Once upon a time, you could drive the Ring safe in the knowledge that it is a public road and therefore your fully-comp insurance applied exactly as if you were on the M25.

These days, the rules have changed. The increasing popularity of the Ring, and the substantial number of crashes there, put the Ring firmly onto the radar of insurance companies. Almost all UK insurers now exclude the Ring.

The policy wordings vary. Some insurers exclude 'de-restricted toll roads'. And if you were planning to point out the speed-limits at Breidscheid and on the approach to the cones, well, good luck unless your crash happens on one of those short stretches ...

Other policies state that any road which is at any time used as a race-track is excluded.

Yet others state that they cover only 'normal road driving' - and even the most creative lawyer would have a tough time persuading a court that lapping the Ring amounts to normal driving. Especially after the insurance company has introduced a Top Gear episode or two into evidence.

Even if your policy appears to be ok, I think these days you have to be prepared for your insurer to use any excuse they can to avoid paying-out if you end up taking your car home in a couple of carrier-bags. At the very least, it is likely to be an expensive and time-consuming battle.

I thus strongly recommend that you consider your vehicle uninsured on the Ring, and drive/ride accordingly. The reasons to be sensible, and to drive well within your limits, have never been stronger.

There are companies which offer track cover. These policies are expensive (£250/day is pretty typical), and often have high excesses and low maximums (for example, an excess of £5,000 and a maximum payout of £20,000). If you're interested in one of these, take a look at the ads in the back of the main performance car magazines.

You should also make sure that you have personal medical cover: German hospitals are extremely good, but also extremely expensive. Bikers should ensure that their travel insurance covers motorcycling, as many policies exclude bikes over 125cc. I have an Amex policy which costs me £99 a year for worldwide cover. The advantage of Amex is that hospitals everywhere will know immediately that it's fine, so there won't be any delay in treatment.

Finally, remember European breakdown cover. Some policies (eg. Green Flag) give you European cover automatically, others don't. Note that AA 5-Star specifically excludes the Ring (item 4 in the general terms & conditions). To indicate why you want European breakdown cover, I once had a clutch fail in Belgium. Green Flag had to pay for immediate recovery from the motorway, recovery from a local depot to Calais, recovery from Dover to the specialist in London and a hire car to get me home. I don't know what the total bill came to, but I saw the paperwork for the Belgium to Calais recovery: €1300 (about £850)! The total bill is likely to have reached four figures.