After a snowy Easter, I thought I'd try for better weather three weeks later. Checking the various channel prices, P&O yet again priced themselves out of the running, SeaFrance was better but my 20% Frequent Traveller discount on HoverSpeed made that the best deal. I again opted to pay an extra £10 each way for First Class on the basis that you pretty much break even on the free light meal and drinks, so the priority boarding/disembarking, use of a departure lounge and greater comfort on board is virtually free.
The First Class lounge on board the SeaCat
Besides, there's one other benefit for gadget-freaks:
At-seat power sockets!
The crossing was moderately choppy, and included the standard HoverSpeed 30-minute delay. Once back on dry land, though, I was able to maintain <Cough>mph most of the way and I arrived just in time to get in one lap before the track closed for the night. I had a bit of a shock at Shikane when I found myself suddenly confronted with a tyre wall across 4/5ths of the track just around the first right-hander! The 50kph sign warning of this had either blown over or been knocked over. It seemed that they were installing TV cameras ready for a race on the GP circuit, so we were diverted round the other side of the armco via the old T13 start area:
I'd met up with Martin & Karen and a friend of theirs at Dover, so we headed across to the Lindenhof where we ran into Tony and the gorgeous Vicky. Beer and steaks were duly consumed.
Mandatory Lindenhof group photo
Saturday started out foggy but the track was bone-dry. Despite grey clouds and cold winds, it stayed dry all day. The low track temperature did show up in less grip than usual for a dry day, but once you got used to this it was fine. Best of all, the cold kept many drivers away altogether and lots more huddled in the restaurant drinking coffee, so the track was pretty empty most of the time.
I did the usual number of guided tours for those new to the Ring, but was also on the lookout for passenger rides myself. I decided that there was no better way to help narrow down by car choice than to get laps in my shortlisted toys. I'd already had a number of laps in various incarnations of 964, so that left the 944 and 968 to find. I spotted a British 944 early on, but always when it was unattended. It kept changing positions in the car-park, so it was obviously going out, but it wasn't until mid-afternoon that I found the driver and got a lap in it. Nice.
There were lots of Brit bikers there, at least one of whom was not having a good day
Then I spotted the elusive 968 Club Sport and, with the aid of the driver's son as interpreter, blagged a ride in that. Fanbloodytastic!!! It really did seem close to 911 performance in terms of both power and handling. Do I give up my insistence on a soft-top and go for one of these? Hmmm - tricky! So no closer to decisiveness, but with a lot more data to go on.
Martin did a lap following me with a pencil-camera mounted underneath his front spoiler. Excellent footage, coming to a website near you shortly.
I did 20-something laps by the end of the day. Including a last one after a closure caused by what has to be the most stylish Ring crash ever. A bike came into the 50kph speed limit section at Schikane too fast and ran into the back of ... the Ring Taxi! Whoops. At least it was the red one rather than the white one.
Then it was off to the Pistenklause with lots of Brits for beer and pizza. Well, we made Michael Frison and Joerund honorary Brits for the purpose of the meal:
Then Michael spotted some friends from home, including two guys from a privateer team in the TDM race taking place on the Grand Prix circuit who had taken pole!
Joerund (left) is smiling because he's just taken delivery of a large sum of cash for an Aprilia he'd bought from a dealer friend and sold at an agreeable profit, including a delivery fee for bringing it to the Ring.
Sunday was again perfect Ring weather: overcast but mainly dry. The grey skies kept the crowds away, but apart from cold tarmac and a very brief shower, the track was perfect.
I ended up doing a ridiculous number of laps. I did a lot of back-to-back laps, parked up for 10 minutes and then went out again. Again, lots of passengers came out, some new to the Ring and wanting to see which way the bends went, and some bikers who wanted to see what it was like in a car. Most seem to come back grinning. I think I was doing brisker trade than the Ring Taxi!
Seemingly taking fewer passengers round than me :-)
My own quest for passenger laps in potential new toys continued. This 911RS had a For Sale notice in the windscreen:
It was well over my budget, but I wandered over for a look anyway. The owner turned out to be the president of the Nürburg Porsche Owner's Club. When he offered to take me out for a lap, it would have been rude to refuse. That thing really is astonishing, offering absurd levels of both power and grip. I will not buy it, I will not buy it, I will not ...
I also had a blinding passenger lap in a bright orange Exige. Those things really are great, and whoever described it at Easter as 'an Elise on steroids' was spot-on. The driver, Richard, was extremely smooth, so it was both fast and relaxing.
Speaking of fast cars, I managed to get a photo of this one, last seen at Easter doing what looked like a 9-minute pace in the snow:
As yesterday, not everyone was having the best of days. There were 15 or so crashes throughout the day, including an American guy who did this to his mum's pride-and-joy:
And a Belgian Skyline driver did the traditional Brünnchen spin, to end up with an absolutely perfect armco imprint at both ends of the car:
Sonu followed me round for a lap in his Scooby, and apparently had the camcorder going, so I'll look forward to seeing a copy of the footage. Speaking of which, despite a bike being allowed to use this:
a marshall stopped me going out with my windscreen mount:
When I invited him to try to pull it off the windscreen, he failed but said it was still not allowed as a motorcyclist could be injured by it. I replied that any motorcyclist who was travelling across the top of my windscreen was probably not going to be having an especially good day whether or not I had a camcorder fitted. The marshall was insistent, but eventually we compromised on one lap.
There were a few other MX-5s in evidence, including one with a cool paint-job (that paint which changes colour depending on the angle) and one with ridiculously over-sized wheels that must be wearing the arches away like crazy:
Wow, I never realised that the hood went up on these
- must try it one day
But prize for the coolest Ring vehicle had to go to this Brabus Smart. The guy just never stopped lapping in it. And yes, it was fast!
Back in the MX-5, I gave Joerund a passenger lap just before he left. He said it wasn't quite as fast as Anders' GT3.
Monday was an afternoon-only session, so most Brits went home first thing in the morning. I decided that I could catch up on sleep some other time so opted to stay for the afternoon and catch the last crossing home.
This turned out to be a top move. Although it was a UK bank holiday, it was just an ordinary day in Germany, so the track was virtually empty - except for all the Brits who'd stayed over! The track had quite a few damp patches to start with, and there seemed to be armco-repair trucks on every other bend, but within an hour or so it was dry almost all of the way round and the repair crews had finished everything bar the invoicing ...
Ring instructor Jon Taylor was over with a bunch of Brit bikers, so I was once again giving lots of passenger rides so that those new to the circuit could do their initial 'Oh My God's from the comfort of a car. Jon also came out for a passenger lap and was as surprised as everyone else to see just how well an MX-5 handles.
I was still blagging passenger rides, and got a lap in the surviving Skyline. Dave, the driver, was still new to the Ring and was being very sensible by simply pootling along on the stretches he didn't yet know, and the suspension was set up for track use and was thus too hard for the Ring. Despite this, the potential of the car as a Ring tool was clear. I'm almost tempted to buy one just for the cute "Vree, vree" noises the wastegate makes.
Shortly before I had to leave, a 911 driver lost it big-time at Wehrseifen and ploughed straight into the armco. The driver was ok, but the car ended up quite a bit shorter than before and the recovery truck would need to completely block the bend to lift it out, so the track was closed. I took that as my cue to say my goodbyes.
A Brit biker had crashed his R1 the previous day at Hatzenbach and didn't have any means of getting home, so he spotted my empty passenger seat and blagged a lift back to London. I told him that the price of a lift was a photo for the website:
Mick with his modified R1
It turned out to be the now-familiar story: cold race tyres, the front giving way at a modest angle of lean. I was glad my Pilot Race tyres were now discarded somewhere in the cavernous interior of John Greystrong's garage.
It was only when he had to hand over his passport at Calais that I saw his full name: Mick Doohan!
The journey back was swift, reaching Calais in under four hours. We got there just in time to catch an earlier SeaCat which miraculously left on time, so we were back in Calais by 9.30pm.
Copyright © Ben Lovejoy 2001