The 'Ring - Badge of Honour

[Diablos-666]

Has anybody been to the Ring just to earn their badge of honour sticker?

Now I'd love to do the ring but getting insured is nigh on impossible.

But I still think about risking it for 1 lap to earn my badge of honour and wear it with pride.

I only want to do one lap so I should be relatively safe if I take it nice and easy (famous last words)

Has anyone risked it and done what I described above?

Has anyone risked it and binned it?

[EDLT]

I bought mine off ebay, which is kind of risky these days.

[hornetrider]

[davepoth]

In a word yes. A friend of mine and I bought £500 stters (E30 and 944) and drove to the ring and back in the summer. It went fairly well, apart from a few little niggles. I had to gaffertape his fuelpump to the car at Ashford on the way out, and mine decided to not have any coolant in it after 3 hours at Vmax (180kmh for my 316) on the autobahn.

But we got there, and got in some laps. I managed 11:25.6 BTG which given the car was st was pretty good for a first outing.

The way I look at it is this. You don't go on the road aiming to crash into anything, and the 'ring is much safer than a road (I promise you EVERYBODY is paying a lot of attention to their driving and their mirrors). If you want to take it easy you'll get overtaken by everything, but the rules on what to do are pretty clear so you shouldn't have any trouble.

[Rollcage]

I'd sincerely doubt the 'Ring is safer than any road. It's accident and fatality rate would comprehensively blow that one out the water, especially on TF days.

[kwk]

I've beem there many times and I used to put the sticker on the car but I sort of grew out of it. I still go there but its usually to work these days.
I had a small 'off' there a couple of years ago and caused very minor damage to my car. I also touched 3 barriers and I mean just touched. The damage to the car was a small crack in the front bumper. They sent me a bill for £1500 for the barriers which my insurers paid.
With todays problems, I never drive on there.

[McSam]

Rollcage said:

I'd sincerely doubt the 'Ring is safer than any road. It's accident and fatality rate would comprehensively blow that one out the water, especially on TF days.

Accidents and fatalities caused by/to people who aren't driving the wheels off their steed and bin it through their own error are very low, though; which is to say that if you take it easy you are quite safe. I would never even entertain the idea of doing it uninsured, though..

Edited by McSam on Monday 24th January 01:01

[andye30m3]

davepoth said:

In a word yes. A friend of mine and I bought £500 stters (E30 and 944) and drove to the ring and back in the summer. It went fairly well, apart from a few little niggles. I had to gaffertape his fuelpump to the car at Ashford on the way out, and mine decided to not have any coolant in it after 3 hours at Vmax (180kmh for my 316) on the autobahn.

IMHO taking a stter to the 'ring is a seriously bad idea, I can control my own driving but the potential for a mechanical failure on a £500 and dropping fluids is too high and you'd be responsible for any accident that happened on your spillage.

As for driving a car you know is loosing coolant on the 'ring really wouldn't advise that, I seam to remember that anti freeze is bloody slippery if spilt on the road.

[TubbyRutter]

EDLT said:

I bought mine off ebay, which is kind of risky these days.

I had to take the sticker off my old car when I sold it as car and driver had not been together which are the unwritten rules for having a sticker as far as i'm concerned.

[Jayho]

Haha I remember seeing a few adverts which the car has the rings sticker and when I phone the chap selling it I ask "Has the car ever been on a track ect" and 9/10 the answer was "no it hasnt" followed by either "I just bought the sticker no ebay" or "The sticker was on when I bought the car".

TBH it is just a sticker after all. If you havent been then dont put it on. If you've been and put it on, be honest about it. But as said before, I do think that you should only have it marked on your car when you've done it and you'd be proud to admit the fact to any future buyers.

[Mazdarese]

Can I get an M6 badge to show that I've done the M6 many times? That'd be cool. Just a straight line really, so I suppose I could make one myself.

[kambites]

Even if I'd taken the Lotus to the 'ring, I wouldn't want a sticker. It seems horribly tacky to me.

[Chris71]

Used to have one - intended ironically and originally part of a much larger 'chaving up' programme for Le Mans 2009 - on the back of my Focus. I think I got that one free somehow when I first went there (not, I hasten to add, in a 1.6 Focus!)

[anonymous-user]

I bought mine from the Ring.

But, since I knew my car wouldn't last too much longer, I got my own "badge" permanently added to my own rear end.

[thiscocks]

kambites said:

Even if I'd taken the Lotus to the 'ring, I wouldn't want a sticker. It seems horribly tacky to me.

Saw an M3 csl with a large 'ring' sticker on the back the other day. What a great way to fk the looks of a nice car and make yourself look like a 'ring'.

[msheaven]

I have walked around the ring..can i get a ring tattoo to add to my tattoo collection? lol.

[hairykrishna]

Diablos-666 said:

Has anybody been to the Ring just to earn their badge of honour sticker?

Now I'd love to do the ring but getting insured is nigh on impossible.

But I still think about risking it for 1 lap to earn my badge of honour and wear it with pride.

I only want to do one lap so I should be relatively safe if I take it nice and easy (famous last words)

Has anyone risked it and done what I described above?

Has anyone risked it and binned it?

I had a conference in Mainz, which isn't that far from the ring, so I stayed for an extra day and went to have a look around. Obviously once I got there I couldn't resist doing a handful of laps in my crappy diesel hire car. No 'ring insurance and undoubtedly a very angry Hertz if I'd stuffed it.

Be warned that it's quite addictive and even intending to tour round calmly you'll find yourself starting to push on a bit. I stopped because it had started to rain and I saw a guy in a 911 lose it in a big way in front of me. I don't have a sticker though...

Edited by hairykrishna on Monday 24th January 10:36

[anonymous-user]

msheaven said:

I have walked around the ring..can i get a ring tattoo to add to my tattoo collection? lol.

Yep... only you'd be copying me!

[Kaelic]

Mazdarese said:

Can I get an M6 badge to show that I've done the M6 many times? That'd be cool. Just a straight line really, so I suppose I could make one myself.

You can get M60 stickers

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/M60-RING-Car-Sticker-not-nur...

[Rollcage]

McSam said:

Rollcage said:

I'd sincerely doubt the 'Ring is safer than any road. It's accident and fatality rate would comprehensively blow that one out the water, especially on TF days.

Accidents and fatalities caused by/to people who aren't driving the wheels off their steed and bin it through their own error are very low, though; which is to say that if you take it easy you are quite safe. I would never even entertain the idea of doing it uninsured, though..

Edited by McSam on Monday 24th January 01:01

It's like hairy says above - it's all too easy to start off nice and gentle, but then overconfidence takes hold, suddenly you are not where you thought you were and bang, in the railings. Not seen the 'Ring clip with the ZX save? I'd equate that to the sort of driving you advocate, and he very nearly had a biggie.

If you are just truly going to trundle around and not push in the slightest, you may as well stick to computer games, or just have a blat on the roads near the 'ring.