AUTUMN DN – NORDSCHLEIFE - Sept 19 &20

[mckeann]

those wooden stairs was how walshy broke his ribs trying to surf down them )

He also got dragged out of a car, still pished, at 9am for the first race as he hasn’t gone to bed

[Andy G]

Is Graeme trailering the Atom or breaking out a can of 'man-up''?

No his can of man up overfloweth - after the drive to croft and back for him, with trailer providing fuel services, hes driving to the ring also - as am I, but in more comfort this time

Looking forward to having the GT-R at the ring, although lapping that should focus the mind

Not long to go now....

[Andy G]

Just back!

The Ring doesnt get any easier, especially when cold and wet, but bloody hell it is some place still.

Theres not many tracks I go to where I still think Ive loads to learn, but its a bloody battle there, and in the wet, in the AMG GT-R on Cup2s, my word it was tricky! As if to prove that point another GT-R binned it on the Tuesday evening Touristfarten.

Its the first time I think Ive ever done 3 sighting laps at the Ring (was all sighting laps till 9am) and with the weather it was a good shout. When it went live I think initial pace was only 40% more due to the rain and the tyres not inspiring confidence. Checked the AMG GT-R Ring Taxis and discovered they were on P-Zeros, which I suspect was due to the weather.

The first person to bin it was a chap in his Ferrari 458 Challenge (road car.....) on the sighting lap - solid effort, but it gave you the idea of how slippy it actually was, and that the feeling of sliding was accurate - and the Merc needed some incredibly progressive throttle inputs rather than mashes. It was SO easy to get the back moving with traction on! Actually I decided to back it off, and run it with t/c at 5/10 which allowed it to slide but without the aggressive intervention of the TC. Made it smoother, and not so jerky when it happened.

Anyway, I decided as I hadnt even had time for Sim laps before arriving to hit the ring for as many laps as possible on Monday to ensure I could recall where it went on Tuesday should the weather improve....it did.

Post Ring, for the first time ever I got back to the house and needed a sleep! I was absolutely shattered from the concentration and adrenalin, and knew without sleep I'd be useless when we headed out for a TINY pizza at Pinnochios......how Ali C ate a Calzone and then another 1/2 Pizza is beyond me, but not a surprise to me!

Tuesday, well sighting laps revealed some damps sections, but on the whole it was far far better grip wise. This meant that by 10am (930am start due to fog) the surface was drying well, and by 11am, nearly dry. All of a sudden following a Ring Taxi the Merc started to turn in properly, and install some confidence that it would make the turns rather than understeer off, which meant a whole new level of tyre abuse could be deployed. HOLY SH*T.

All of a sudden I was airborne in places I'd never noticed bumps or crests before, and I had some epic laps with the Merc Ring Taxi (Beast of Greenhell) who was bloody magic at showing me just how much more there was to go, albeit there were the GT-R Pros and running 720bhp, but it was some challenge staying with them, and magic fun.

A lap with Robin highlighted a line error that was frustrating me and that gave me even more pace, and another jump or two!

We continued to batter round till 3pm, and then the rain started to fall again. With the session due to finish at 4, I decided after hanging about, that actually confidence and talent were getting a bit out of kilter on the track, and heading out on the last part of the 2 dayer was probably not the best idea, so I headed of with Robin and chilled out.

Robin and the Scarlett Ferret were in punishing form, despatching Chutneys a plenty, and with an almost incredible display of corner name recall, a very handy man to have in for a lap or two. The Ferrets party piece was reigning in the quicker cars through the bends, and it was going well.

Ali was putting the new Michelin PS5's through their paces, which went well in the wet, and faced destruction in the dry. We had a good play in the wet, but somehow didnt manage one in the dry - probably just as well for both of us and Alis tyres!

Graeme was there for his first trip to the Ring in his Atom , and it and he are still intact, if he did spend most of Monday wishing he'd brought his A45!

Tremendous trip though, the Bahn not quiet enough to get beyond 170-ish and that was eclipsed by 187 at the ring anyway.

Right off to earn some brownie-points after Sat-Thursday absence.

If you havent been, talks are already underway for DN2023 trips, so get ready harvesting brownie points.....

[C7Steve]

Thanks for taking time to do a write up.


Steve.

[campbell]

Grand writeup Andy cheers.

Glad I went there when I did (just the 19 years ago )

[robin]

It's not cheap, but if you still have a hankering to do the ring I would thoroughly recommend these days - they are well organised and the driving standards are generally high - like a Lotus On Track day people are generally using common sense, lifting off to let you pass, etc. Sure there's the usual blend of porsche-trainspotter and testosterone but you can ignore all of that quite easily.

The track is just so rewarding, even when you don't have a billion horsepower.

There will be another September event in 2023 - I'll post it up here when they advise the dates.

BTW the lap in Andy's GT-R was eye opening - that car is pure violence - incredible machine considering it's size and weight - not nearly as easy to handle as Andy makes it look. I don't like the fuel bills though

[campbell]

its

Standards are slipping.

[alicrozier]

Robin's coffee mate, Misha vid:
https://youtu.be/a4paPm2w200?t=217

Drookit Graeme at 3:50.

GTR tiptoe!
https://youtu.be/a4paPm2w200?t=465
...and full toe, slo-mo!
https://youtu.be/a4paPm2w200?t=586
https://youtu.be/a4paPm2w200?t=642
https://youtu.be/a4paPm2w200?t=694

[hendeg]

A few clips of Andy in there and a nice slow-mo too.

[Andy G]

They came out well - that Megan was sodding flying in the wet!

So so slippy, like the carousel slomo - they sent the video stuff they had, but with the exception of the slow mo stuff didnt really appeal especially when they wanted 299...