Some impressions from my trip to the Nürburgring Nordschleife last Sunday. Weather was fantastic, driving was loads of fun. I was there at 9.20 a.m. (the track as open since 9 a.m.), drove three laps (so around 63 km, more is not so ideal as the tires get too stressed). The first two were really nice, not so much traffic, I could drive my own lines very well. The third lap was less nice, as traffic became quite dense and I was constantly overtaking others which is somewhat stressful as you never know how much attention they're paying; during the first third of the lap I followed the M5 ringtaxi, that was really useful as it drove about my own speed and pushed other cars out of the way (not literally of course). I lost it out of sight after that though, as they have more overtaking prestige than I have.
10 minutes into my first break the track closed for a large accident near the "Kesselchen" (main vantage point for watchers), apparently a few cars and bikers drove into each other (don't know the details). This lead to the track being shut down for about 100 minutes, I was lucky enough to get a parking spot in the shade as it was starting to get really hot.
As it reopened again I did another three laps in a row, which was very pleasant as there was not that much traffic at the beginning. Just at the beginning of the second lap there was this annoying smoking and stinking and very loud ricer who didn't want to let me pass although being far slower. Anyway, on Flugplatz I passed him and never saw him again (luckily), the guy really didn't know what he was doing.
The car drove very well, in particular the suspension and brakes hold up nicely. The tires (Michelin Pilot Super Sport) are quite used up now (no driving in the rain with these...), and I'm also starting to feel that I have quite a bit less grip than with cup tires, in particular in tight corners. Now, if all goes well I'll have a set of OZ 18" rims with Federal 225/255 next week, I'm quite curious to try these out at the beginning of August when I'll be on the 'Ring next.
Two photos from Sunday:
Alpina_B3_Lux