Nurburgring - Easter weekend

So glad my OH hadn't spotted this thread!

Gives me an idea for his birthday present for next year though. Plenty time to plan!

Looking forward to pictures!

After the first shake down trip a few weeks ago in the Pug it was time to return to the Ring. Unfortunately the plan to take the bike too didn’t come together as the insurance papers still had to appear, so the plan was for a shortened trip of 2 ½ days.

The Pug was loaded up with the requisite camping gear and appropriately secured ready for lapping:



I had the essentials, tent, sleeping bag, air bed, bottle of water, towel, tooth brush and bog roll, the minimalist extreme to camp Pinder….(although I did enjoy borrowing one of their chairs to sit on one evening).



The Pug had enjoyed a two bucket wash and was relatively clean, with all fluid levels checked:



So after a few hours in bed I left Haarlem at 4am Good Friday morning. After a non eventful trip down I found myself in one of my favourite car parks bathed in warm spring sunlight:



And had a cheesey shot taken:



It was then time to head out for some lapping:





This time going into the Karussel.

The tyres were soon looking warmed up,



And there were a number of nice machines round the car park:



French Clutter:



German Clutter:













And the odd bit of Italian exotica:





It was then on with more lapping, doing a few laps in tandem with Ben in his TVR. Soon there was the odd track closure, after the second we headed down to Breidscheid to rejoin the track and try and avoid the crowds:



The little Pug got fenced in:



And for some reason this wing mirror really caught my eye:



So after a bit more lapping:





It was time to head to the campsite, after asking Ian where it was…. Here in the vicinity of Camp Pinder I was welcomed by Helen who helped me get my poles sorted and my tent up:



I was made to feel pretty by the Pinders, Simon, Andrew and Helen, all of who were complete strangers to me, top work guys and girls from Northloop. We then headed to the Comfy Corner, meet other Northloopers.

Saturday was a lot quieter than Friday, again I was there for track opening and got some laps in, including the odd bit of air time if you look closely:





And possibly lifting a rear wheel (or is it my imagination? ) :



The Pug tried its hand at gardening, but wasn’t too keen:



Ben then took me out for a Pax lap in his TVR, unfortunately we seemed to miss the tunnel, but the TVR held together and seemed to be running in fine form all weekend:



I also managed to get a Pax lap with Ian in the mighty Arosa, great fun, and more Pax laps from Nige and Bruce in their golfs, again accomplished machines.

Again there were some interesting machines in the car park:





After a final (slow) lap in the rain with Matti paxing it was time to call it for a day on track. It was then back to the campsite via Adenau for a take away pizza and supply of cold beers. The planned camp fire started to come together, apparently Nige and Simon had been getting wood together quite a lot…..



So Sunday was my last morning out on track, and I’d got the thumbs up for the camera sorted:





It was then a case of heading back to the campsite just after lunch and shoving the tent in the back of the car before hot footing it back to Haarlem for a little entertaining.

So all in all a great weekend, 33 laps in 2 ½ days, met loads of great people and the Pug performed brilliantly, even if the rear end was a little lively at times…..

Looks like you had a great weekend Tim, good pics & write up. Wouldnt mind another trip to the ring again but dont think it will happen this year Looking forward to your picks of the GSXR when you get it down there.

Originally Posted by Tim in Belgium

German Clutter:

Arent these built in the UK?

[Spiderman]

Nice for you Tim. I've always wanted to visit the Nurburbring but just not got to it yet.

Couple of questions...is you Pug a bog standard 306 or something special going on under the bonnet?

Could you not ditch the camping gear to get a better lap time?

What was your best llap time?

And just wtf is that orange thing 5 or 6 pics from the end? It looks a bit like an Ariel Atom...that someone chucked a hand grenade into, lol.

Originally Posted by Spiderman

And just wtf is that orange thing 5 or 6 pics from the end? It looks a bit like an Ariel Atom...that someone chucked a hand grenade into, lol.

Tis a KTM Crossbow.

Pug is a bog standard 306 GTi-6, approx 167 bhp so nippy but by no means fast. However with some track knowledge it's easy enough to keep up with quite a lot of faster stuff, I passed numerous prorsche 911a/944s/968s and a fair few Evos and Scoobies, mainly because they either didn't know the track as well or were taking it gently.

As for ditching the camping gear, it would have saved about 20kgs, not a big amount on a car that weighs 1205kgs withoug rear seats.

The fastes lap that I timed was 9:11 BTG on my 3rd lap of the secong day, I didn't time any more for the rest of the weekend as I didn't want to push myself, but I was very happy with that time.

And that orange thing is a KTM X-bow, surely the colour gives it away!

[Spiderman]

Ah yeh, the KTM...you're right i should have known by the colour. I'd heard of it but never seen the a pic. Now i have.

I did a rally day at Brands rally circuit in a 306 Gti-6 that was rally prepared, so basically fek all in it but a roll cage and 2 seats. That was pretyy quick too. But when i finished the instructor took me on a few laps Its was far, far quicker than i thought or made it go.

Glad you had a good one Tim and if you plan another trip for next year on a bike keep us posted as i may well be up for that.

[Binky]

Nice photos Tim. How do you pay for your laps??? Have you got an annual wrist band or something similar...??

Yep, I bought a Jahreskarte, a year's pass which consists of a photocard ID and a transponder thing on a wrist band. I got randomly checked at one stage to make sure that I was the same person as per the transponder, if not and you lend it out you risk losing it.....

Ahh the little 306 pug! We had the 306 Rallye 6 ltd edition in red. I miss the little rocket. Looks like a fab couple of days.