Lords of the ring
Discussion
Have a spiritual journey to the nurburgring coming up if anyone is interested....
We are going bank holiday w/e at the end of April...
Quite a special group of cars so far
Sport 350
S2 Exige
TVR Sagaris
911 Turbo
will be interesting to see how they all fare against each other.
Anyone got any links to car mags...maybe they will pay for the trip in exchange for an article??
Tassa
We are going bank holiday w/e at the end of April...
Quite a special group of cars so far
Sport 350
S2 Exige
TVR Sagaris
911 Turbo
will be interesting to see how they all fare against each other.
Anyone got any links to car mags...maybe they will pay for the trip in exchange for an article??
Tassa
Tassa,
would be nice to meet you at the Nürburgring. It's only 1 hour away from my home. So if you are interested, please post the date of your trip.
Stephan
www.lotus-esprit-se.de
would be nice to meet you at the Nürburgring. It's only 1 hour away from my home. So if you are interested, please post the date of your trip.
Stephan
www.lotus-esprit-se.de
Tassa,
The GT4 is surely a chance to learn a little bit about the "Ring". But I think you know that this can't replace a real race atmosphere.
I don't know if you ever was there or if you ever have driven in the "Grüne Hölle" (green hell). This name is the program. The track isn't very wide, mostly the space left and right the track is only some meters. Then you have old crash barriers or nothing - only trees, bushes or boulders. The curbs are old and sometimes very high. The track is 22,8 km long with 33 left and 40 right curves - it makes a lot of fun to drive but its also hard for the driver and the car.
I have very often driven over the ring. Mostly with my 911 some years ago and only a few times with my Esprit. I drive fast but I'm not the perfect track driver. I have a lot of respect to the "Ring" and when I had the chance to talk with profi racedrivers they told me: don't loose the respect.
One of the big problems on a weekend with an open "Ring" for everyone is the traffic! It's like on a german autobahn with vans, estate cars (the 20 years old Ford Scorpio with dad, mum, children), some busses with a tourist party, a lot of special high tuned Opel, VW, BMW and some very fast 911 Porsche. And don't forget the big number of bikes - very fast bikes. They all drive in different styles: slowly, carefully, fast, very fast, or they drive with little confidence. Because they can not leave the "Ring" after they have started. They have to drive more than 10 km to find the next exit. And this is the problem. It's not so funny to meet a slowly 60 km/h driver behind a blind curve or a hump you have passed with fullspeed. And than: Can I overtake him left, or right - has he seen me?
All in all a trip to the "Ring" is a great experience and makes a lot of fun. I think you will meet there a lot of fine car and race fans. On a weekend with good weather you have hundreds of spectators around the track who wave to you when you drive around.
But some of them are waiting for a fault. So drive carefully. I know an excellent Lotus garage in Wiesbaden. But I don't think, that you will visit it. 
Stephan
The GT4 is surely a chance to learn a little bit about the "Ring". But I think you know that this can't replace a real race atmosphere.
I don't know if you ever was there or if you ever have driven in the "Grüne Hölle" (green hell). This name is the program. The track isn't very wide, mostly the space left and right the track is only some meters. Then you have old crash barriers or nothing - only trees, bushes or boulders. The curbs are old and sometimes very high. The track is 22,8 km long with 33 left and 40 right curves - it makes a lot of fun to drive but its also hard for the driver and the car.
I have very often driven over the ring. Mostly with my 911 some years ago and only a few times with my Esprit. I drive fast but I'm not the perfect track driver. I have a lot of respect to the "Ring" and when I had the chance to talk with profi racedrivers they told me: don't loose the respect. One of the big problems on a weekend with an open "Ring" for everyone is the traffic! It's like on a german autobahn with vans, estate cars (the 20 years old Ford Scorpio with dad, mum, children), some busses with a tourist party, a lot of special high tuned Opel, VW, BMW and some very fast 911 Porsche. And don't forget the big number of bikes - very fast bikes. They all drive in different styles: slowly, carefully, fast, very fast, or they drive with little confidence. Because they can not leave the "Ring" after they have started. They have to drive more than 10 km to find the next exit. And this is the problem. It's not so funny to meet a slowly 60 km/h driver behind a blind curve or a hump you have passed with fullspeed. And than: Can I overtake him left, or right - has he seen me?
All in all a trip to the "Ring" is a great experience and makes a lot of fun. I think you will meet there a lot of fine car and race fans. On a weekend with good weather you have hundreds of spectators around the track who wave to you when you drive around.
But some of them are waiting for a fault. So drive carefully. I know an excellent Lotus garage in Wiesbaden. But I don't think, that you will visit it. Stephan
cheers stephan.... that is all very good advice!
we've all had track experience in the past but none of us are there to try and break the lap record!
The way we judge these as a good w/e is that we all go there and come back all in one piece...cars included!!!
If you come along then come and say hello
cheers
Tassa
we've all had track experience in the past but none of us are there to try and break the lap record!
The way we judge these as a good w/e is that we all go there and come back all in one piece...cars included!!!
If you come along then come and say hello
cheers
Tassa
If it doesn't rain I might join you?!! 
will see what we can do with a video but in the meantime heres a Mclaren F1 at the ring 
www.pistonheads.tv/clip132
www.pistonheads.tv/clip133
www.pistonheads.tv/clip134
www.pistonheads.tv/clip132
www.pistonheads.tv/clip133
www.pistonheads.tv/clip134
I agree with Taz, every petrol head or piston head should go there at least once. It's cheap compared to a UK track day. A lap costs about 7 quid and lasts around 10 minutes.
Some people don't go I guess because they think it's in another country, abroad, miles away etc. but you can get there from Calais in well under 4 hours. There are many parts of the UK it takes longer to get to. If you haven't been, go - you'll wonder why you never did it before.
I would only add that it's worth taking it easy if you're not used to track driving. With nothing coming the other way some fast road drivers can't believe their luck and overdo it a bit. It's easy to get carried away, particularly if you've got a rival car on your tail and some of the corners can catch you out!
Some people don't go I guess because they think it's in another country, abroad, miles away etc. but you can get there from Calais in well under 4 hours. There are many parts of the UK it takes longer to get to. If you haven't been, go - you'll wonder why you never did it before.
I would only add that it's worth taking it easy if you're not used to track driving. With nothing coming the other way some fast road drivers can't believe their luck and overdo it a bit. It's easy to get carried away, particularly if you've got a rival car on your tail and some of the corners can catch you out!
I was expecting a whole new set of boots would be required but was very pleasantly surprised with how much tread is left! ::
I did 15 laps in total .... which is approx 195 miles!!!!
There's lots of grip... and the track is fairly wide but just no room for error as my friend in the s2 exige found out! He got very lucky avoiding any damage with a couple of spins.... yikes!
I echo what the Pits says.... take your time in learning the circuit if you go. GT4 is a good way of learning the corners but it won't prepare you for the sheer extreme undulations that the ring has in store.
however... thats just part of the fun!
and if you get the right day... you have thousands of spectators around the circuit cheering you on. It's really something else!
: I did 15 laps in total .... which is approx 195 miles!!!!
There's lots of grip... and the track is fairly wide but just no room for error as my friend in the s2 exige found out! He got very lucky avoiding any damage with a couple of spins.... yikes!
I echo what the Pits says.... take your time in learning the circuit if you go. GT4 is a good way of learning the corners but it won't prepare you for the sheer extreme undulations that the ring has in store.
however... thats just part of the fun!
and if you get the right day... you have thousands of spectators around the circuit cheering you on. It's really something else!
it's very hard to compare cars on the circuit as it's one of those tracks that driver knowledge is everything.
Unfortunately not all the cars made it... the Sagaris was left in London as the headlight unit kept falling out!(sorry Pits, I couldn't resist!)... and the 911 driver was under orders by his wife (enough said!)... so it was just us lotus boys!
of course they are very different cars... and I know we travelled in a lot more comfort in the esprit than the exige.....
the esprit was very much the bigger car but with much more tourque so you could power your way through the corners, whereas the exige needed more precise entry (maintaining high revs) to keep it's momentum up.
Also, when the tires did let go it was certainly more progressive in the esprit than the exige... hence the exige spinning twice.
But like I say it comes down to the driver... there were quicker laptimes than we were doing (low 9 minutes) by people in other cars from porsche gt2's to little modified mini's....
if you know the track and have the balls then you can set a cracking laptime.... for me, it was important to bring the cars home in one piece. something that quite a few other drivers failed to do!
Unfortunately not all the cars made it... the Sagaris was left in London as the headlight unit kept falling out!(sorry Pits, I couldn't resist!)... and the 911 driver was under orders by his wife (enough said!)... so it was just us lotus boys!
of course they are very different cars... and I know we travelled in a lot more comfort in the esprit than the exige.....
the esprit was very much the bigger car but with much more tourque so you could power your way through the corners, whereas the exige needed more precise entry (maintaining high revs) to keep it's momentum up.
Also, when the tires did let go it was certainly more progressive in the esprit than the exige... hence the exige spinning twice.
But like I say it comes down to the driver... there were quicker laptimes than we were doing (low 9 minutes) by people in other cars from porsche gt2's to little modified mini's....
if you know the track and have the balls then you can set a cracking laptime.... for me, it was important to bring the cars home in one piece. something that quite a few other drivers failed to do!
The Sagaris will be back...
Having first service done plus, yes, having the front headlight cover re-sealed.
Hopefully we'll let you know how it compares to a Sport 350 at the ring sometime soon!
But there can't be much in it in a straight line, but hopefully I'll have an edge. Whereas I've a feeling I'll have to concede second best to Lotus engineers finest work round the corners. Having said that the Sagaris has a much more 'lotus' feel about it, being a light car with surprisingly supple and composed suspension. It looks much more aggressive than a TVR t350 but is actually rides better and is significantly less edgy.
Here's hoping TVR have caught up to Lotus for handling at last!
Having first service done plus, yes, having the front headlight cover re-sealed.
Hopefully we'll let you know how it compares to a Sport 350 at the ring sometime soon!
But there can't be much in it in a straight line, but hopefully I'll have an edge. Whereas I've a feeling I'll have to concede second best to Lotus engineers finest work round the corners. Having said that the Sagaris has a much more 'lotus' feel about it, being a light car with surprisingly supple and composed suspension. It looks much more aggressive than a TVR t350 but is actually rides better and is significantly less edgy.
Here's hoping TVR have caught up to Lotus for handling at last!
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