What a weekend!

Sunny, warm, dry, grippy and on the Saturday afternoon in particular, almost an empty track!!

I think the combination of the Truck GP and the weather forecasts had kept a lot of people away ...

Unless otherwise credited, all 944 action photos are by Birgit. If you're looking for on-track photos of your car or bike, try here:
www.ringphotos.com

Thursday

Terrorism is of course nothing new for London. We lived through decades of IRA bombings, and the overwhelming sentiment of Londoners has always been to refuse to be terrorised. Terrorists can kill & injure people, and they can cause disruption, but they can't stop us getting on with our lives.

Liverpool Street was closed before I got there, but with company VPN and webmail systems, was able to work from home just as easily as in the office. I also had BBC news on, and was able to relay updates to the Ringers list while news websites were hard to access.

Friday

Fortunately the airports were unaffected, so I simply allowed an extra half an hour in case of checkpoints on the approach roads and longer queues at security. As it turned out, things were largely unchanged. Armed police had coned off one lane of the approach road, and were standing there in a 'We're here to reassure you' type manner, but otherwise everything appeared normal.

I usually just have a laptop bag, but this time I had my camera bag too. A danger of spending too much time around me is that you end up copying my gadget-buying habits. After falling prey to an Ixus, StreetPilot III, Treo and iPod, Birgy had started to eye my D70 with increasing interest. I was instructed to bring it with me so she could have a play with it at the Ring.

In the check-in queue, the guy ahead of me was working on a Microsoft Project document. As it has been several years since I last played with it, I was curious to see what it looked like these days, so I had a look over his shoulder. Since he was working on a project for Ford, and was apparently still four months from launch, you might have thought that a check-in queue was not the ideal place to update your plan, especially if you don't even notice someone taking a photo of your screen ... :-)

Despite the additional armed police, there was one serious danger at the airport that no-one had done anything about: Dixons. The new Libretto was extremely cute - even smaller than my tiny Vaio:

And pocket digicams are awfully slim these days. Made my Ixus V look positively prehistoric:

But I successfully resisted such temptations and made my way to the lounge to catch up on some email.

Sailing Ben was complaining about the Brussels ring-road traffic. I told him that he should try my route, as it made Brussels fly by. He missed this reference and whined that he was following my route, having printed it out just before he left. I pointed out that was my old route ...

JW made the same observation, and suggested that I needed to update my directions section. I duly added a new introductory paragraph:

My recommended route is to get a minicab to Stansted, be flown across Belgium and then have an attractive blonde chauffeur collect you from Köln-Bonn airport.

I made the mistake of commenting on the lack of security delays. Ooops. The in-bound flight was delayed 20 minutes, and after we made up most of it with extremely rapid boarding (motivated passengers!), I noticed that the cabin attendants kept repeating the headcount.

It's not unusual for them to do it twice, but both attendants had done the count several times each. Next, the flight despatcher did the count. Twice.

A call went out to see if a particular passenger was on board, without response. An announcement was made that we had one more passenger on board than we should have, and could we all please have our boarding passes out ready to be checked again.

Now, we've walked all of 200 metres from the gate to the plane. We had to show our boarding passes again as we stepped on board. But you guessed it, about half the passengers seemed to have great difficulty locating their boarding passes, so by the time this palava was complete, we were back to the original 20-minute delay. Ho hum.

Since we were sat on the ground for a while, I took advantage of the delay to get my laptop out and write the first bit of the trip report. The woman opposite me was repeatedly looking at me, and as I wasn't entirely in her age-range, I wondered whether my use of a laptop was making her nervous in the current climate. But no, it was my watch that interested her: apparently she had been looking for a new watch for her husband and mine was perfect. I gave her the details.

We landed about 15 mins late, and my cute blonde chauffeur whisked me to the Pistenklause for dinner. I texted Sailing Ben to say we were on the way and he wasn't to allow them to close the kitchen. He said that unfortunately the kitchen had just closed, but when we arrived they reopened it for us. :-)

Sabine wandered over to join us a little later:

Somehow it was again 2am by the time we made it to bed.

Saturday

We headed down to TTE to collect the 944. Marc had even translated his safety checklist into English, so Brits who store their cars with him can see exactly what has been checked. Click here for a scan of the checklist (opens in a new window).

The forecast had been for rain and fog. The reality looked like this:

I went out for a couple of laps with Birgy passengering. The car was sliding around a lot, so I checked the pressures and found them high, so let some air out. The next couple of laps, it was still sliding, so checked the pressures again. Again, they were high, and again let some more air out. Did this yet again after two more laps! The track temperature was just climbing all the time.

However, by lunchtime things were steady and the car was gripping and handling like a dream.

The track was still largely empty, so what more could a Ringer want? My text to the list said it all:

Woohoo! I am having a ball!!! Best day's driving for as long as I can remember. I can do no wrong, the car can do no wrong, track empty, dry, sunny, fabulous!

You know those occasional times when absolutely everything comes together? When the car just does exactly what you want it to do, when your every intent is translated perfectly into action, when you are so in the groove you feel like you designed the track and the car? This was one of those occasions. Best of all, it lasted all day!

When I had been checking my pressures earlier, a Brit with a Scoob asked to borrow my gauge. He was over with a mate in a Cosworth, and they asked for passenger laps, which I duly gave to a couple of them. Unfortunately, the Cossie owner was not to have a great weekend - more on that later ...

Although there wasn't much traffic, some of it was either blind or suicidal. I was stuck behind one biker, indicator on, lights flashing, horn tooting in the slow corners, all the way from Hatzenbach 1 to Adenaur-Forst!

Fortunately, he scared himself there, slowed even more and took a very tight exit. I saw my chance, and Birgy was there to catch me finally getting past:

Unbelievably, the ****** then did an illegal overtake! So I was stuck behind him again:

Two fast bikes came up behind me, so I signalled right for them to pass. They clearly expected to be able to pass the yellow bike also, and had to slam on the anchors when Mr No-mirrors cut across them. He was so all over the place that not even bikes could easily pass him. They eventually managed it, the front one waving his fist at the yellow bike. I was able to slot in behind them, and two bends later the mirrorless bike was but a memory.

Birgy was able to capture this because she'd decided to use the weekend as a test-case of whether she was going to follow me further down the gadget path with a Nikon D70. She put her digital camcorder on a tripod so that could take care of itself, while she played with the D70.

Birgy being Birgy, she naturally made a little home from home:

Adenaur-Forst is always good for entertainment, from old hands ...

and newcomers ...

Now, how do you end up in this position?

Here's how it happened:

Video footage will be added shortly. :-)

He wasn't alone:

Meantime, I just couldn't believe the perfect conditions continuing. Only minor accidents, and not a single closure! I was back to my old pattern of two laps, short break and straight out for another two laps.

The amount of time I was spending on the track meant that I wasn't taking many car-park pics, but couldn't resist this gorgeous Ultima:

It's just one of those cars that looks as good as it drives, and what's more looks great from every angle:

Sorry, I'll stop now. Steve, meanwhile, was in his red car:

Can't spot the Ultima badge on this one, though:

An Audi RS6 caught fire at the exit:

Photo: Dennis Oosting

Photo: Ian Murphy

Photo: Paul Hankins

This turned out to be a 700bhp machine with a rather substantial NOX system:

Photo: Paul Hankins

The fire was caused when the fuel-hose came loose and spilled fuel onto the hot turbo. The owner says that as three different companies had been involved in prepping the car, it will be hard to pin it on one of them.

Fortunately the damage was minor, an ex-AA mechanic helped them sort it out, and it was running again the next day.

Ring mascots seem to be popular these days:

Then the inevitable happened, and we had a closure:

I didn't have any info at that stage.

Wandering around the car-park, there were the usual silencing attempts going on:

One of this group of bikers was loudly telling his friends that they should never look in their mirrors. I could hardly believe that this 'advice' was being offered, and gently suggested that this wasn't the best approach to the Ring. The biker concerned was adamant, so I simply observed that it was a great way to get killed and left him to it.

Zakspeed are planning one or more single-seater days on the Nordschleife! They have been in touch with me, so I'm hoping to have some details soon.

Someone told me the crash was in Fuchsrohre. As Birgy was still at AF, I texted her to ask her whether she had any more info. She replied:

Car ran up inside bend BEHIND armco

It turned out to be a Honda Civic. It had gone over the armco at the top of Fuchsrohre, just before the left-hander at the top of the slope. As no helicopter was called out, and both ambulances left with blues-and-twos on, that seemed to suggest the best outcome: both alive, and not sufficiently serious to require the air ambulance. The passenger cell of the car also seemed to have held up well:

Jochen stopped to help at that one. He said afterwards that the driver was on his 2nd lap ...

There was a second crash on that lap. There were bits of BMW all over Mutkurve, but the BMW itself wasn't spotted until Steilstrecke. Fabian appeared with the story:

It turned out the car had hit a deer!

Once the track reopened, it was straight back out to play.

The other mirrorless guy out there was the driver of a German yellow Caterham with a green nose. I spent almost half a lap stuck behind him. My normal tactic in these cases is to wait for someone less patient to bully past them, then I nip through behind them, but this was one case where an empty track works against you!

Sailing Ben was there in Sarah's new 911SC. Actually, this is just a con on Ben's part to make her buy him a car, as she only has a provisional licence, can't get insured with that, and won't get insured on a 911 when she's just passed her test either! He did add L-plates for her:

It needs a little work, but is in stunning overall condition:

I saw him heading out, so followed him for a lap. Ben had pleaded for photographers to take pics of it on the track. The good news was that Birgy was ready at Adenaur-Forst:

The bad news is that other Bens can't compete for her attention:

Still, she did get some other shots of the SC - including this one:

As Sailing Ben got a bargain with the car, and he announced he would pay anything for pics of it, we decided he should pay the difference between what he paid for the car and what it is worth. With Ringers' discount, he owes Birgy four a half grand.

A brief rest, and brief drool:

Comedy helmets are still very much in vogue:

The police helicopter was making itself very visible! It did a low, slow pass over both car-parks in a 'We're watching you' message:

It then spent the day hovering over various bends, presumably looking for wrong-side overtakes, etc.

MX-5s seemed to be a pretty popular ring-tool these days:

There was a tiny bit of rain lasting about 15 minutes, but it really was just a very slight drizzle, and - amazingly - didn't seem to reduce the amount of grip out there.

This Alfa Giulia GT was going well:

Some Smarts seemed to be having a demo day or something, with lots of different drivers jumping in and out of them:

I went out for a paxlap with Sailing Ben:

Amusingly, Alex had taken a near-identical snap, as shown here over dinner (right, my Vaio; left, Alex's phone):

The car-park was getting more crowded, but unbelievably the track was getting emptier. By about 5.30pm, I was doing entire laps scarcely seeing another vehicle. This is on a sunny Saturday afternoon in July!!!

Anyone want a Mini?

Did I mention that it was very sunny?

With heat like that, the Grunne Hoelle needed to restock on soft drinks:

The Elise has a business-like appearance in the cockpit:

Mmmmm.

A very orange car:

A very green car:

A nostalgic car (Birgy used to own one):

A very rare BMW:

That was what Wayne's rental BMW turned out to be when he picked it up: a diesel Volvo estate ...

I also turned out to take a 'before' photo of a 911 that crashed just before the end of the day. I've removed the photo at the request of the owner. (I'm always happy to remove photos or obscure number plates on request - just email me.)

Approaching Galgenkopf at about quarter past seven, Fabian was flagging and the 911 was against the armco with the front smashed in. Again, Jochen stopped to flag. According to the driver, he swerved to avoid a bike. Police were called ... and charged the bike rider - and the 911 driver.

I would only have got one more lap in anyway, and I'd done well over 20 laps, so I couldn't really complain.

I'd booked a table for 15 at the Pistenklause. Dinner was duly consumed:

I had of course brought the usual dinner accessory:

We viewed Birgy's shots first, and then Jochen's. We tried to view Sailing Ben's too, but my Sony laptop couldn't read the Sony memory-stick from his Sony camera ...

Some Ringers start young - this is Jake, son of MX-5 Alex and Cathy:

Traditions must be maintained, including the dinner camerafest - here, Sarah is using SB's camera:

And the 'photograph the photographer' shot, usually performed with JW, was this time done with Sarah:

"Here's a cute shot of you two":

I keep my D70 in RAW+JPEG mode. This enables a quick copy to view the JPEGs, with a longer copy afterwards for the NEFs. I have never yet managed to exhaust the D70's battery; Birgy did.

SB revealed Alex's Gassing nickname, a name I fear cannot be shared in a family trip report ...

Sabine passed my blue-tarpaulin-covered 944 and promptly nicknamed the cover the 'blue condom'.

We had our usual bottle of wine, then Alex shared some of his wine with us, then Birgy ordered some more. Ooops.

It again got to be 2am.

Sunday

The amount of wine consumed meant that we did not make an early start. I wasn't feeling ready to drive until around 11am.

It was perfect weather again!

The car-park was pretty busy, and this time the track was also rather busier:

But only a few laps were like that - although nothing like as quiet as Saturday, it was still pretty quiet much of the time. And the grip levels were still great.

Unfortunately, the Cosworth owner, Nick, was not having a good morning. He ended up with the rear of the car on top of the armco on the inside of the exit of the Baby Karussell with the front of the car still on the track. The car was a write-off.

He was trying to figure out the best way to handle the situation in terms of insurance and recovering the saleable bits of the wreckage. I helped as best as I could, and he later managed to get the remains recovered home. His plan is to strip the upgrades for use on the replacement, and to sell the rest. He aims to be back at Easter for a somewhat gentler lap. :-)

A brief rest and car-park wander found this bike support vehicle:

A closure, and the ambulance could be seen at the exit of Galgenkopf. This photo doesn't really show it, but by eye you could just make out a car on it's roof. It was variously described as a Clio, an old Renault and an M3.

Eventually the ambulance returned and I asked if all was ok. I was told yes, no serious injuries.

The same unfortunately could not be said about the BMW:

It turned out a rear wheel had tucked under and the car had rolled - exactly the same as an accident that happened directly in front of me on trip 9:

As the number of crashes increased, it seemed that they all had one thing in common: Fabian flagging them! The poor guy managed only one uninterrupted lap.

I was much luckier, and didn't have to flag a single crash. I was still having a great time.

I never used to use the kerb at Hatzenbach 2, but I've recently found that it works well:

It does make the line into the following bend quite different, but it feels good.

Being a former TVR owner, Alex never goes anywhere without a comprehensive toolkit, including 5-metre jump-leads, so was able to help out some guys with an Alfa with a flat battery:

His and her mascots from Jason and Ann, visiting the Ring as part of their honeymoon :-)

Autocar were back again, this time using a Noble as a camera platform:

I took Ann out for a passenger lap, but a second lap was not to be: just as we reached the end of the exit lane, the engine coughed and died, and would not restart. A bunch of people pushed us round into the car-park, where the car was starting to leak coolant. It didn't look like a big leak, and the head seemed fine, but unfortunately it later turned out to be either the main bearings (bearings from the crankshaft) or con rod bearing.

I called Marc on his mobile and he told me he would collect the car - top service. :-)

I in any case would have only had time for one more lap, so it didn't really impact the weekend much.

That aside, it was an absolutely stunning weekend! Three weeks to go, then back for two weekends in succession. :-D

Birgy also had a great time with the D70, and did really well with it, so I suspect that this will very shortly be the new his-and-hers gadget. Watch this space for a link to her pics ...