Just back from the Nurburgring - Small Guide
Discussion
Only managed to get one trip in to the Nurburgring since the lockdowns started. With the ongoing travel restrictions and the pressures of starting a new business 18 months ago I just haven't been able to make it happen. However last week we got a group of us together and it was probably my best trip yet! It was quite the journey so I thought I would document it here for anyone bored enough to want to read, and to share some of our knowledge should it be useful to anyone else.
So the A35 and I head up together, making reasonable progress before our first challenge of the trip. The M25 shuts due to a pretty severe accident leaving us stationary for a couple of hours.
We made the best of the situation, tried not to let it get us down and eventually got to the hotel for some much needed sleep! The next morning we re-grouped with everyone and headed to the tunnel for the essential eurotunnel group photo:
Another top tip, if you want a bit more room, select that you have a bike carrier on your roof to go into the higher, but more importantly, wider carriages. It costs very little extra, on this occasion £7 each way. But Avoids you being put upstairs on the car carriage, and gives more width to help avoid scraping alloys etc.
Another tip for anyone looking to do the trip, the last couple of times the toilets have been out of service so use the terminal facilities before leaving for the train. Likewise, if you need facilities when you are off, stop at the garage that you get to as soon as you have disembarked the train as the next services on the motorway is miles away. Oh and don't forget your change to use use them! (You can also buy something from the deli and pay them the fee to use the toilets if needed)!
The drive to the Ring is about 4-5 hours depending on traffic and stops. The standard of driving is often quite poor so have your whits about you.
Now in terms of accommodation, we always go to the Lindner Park in Drees. Best way of explaining it, it’s sort of like a Centre Parks but for cars. A small gated resort with a series of houses and driveways. It's quite an experience in itself seeing all of the lovely machinery there with you for the week, and you can spend hours just walking around the houses eyeing up the cars! We go for the standard house which is 3 bedroom, 2 doubles/twins and a single. It has one shared shower room with wc, a separate wc downstairs, and then the bedroom at the back has an ensuite with a bath and sit down shower. It has a full kitchen should you want to cook and a range of different driveways (some are completely useless being too steep etc, we always request certain houses that we know have suitable driveways).
Once settled we usually head down to Aldi/Lidl in Adenau to grab some bits for the house. Breakfast, drinks, snacks etc. The road down to Adenau is great in itself, nice and windy with a few hairpins, although there is a speed limit in place. Once done, shopping gets dropped off and then it is usually up to the ring for the first lap!
Laps are currently charged at 25 Euros in the week and then 30 Euros Friday-Sun. Do make sure you check the Nurburgring website ahead of your trip to ensure the ring is open on the dates you want to go and what times. So many people I know have just rocked up before without checking, to then find it is closed and then have to turn around and come home! For this trip it was open Thurs and Friday evenings, then all day Sat and Sun.
With the weather being hot this time, tyre pressures were key for me. Slightly ignorant of me, but in the past I have never checked my tyre pressures and always been fine. I got my tyres replaced the day before heading off and unknowingly to me, BMW had set them much higher than they should have been. The result was me thinking the Z4 was a lemon on track with it breaking traction on the front, having the ABS kick in early and preventing me from slowing the car down. It was actually quite scary so I would urge you to make sure your pressures are set correctly, and by correctly I mean slightly lower than optimal as your tyres will heat up and the pressures will increase as a result, just keep an eye!
Having sorted the pressures out, the car really did start to come alive. I have taken a M140i a couple of times before and it really was so much more compliant than it. The Z4 is meant to be quicker officially around the ring than the OG M2 which I am still not convinced about, but I did manage to take on several of them over the course of the weekend amongst a range of other cars. Despite that, don't forget you are most likely not insured. There are some policies available, I haven't ever opted for one and have accepted the risk each time rightly or wrongly. If you are not going for insurance, my main thing would be to say don't out drive yourself or put any other vehicles at risk. If you want to risk your own car that's one thing, but do your best to avoid others.
General road rules apply on the ring with the exception of the speed limit. The track does have a speed limit approx half way around as you drop down in to Adenau for the now safety entrance. Most people ignore it, but always be aware that an emergency vehicle or breakdown truck could be entering the circuit at a slow speed. When passing on the track, do so on the left hand side only and be prepared for others to not have seen you. Many will use indicators to acknowledge they have seen you and are keeping to the right.
Likewise be prepared for people more experienced, or in quicker cars coming up behind you needing to pass. The closing speeds sometimes can be so fast so you need to be on your mirrors constantly. Likewise, if you see someone approaching try to be polite and keep to the right, signal and don't make any rash moves like braking suddenly etc, they will drive around you. You can actually get tuition at the ring from a few companies, I would highly recommend it. Also perhaps the taxi laps too, they are incredibly fun and its a good way to experience the circuit.
Be prepared to be filmed and photographed! There are photographers and videographers based all over the track, both official and unofficial capturing you throughout. I love it as you get lots of photos you can purchase afterwards like the ones featured in this post. But also means, if you get it wrong, there is a strong possibility you may end up on a YouTube video. I think it was Misha that said, you can't impress anyone at the Nurburgring, but you can make them laugh! If you do want to prevent the official photographers or videographers capturing your car, you can ask for a red sticker to put on your car so you are not captured. This is only relevant to the official media however.
It's not just the Ring itself to do either. There is the RingWerks area which has the Museum and a few fun bits like 4D cinema, truck racing and the Nurbus (i'll say no more, just do it at least once)! You have a few shops there as well as a subway too should you fancy a light bite. Across the road you have a few restaurants. There is the Nurburgring Castle, and a little restaurant at the bottom there. You'll almost certainly want to get your Nurburgring sign photo too!
And perhaps best of all for me, the surrounding areas and roads are just stunning. I am a bit of an early riser so use the opportunity to go out to take a few snaps. Here are a few examples, all of which are within about 2 miles of Drees!
It's also noting there are loads of nice roads just to take a drive on too. As well as other places to visit. I like to take a drive up to Eltz Castle for lunch sometimes for eg. I didn't this time around but the drive is quite nice and the castle is spectacular to see/photograph.
Food wise restaurants are quite carb heavy for the most part, lots of italian food! Pinnochios is a fond favourite of ours due to the affordability and portion sizes! Although they are a little cheeky. Try to get you to pay by cash when the card machine is functioning etc. There is a kebab house just along from it which the food is pretty exceptional considering. Again they are cash only. These are both in Adenau btw. If you do need a cash point, there is one a short walk away from these two restaurants.
There is two options for fuel, the Eds garage not to far from the ring entrance. Maximum 98 octane here and queues get a bit mad. Then the second fuel station is again down in Adenau, they offer a 102 octane should you desire, they also have a jet wash around the back but queues can be quite large again. Fuel prices vary drastically, especially over the weekend. I tend just to ignore the price and fill up as and when and take on an 'it is what it is' mentality. It all goes bloody quickly whilst lapping anyway so whats an extra few euros?!
I think that pretty much rounds it up. As I say this is by no means comprehensive or the way you should do it, just sharing my experience and what we do! I'd love to add a trip to Spa in to the mix one time but I am just never organised enough to pull it off! One day
Anyone who made it this far, well done!
- Disclaimer* I am not saying this is the best way to do things, this is just what we do which works for us and if it is useful to others then fantastic. Just to pre-empt the inevitable PH bashing.
So the A35 and I head up together, making reasonable progress before our first challenge of the trip. The M25 shuts due to a pretty severe accident leaving us stationary for a couple of hours.
We made the best of the situation, tried not to let it get us down and eventually got to the hotel for some much needed sleep! The next morning we re-grouped with everyone and headed to the tunnel for the essential eurotunnel group photo:
Another top tip, if you want a bit more room, select that you have a bike carrier on your roof to go into the higher, but more importantly, wider carriages. It costs very little extra, on this occasion £7 each way. But Avoids you being put upstairs on the car carriage, and gives more width to help avoid scraping alloys etc.
Another tip for anyone looking to do the trip, the last couple of times the toilets have been out of service so use the terminal facilities before leaving for the train. Likewise, if you need facilities when you are off, stop at the garage that you get to as soon as you have disembarked the train as the next services on the motorway is miles away. Oh and don't forget your change to use use them! (You can also buy something from the deli and pay them the fee to use the toilets if needed)!
The drive to the Ring is about 4-5 hours depending on traffic and stops. The standard of driving is often quite poor so have your whits about you.
Now in terms of accommodation, we always go to the Lindner Park in Drees. Best way of explaining it, it’s sort of like a Centre Parks but for cars. A small gated resort with a series of houses and driveways. It's quite an experience in itself seeing all of the lovely machinery there with you for the week, and you can spend hours just walking around the houses eyeing up the cars! We go for the standard house which is 3 bedroom, 2 doubles/twins and a single. It has one shared shower room with wc, a separate wc downstairs, and then the bedroom at the back has an ensuite with a bath and sit down shower. It has a full kitchen should you want to cook and a range of different driveways (some are completely useless being too steep etc, we always request certain houses that we know have suitable driveways).
Once settled we usually head down to Aldi/Lidl in Adenau to grab some bits for the house. Breakfast, drinks, snacks etc. The road down to Adenau is great in itself, nice and windy with a few hairpins, although there is a speed limit in place. Once done, shopping gets dropped off and then it is usually up to the ring for the first lap!
Laps are currently charged at 25 Euros in the week and then 30 Euros Friday-Sun. Do make sure you check the Nurburgring website ahead of your trip to ensure the ring is open on the dates you want to go and what times. So many people I know have just rocked up before without checking, to then find it is closed and then have to turn around and come home! For this trip it was open Thurs and Friday evenings, then all day Sat and Sun.
With the weather being hot this time, tyre pressures were key for me. Slightly ignorant of me, but in the past I have never checked my tyre pressures and always been fine. I got my tyres replaced the day before heading off and unknowingly to me, BMW had set them much higher than they should have been. The result was me thinking the Z4 was a lemon on track with it breaking traction on the front, having the ABS kick in early and preventing me from slowing the car down. It was actually quite scary so I would urge you to make sure your pressures are set correctly, and by correctly I mean slightly lower than optimal as your tyres will heat up and the pressures will increase as a result, just keep an eye!
Having sorted the pressures out, the car really did start to come alive. I have taken a M140i a couple of times before and it really was so much more compliant than it. The Z4 is meant to be quicker officially around the ring than the OG M2 which I am still not convinced about, but I did manage to take on several of them over the course of the weekend amongst a range of other cars. Despite that, don't forget you are most likely not insured. There are some policies available, I haven't ever opted for one and have accepted the risk each time rightly or wrongly. If you are not going for insurance, my main thing would be to say don't out drive yourself or put any other vehicles at risk. If you want to risk your own car that's one thing, but do your best to avoid others.
General road rules apply on the ring with the exception of the speed limit. The track does have a speed limit approx half way around as you drop down in to Adenau for the now safety entrance. Most people ignore it, but always be aware that an emergency vehicle or breakdown truck could be entering the circuit at a slow speed. When passing on the track, do so on the left hand side only and be prepared for others to not have seen you. Many will use indicators to acknowledge they have seen you and are keeping to the right.
Likewise be prepared for people more experienced, or in quicker cars coming up behind you needing to pass. The closing speeds sometimes can be so fast so you need to be on your mirrors constantly. Likewise, if you see someone approaching try to be polite and keep to the right, signal and don't make any rash moves like braking suddenly etc, they will drive around you. You can actually get tuition at the ring from a few companies, I would highly recommend it. Also perhaps the taxi laps too, they are incredibly fun and its a good way to experience the circuit.
Be prepared to be filmed and photographed! There are photographers and videographers based all over the track, both official and unofficial capturing you throughout. I love it as you get lots of photos you can purchase afterwards like the ones featured in this post. But also means, if you get it wrong, there is a strong possibility you may end up on a YouTube video. I think it was Misha that said, you can't impress anyone at the Nurburgring, but you can make them laugh! If you do want to prevent the official photographers or videographers capturing your car, you can ask for a red sticker to put on your car so you are not captured. This is only relevant to the official media however.
It's not just the Ring itself to do either. There is the RingWerks area which has the Museum and a few fun bits like 4D cinema, truck racing and the Nurbus (i'll say no more, just do it at least once)! You have a few shops there as well as a subway too should you fancy a light bite. Across the road you have a few restaurants. There is the Nurburgring Castle, and a little restaurant at the bottom there. You'll almost certainly want to get your Nurburgring sign photo too!
And perhaps best of all for me, the surrounding areas and roads are just stunning. I am a bit of an early riser so use the opportunity to go out to take a few snaps. Here are a few examples, all of which are within about 2 miles of Drees!
It's also noting there are loads of nice roads just to take a drive on too. As well as other places to visit. I like to take a drive up to Eltz Castle for lunch sometimes for eg. I didn't this time around but the drive is quite nice and the castle is spectacular to see/photograph.
Food wise restaurants are quite carb heavy for the most part, lots of italian food! Pinnochios is a fond favourite of ours due to the affordability and portion sizes! Although they are a little cheeky. Try to get you to pay by cash when the card machine is functioning etc. There is a kebab house just along from it which the food is pretty exceptional considering. Again they are cash only. These are both in Adenau btw. If you do need a cash point, there is one a short walk away from these two restaurants.
There is two options for fuel, the Eds garage not to far from the ring entrance. Maximum 98 octane here and queues get a bit mad. Then the second fuel station is again down in Adenau, they offer a 102 octane should you desire, they also have a jet wash around the back but queues can be quite large again. Fuel prices vary drastically, especially over the weekend. I tend just to ignore the price and fill up as and when and take on an 'it is what it is' mentality. It all goes bloody quickly whilst lapping anyway so whats an extra few euros?!
I think that pretty much rounds it up. As I say this is by no means comprehensive or the way you should do it, just sharing my experience and what we do! I'd love to add a trip to Spa in to the mix one time but I am just never organised enough to pull it off! One day
Anyone who made it this far, well done!
Edited by NFox on Thursday 9th June 20:00
Tyre Smoke said:
Thanks for that. Reminds me of a few years back when I took my Cerbera and stayed at the PistenKlaus owned by Sabine Schmitt's family.
I say a few years, it was 2009! I need to go again. And soon.
Pleasure, and what a beast of a car! Definitely recommend going again. Up until lockdown we always tried to go twice a year, hoping to get back to doing so from here!I say a few years, it was 2009! I need to go again. And soon.
I'm only down the road from you (relatively speaking) in Devon. Sadly the Cerbera was sold in 2011 because she just wasn't getting enough use. Thought I'd scratched the TVR itch having had a Chimaera and a Cerbera. Fast forward to 2021 and in Cullompton Tesco filling station was a Chimaera. Fatal!
A few weeks later I'd bought this...
If you ever fancy a beer, let me know!
A few weeks later I'd bought this...
If you ever fancy a beer, let me know!
Tyre Smoke said:
If you ever fancy a beer, let me know!
f1ten said:
Good write up ! I'm itching to go out.
Thank you, and I can't recommend it enough. It's such a great long weekend away for any car enthusiast OlzIJR said:
Cool thread. Loved reading it.
Been wanting to go for a few years, just not sure my car would make it, in its current state.
Your photos look great and the surrounding area looks amazing.
Maybe next year i'll get to go. Just got to persuade some people to come along with me
Thank you! And honestly it should be an easy sell! It really is such a great little getaway, we just booked our next one for September!Been wanting to go for a few years, just not sure my car would make it, in its current state.
Your photos look great and the surrounding area looks amazing.
Maybe next year i'll get to go. Just got to persuade some people to come along with me
NFox said:
The drive to the Ring is about 4-5 hours depending on traffic and stops. The standard of driving is often quite poor so have your whits about you.
I'm guessing you meant "wits". Whilst we're on the subject, we have some of the worst driving in Europe - it seems like three quarters of British drivers are half-wits behind the wheel. I find the roads of France, Holland and Germany a far better place to be as the MLM/OLM hasn't taken over there. It's just the Belgians who are as bad as we Brits!LunarOne said:
I'm guessing you meant "wits". Whilst we're on the subject, we have some of the worst driving in Europe - it seems like three quarters of British drivers are half-wits behind the wheel. I find the roads of France, Holland and Germany a far better place to be as the MLM/OLM hasn't taken over there. It's just the Belgians who are as bad as we Brits!
Plus one for this, have just come back from Germany - 102 ron fuel at £1.79 a litre was brilliant. Car misses it already.didn't make it to the ring this year - but next year hoping to make it to the N24 or N12 hour race.
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