What a cracking weekend! :-) Not too many photos as I spent most of the time out on the track and my Digital Ixus developed a fault which zapped most of the pics I did take, but I've tried to make up for it with plenty of frame-grabs. The bulletcam kept twisting round somewhat so the pics are a bit skewed in places.
The main prep this time was carcam games ...
I decided to install the carcam permanently, and this trip was an opportunity to make absolutely certain of the positioning before drilling holes in plastic. I thus had the camera mounted in its permanent position, and the wire-runs roughly in place, but with sticky-tape taking the place of glue and screws:
Close-up view from inside the car (yes, my windscreen does
need washing)
But extremely discreet from the outside
All I did in the boot was to velcro the equipment in place so that it didn't get thrown around:
Ok, so now my boot is effectively back to MX-5 size
Only the front camera will be permanent: there's nowhere inside the cabin to mount a rear-facing camera so that it has a view over the hood. For Ring trips, it will just clip in place with a small tripod-mount clamp.
I also invested in a cheap radio-cam: a micro-camera that broadcasts a video signal to a radio receiver which in turn plugs into a VCR. The camera really is tiny, and can be powered from a 9v PP3 battery so that it could be mounted anywhere without having to trail wires all over the car.
A great idea in theory ... but too much interference in
practice,
so back to being part of a garage security system
I managed to get away early to catch a 13:15 ferry, and had just parked in the queue when two familiar-looking Scoobs with bike-trailers arrived: Simon Bradley's and Adrian Percival's. We had the usual Ringers-style conversation during the ferry crossing.
Got to Nurburg shortly before 8pm and had a quiet dinner with Birgit. Simon's group were also at the Pistenklause and a couple of them went up to the track to make an offering to the gods. Don't ask me which religion, but it seems a good one as you get to drink beer on behalf of your deity.
The offering to the weather gods was well-received because despite all the forecasts, the weather at 07:30 was brilliant sunshine. Which explains why I was up at that time: with rain forecast, I wanted to make the most of every dry minute.
As it turned out, I need have had no worries as it remained warm and dry all day. :-) Unfortunately I don't have any photos to prove this as the CF card turned out to be blank when I came to copy the pics onto the laptop at the end of the day. :-( I initially thought that it had somehow switched into Review mode in my pocket and then coincidentally the erase-all key-combination pressed, but as it happened again on Sunday it can only be a faulty camera.
Glorious sun and mainly blue skies
A June weekend with fabulous weather can only mean one thing: a chaotically busy Ring:
Busy approach road ...
Busy car-park ...
Busy barriers ...
Busy track
In particular, there were huge numbers of British bikers obviously there for the first time. While some had researched the trip and were checking their mirrors and indicating to let faster traffic past, many others weren't. It was a bit of an obstacle course at times.
Fortunately, those not using their mirrors were outnumbered by those who did. Quite a few bikers not only indicated right as I approached, but even pointed with a hand or foot to confirm the side they wanted me to pass:
Right indicator and pointing left to confirm - textbook
courtesy
An Elise politely letting me through on the entry to Eiskurve
The great thing about all the traffic was that I got lots of practice at taking bends off-line. The speeds were such that it wasn't difficult, but it made things more interesting.
There were a few crashes on Saturday, but most didn't appear serious. The ambulance went out two or three times, and one biker was airlifted from Breidscheid, but all bar one of the crashes I saw had those involved up and about:
A crashed bike at Brunnchen - rider standing behind the armco
Despite the busy-ness of the track, I was having a fantastic time. Mindful of the original weather forecast, and fearing that rain might move in any time, I was making the most of it. I slotted into my routine of two back-to-back laps, a brief rest for car and driver then straight back out for another couple of laps.
The level of grip available was unbelieveable. It must, I guess, have been all the rubber laid down during the 24H race. Thanks, guys! :-) I realised just how good the grip was when I glanced down at my speedo entering Flugplatz: I was expecting to see 95-100mph but actually saw just over 110mph!
I had been intending to get quite a few passenger laps with experienced drivers in powerful cars so that I could pick up some tips on what works best now I have some more horses to play with, but I couldn't bear to tear myself out of the driving seat of the 968! I think I only took four passenger laps all weekend.
The passenger laps I did get were fun, two of them with Euan, one in his BMW and the other in Simon Bradley's Scoob. I must say that I was impressed by how quickly Euan was able to bash the dents out of the Scoob before return- Er, I mean, by Euan's obvious enjoyment of the Scoob.
The other two were in Martin's new Caterham. If I wanted a dedicated Ring toy, that didn't have to serve any other function, I'm pretty sure it would be a Caterham: they are a real scream. Although this was the base model and I don't think Martin was lapping any faster in it than in his M3, it is so exposed and close to the ground that it feels much faster. And that, after all, is what matters. Even with what Martin described as some generic tyres, the grip of those things is most impressive.
Look, it even has doors - how civilised is that?!
Martin reckoned that between us we could do a good trade in paid passenger laps, raising some dosh for charity. So many people have offered to pay for laps with me that I think he may be right.
The undisputed prize for the most entertaining passenger lap I gave was when Simon Bradley came out for a lap with me ... sitting in one of the rear seats! This started out as a joke to see if he could have any more luck than Robin Iddon at fitting in the back. Amazingly, he managed to fit in and lock the front seat-back in place. He then said 'Let's go!' and I laughed. He announced that he was serious, so Birgit hopped in the front passenger seat and off we went.
I was taking it easy, the unaccustomed rear weight making itself felt and me feeling that the crash-protection in the rear was going to be rather inadequate. It was also quite difficult to drive when none of us could stop laughing, but it was a definite moment to remember! Simon said afterwards that he felt like waving his hands in the air roller-coaster fashion. :-)
I had a very enjoyable lap with Euan on my tail, fortunately I'd opened enough of a gap in Hatzenbach II that he didn't run into the back of me when I managed to change into 5th instead of 3rd ... Shame there wasn't a front-facing camera in Euan's car or a rear-facing one in mine as it would have made a good video.
I spotted a number of familiar vehicles out there, including a certain Pug taking the kerbs at Schikane on the approach to T13:
A Peugeot on the kerbs? That'll be Niek, then ...
Steve Quinnell on his R1
I recognised this from the car-park but not sure who it is?
Thorsten's red 911 overtook me several times. It was a pleasure to watch and hear as it came past, the engine-note particularly pleasing at full-chat through Quiddlebacher Hohe:
Red Porsches Do Quiddlebacher Hohe
There were of course the obligatory buses. Those things are pretty big when you're trying to overtake them round the outside at Brunnchen II, I can tell you:
Room for a small one round the outside?
I have to confess to a little bit of show-boating: the kids on the back seat of the bus were waving, so I took one hand off the wheel to wave back while overtaking. :-)
Despite the number of laps I've done, there are a few bends whose secret still eludes me. One of those was the left-right S-bend between Kallenhard and Miss-Hit-Miss. No matter what I did, it never really felt satisfactory. For some reason, it all came together towards the end of the day on Saturday. I'd like to say that I puzzled it out, but actually I was off-line for an overtake when I realised that the angle of approach I had taken gave me really good drive through the bend. I then tried to replicate it next lap and within 2-3 laps the whole sequence was making tonnes more sense!
While normal people won't understand this at all, I'm among friends here so I can say that cracking that bend was one of the highlights of the trip. :-)
Aha!
The rest of the day was a blur of laps until it was time for dinner. We'd thought before that it wouldn't be long before we filled Fuchsrohre and this time we did. With lots of people asking if they'd be able to fit in, I asked Sabine if we could commandeer the two remaining tables, which we did, so that every seat in the place was occupied by a Ringer:
The usual tales were exchanged, along with some entertaining stories of other motoring-related fun. My favourite, and I can't remember who told it, was of a German guy who bought a McClaren F1 and was using it to commute to work along his local stretch of autobahn. He complained to McClaren that he was getting fuel starvation problems on every journey. McClaren were puzzled as they hadn't had any other reports, and got him to use the on-board modem to send back telemetry data. The car apparently logs all faults noted, and when they analysed the data they found that the car did indeed have a fault, and it was kicking in on each of his commutes. The fault manifested at exactly 212mph.
I can't remember if it was at dinner or in the car-park that Simon described being overtaken by Anders through Fuchsrohre. He said that Anders came past so fast he was just a blur. Nothing unusual about that - except that at the time Simon was doing 145mph!
Euan alarmed me somewhat when he suggested I was doing sub-9-minute laps. I don't time my laps, and was assuming that they were somewhere around the 9:15 mark as I'd always associated sub-9 times with people who are really pushing hard. Looking at a couple of video laps afterwards, it seems he may be right. Just shows what a difference more power and grip can make, as I don't believe I'm driving with any less reserve than I had in the MX-5.
Sabine produced the now customary complimentary bottle of schnapps at the end of the meal, which made a good nightcap:
Sunday morning was also sunny with blue skies! This was looking like Easter all over again. The track was already moderately busy by the time we rolled up at around 8.45am, and it turned into another busy day both on the track and in the car-park:
Birgit had understandably not wanted to go for first laps on a busy track, so decided to wait until this morning before venturing out. Although Birgit had done quite a few passenger laps with me, those had been purely for fun, so we started out with a couple of laps in the 968 with me providing a commentary and driving at a speed which made it a bit easier to make sense of things:
Birgit heading for the passenger seat for some commentary
laps
After a couple of laps with me commentating, Birgit wanted one without commentary to make sense of things for herself, and then we headed off with Birgit at the wheel of her mr2:
A pic of Birgit's mr2 actually taken in May as the June pic
was lost
Birgit is a keen driver, and was approaching the Ring with exactly the right attitude. She did an initial lap just to get a sense of what it was like, then I gave her a few tips and we set off for a second lap. It was clear that she's a fast learner as the second lap was already a big improvement. But things were getting busier, so we decided to save more learning laps until a quieter weekend.
I again spent as much time as possible out lapping, and again gave lots of passenger-rides, though the list of requests was growing faster than I could get through them, so apologies to those who missed out.
One who did manage to get one was Alex, a man with good taste in cars who had emailed me beforehand to say he would be there and would like a lap. He enjoyed himself. :-)
Another 968 Cabriolet, another 968 number-plate,
but what's that black thing from the windscreen to the rear of
the car?
There were a few bikes who I indicated to allow past who signalled that they didn't want to pass and then slotted in behind me to follow me for the rest of the lap. While the bike and car lines differ somewhat, this appeared to work for them:
A Brit biker giving a thumbs-up after following me round for
a while
It started raining just as I set off on one lap, and got steadily wetter and slippier as I went round. Despite the fact that the rain was light, conditions were fully-wet by the time I was halfway round.
Odd weather - very light rain, but a very wet track
Of course, with rain came the predictable crashes. Approaching Ex-Muhle, a guy was standing on the corner pointing towards the outside of the bend. A BMW appeared to have done the classic Ex-Muhle crash, losing the back at the exit and spinning around to end up facing the wrong way on the inside of the bend:
BMW facing the wrong way, driver out and warning traffic
A bike down at Wehrseifen
And another, further round the bend
A bike which apparently ran wide exiting the Baby Karrussel
The marshalls were being kept busy, and were clearly unimpressed by the speed with which some people were passing crash-sites, as was I.
A friendly wave of thanks for slowing right down
Within an hour, the rain had stopped and the track was dry again. Not just fairly dry, but completely dry! The fun recommenced. I got in three dry laps before it started raining again, once more just as I set off. Since my tyres were virtual slicks by this time, I just went for a Sunday afternoon drive, this being appropriate on a Sunday afternoon.
I was very pleased to be taking it so gently when I reached Galgenkopf. The tarmac changes between the two halves of the bend, and while the first half was damp the second half was awash! That would have been a very unpleasant surprise to anyone hacking into the bend:
Look at the difference in the two surfaces!
I was having so much fun that I put back my planned 5pm departure to 6pm. But approaching Hohe Acht at around 5-ish, I saw something over the crest and braked in anticipation. As I entered the bend, I saw a scene of chaos, with two bikes down on the track, two cars on the track (one damaged) and several cars and bikes on the grass. It was hard to tell who was involved and who had stopped to help, but as I couldn't see anyone motionless I decided not to add to the mess by stopping, so continued round. As I got back to the gates, the ambulance was heading out and almost every marshall in the place seemed to be en-route for the scene.
The PA system made what was obviously not just the usual closure announcement. You didn't have to speak any German, the context and tone were sufficient: For god's sake, people, it's raining. That means the track is slippery. It's not a difficult concept! Stop ****ing crashing!
The clear-up was obviously going to take a while, and there were rumours that the track was not going to re-open. I decided that I wasn't likely to get in any more laps before I had to leave anyway, so said my goodbyes and set off.
The journey back was wet and horrible, and I was glad to retire to the comfort of the lounge on the ferry back to the UK:
Dark clouds stretching across the Channel
All-in-all, a first-rate trip. Can't wait for the next one!
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