[RagingKileak]

Cutting it real fine Tone!!!!!

Matt

[Alpina_B3_Lux]

So, who's finally coming? So far it looks like it will only be Tony, Tim, Matt and myself.

I'll bring some guys from Luxembourg and Germany along, probably 4-5 on each Saturday and Sunday.

Alpina_B3_Lux

[marcel b]

did my first laps of the year today!!!! so nice to be there again. was partly wet though... so tricky conditiond causing a lot of crashes. my car stays over there now to be modded a bit Pick up in 4 1/2 weeks.
yesterday I watched the VLN race, really cool. the M3 and Z4 gt3 look great. (m3 became third)

hope you guys get better weather next weekend!

[RagingKileak]

I'm definately coming with my buddy Ant!!

Matt

[dxb335d]

Have a great time guys!

[Alpina_B3_Lux]

Originally Posted by dxb335d

Have a great time guys!

Thanks mate!

Next time I hope there'll be more of you UK guys around, the German / Luxembourg fraction is strong in April it seems! Also fingers crossed for not too bad weather...

Alpina_B3_Lux

[SoYank]

Good luck to all of you going. Have a safe and enjoyable trip.

[RagingKileak]

Hello from Germanz!!!!!

Apologies if the writing is a little off, I am A, using a reallz dodgz foreign kezboard and B, a little drunk. The net result is that it has a habit of making reallz dull words quite interesting.

Anzwaz, Tone made it in just this morning around 08:30 whilst Ant and I got in at about 21:00 last night.

Managed 3.5 laps of the Ring todaz in the E36 before she had to retire due to warped brake disks, groaning mechanical parts and general burning smells. On the other hand, she is tighter than Billie Biper and arguablz more fun to be in.... hmm.

Tone had a lap or three in his, and that is certainlz one impressive car, though on the autobahn it must be said the M3 was all over him for about... 1st and 2nd gear, then some of third... then.. no he pulled awaz prettz quick after that!!!

Looking forward to meeting everzone else tomorrow!!

Matt

[F31-340i]

Cool - we need pics of the E36!

J

[themetz]

Glad you're having a good time... Look forward to the next report!

[SoYank]

Matt, what would happen with that keyboard if you used the z in place of the y?

Hope you can get your mechanical issues resolved quickly and inexpensively as possible.

For all of you there, have an enjoyable time. Wish I was there with you. I only have the Rocky Mountains to run about in for fun here.

Be safe.

[Alpina_B3_Lux]

So...back we are! At least I am - my friends from the UK are probably still on the road right now.

We had a really great time on the Nürburgring, in spite of the rather bad weather we had to endure the whole week-end.

Tony, Matt, Ant, my girlfriend and myself met up on Saturday morning at the hotel in Koblenz where we were all staying (it's a really good choice by the way), and drove back to the 'Ring with a small detour to the car wash for Tony. However, he didn't manage to erase the writing "someone" had put on his trunk, for some reason...

Anyway, upon our arrival at the 'Ring it was closed because of an accident, and so we waited for about an hour on a muddy field right besides the track. In the meantime, some of my German friends from the German car forum showed up, and the two groups intermixed very easily, chatting about this intercooler and that turbo upgrade in a mixture of English, German and sign language. I was really happy about that as it's always a bit difficult to foresee whether two groups with different languages get along well or not, but no problem there - to the contrary. Once the 'Ring reopened, we all had to give one of the guys a hand to get his E93 out of the mud, and then it was just a short trip to the ticket hut and then on for the first time (for me) this year on the track.

During the whole week-end, the weather was unfortunately rather bad - cold, windy and cloudy with intermittent rainfall. But - on the other hand it had the advantage that there were not many other cars on the track, most people drove at a rather sedate pace and there were NO bikes () on the track at all. You HAD to be quite careful at which speed you drove, but it was a great opportunity to get to know the track, and test the effectiveness of the Quaife LSD. In spite of the latter, whenever I was in third gear and went WOT the wheels spun, so I drove quite a lot in fourth gear actually.

There were also quite a number of accidents - on every single one of the 12 laps I did there were between one and 5 cars that had hit the rails, went into the gravel or into the grass or had accidents with several at once. Most of them were not novices like myself, but (seemingly) experienced track drivers with cars that had rollcages and everything, but they seemed to have underestimated the 'Ring like lots of them before. Just a pity for the others as well, as in particular on Sunday the track was closed for quite a long time due to lots of oil on the tarmac.

I had a slight problem with my car - when changing from winter to summer tires, the garage had forgotten to take of the spacers for the rear wheels; as a consequence, each time I went over a bump (or on the Karussell...), the rear wheels hit the fenders, in particular when there were three people in my car. Not good! Luckily we found a mechanic on Sunday morning who was able to take them off during a closure of the track.

Otherwise I was very happy with my car, in particular the Quaife LSD and the M3 suspension components did a great deal to improve the driving pleasure and the precision of the car. I'll try to write up a more detailed review of that once I find the time. The JB3 I had on my car during the 'Ring week-end did its job very well, too - it felt at least as powerful as my previous Evotech remap. But due to the slippery road no one of us could use all the power the cars had anyway, except on the Döttinger Höhe at the very end where I managed to pull even with a E92 M3 who had the bad idea of wanting to overtake me.

My German friends were eager to get a passenger lap with Tone, or to have him in their cars as a passenger to give them some advice how to drive. Everyone appreciated that very much, and it's certainly to a very large extent due to Tony that everyone appreciated the week-end so much. I received an excellent feedback from them on this week-end, and they all loved the atmosphere at the 'Ring and our international group. Next time there will be some more of them I wager, as well as a bunch of Luxembourg people! It's one of the great things of these forums that they bring people together from all over the world.

It was also a great pleasure to meet Atha and his girlfriend who were from Greece and recognized Tony's car when it was standing in the car park! His ProCede is really powerful, and both of them are real enthusiasts. Great to meet you guys!

I was also very happy to make the acquaintance of Matt and Ant, and it was great that their M3 finally got the right brake pads and got its problem sorted out and could do some laps on Sunday! Both of you, I really appreciated your company, and it was great fun spending time with you. Hope to meet you again soon!

I didn't shoot that many photos, but here are already a few, all done on Sunday. I hope that Ant has some also from Saturday, and I will also get a few more from Jochen @ Frozenspeed.

Hope to see all of you - and more - again in May!

Alpina_B3_Lux

1. Matt & Ant in their E36 M3 - getting ready to hit the road


2. Tone - getting ready to hit the road but a little sleepy!


3. Our friends from Greece - 335i PROCede and in great form in the morning!


4. Repair action on my car - trying to get the spacers off (1)


5. Repair action on my car - trying to get the spacers off (2)


6. Let it roll!


7. Into the "Karussell"


8. Someone has been infected with the "Nordschleifen-Virus"


9. Matt and Tone during a break in the Devil's Diner


10. Having fun...!


11. Matt, Sarah, Tony (sitting), myself and Ant (standing)


12. Chinese wizard at work!


13. The "final five" () in Koblenz having a nice Italian dinner

[marcel b]

looks like you had a fun weekend. Too bad you didn't have good weather. Friday I heard was fine regarding weather, but a big mess regarding traffic and accidents. I got a call today of my dad who is there and the weather today is good again. On the other hand, an empty track has some advantages!

[pjs]

Respect to the E36 M3. Hope it makes it back okay Matt

[Hotcoupe]

Looks like you all had a good time, I thought there were more going from the UK though?
I bet Matt's M3 gave Tony's 335i a hard time

[RagingKileak]

Back in one piece - the M3 is spot on!!

I think in May she will ride again and with a couple of minor tweaks between now and then, some exotic metal could be upset!!!

I will post more soon, but in short I did about 15 laps total and really enjoyed it. The company was international and there were not as many as hoped, but that kind of made us all try harder to get to know one another!!!

Night all

Matt

[neo871]

Nice pics, Marcel! Cars look awesome!

[atha]

really nice to meet u guys . i hope i can make it down at the ring on may again . should be fun we try with little better weather

[RagingKileak]

Some pics from Jochen chaps!











Regards
Matt

[Alpina_B3_Lux]

A few more here (from http://www.ring-bilder.de:

[ant1985]

more pics of the M3





http://www.nurburgringphotos.com/sea...&date1=&date2=

also look on here enter you reg number and you will see images (10 euros each pic)

i will loads my images and my review of the weekend later on.

[Irnbrukid]

Originally Posted by RagingKileak

Some pics from Jochen chaps!




Regards
Matt

HAHA is someone on the phone in that pic...