Almost all car hire companies exclude use on the Ring. We believe they pay a bounty to local employees who spot rental cars in the car-park or on the photo sites.

Penalties include an additional €2000 charged to your credit card for tyre and brake wear (Avis is known for this) and a worldwide ban on hiring their cars (Hertz does this).

Fortunately there are now companies that rent DRTs (Dedicated Ring Toys).

DRT rental companies I'm aware of are:

Ringhaus: four cars so far: a Sylva Striker (RWD Caterham-style kit-car with a modest 100bhp but in a 500Kg chassis); a BMW 325eta (a very easy-to-drive and deceptively fast RWD car); a Golf TDi (a beautifully setup car with a large turbo, short-shift kit and lively handling - fun for experienced Ringers but not recommended for beginners); and a Polo 1.3 with a forgiving setup aimed at those new to the Ring.

Photo: Gary Kinghorn

TTE Racing: a BMW 325i, with others to follow. I've also driven this - it's very well set up and a decent amount of power.

Rent-Racecar.de: ten BMWs, some mix of 318i, 325i and M3. (I haven't yet driven any of their cars.)

If you're flying in, you'll still need to rent a car to get you to/from the airport, but the distances are short so a Smart or Focus will do that job. My advice is not to park it in the Ring car-park, and definitely not to drive it on the Ring.