Bolzamo, IT – Day 10 of the
motorcycle tour and I’m obviously WAY behind in posting anything. No surprise
as there just isn’t any time, the routine for the last 10 days is always the
same, get up, eat, ride like hell through some of the most challenging
landscape on earth, eat, go to sleep. I make that sound repetitive; believe me,
it’s anything but. Those tales are to
come.
Now where were?
Day 2 of the trip finds us
waking up at the Haus Pit Lane hotel in Nurburg, Germany, home to the famous
Nurburgring race track complex. The “Ring”, as it’s affectionately known to
gearheads everywhere, is actually several circuits on one giant piece of
landscape. The one that we’re here to see is called the Nordschleife,
considered to be one of the most difficult and dangerous tracks in the world.
At some 20.8 kms long with an amazing 154 unique turns winding through dense
and hilly forests with elevation changes of more than 1000 feet it well lives
up to its nickname, the Green Hell. And I’m here to drive it.
I’ve been practicing for weeks
prior to the trip using a Sony PS3 rig with GranTurismo 6, one of the best game
simulations of this track, but as good as it is it will in no way prepare me
for the extreme hills, valleys and lack of sight lines of the real thing.
What’s peculiar about the
Nordschliefe is that when it isn’t being used as a race track or test center
for the car manufacturers it’s actually open to the public as a toll road. Yes,
that’s right, anyone can just show up, pay a fee and have a go. That includes
scooters, tour buses, Bugatti Veyrons and just about anything else you can
imagine. However rental cars are a
no-no, every major chain in Germany expressly forbids it right in the contract.
So the only option for overseas folk like myself is to rent a Ring racer. Of
course I had to have something from the VAG family so I decided to go with a VW
Scirocco, a lower slung version of the Golf that's been long gone from our shores but still exists in Europe. The current version they have is based on
the MK5 Golf/Jetta/A3 platform (2006 – 2013) and as a result is very familiar to me. The versions you can rent here are
all pretty much the stock 2.0L turbo with around 210 hp, but frankly for my
first go at this track I don’t think I’d want any more, what I want is an idiot
proof, well balanced chassis that has more brakes and handling than motor and
this car fits the bill perfectly.
The night before we spent a
bit of time just walking the local streets around our hotel, located less than
a kilometer from the track’s tourist entrance, and it is absolute high octane
heaven. Awesome cars and bikes of every description are seen and heard
everywhere, the place is one giant brotherhood of speed unlike anything I’ve
ever seen outside of an F1 event. And everyone is here for one reason, to slay
the dragon and live to tell the tale.
I must admit at this exact moment I am now not so sure
this is a great idea, I barely slept and have massive jet lag. And the next
hour will demand every fibre of hand-eye coordination that my aging brain can
muster. We leave the hotel and head over
to RSR Nurburg, the company I’ve reserved the car with. I fill out the
requisite paperwork signing my life away and before being turned loose then sit
through a very thorough 30 minute briefing which in the words of our host is
designed to “scare us to death now so that we don’t die out there”. His words
carry weight, there are crashes every day this track is open. Most just bend
tin, but some do worse. Being that the deductible on the Scirroco is basically
a good chunk of the purchase price, and to that you must add the fees charged
by the track to clean up and replace everything down to the last blade of grass
you chewed up, I am well motivated to heed his warnings.
Luckily my two lap package
includes a lap with an instructor, so I will have expert guidance to make sure
I keep it paint-side up on the first go.
Looking around the garage
and yard outside here makes one’s head go light, there are awesome cars
everywhere. You can rent Lotuses, M3’s, 911 GT3’s, Lamborghinis and they fill
every space on the lot.
Finally around 9:00 am I get
the car and meet instructor Derek, an expat Brit race and safety car driver who
has recently moved to Nurburg to work full time at the track. We spend a few
minutes setting up the car with cameras and mics and then head down the road to
the track entrance. Herr Schaefer dons a helmet and drops himself into the back
seat. Time to see if I’m up to this…
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