nürburgring are not as visually aggressive as in Japan or the US, they shine with their pure function.
The classic choice for a ring tool is a BMW, preferably a 3-series. This particular Sakhir Orange E92 M3 is owned by a friend and is a classic example of an M3 ring tool. His glorious S65 drivetrain features Schrick camshafts, exhaust and tune. The Bilstein Motorsport suspension works with custom valving and some highly visible carbon fiber vented fenders and hood.
The E92 is driven a few hundred laps a year at the ‘Ring, and yet it looks almost too clean for driving on that track.
This is the Nürburgring road. I get the impression that reliability is more important than pure speed. Thermal management, tire wear, all it becomes a factor when you regularly push hard on the court. In addition, the car must be street legal, as the Nürburgring is considered a toll road Touristenfahrten.
The Porsche 911 GT3 is another popular choice. The ‘Ringen are among the fastest, yet one of the most reliable track machines you can buy brand new.
Something that doesn’t fit the typical ‘Ring tool script should always be celebrated. I met someone with a diesel Honda Accord Tourer with intakes and aero. Naturally, this got my attention.
I learned that it was built for the Nürburgring and specifically to be the fastest front wheel drive diesel around. It runs an impressive 7:57 “Bridge-to-Gantry” time (the layout Touristenfahrten from the Bilstein Bridge to the Audi Sport Gantry with a discount from Döttinger Höhe).
Daihatsum is also my ring tool. It’s a Euro-spec Copen, meaning it had a “big block” intake of 1300cc instead of a JDM. kei class turbocharged 660cc. It’s not a full-round ‘Ring tool yet, but I’m having a lot of fun with the Nankang half-slicks on the track. I’m not too worried about BtG times; for me it’s all about having fun and improving my driving skills.
“Ring taxis are always available for those who want a ‘send it’ experience.
The Nürburgring is so huge that it has a couple of villages. Adenau is the largest and is home to the lowest point on the course, Breidscheid. In the Adenau area, my favorite is the Wehrseif, from where I can look straight into the mountains and only get a glimpse of the course.
Brünnchen is a popular location, made famous by YouTube videos showing cars that have broken down or broken down at the bend in front of the crowd. If you are willing to walk, you can reach the Hohe Acht, the highest point of the Nürburgring, in 20 minutes. The trail was muddy on this day, but the noise from the flat six engines made up for it.
Entering the Nordschleife is as easy as any other toll road, but after a while every first turn fills you with anxiety. The fact that I messed up on the last lap and oversteered the course on a previous trip didn’t help. But it only took 1 minute past the entrance to remember that I know this track pretty well and to relax a bit.
Each section of the track offers a different experience. At Hatzenbach, you have to stay mostly in third gear for the first minute, while the fact that you are driving on the legendary race track. You can start taking off the power from Quiddelbacher Höhe all the way to Schwedenkreuz and then Foxhole. go through the fastest sections of the track in one and a half minutes.
Foxhole is probably my favorite section. A steep descent increases speed, while at the bottom of the descent a high-speed left compression. Your body pulls into the seat as you most likely hit the highest cornering speed of the lap. There’s a lot going on at once, and before you know it, you’re at the top of a hill heading into the next turn, and you need to brake as soon as possible. Braking on a slope causes oversteer when cornering.
After the downhill section from Adenauer Forst to Breidscheid, the experience changes completely. In the next few minutes you climb the hill to the Carousel before the final climb to the Hohe Acht. The elevation change is about 300 meters and you do it in about two to three minutes.
From the Hohe Acht, the slow cars can shine as the rest of the circuit is mostly downhill with only a few straights to make the most of the power. I’ve personally held it here with the faster cars, like an E92 M3, if only for half a minute until they find time to put the power down.
After lifting two wheels in the air at Pflanzgarten, everything goes smoothly for my little car, until the end of Stefan-Bellof-S, where I have my next braking point. And before you know it, you’ll reach the final bend at Galgenkopf and then the Döttinger Höhe straight will appear. The last Audi Sport portal marks the end of the spectacular 19.15 km journey.
Unless he goes another round, of course.
For me, the Nürburgring is not just a bucket list thing. I’m lucky to be a regular visitor and can drop by the legendary racetrack anytime. The experience never wears off and I still want to experience more on the Nordschleife. Not to mention meeting all the like-minded people who are there to do the same thing.
Steve Edwards
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