A great trip report submitted by Stevlio Verdiani on the Ringers forum: |
So,
this time it was spring time in the Eifel.    And in the Mosel valley, too.   (These views over the Mosel valley always remind me of times in which I used to play with model trains ...) And we know what spring time in the Eifel means, don't we?   Last friday I set my alarm clock very early, and around 5 AM I was on my way to the Nordschleife for the second trip of the year. I was on my own (this time Carla could not join me, unfortunately), so it was a bit harder to fight against falling asleep at the wheel and, most of all, it was a bit more difficult to deal with snacks, candies and beverages on the way. I managed with a few more stops than usual, compensated by the lack of queues along the way, so that I arrived at the hotel early enough to unload, change clothes, refuel the bike and be at the car park around 4 PM. With an event at the GP track and a Porsche Club meeting, I did not know what to expect in terms of traffic, even on a friday, but I was pleasantly surprised by the car park almost empty and, most of all, by the track almost empty. These days, I'm forced to be a bit careful with money (or, better, with the lack of it), so I decided that my tyres could stand another trip before replacement. Well, I don't know if it was the tyres or the not-so-high temperature or some particular track condition, but on my second lap (the first is always a sighting one), the very first corner, the right hander of Hohenrain chicane, felt like it was a newly waxed marble floor. Not exactly what one needs to boost confidence. I slowly recovered some, during the weekend, but in general I preferred to stay on the safe side and pospone some quick laps to my (already ordered) new set of Metzeler. However, I did 5 laps, before returnig to the hotel, and in two of them I had the rare fortune of not meeting a single vehicle for the whole 20.8 km. Saturday was a bit worse, traffic wise, but still more that acceptable. And the weather was quite nice. Even this cloud, although menacing, dissolved without delivering any rain.  However, I was greeted by a closure, and by people wearing warm clothes.   The attendance was quite ... international.          With more and more visitors from eastern Europe.      For some reason, it's always the guys from the former Soviet Union that usually strike me as being rich. Very rich. Too rich. I wonder what Vladimir Ilich Uljanov (Lenin) would say about it. For instance, this license plate suggests me that there is only 88 cars in some town of Latvia, but one of them is this expensive BMW X5.  The Russians always seem to be the richest of all. They had plenty of Porsches like this one.  This was probably the cheapest of Russian cars around.  It was stopped by the marshalls at the exit from the track, because the guys on it (actually, two guys and a beautiful girl, all with big cameras and "casual" designer clothes) had replaced the license plates with one sayin "Bobby" at the front and one saying "Princess" at the back. The marshalls were not happy at all and hurried the guys to put on their regular plates at once. As I said, some Porsche Club meeting was scheduled for the weekend.  And speaking about Porsche, I wonder, what is wrong with them? First they came out with the Cayenne. Now this.   What's the point? Can't they just stick with their masterpiece, the 911 and all its family? Why do they have to make an ugly luxury SUV, then a sort of a pocket sports car (the Cayman), then this sort of ... truck? Can't they just leave the market of heavy cars to Maserati? And what is it with names? "Cayenne" is the name of the french prison where the typical italian owner of such car has just escaped from (or should be brought)? "Cayman" is the location of the bank where he keeps his (dirty) money? And "Panamera", is it probably intended because a car like that, specially in golden color, could be your choice if you are the dictator of Panama? I wonder what Ferdinand Porsche would say about it. And, by the way, despite its license plate from Stuttgart, the expensive Panamera was in possession of a couple of ... Russians. During saturday, traffic more than acceptable, weather was nice, I saw reasonably few crashes and could manage to do 19 laps. Among the crashes, one was an Italian young guy driving one of those expensive BMW coupe' Z something, with a girl for a passenger, who managed to turn the front of his car in 50 meters of debris at the exit of Ex-Muhle. No one was hurt, but I doubt the car can be of use anymore. Another crash involved a local biker I've met several times, and occurred at Pflantzgarten. He was not hurt, either (as he gestured when I was passing by), but seemed very pissed, probably because of coming together with some car driver. I was approached by a young German guy, asking me informations about the track as he was going out for the first time. I offered to guide him around, preceding him on my bike. He was a bit reluctant, but then accepted and asked a friend of his (another first-timer) to join in. Well, at the end of the lap, he ran to the office to buy another ticket. He commented that initially he was very worried to see me enter at some speed in completely blind corners, and that he did not expect the gradients and the compressions, but he sure was amazed by the place. He was not the first beginner that I guided around, but I must say he sure was the quickest. I hope he will not end up spending all his money at the ticket counter of the Nordschleife. I spent time during one closure looking at a few bikes in the bike park. I must say that tubular frames, maybe they are no longer top technology, but sure they look good.   This biker must be really worried about falling:  This is a bike I was not impressed about when it first came out, but now I'm beginning to like it:  I think I know what this guy's motto could be:  With that bike, that handlebar and those ammunitions ready to use on his tank, his motto can only be. "Shoot me! I'm stupid!". On sunday, the weather was not as nice.  I managed to do another 11 laps, but most of them were in the damp, if not in the wet. Nevertheless, I even managed to pass this car up a wet Kessechen.  At some point I went out on a drying track, but it started pouring as soon as I got to Breidscheid, and I came back very very wet. So I went look for shelter and sat for a while on the window of the BMW office. That's where I noticed something quite funny. We Ringers, more or less, all have our fixation with "gear". Leathers, helmets, gloves, boots. Many car drivers like to wear gloves and, most of all, driving shoes. Look at this guy:  He wouldn't go out for a lap on his Ford GT without putting on his driving shoes. Well, now look at this very nice pair of shoes:  Do you know who they belong to?  No less than Sabine Schmitz herself. When I noticed those shoes, I could not help asking her to take a picture. Well, I maybe wrong, I don't know the guy with the Ford GT, but ... who do you think can be quicker around the Nordschleife? Stelvio. |