Nurburg Summer 2008

[thegoth 5]

Glad you are both back safe any pics to share ?

A few. No VWs but interesting motors none the less.....

Here's two of my new 'Ring steeds

Unfortunately these weren't

This DAF later went on to spew coolant all over the track

Some 'arty' track shots.

[Ben Seabrook 4]

nice shots mate and am loving the green porker :-p

how come you all got on the track ??

[thegoth 5]

An organised track walk ( http://rsrnurburg.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=32&Itemid=37 )

GT4 doesn't give a true impression of the gradients involved, and frankly neither does driving it!

[Ben Seabrook 4]

that looks awesome - have only walked along a little bit of it

[BADOIR 2]

WOT NO SNOW????

[thegoth 5]

WOT NO SNOW????

No just thousands of red neck German truckers there for the Truck Grand Prix and Country music festival.

[Ben Seabrook 4]

No just thousands of red neck German truckers there for the Truck Grand Prix and Country music festival.

I would prefer snow

[thegoth 5]

No just thousands of red neck German truckers there for the Truck Grand Prix and Country music festival.

I would prefer snow

At least you can wrap up warm against it.

Ooompah music until 2 / 3 in the morning and then 'Hello, good morning, Deutchland' from 6am. Lost count of the number of times I heard Europe's Final Countdown and Barbie Girl and/or Dr Jones ( it's all the same to me )

[GVK 1]

Nigel, good to meet you , we followed you back to bloody Bolougne!!!!

Our ferry was errrmmm Calais.

[GVK 1]

May as well add my trip report here. Posted on Northloop so you may not know the members mentioned.

To say that I was looking forward to this trip, was a bit like saying Karl enjoys a few light ales on a Saturday evening in Adenau.

This weekend it would be my girlfriend Claire, myself and the GVKwagen, we knew there would be lots of friends old and new at the 'ring so was ok to go "on our own".

Weds left work early so we could hit the road and make our way to Dover where we'd booked a b+b for the night. As it's the middle of UK summer we had torrential rain alll the way down the M40/M25 on our was "daaan saaarf" - which made driving very tricky on R888 'reifen'

Lots of aqua planing and "shiiiiit" from me as the Golf slithered from lane to lane onthe motorway. Somewhere south of Brum on the M40 there was a blue GT3 smashed to bits in the middle of the road, might have been wearing Cups, but it was dark so couldn't tell you....

We decided just to drive bloody slowly in the end as it was bloody dicey, and so due to our much reduced pace southbound we didn't get to Dover until 10:55pm.

Got to b+b and George greeted us and showed us to our room, which looked exactly the same as it did 4yrs ago when we stayed there en route to the 'ring - the last trip for the Golf.

Thursday

Up and having breakfast for 7am and the short drive through the town to the docks where we more or less drove straight in and onto the ferry - sat in line for a few mins

Noticed lots of classic cars at the port , wondered if it was Le Mans classic weekend.

Once in Calais 10:15 local time , we followed the Sat-Nav for the first time across France, Belgium via Brussels, up to Aachen and down the A1 to Blankenheim .

Seemed a long way around but we got to Adenau by about 3:30pm - seemed quicker than the "John Felstead" route that I've always taken (Lille,Mons,Leige,Spa,Prum,Gerolstein etc)

Mav had sorted us out with a really nice place to stay near the Blaue Ecke ,and Micheala was "on duty" to check us in, she was very friendly - hadn't met her before.

With our baggage unloaded we drove toward Nurburg via Quiddlebach as had offered to collect Nige's car for him so he could get out on track early Saturday. Ken's place was exactly where he'd described so we were ok to find it Friday morning.

Once in the car park in beautiful sunshine we were met by Steve (Hobgoblin) and Nigel (vr6goth) who asked if I was "Mr Blofelt I presume?" LOL!

Stood around chatting until the start of TF - Purchased an 8 lap ticket 135€ (gulp!)

Track opened about 5:15 and we went out for an exploratory lap - I'd not been to the 'ring since August 06 and the car had'nt been there since 04! - Since that trip it's gained 45bhp - 45 lb/ft , a roll cage, R tyres, Peloquin LSD and all sorts.

Claire get's travel sick so had asked for a slow lap - which it was but Claire went green and didn't want to do another "just yet"

Noticed a lot of different surface changes around the track and "WOW" the VR6 had some grunt, seeing 130mph over the crest before SX with ease. Also noticed that Eiskurve was really grippy now too - really enjoyed getting back onto the NS with a car WE built for the job, I was buzzing.

As we parked up a white 997 GT3 RS "sans decals" parked alongside - the young guy got out and looked at the Golf, smiled and said "GVK?"

Of course! it was Adamt, who was there doing some instruction for RSR and was doing ducks 'n' drakes laps with a UK M3 CSL owner who was out for his first trip ( I believe. )

After chatting to the guys for a while Adam asked if I'd like to go out in the RS as the guy in the CSL was to follow for 'the line' - "Yes PLEASE!"

From the moment Adam pinned the throttle from the cones in 1st and 2nd gear

(with windows down for the full noise of the thing!) you could tell why these cars are so popular out there. Adam described the noise as like "God clearing his throat!"

As we were leading the CSL, Adam slowed down so Pete could follow his lines - first suprise for me was going far right over the white lines into the downhill left after T13.

Much smoother than the conventional straight line approach. I'll try that !

Even cruising in 6th gear through Flugplatz and down to Aremberg you could feel the car had bags of grunt.

One lasting memory will be a local 997 RS and a white 964 blasting past up Kesselchen - "the oldie is giving the new one something to think about"

It was an educational lap for me too as I picked up a few tips about the lines - If I could practice them would probably be a different matter.

Really appreciated the lap Adam, you're a true gent.

Bumped into Nigel (vr6goth) again and offered to take him out for a lap. I nipped for some fuel whilst he got his lid sorted.

At the Ed Tankstelle a lad came walking up who I recognised, it was Martin who I'd met years ago and him and his Dad came to the 'ring with us in '03 . He was working for Marc at TTE on the spanners and was living out there - great opportunity for him.

Picked up Nigel and went out and did a lap - getting back into the groove now - well over 135mph indicated before SX on this lap. Had a pretty clear lap I think, Nigel enjoyed it too. Here we are at PF1

pic thanks to http://www.nordschleifenbilder.de/

Next lap was a classic - I followed a UK 'speedgelbe' 996 GT3 out of the cones, who without any suprise whatsoever, out accelerated me down through Teirgarten.

I got my head down and followed, he was always a corner ahead, which was ok...

Weird! At Bergwerk he pulled over, inviting me to pass

So, with the grunt of the VR6 wailing away - 7k rpm in 3rd and 4th, snatching 5th up Kesselchen, at indicated 120mph we flew up the hill. GT3 has power in reserve so I wondered if it was a newbie? Had slight scare as we caught a Belgian registered 997 RS going into Schwalbenschwanz who slammed his brakes on and pulled left for us to pass on the right.....

Anyway - back at the car park a guy walked over asking who was driving the Golf.

When I said it was me he shook my hand and said " Seriously - You're fast - I was just following you in the yellow GT3"

He said that I had big balls and that the Golf was 4 wheel drifting through the fast corners, we had a good chat and Steve (hobgoblin) shook he guys hand for coming over and chatting to someone with a lowly Golf. He'd done 120 laps but said that he'd not got total confidence to push very hard. Nice chap.

He said that I shouldn't take so much kerb, but Steve and I laughed and said

"It's good FUN!"

It was about 8pm by this time so we buggered off back to Adenau , got ready to go out - ended up in the Blaue Ecke and had a really nice meal.

Friday

True to form I was awake at silly o clock, getting excited about TF which didn't start until 3:15pm. :smack:

Went for a walk through Adenau to check out how far it was by foot to the CC.

After all the rain en route the Golf being black was looking in a 'reet shite state' so after breakfast went and gave it a scrub up in the car wash at Breidscheid. Got to look clean on the photos eh! [tart]

Went up to Nurburg motorsport to collect Nige's car for him, it was full of camping gear, and smelled of old damp pants inside. When braking, there was about 3 inch of water sloshing about in the footwells, errrghh!!

Dropped it off at the Lidl car park and bumped into some South West VW owners, some of them that I knew from UK events. Tris,Dave + Claire etc

Friday afternoon consisted of some spectating at Brunchenn/Eiskurve/PF and a few laps on a damp track.

Northloop/cgti member Stu was out in his mk2 track car he'd been building up - car used to belong to another NL member Paul.

Jack Osborne was driving a Suzuki Swift and being filmed whilst driving and in the car park, Adrenalin junkies show maybe?

Claire drove a wet lap late on Friday, she said the car was sliding a bit, but I didn't feel it

Friday evening we got a taxi with Ian (pye21),Lisa and Adam to the PK where we met up with some of the South west VW owners, Tris,Claire and Dave etc for a meal.

Nigel and Ian came in quite late to collect the Golf keys and gave us a lift back to Adenau.

Saturday

Suprise suprise, I was having a shower at 0635 and driving up to Nurburg by 7am.

Fuelled up at the Ed Tankstelle, bought another 8 lap ticket, wiped some flies off the car and was in the car park waiting for TF to start. :smack:

First lap of the morning followed a 197 Clio out, he was going faster than I felt comfortable with as the track was still damp in the shaded areas, caught up with a biker nr Pflansgarten, other than that a deserted track - heaven.

Took Steve (hobgoblin) out for a lap and as we went out of the barriers a marshal stopped us from going out by standing in front of the car, he was talking on his radio for a bit, then waved us through.

One of Steve's group was in a flame-throwing Celica GT4 who passed on the hill up to Hohe-Acht.

Steve seemed to be enjoying the lap, literally "laughing out loud" through Pflansgarten.

Did 4 laps before 9am and stopped for a rest, Ian (pye21) turned up, and we went out and did a couple of laps in the 106 Rallye - first lap followed Crossie who was going really well, the 106 was a proper little go-kart, if a little slow up Kesselchen, vmax about 95 uphill! We went for breakfast after the two great laps in the Rallye.

Woops, I had promised to pick up Claire at 9am, and it was getting on for 10am by the time we got back to Adenau.. :whistle:

Once we'd had breakfast at the BE the heavens opened in true Eifel fashion.

Went down to Hocheichen to spectate whilst it was raining

NL member Mattykengineer in his Focus ST

I did a great lap following this Swiss reg'd Elise during the weekend,went really well.

Nige once again had exhaust problems .

Dale was having fun in the RSR 75s - doing some lovely unofficial drifting in the wet!

[GVK 1]

Sat pm

Getting busier now the Sun was shining again - the track dried up really quickly, which was nice !

Marc from http://www.mw-sportfoto.de caught us at Hohenrain.

Lizard and Steph turned up in Alex's E36 M3 , they were heading across the alps to Monza the following week.

Das Chin was over in his mk2 Golf.

During the weekend, I was gradually carrying more speed through some of the faster corners, Flugplatz for example , carried more speed through and on one lap Saturday afternoon saw 140mph over the crest before SX

I was travelling faster into SX than ever before and things were getting a bit interesting, even more so when I braked heavily for Aremberg and the rear brakes locked up. Bit of a brown pants moment but no harm done. :nono: I think they call it 'backing it in' on the Superbikes - I was heading the wrong way into the corner tho.... :shf:

Jochen was up at the Karrusell Saturday afternoon, he got a great shot of us.

Huge thanks to Jochen "The Eifel Yeti"

http://www.frozenspeed.com

Nigel's (nigep) clutch decided to stop him selecting gears so he and roland (pye21) did a lap in 4th gear, I had a look at all the visible bits on the clutch system and advised the clutch was "fecked"

This meant that Nige could have more than 2 beers that evening.. more on that later.

[thegoth 5]

Nigel' date=' good to meet you , we followed you back to bloody Bolougne!!!!

Our ferry was errrmmm Calais.

[/quote']

LOL, I didn't wonder way you didn't turn up at the Speed Ferry terminal.

Did you get back to Calais in time?

Cheers for the pax, was a good 'un.

[mike 6]

soem great pics there, lovin teh yellow lambo with 'feed me' reg...