[kodyo]

Originally Posted by Porsche

And a CAGE! Don't forget the cage, because the 'Ring is the most unforgiving motor racing circuit in the world, with minimal run-off areas and lots of Armco barriers sitting mere feet from the road surface.

Many drivers have occasion to USE their cage at the 'Ring.

You were fortunate to have extra room when you fell off the road at Adenauer Forst. There is at least one youtube video comprised of nothing but crashes at that very spot. You did the right thing, by the way, to just allow the car to run off the road, rather than try to pinch it in. Many drivers roll their cars onto their heads at that point as they try to avoid running wide off the right side.

Glad to see you had a good time.

Yeah, I saw that video. There are tons of crashes there.
Here is a compilation of crashes from the 1970s that I find pretty interesting:
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xwc54G2Ur8"]Nurburgring Nordschleife Crashes 1970 at Adenauer Forst. NEW ! More crashes - YouTube[/ame]

Unfortunately we didn't have much time to prepare ourselves for the ring as far as studying it. I was in Germany on business and decided to go for it while we were there. If I was going to do it again, I'd try to get more familiar with the track. I'm just glad we had a slow ass car and took it easy or it could have definitely been worse (that's why I suggest everyone who goes for the first time get a slow car unless they have some experience there).

BTW, my hertz rental car was an automatic Ford C-max diesel, not exactly fast :P