Ultimate track day

[jjsnowy]

So,after my s1 scrapes its MOT, a group of us are heading to Germany to tackle the Nurbergring...ferry from Newcastle,to shorten the drive,and cut out most of the motorways.
I wanted to know if anybody had been and has any advice an elise owner could use,or,just anyone who has a lot of trackdays under thier belt-any advice is good.
Car has
New pads
new discs (all round)
relatively new tires
new shocks
Is there anything else i need to think about/anything i need to take?

I should also add,the trip is the 5th of May,and anyone interested is more than welcome,if you dont mind travelling with idiots.

[douglasgdmw]

Sadly is a yellow vest a legal requirement for Germany, same goes for spare bulbs?

Hope it does not happen but maybe another tyre weld in case you get a puncture?

Also looking on the worst side - European breakdown cover.

Seems stupid but when I am abroad I also put a little sticker on the inside of the car to remind myself I need to travel on the wrong side of the road - stops me setting off on the left hand side when I jump in the car in the morning

Cheers
George

[robin]

Insurance. If you plan to drive the ring on a touristenfahrt day you will need insurance. Almost all UK insurance policies now exclude the Nurburgring explicitly. Although you can buy some cover at the circuit, I don't think you can get the 3rd party element which is what you really need to have to be legal. The best way to do it these days is to go on track days where the rules are like normal track days - no insurance, own risk, sensible overtaking, etc. Assuming you're going on a tourist day and not a track day, read on ...

If you're involved in a collision with another vehicle (more common than you might think) the police are very likely to get involved - no insurance = trouble.

Whether or not you're covered by insurance be prepared to shell out a few hundred euros to get your car recovered from the circuit to the pound. If you hit the armco be prepared to pay for that too.

Remember that the ring, even on a tourist day, is not operated to normal track day rules - rather it's the rules of the road - that means no overtaking on the right, no changing lanes suddenly, etc. That also means you might be at fault where on a trackday you might consider you were doing the right thing.

My advice is to take your time to learn the track - some people can do that in a dozen laps or even less, while others will take 20-30 before they *think* they know where they are going (around lap 30 they'll discover that some of the circuit looks similar to some other parts of the circuit and realize that they aren't where they thought they were). I think modern video games help prepare you for the number of corners, but they won't teach you anything about the gradients, the uneven surface, the variable grip, the camber, .... only experience can do that.

Don't time yourself.

Don't video yourself.

Don't push yourself. If you aim to drive at 75% that will be plenty fast and hopefully you'll not end off the circuit in the usual places.

Don't drink heavily the night before, and if you do, don't drive.

There isn't much run off around 90% of the circuit. I think I've been off the circuit in most of the other 10%

Do have fun - nothing will spoil your trip more than a visit to the armco on lap 3 followed by a visit from the police ....

Cheers,
Robin

[Scotty C]

do not time your lap

buy gt5 before you go and learn the track

enjoy

[Andy G]

With Robin on this.

First laps drive it like an B road. Very easy to get corners mistaken, and really until you have done a good load of laps, its massively challenging.

There can be a plethora of wankers on the circuit also, all of Germany's testostarone lurks in the Eiffel mountains, not to mention others from Europe, that have made the trip. And that shed of a golf in your mirrors may well be faster than that GT3RS.....

I nearly got taken out on my 7th lap in the Atom, and Uncle Ron had an off last Nov. Easy done.

Be very wary of bikers, they will be on different lines.

If it rains, be prepared for grip level changed from corner to corner and in general weather changes from section to section as you go round, unless you get an absolute peach of a day.

I suspect we will look back one day and wish we'd gone here more often, so get over there while its still open. \

Oh and if you dont go to Pistenklaus for dinner, steak on the stone and beers, you've missed another key reason for the entire journey

oh, and remember to tell us how you get on

[graeme]

A visit to the Cockpit Bar @ the Dorint Hotel.

For the Belgian roads, an iPod with some good earplugs and a large playlist (to drown out the road noise and boredom).

For the track stuff, they know better than I do. Just go easy, stay right, and pretend it's a main road. A main road with GT3s passing you a few inches away at 170mph, but a main road nonetheless.

You'll have a blast!

[campbell]

Snowy, it's all been covered above, take it sensible and you are going to have a memorable trip for the right reasons

I am just glad I sampled the Ring a few years ago, when insurance cover wasn't explicitly excluded by UK providers, and its popularity wasn't slowly strangling it. And let's not get started on the "theme park" nonsense they've built near the GP circuit facilities

Read and play what you can before you go, don't pretend to be able to learn it during the weekend, and ride with or have ride with you someone who's been round a few times (or many times!!) if at all poss.

Drink in the atmosphere too, not just in the tourist car park but also in the wee towns round about, especially Nurburg and Adenau. Pistenklaus for steak on a stone is mandatory. Do not even think of coming back home without sampling that!

Then set up your savings fund for a trip to Spa. Here you will find comparative challenges, but in an environment where insurance can be had for sensible money and there is a bit more runoff

Enjoy.

Campbell

[Dominique]

In 75% of the cases you can't see through the corners because of scenery. Just adapt your speed and you'll be fine.
However, it becomes a problem when you start to familiarize yourself with the track and think you recognize corners. You see there's that many in 23kms that it's easy to take a closing one for an opening one.
Thought I'd mention it as I've been surprised quite a few times there.

I'd also advise to program the emergency numbers in your phone.
Not necessarily for yourself, but you could help someone else in case you see an accident:
+49 1708080256
+49 1605254436

Thanx to all the horror stories, adrenaline level should be high from where you leave the carpark to go on track. I'm sure that will help you to return in one piece.

If possible, have an early start. The track will be less crowdy so you can focus more on the track instead of on other traffic.

In the busy hours, take your time to have a walk on the parking. Usually you can spot some exotic cars.

have fun!

[Dominic]

Nah, forget all that. The most important thing to remember is a visit to Pistonklaus for steak on a stone

[Justin]

Fantastic place, probably the best weekend away I've ever had! (hope the wife doesn't read this)

As all the others have said, take it easy and enjoy yourself. We spent a couple of hours in the car park and at the gate, the buzz there was great! We were very lily with the weather, roasting all weekend.

On the downside, there was numerous crashes when we went, probably 5 or 6 a day, most of the cars that they pulled off the track looked like total write offs. Scary reminder of what can happen if it goes wrong. I didn't bother with insurance, but looking back it was probably a stupid idea..

[campbell]

I didn't bother with insurance, but looking back it was probably a stupid idea..

I think the big prob with insurance now is not the matter of what you risk in the value of your own car being totalled, but the 3rd party liability in event someone else is involved and injured either fatally, or sufficiently that they get Claims R Us on your back for some pocket money

It's still not clear if there has been a case to test the exclusion the UK insurers now place against driving on the Ring on "public" days - Robin's often expressed doubt if they'd be able to wriggle out of their basic 3rd party liability which is provided as part of local and European cover. But on paper at least, an exclusion is an exclusion, and whilst one might think "OK, drive the Ring at your own risk", the extent of the impact of "your own risk" could be catastrophic if sued for damages.

This is why I'm just glad I got a weekend in back in 2003 before its popularity overcame it.

Anyone got any more concrete evidence as to how this insurance position is all developing, then?

[robin]

This pretty much sums up what I think is the current state of affairs:

http://nurburgring.org.uk/insurance.php

I'm generally tolerant of risk. I am a firm believer in not insuring what you can afford to lose.

I cannot afford £100,000 or more in damages brought against me as a result of some moment of stupidity or misfortune on the circuit.

So I don't think I can drive there on public days anymore ...

Cheers,
Robin

[Scotty C]

This pretty much sums up what I think is the current state of affairs:

http://nurburgring.org.uk/insurance.php

I'm generally tolerant of risk. I am a firm believer in not insuring what you can afford to lose.

I cannot afford £100,000 or more in damages brought against me as a result of some moment of stupidity or misfortune on the circuit.

So I don't think I can drive there on public days anymore ...

Cheers,
Robin

im thinking the same. i was thinking about heading out at the end of June to watch LCE race on the GP. Goldtrack also have a couple of days at Spa that week.

i will have to call my broker

[gdr]

Was thinking about a few touristfahrten laps before my Spa trackday next month as will have time to kill the day before, but now I think I will sling the clubs in the trailer and find a Belgian golf course to while away a few hours instead. Less risky. Perhaps line up a proper 'ring TD at a later date as suggested.

[campbell]

The ring.org.uk item is a solid treatment of the position.

I think my mind is also now made up. I wouldn't previously have gone near a Ring Track Day on grounds of cost. However, even the apparent £400-£500 for a full trackday now seems a far better bet than the open-ended risks attached to a public (touristfahrten) day. Split that with a trusted co-driver and it starts to make financial sense.

Although I wonder if the whole landscape is about to change on the back of the financial scandals affecting the circuit(s) - EVO or Autocar (can't remember which) recently had an interesting 2-page item with views including our fave German lass, Sabine Schmidt of Ring Taxi fame.