A combined Ring and eclipse-watching trip.
Last bike trip we used vans, this time we rode there. Not a lot to choose between the two methods: bikes are quicker, vans are drier and more sociable ...
Day 1: Thu 5th August
We went via Eurotunnel this time, as it's only slightly more expensive for a bike.
Foreground (left to right): Mark, Robin, Me
Background: Two Guzzi riders we met in the queue
The 'bump-lock' stands work well. Apart from holding the bike securely, they also make it 100% clear that Eurotunnel is liable if the worst does happen. However, they don't carry enough of them and couldn't provide one on the way back.
We made good time on the way out, sustaining a constant 100-110mph most of the way, arriving in time for the evening session. Tired from the ride, we didn't plan to do more than a few laps. I led the others round on a very slow lap so they could see which way the bends went, and we were about to go out again when the circuit was closed due to a VW Beetle blowing it's engine and leaving an oil-slick described as being 250m long! Since they wouldn't be able to clear it before 7.30pm, they closed the circuit for the day there and then.
Following Robin and Mark's first lap on Thursday evening
Day 2: Fri 6th August
In deference to the noise restrictions at the Ring, Mark had swapped his T595 race-can for the stock one before he left. Unfortunately, he hadn't had the chip reset for the stock can and it was running very roughly. At tickover it sounded like it was destroying itself, and it kept stalling. He decided that a trip to a Triumph dealer was a good idea, so we headed up to the nearest one about 10k north of Cologne.
The dealer started it up, grimaced and immediately switched it off, diagnosing crank damage. He advised against riding it any further, but couldn't repair it himself as he was fully-booked for a fortnight. Worse, he had no loan bike, and said that bike hire in Germany was very rare (and rarer still anywhere near the Ring, no doubt!). Plan B was thus to throw the problem at the RAC.
The RAC was pretty useless, requiring numerous international phone calls to their European control centre in Lyon, and taking over three hours to organise alterative transport. However, persistence paid off, as after about the 12th phone call they provided Mark with a replacement machine of identical engine size:
The bike dealer, Zso, couldn't have been a greater contrast to the RAC, calling Triumph's European HQ for advice, letting us make endless international calls on his phone, offering us cold drinks and storing the bike until the RAC got its act together. If you ever want to buy a Triumph or Kawasaki in Germany, conveniently situated for the Ring, Zso is the place:
They even take their protection seriously, as evidenced by the brand of lock on the workshop door:
So ... the bad news was that Mark's Ring vehicle was now a 1-litre Corsa instead of a T595 ... the good news was that it was a hire car whose fate was therefore of no relevance. :-)
Oh, and we spotted this on the way back from the dealer:
Mark compensated us for a lost Ring session by buying the steaks and beers that night.
Day 3: Sat 7th August
It rained fairly hard overnight, and the Ring was very slippery on Saturday morning. Since Robin's ignition switch was cutting out intermittently, and we were trying to convince Mark that the only acceptable EKS solution to his bikelessness problem was to throw it away and buy a new one, we began the day with a trip to the bike shop in Adenau.
Robin orders his switch, but Mark loses his nerve and leaves with his credit cards intact.
We did a few laps in the car so that I could pass on the benefit of my extensive expertise <cough> and then decided to wait for it to dry out a bit. While we're waiting, we bump into a passing ELAMite who's there as part of an MCI Tour:
Clockwise from left: Ben, ELAM's Barry Kirkham, MCI Tour's Simon,
Mark, Robin
While we were chatting, a Ring closure was announced, the helicopter ambulance was spotted and by the time the circuit re-opened 90 minutes later, it was unbelieveably crowded:
You spent half your time judging your overtakes, the other half watching your mirrors for the very fast local bikes blitzing past everything and almost no time concentrating on the track itself. Coupled with some remaining greasy sections, it made for slow and stressful riding.
Robin tired of the 'jiggling the key in the ignition to restart the engine halfway round a bend' technique and decided to effect a temporary repair by hot-wiring his bike. Alarmingly, he was able to do this without attention in a car-park packed with 40-odd bikers:
As he managed to blow both original and spare fuses in the process of doing so, a fuse substitute was created from some kitchen foil I cadged from the restaurant kitchen.
For the combination of the key-jiggling while riding the Ring, having an ignition switch operated by a screwdriver and a main fuse designed for roasting chicken, we later awarded Robin a grand total of 175 RuftyTuftyBiker(tm) points and declared that his CBX was now officially a ShiteOldBike(tm). Mark's desperation to do the Ring on a bike instead of in a 1-litre Corsa was evidenced by his willingness to borrow Robin's bike for several laps. ("If I crash it, a few hour's pay will buy a replacement.")
My laps felt very shaky, mainly due to not trusting the surface and the crowded circuit, so I hoped for better things the next day.
Day 4: Sun 8th August
The plan was to beat the crowds with an early start, but this was defeated first by our landlady's reaction to our request for a 7.30am breakfast ("Nein") and second by heavy rain. So we settled for a lazy start and some spectating at Brünnchen while waiting for the track to dry (we'll gloss over the five or six Mandatory Ixion U-turns while trying to find it from the outside).
One of the vehicles spotted going round the Ring that morning
There was a closure at lunchtime, so we headed up the to castle for some bratwurst and a liquid ice-cream. We could hear that the track had re-opened, and the tarmac was dry, so it was playtime. :-) My laps felt a lot more solid, and I was really enjoying myself.
During a rest between laps, I'd spotted a very special-looking 911 and timed the driver at an astounding 8:15!!! I had to see this for myself, so blagged a passenger ride. I've been out in a 22B with a Ring instructor at the wheel (he wishes to make it known that this was a borrowed 22B!), but never experienced anything like this! For once, the MCN 'awesome' tag seemed appropriate. I asked him afterwards if he was a racer: "Test driver for Porsche," he replied. It turned out he was being modest: some English drivers we met there said that Porche's chief test driver - who matched this guy's description - was former Touring Car champion Walter Röhrl!! :-)
The event at the Grand Prix circuit turned out to be the Old Timers Grand Prix -- SOBs and SOCs from vintage cars onward. Some of these turned up at the Nordschleife but were refused admission on the basis of fluid leaks.
Some vintage cars can, of course, wheelie and countersteer ...
The marshalls were equally attentive when this vehicle turned up, but it was declared leak-free and allowed round the Ring. Out of curiosity, I timed its lap: 26:30!
Mark and I did a timed lap together through heavy traffic and past two crashes and still managed an 11:05, so I reckoned another sub-10 should be well within sight on a clearer track. The second crash we had to avoid was ... erm ... interesting! A bike was just about to turn in Adenauer-Forst when a Polo tried to overtake him on the inside. Both simultaneously spotted that they were about to collide, the biker opting to go straight on across the grass and the Polo steering hard left and spinning out to the left. I went between the two, Mark reporting that the Polo was already coming back towards him to regain the circuit as he came through about 10 seconds later.
Favourite moments of the lap were blitzing a Lamborghini down the Flugplatz and overtaking a 911 through the Karussell (ok, so the Porsche went the long way round). :-)
In the car-park afterwards, I spotted a Ferrari Dino and tried to blag a passenger ride in that, but the nervous driver wasn't sure whether he was going out again so I had to settle for an E-Type Jag. His driving left something to be desired, but the car was gorgeous!
Day 5: Mon 9th August
After a lie-in and a bit of shopping, we decided to see what was on at the Ring in the day in case it was worth spectating. It turned out to be a Ring School, so we again spectated at Brünnchen. The bike version of Chinese Whispers was very much in evidence as the different groups came past, an instructor at the front, the guy behind him with a perfect view and the lines from there back getting progressively vaguer.
In addition to the usual fast, medium and slow groups, there was one rather less usual one:
Before we left the dirt car-park, Mark demonstrated a responsible IAM attitude in checking that the handbrake worked on his hire-car:
Honest, Avis, apart from taking it round the Ring
and doing handbrake turns in it, Mark treated it very gently ...
With a couple of hours before the Ring opened, next on the agenda was a trip to the museum:
We did, of course, have to do the little boys bit while we were there:
(More museum pix can be found on my Ring Museum page.)
When the Ring opened at 17:15, it was almost deserted and the track was bone-dry, so this was the ideal time to see if I could improve on my previous best of a 9:57 lap.
Me on my bike before my version of a flying lap
Robin on his CBX750
Mark, also on Robin's CBX750 ...
A brief bit of tyre-warming on the opening straight, taking it easy through the 90-degree bends at the end and then gradually opening it up. I'm not used to bikes pulling over for me, so either I looked like I meant business or like I was totally out of control and likely to wipe them out ...
I managed a reasonable speed through Hatzenbach by not losing so much speed for the second right-hander, then my usual all-over-the-place through Hocheichen before blasting down Quiddlebacher-Höhe, managing to keep it almost flat out through the rough section on the right kink and maintaining 110mph into the double-apex right-hander on the entry to the Flugplatz.
I peaked at an indicated 130mph, passing two cars and a bike, before easing off for the brow leading into Schwedenkreuz. When Adam told me earlier in the year that he didn't brake for this, I couldn't see how, but I'd gradually been upping my speed through it and now saw that he was right, helped by watching the 7:49 video at the Ring and noting the much later turn-in than I'd been taking.
I still braked down to about 4mph for Aremberg, but then that concrete bridge support looks hard! Full throttle down Fuchsröhre (I'm told this is the fastest part of the circuit but have never dared look at my speedo to see) and a later entry into the left-hander at the top, again inspired by the video. Unfortunately I comprehensively messed up the right-hander, probably because I was unused to carrying so much speed into it, and crept through Adenauer-Forst even slower than usual!
I made up for it a bit through Metzgesfeld, finding I could add 10mph to my speed through the first left-hander, though still pussy-footed through the rest. A vague entry into Kallenhard and I spotted a bike gaining on me in my mirrors. I usually slow down to help things pass for the purely selfish reason that it stops them squeezing past unexpectedly, but this time decided to wait until he caught me. It was a useful lesson: he never did.
I've always liked Miss-Hit-Miss, and this time carried a good 15mph more into it. It was scary but successful. I won't claim that the Wehrseifen hairpin was elegant, but at least I got the line vaguely right and got more drive out of it. Breidscheid was ok too.
Ex-Mühle came together nicely and I went flying down towards Bergwerk. Unfortunately I was now getting a bit over-confident and locked the front under braking. One of those where your brain says "For chrissakes let go of the brake!" and your gut replies "You must be bloody joking!", but my brain eventually won the day and I cranked it over hard, my peg carving a rather noticeable line through it.
I used Kesselchen to allow my heart-rate to return to something approximating a normal rate (for a biker doing the Ring!) and found that, despite me thinking I was pottering through it, I still overtook two or three cars and a bike. I'd been finding that the extended left-hander at the end and the right-hander over the brow could be taken much faster than I'd realised. I must have made up 15 seconds on that stretch alone. Jon Taylor tells me this is Angstkurve, but I'm obviously not yet taking it fast enough to appreciate the name!
Robin Mayhem Corner was my usual snail's pace (I don't think I'm going to get any faster there until I learn to hang off) then the run up to the Karussell. The secret here, I discovered, is to treat it like any other straight and blast up with heavy braking at the end. Another 10 seconds gained. The Karussell was good, and a fast exit.
Now that I've finally learned to tell the difference between the left-hander following the Karussell and the one after that, I took the former at a decent pace. I'm still nervous of the Hohe Acht-Wipperman section, it all looking like a mistake on one bend would lead to a painful end on the next, but overtook a BMW round Eschbach - the first time I've even considered overtaking there!
Spectating at Brünnchen was a good way of learning the line through the dreaded Eiskurve, and I've lost a little of my fear of it (see trip 2!). I'd been told that the repaired square at the top was the turn-in point, but found that always forced me wide, so tried a later turn-in which worked well. That gave me a considerably faster start to Pflanzgarten and the following section had really been coming together for me since the previous day. Because I now know exactly where both kerbs come into, I can apply the power long before the apex is visible and get a much higher speed through.
Schalbenschwanz is a heart-stopper, my left peg decking out when I didn't think I was leaning anything like as much, over to make it round. As usual, the bike proves than its rider, but I've never forgotten the shock of it going over on ice leaning past my usual maximum.
The mysteries of getting through the Baby Karusell smoothly and quickly are not revealed to me and I do my usual thing of coming up over the concrete lip on exiting it and briefly get both wheels in the air. But an early entry to the penultimate right works well and I just keep on gradually winding on the power through the final curve to get my highest ever exit speed of 100mph.
I'm convinced I've easily beaten my previous lap record, so show the bike no mercy as I hammer down the final straight. Mark should be waiting at the very end of the nearest side of the car-park, so I keep it nailed to there then brake like crazy.
Keen to know my time, I turn right and zip down to the end of the car-park. No Mark. Damn, he must be by the barriers! I do a U-turn and ride to the barriers. No Mark. I look around for him. Eventually, he appears from behind the building and announces that he was distracted by his girlfriend calling but my lap was "definitely under 10 mins". I tell him I know that much and tell him what I think of his lap-timing abilities! We decide that 9:30 is a safe claim given riding round the car-park and waiting for him to appear.
However, pleased as I am by the time, I had to admit to myself that it was a scarily ragged lap, and my survival prospects were not good if I made a habit of riding so close to the edge of my abilities. I decided that concentrating on keeping it controlled and gradually increasing speed was probably a more intelligent approach. Especially with reminders like this a common sight at the Ring:
The other thing I realised was that the limiting factor on my riding now is fear and ignorance. Fear of leaning the bike beyond a certain point, ignorance of what the bike's limits actually are. How far can it safely be leant? How quickly can it be flicked from one side to the other? How hard can I brake from >100mph speeds? How quickly can I feed in the power with the bike leant over? Time for some kind of non-IAM machine control training, methinks. If anyone has any suggestions, let me know.
The mystery equipment fitted to a Mitsubishi Evo has been identified by Adam as optical speed-reading kit. It apparently does clever tricks to measure the speed of the tarmac passing beneath it:
Having gone through the entire menu at our B&B, we decided to try somewhere else. Our usual haunt is closed on Mondays, so we tried the place just opposite the entry road to the castle, raising a toast to a highly enjoyable trip to the Ring despite Mark's bike troubles:
Day 6: Tue 10th August
With a long-ish ride down to Stuttgart the plan for the day, it is of course absolutely pissing it down. Mark looks very smug as he jingles his car keys!
We start by calling in at the bike shop for Robin to collect and fit his new ignition switch.
The rest of the journey was one of those alternating 'wish I was in a car' / 'glad I'm on a bike' ones as we rode through sheeting rain and filtered through miles of nose-to-tail traffic.
We found a hotel by riding through Stuttgart suburbs in a random fashion and then accosting an innocent local and having him lead the way to the hotel. Then checked the weather forecast (not good) before beer and bed.
Day 7: Wed 11th August
Eclipse day!
It's absolutely pissing down, and there's not a single gap in the clouds. Flicking through TV channels in search of a satellite photo of the weather, we eventually find one: solid cloud right across Europe. A live TV programme from the city centre shows hundreds of thousands of people sheltering beneath umbrellas and staring plaintively into the skies.
The only bit of good news is that we're on the top floor, with half-skylights providing a perfect view, so if there is a gap in the clouds, we'll be able to take our cue to head outside.
After about 20 minutes, Robin announces that the crescented sun is visible through a gap, and indeed it is! It soon disappears again and we go back to watching the TV footage.
Adam phones to say they have a good view of the partial eclipse in Borehamwood, and that CDs make good eclipse viewers. We pass on the German TV channel's tip that one shouldn't look through the hole in the centre of the CD.
After watching it go dark in Cornwall, we wander outside to wait the 19 minutes for the shadow to reach Stuttgart.
It's gradually got darker, but is still clearly daylight. Then the shadow arrives. In the space of less than a minute, it goes from gloomy daylight to pitch blackness. It's a phenomental experience -- like someone turning down a giant dimmer switch! We try to take a photo of ourselves in the dark:
Then just as you've got used to it being dark, the dimmer switch is turned back up and less than a minute later it's daylight again. Really eerie!
Then it's home to England. The roads are appallingly crowded, and it's still pissing it down, so the journey via Luxembourg is slow. Mile after mile of filtering between lanes before finally hitting the E42 and a 120mph dash to reach the terminal at 1.30am. They tell us the 02:21, 03:21 and 04:21 are all full and we'll be on the 05:21! We hide the letter-tags indicating our crossing time and speed past the crew checking tags to get in the queue for the 02:21. Apart from not having a bump-lock for a faired bike, the crossing is fine and then it's a slow ride up the camera-infested M20 and M2 to get home at 4am and a long sleep in my own bed!
And only eight days to go until Ring trip 6 ... :-)
Copyright © Ben Lovejoy 1999