Nurburgring Visit

[stevesnj]

Originally Posted by nikitopo

but you'll need to have a fast car. Like a fast Audi, BMW or something similar

lol, I rented a VW polo diesel and was able to hit 170Kph . lol But yeh the Audi's are king in the left lane

[BlaineWasHere]

Originally Posted by nikitopo

Just wanted to emphasize that there isn't anything different in Germany. At least on the track side or on the canyon road side. In fact, given the automobile history and the size of the country there are very few tracks! I agree that Nordschleife is special, but only for the professionals who can run the track when is closed for the public. Maybe the most special thing that we have is the autobahn with the no speed limits. I am sure this will be fun for you, but you'll need to have a fast car. Like a fast Audi, BMW or something similar

You are wrong. California canyon roads are nice to have a round, and I live in the Bay Area close to Laguna Seca, Sonoma Raceway, and Thunder Hill but ALL of this pales in comparison to the Nordschldife. It's not even apples to oranges, it's apples to rocket ships.

[BlaineWasHere]

Originally Posted by stevesnj

lol, I rented a VW polo diesel and was able to hit 170Kph . lol But yeh the Audi's are king in the left lane

I hit 205 KPH in my 3cyl Ford Ecosport Rental!!!!

It would only do about 185KPH if there was a little uphill grade

[tanner]

Wife and I went to Germany for our honeymoon also. The Germany part involved all things cars and LEGO Land. First thing we did the day after landing in Dusseldorf was the Nurburgring. We had a rental through RSR Nurburg, basically their slowest car (Renault Clio, no roll cage or five-point harness) for 10 laps and split the laps 50/50 between the two of us. We also ponied up for an instructor on the day of, even though we tried to learn the track as much as possible with Grand Turismo which helped but the instructor provide a lot of advice in terms of turn in points and recognizing certain markers on the track itself. Our day there also was with Destination Nurburgring, so it wasn't a tourist day. Plenty of really fast cars and drivers, fastest being a race-prepped Aston Martin that day which was pretty awesome to see. Only one incident that day. Did get a ride in a track prepped GT86 (Koni suspension, exhaust, interior strippped, etc.) that day as a coworker came in from Belgium and rented one, really liked how it handled especially around the corners. Met Sabine Schmitz there also as she was doing ride-alongs in her Porsche with RSR Nurburg. Highly recommend RSR Nurburg, great group of people there.

Frozenspeed was there also (along with a number of other photogs), never did get around to buying the original photo but apparently I still can.



Other things we did in Germany... Audi, BMW and Mercedes museum along with a factory tour at both Audi and Mercedes. We could have done BMW but the english tours were all booked (you couldn't get in the other non-english tours due to safety requirements). Didn't get a chance to do Porsche, next time though. Other things we did...day at LEGOLAND Deutschland, hike around Berchtesgaden National Park (reminds me a lot of Banff), and Eagle's Nest.

[Shark_Bait88]

Great information in here! I'm waiting to here about travel authorization at work today for a last minute trip to Neuwied in April. Thankfully that's only about 40min from the Nurburgring, and an open Friday after two days of meetings would definitely end up with me on the Green Hell. Based on responses here, and advice from other friends who have gone, it sounds like RSRNurburg is the way to go. I'd love to do the GT86 with RentRaceCar, but that 350 Euro price gap for 6 laps is steering me toward the Twingo RS from RSR. We shall see though... Fingers crossed that my trip gets approved! haha

[tanner]

Originally Posted by stevesnj

lol, I rented a VW polo diesel and was able to hit 170Kph . lol But yeh the Audi's are king in the left lane

We rented a Audi A1 (FWD, gas, manual). Wife and I were playing the game on who could go the fastest. She ended up beating me by a few km, 197km with a tail wind. We only saw ONE 911 at the time and it didn't really go that quick, but man, those wagons, diesels too. A number of Mercedes wagons and Audi avants that just blew right by us as if we were standing still. And the one RS6 that flew by us....

We also had a lesson in road tax, drove into Austria without paying the road tax which we weren't aware of. Huge fine sent by the rental company.

[Shark_Bait88]

So how does going to the Ring work if you have a normal rental car? Insurance issues with the rental companies?

I'd obviously prefer a car from one of the rental groups at the track, as they're more prepped for track use than anything off of a rental lot. More so asking out of curiosity.

[tanner]

Originally Posted by Shark_Bait88

So how does going to the Ring work if you have a normal rental car? Insurance issues with the rental companies?

You should NOT take a normal rental car on the ring. Word has been around for years that rental companies have hired people to be at the track to watch for rental cars entering the track and reporting them in. Have read that people were charged for a full set of tires or what not when the car was returned. Even though the ring is a public road, insurance may not covered, if you do want to try and take a normal rental car to the track, ask first.

And if you do go to the track, understand the liability also. Renting from RSR Nurburg and the likes, they go through all of this with you. If you car breaks down and lays down a nice patch of oil, any accidents caused by that oil may rest on your shoulder, including the towing fees for those other cars. If you take out part of the armco, you are also responsible for the repair costs. RSR joked that you don't want to end up on youtube at that one corner where everybody goes off (they nickname it YouTube corner).

[stevesnj]

Originally Posted by tanner

We also had a lesson in road tax, drove into Austria without paying the road tax which we weren't aware of. Huge fine sent by the rental company.

I was thinking of going to see F1 in Austria driving from Germany, this is good info!

[Shark_Bait88]

Originally Posted by tanner

You should NOT take a normal rental car on the ring. Word has been around for years that rental companies have hired people to be at the track to watch for rental cars entering the track and reporting them in. Have read that people were charged for a full set of tires or what not when the car was returned. Even though the ring is a public road, insurance may not covered, if you do want to try and take a normal rental car to the track, ask first.

And if you do go to the track, understand the liability also. Renting from RSR Nurburg and the likes, they go through all of this with you. If you car breaks down and lays down a nice patch of oil, any accidents caused by that oil may rest on your shoulder, including the towing fees for those other cars. If you take out part of the armco, you are also responsible for the repair costs. RSR joked that you don't want to end up on youtube at that one corner where everybody goes off (they nickname it YouTube corner).

Lol Yeah, I'd figured all of that.

[BlaineWasHere]

You CANNOT take a regular rental on the ring every single rental agreement for all companies has it in the fine print. You will have no insurance what so ever.


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[BlaineWasHere]

Also if you book the rental at the track do it in advance for cheaper Insurance deduction if you do bin it.


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