One week after trip 28, it's time for trip 29. :-D
No preparation required, but a couple of potential DRTs had appeared. One was a BMW318is which Christer had found. Fully race-prepped and looking like a strong contender. But then Jon Mitchell, my Porsche specialist, had bought an old 944 as a parts car and found that essentially the car was sound. A bit cosmetically challenged, and in need of some TLC, but he felt it was too good to break for parts. Did I want it?
Although a 944 isn't quite as cheap to run as a Golf, it needn't be too expensive. And the purchase price was essentially close to Golf levels for the car with the following work done:
Major service
Cam and balance belts replaced
Front engine re-seal
Waterpump replaced
Injectors cleaned (ultrasonic and chemical)
New disks and pads all round, including handbrake shoes
Fresh brake fluid
New distributor cap, rotor arm and plug leads
Swepco in the gearbox
MOT
My Recaro pole-position seats would be fitted, more or less doubling the value of the car. :-) It would then need a cage and 6-point harnesses, both jobs that could be done over the winter.
It will also need to be re-registered as a German car, but it was German originally, is completely stock and we know the most recent German registration number, so that should hopefully be straightforward.
The plan will be to bring her over the last weekend in August, use her for the weekend on UK plates & insurance and then hope to have her German-registered in time for the September weekend.
Friday
A 4pm departure for my chauffeur-driven Merc to Nurburg:
The first part of the journey was a little slow due to holiday traffic, and especially *&%$£# caravaners. The worst culprits were overtaking each other uphill with a speed differential of 0.00001mph - and yes, they were Dutch:
Still, some of the journey is quite scenic, though this isn't very well captured in this shot:
We turned out to again be staying in Adenau. Our B&B had had someone wanting to book our room for the entire week, not just the weekend, and as they have done us the favour of lending us their own apartment twice before, they figured (correctly) that we would be willing to stay there again to do them a favour in return.
We picked up the C-Car and met JW who was just dropping it off after one lap. It turns out he'd had a huge scare at T13 when the car just didn't grip at all under braking. Checking the tyre temperatures afterward, they were 2.6 hot, which he suspected was the problem. I immediately let them down to 2.4 hot and decided to take it very easy the next day until we'd established what pressure worked.
Back in Adenau, we applied the usual anti-theft device - find a tasty car and park next to it:
We decided to try the Italian place we'd spotted in Adenau. Service was rather faster on the lasagne than the pizza, but the food was good - and very cheap. They'd asked if we would mind sharing a table as they didn't have any free. We said fine, and had no sooner sat down than one of the guys eating there asked 'Are you Ben?'. It turns out I'd met Floyd there a couple of years ago and given him a lap in my MX-5. He was there in his Scoob with a mate Evan:
Since the food was cheap, and we might have acquired a DRT, we decided that the budget could run to a decent bottle of wine:
And so to bed.
Saturday
I really don't know what is so complicated about the concept that a bottle and a half of red wine at 10pm and getting to the track at 8am do not make a good mix, but somehow we seem to keep forgetting this. The alarm at 7am was thus not entirely welcome, and there was much saying of 'Ugh!' and 'Next time, no wine'.
But somehow we made it. We of course went staight on at the Breidscheid entrance, and Birgit did 2.5 laps on a pretty empty track. Only a few fast Porsches came past:
We'd arranged with Keith & JW to try to fill the gaps in the new photolap I'm working on. We made it out for a couple of laps, but we missed T13 last time because of a crash and this time because of the diversion for the DTM, so this wasn't a great start! The traffic was also building up quickly, so I'm not sure how well we did, having forgotten to grab the card from Keith. Oh well, we'll find out soon enough.
The car-park was soon very full:
However, this wasn't translating too badly to the track - it was incredibly quiet by DTM weekend standards, as it had been by Oldtimer standards the weekend before.
Both RingTaxis were there, along with the Zakspeed Viper. I'd been hoping to try to blag a lap in the Viper by pointing out the publicity they'd get from my website, but it seems they are doing pretty well without added PR as there always seemed to be people waiting for a lap.
Unlike last weekend, the temperature was bearable, but the skies were still delightfully blue:
Arty 'passing beneath
the gantry, through the sunroof' shot
With tyre pressures of 2.4 hot, there still wasn't much grip, so I decided to try 2.1 hot:
The diversion was well signposted with speed limits on the approach and a white tyre wall with red-and-white tape:
This later turned out to be insufficient for someone, who drove straight into it ...
There were a fair few bikes present, many of them Brits. Adrian Percival had trailered his across, and was riding quickly and smoothly:
One anonymous Finnish rider was concerned about tyre wear and decided to see if he could reduce it by 50%:
The C-Car was behaving very nicely with reduced pressures. With road tyres (P-Zeroes), it squealed a fair bit, but slid predictably and progressively. I was having fun.
Things started to get a little busier on the track as the day went on:
The normal August spectating crowd at Brunnchen was seemingly rather reduced by the DTM:
The second closure coincided with the arrival of two buses, one of them a double-decker:
These tyre marks looked quite interesting, but the armco dent was pretty small. I was later told the name of the culprit - I shall wave a safety leaflet at him next time I see him :-)
One 911 wasn't quite so lucky. Not massive damage, but these are Porsche body-panels we're talking about ...
We were making the most of the open time, though this time I tried to look after the tyres by doing only 2-3 laps at a time. It wasn't long before it was time for a visit to the Tankstelle:
Pit-babe at work
Keith
had really not been having a good time before the weekend. First, his
power-steering system sprang a leak (a common 968 problem), then he blew a head-gasket
on the drive home from Kaul & Will. After 3 hours on the side of the road,
the ADAC truck would only tow him back home to Koblenz, leaving the car in a
large public parking lot at 11:30pm. The next morning Kaul & Will sent a
recovery truck, however the driver was having trouble finding the parking lot.
Keith walked down to the main road to guide it in, and while he was doing that,
he managed to get stung by a bee. Then when he returned to the car, he found
that it got a parking
ticket, as he had parked it a 'Camper-Only' parking spot in the dark of the
night ...
Fortunately he'd been able to make alternative arrangements in the form of a hire car. Granted it didn't quite have the power or handling of a 968, it was at least German and black:
Another closure signalled time for lunch:
We opted for the hut and a couple of hot-dogs:
There were a group of Brits over from Manchester, with I think 12 cars in total, including at least one Mini:
They weren't having a great day. The first casualty was an Evo that hit a kerb, leaving a rear wheel at a rather rakish angle:
We suggested they talk to Ring Racing, and showed them how to get there. Their second problem was signalled by a closure. We'd heard that a MkI Golf was on its roof in Wippermann, and we then heard it was one of their group. They had spoken to the driver on his mobile and both he and his passenger were apparently ok. A queue of traffic started building up, including this rather tasty Audi RS6:
More traffic was arriving to add to the full car-parks:
And the usual closure chaos ensued:
The ambulance was the first to emerge. Although both driver and passenger had apparently been up and walking, the medics ordered both to be sent to hospital for check-ups, and the driver was told he would be kept in for two weeks on a spinal board. His friends thought this was precautionary, but it suggested a pretty substantial knock all the same.
Next out was the police car:
Followed by the ambulance car I've seen go out both this weekend and last:
When the remains of the Golf followed, three things were very clear. First, the accident had been a big one. Second, the occupants (the driver in particular) were very lucky indeed. Third, a rollcage is not a luxury on the Ring:
The accident happened on the final right-hander of Wippermann (the right-hander immediately before Eschbach). I had previously witnessed a Fiesta rolling there, caused by the left rear wheel folding under the car. I wonder whether the same thing caused this one:
If so, what precautions can be taken against this type of crash? We spend a lot of time sliding sideways. Do we need beefed-up components in this area? I'd welcome any information or advice - this is a pretty frightening thought.
With the wreckage removed and the track re-opened, things were pretty busy out there for a while:
I could easily have been doing lots of laps back-to-back, but was being kind to the car. I thus went in search of passenger laps. Keith was the first one I snagged:
While out, we spotted a rather familiar-looking car out there. The one I'd just left in the car-park to cool down:
As Jochen wanted to take some biker mates out, we initially assumed it was him, but then saw it was Joerg sneaking in a quick lap. :-) We followed him for a while, overtook him, then signalled him past, all the while trying to do our very best impression of the C-Car Syndicate Member Driver Assessment Sub-committee:
We thought he would probably be confused by this unknown BMW taking such a keen interest in him, and we did get a puzzled look before the grin:
Attempts at car-to-car photography are always a bit hit-and-miss, but this one worked well:
Purists might keep windows closed for that extra 5kph, but we were more concerned with keeping cool, so Birgit checked that the C-Car air-conditioning system was operational:
The cap, which, er, you can't see, was a present from Joerg: an Erdinger Wiessbier one. :-)
Another closure, time to wander around the car-park ...
That's quite some wing
...
Like the badge :-)
Known as the 'Flying
Banana'
I didn't quite put two-and-two together at the time, but after photographing this great repair note ...
... I realised that this was the same guy who'd sent me the pic of the crash for my whoops page ages ago:
I saw him again the following day and introduced myself. It was great to see it back at the Ring again, restored to its proper shape.
Ah, now that looks like a familiar face, and that passenger seat needs to be mine. Christian was taking a kid round first, but I booked the following lap. :-)
The Ring still has to be one of the few places where it's, oh look, yet another GT3:
Byrne-up Tours were there, and I'd bumped into Simon in the car-park earlier. I later heard that one of their number didn't even make it as far as the Ring - he got over-enthusiastic on a Belgian bend and hit an oncoming car. I gathered he was ok but his bike wasn't.
Of course, not every car there is a 911:
Adrian Percival had trailered his bike across with a new purchase:
That was thus next on my passenger list. You'd think the man would smile a little rather than looking like he's off to the chip-shop:
But all good things must come to and end, and I just nipped in for the last lap of the day, making 20 in all. Not bad considering the closures. No sooner had the barriers come down for the last time than a large truck turned up. If anyone is looking for a company to buy shares in, this has to be the one:
The armco replacement
truck
And so to dinner. We were a small group this time, just 10 booked and about 15 turned up:
I was trying to persuade JW that he wanted to buy a half-share in the 944 when Trish expressed an interest. Job then went into car salesman mode and started selling the virtues of the idea while I listened with admiration. :-)
Christer was being very slow to buy a bargain BMW DRT, so Keith texted him to ask if he'd bought it. 'Not yet', came back the reply. Keith texted him to tell him to buy it. As did I. We then decided that everyone else should too, so we beamed Christers number to all the other Ringers and they all sent their encouraging messages in English, German and Swedish. I think he received 15 in all. Some were slightly rude, and Christer gave as good as he got in reply. :-)
And thence to bed in Adenau.
Sunday
We didn't quite manage the 8am start. Or, indeed, the 9am start. But hey, we're on holiday. By the time we got there, the car-park was crowded. Rene pulled up behind us in his newly-fixed MX-6:
After someone managed to hit the T13 tyre wall the day before, we were amused to see that they'd added cones. Like someone would see those if they couldn't see a bright white tyre wall ...
You can see the concrete
dust covering the fluids from yesterday's crash
The safety cars were doing very regular patrols, more so that in the past, I think:
The roving marshalls on the bike were also very visible with their yellow jackets, though I can't say that they were always setting the very best of examples ...
I don't know what this driver had done, but the marshall stopped his bike in front of him at the exit, had a very animated conversation, with much arm-waving, and every time he started to walk off the driver must have said something else because the guy returned and more arm-waving ensued:
The bike marshalls work very well in getting people on-scene at a crash quickly. There was a crashed Audi towards the top of Wippermann, with a lot of fluid and debris on the track, and two bike marshalls were already dealing with it very efficiently. We knew the track would be closed when we got back, so once again lots of people hanging around in the car-park:
The concrete dust covering
the oil from the Audi
Birgit took some more in-car snaps:
This yellow Mini was
going very nicely indeed
We had just started one lap when it started raining. By T13, it was already coming down heavily and I decided to test the friction by braking sharply on the approach. The wheels stopped turning and the car didn't slow down at all. That will be a slippery track, then. I came off the brakes and then braked very progressively before tiptoeing into Hatzenbach I.
It was amazing. Although the track barely looked wet, rain on a long-dry surface meant it was almost like ice. The spill at Wippermann was especially dodgy:
But this is the Ring, and one section can be treacherous while another is bone dry. Rain pelting down on one corner and nothing at all on the next. And so it was, with some sections absolutely dry:
For some reason, there was a large contingent of photographers at Klostertal Kurve. We of course felt it our duty to entertain them.
Back in the car-park, Richard Levitt wandered up. Would I like a lap in the Radical? Er, let me think about that one ... I didn't have a full-face helmet, but a biker lent me one in return for a lap in the C-Car. :-)
Birgit then got the following lap:
The car is phenomenal, and Richard drove it well. Very fast, tonnes of grip, but still a very raw feeling. It was a very interesting contrast to the GT3, which corners at similar speeds with similar astonishing grip. But the GT3 feels civilised about it while the Radical feels like a race-car. You wouldn't want to drive the Radical across Belgium, and the seats are a little low for my tastes, but I think you'd have more fun in this car.
The biker (whose name I have forgotten - sorry!) got his paxlap while Birgit was in the Radical, and he got a little more entertainment than planned. Everything felt normal up until I braked for Aremburg. I was approaching at the same speed as usual, and braking with the same pressure as usual, but all that happened when I braked is that the wheels stopped turning. The car continued towards Aremburg at more or less undiminished speed! I came off the brakes and cadence-braked, which lost about half the speed we needed to by the time we reached the bend. I then chucked it in hard sideways to try to scrub off as much speed as possible by sliding. This was moderately effective, but the tail came round about halfway through the bend. I was slow to correct, trying very hard not to over-correct, which saw us climbing the inside kerb and, fortunately, coming back down it. A few more fishtails and we were down to normal speed and facing in the conventional direction, so I was able to exit the last part of the bend normally.
Apologising to my passenger, he said 'It's ok, I don't scare easily'. :-)
My first thought was that there must have been fluid on the track, but as we continued, it felt very, very loose indeed. I tested the grip in Adenaur-Forst and there was none. Tyre pressures were now heading the suspect list, so I tiptoed round to Breidscheid and came off there to check them. Sure enough, all four were back up to 2.4 hot. Clearly the day had got warmer and the tyres hotter without me realising it. An important lesson to check them at lunchtime as well as in the morning.
I let the tyres down to 2.1 hot and set off again. I braked hard a couple of times on the run towards Bergwerk and both times everything seemed ok. I took Bergwerk at 80% of normal speed and it was totally fine. I gradually increased speeds round the rest of the lap and by the end of it I knew the car was fine again.
That was a rather scary experience, though, and I was glad Birgit wasn't in the passenger seat at the time - I'm still in trouble for a rather enthusiastic overtake in Eschbach the previous weekend ...
Unfortunately another 968 got crunched. Christian's brother hit the concrete wall at Breidscheid - he was ok, but the damage was apparently severe. However, the latest news appears to be that it is fixable.
Christian was sanguine about it, as I guess you would be while sitting in a GT3. My expression of sympathy lasted only long enough to bum a pax lap in the GT3 for Birgit:
We'd promised ourselves we'd be away by 3pm to beat the DTM traffic, but of course these plans rarely work, so it was 4pm by the time we dropped the C-Car back at Ring Racing. With all the closures, and the limited length of the day (cough), I only managed 12 laps, but still a very fun day.
The unfortunate Golf was there, and despite me thinking there was very little left to strip, it seemed Ring Racing had wasted no time!
Then it was off to the airport via a back-road route to avoid the traffic. From the traffic reports Birgit heard later, this was an extremely smart move.
And once again the only sane way to cross Belgium:
However, if all goes to plan, I will have to drive across Belgium at the end of the month - to take my new DRT across. Fingers crossed. :-)
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