For the speedfreaks amongst us one more time Nürburgring

[pieter]

The Nürburgring is a 150,000 person capacity motorsports complex located in the town of Nürburg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It features a Grand Prix race track built in 1984, and a much longer old "North loop" track which was built in the 1920s around the village and medieval castle of Nürburg in the Eifel mountains. The north loop is 20.8 km (12.9 mi) long and has more than 300 metres (1,000 feet) of elevation change from its lowest to highest points. Jackie Stewart nicknamed the old track "The Green Hell".

Originally, the track featured four configurations: the 28.265 km (17.563 mi)-long Gesamtstrecke ("Whole Course"), which in turn consisted of the 22.810 km (14.173 mi) Nordschleife ("North Loop"), and the 7.747 km (4.814 mi) Südschleife ("South Loop"). There also was a 2.281 km (1.417 mi) warm-up loop called Zielschleife ("Finish Loop") or Betonschleife ("Concrete Loop"), around the pit area.

Between 1982 and 1983 the start/finish area was demolished to create a new GP-Strecke, and this is used for all major and international racing events. However, the shortened Nordschleife is still in use for racing, testing and public access.



Nordschleife public access

Since its opening in 1927, the track has been used by the public for the so-called Touristenfahrten, i.e. anyone with a road-legal car or motorcycle, as well as tour buses, motor homes, or cars with trailers. It is opened every day of the week, except when races take place. The track may be closed for weeks during the winter months, depending on weather conditions and maintenance work. Passing on the right is prohibited, and some sections have speed limits; the normal traffic rules (StVO in German) apply also here.

This Nürburgring is a popular attraction for many driving enthusiasts and riders from all over the world, partly because of its history and the challenge it provides. The lack of oncoming traffic and intersections sets it apart from regular roads, and the absence of a blanket speed limit is a further attraction.



Normal ticket buyers on these tourist days cannot quite complete a full lap of the 20.8 km (12.9 mi) Nordschleife, which bypasses the modern GP-Strecke, as they are required to slow down and pass through a 200-metre (220 yd) "pit lane" section where the toll gates are installed. On busier days, a mobile ticket barrier is installed on the main straight in order to reduce the length of queues at the fixed barriers. This is open to all ticket holders. On rare occasions, it is possible to drive both the Nordschleife and the Grand Prix circuit combined.



Drivers interested in lap times often time themselves from the first bridge after the barriers to the last gantry (aka Bridge-to-Gantry or BTG time) before the exit. However, the track's general conditions state that any form of racing, including speed record attempts, is forbidden.[13] The driver's insurance coverage may consequently be voided, leaving the driver fully liable for damage. Normal, non-racing, non-timed driving accidents might be covered by driver's insurance, but it is increasingly common for UK insurers especially to insert exclusion clauses that mean drivers and riders on the Nürburgring only have third-party coverage or are not covered at all.



Drivers who have crashed into the barriers, suffered mechanical failure or been otherwise required to be towed off track during Touristenfahrten sessions are referred to as having joined the "Bongard Club". This nickname is derived from the name of the company which operates the large yellow recovery flatbed trucks which ferry those unfortunate drivers and their vehicles to the nearest exit. Due to the high volume of traffic, there is an emphasis on quickly clearing and repairing any compromised safety measures so the track can be immediately re-opened for use.

Additionally, those found responsible for damage to the track and safety barriers on track are required to pay for those repairs, along with the time and cost associated with personnel and equipment to address those damages, making any accident or breakdown a potentially expensive incident. Because it is technically operated as a public toll road, failing to report an accident or instance where track surfaces are affected is considered unlawfully leaving the scene of an accident. This is all part of the rules and regulations which aim to ensure a safe experience for all visitors to the track.


Enormous havoc on the Nürburgring with 10 cars's involved


Start-und-Ziel-Gerade und Boxengasse des Nürburgrings. (Der schnurgerade Streckenabschnitt erscheint auf dem Bild aus fototechnischen Gründen gebogen.)

Sources:
nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/N%C3%BCrburgring
www.nuerburgring.de/en/home.html

[pieter]

Karl,

As a German in a country with area's with no speedlimits in the past, did you enjoy fast driving in your Mercedez Benz, BMW, Audi (=a Luxurious Volkswagen), Volkswagen, Opel, European Ford, Porche, Renault, Peugeoit, Citroën, Fiat, Seat (Volkswagen), Skoda (Volkswagen), Jaguar/Daimler, Bently, Maserati, Bughati, Alfa Romeo, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Lotus, Toyota, Mazda, Susuki, Mitsubishi, Hyunday, Kia (Hyunday), Corvette, Chrystler or Dodge car? Dutch car fanatics in the past went to Germany to be able to drive fast in their sport cars or BMW 7, 8 or 5 series, their expensive Audio's, Mercedez S-class cars or their fast British, Italian or French cars. They drove and drive all over Europe on Belgian, Luxemburgian, French, Austrian, Swiss, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Swiss, German, Danish and even British roads (going through the tunnel with their car). The same with the Germans, French and British people. And this summer I saw Polish and Lithuanian tourists in quite expensive beautiful Western cars. And they were normal, middle class looking people, not the criminal image we Western-Europeans had for a long time about Eastern-European and Central-Europeans driving in fency cars. The Netherlands is not a good country for speedreaks due to our speedlimits, and because as a small country we don't have enormous long roads like Sweden, Germany, Poland and France for instance. Dutch people are used to driving hundreds and thousands of miles through Europe for professional purposes and as tourists and some as car enthousiasts and speedfreak. I understand that some folks can release their adrenaline, temperament, desires, lust for speed and thus energy on the Nürburgrings on the the Nordschleife.

Cheers,
Pieter

[pieter]

[pieter]

This video shows you the 2016 Aston Martin DB11 that did some test laps around the Nurburgring. The DB11 has a 5.2L twin-turbo V12 engine that produce 600HP and goes from 0-100 in 3.9 seconds. C. V. de Zijden hopes you enjoy the video

The Aston One 77 is one of the most beautiful and powerful sportcars in the world with a lot of horsepower

[pieter]

Bugatti Veyron is one of my favorite sport toys, I would wish I could be able to buy one


But I would't say no to a Mclaren 600LT either

[pieter]

Lamborghini Murcielago LP640 Nürburgring


Here these British guys talking during huge speed driving with a car like a Lamborghini Murciélago you can't be an amature driver, you have to know what you're doing. So you hear the co-driver screaming " Hard right", "Big right", "Left" before they are already there.

[pieter]

[pieter]

[pieter]

Lotus Cars is a British automotive company that manufactures sports cars and racing cars in its headquarters in Hethel, United Kingdom. Lotus cars include the Esprit, Elan, Europa, Elise, Exige and Evora sports cars and it had motor racing success with Team Lotus in Formula One. Lotus Cars are based at the former site of RAF Hethel, a World War II airfield in Norfolk. The company designs and builds race and production automobiles of light weight and fine handling characteristics. It also owns the engineering consultancy firm Lotus Engineering, which has facilities in the United Kingdom, United States, China, and Malaysia.

Lotus was previously owned by DRB-HICOM through its subsidiary Proton, which acquired it following the bankruptcy of former owner Romano Artioli in 1996.

On 24 May 2017, Geely announced that it will take a 51% controlling stake in Lotus and thus became the owner of the automobile manufacturer. The remaining 49% were acquired by Etika Automotive.

[pieter]

In general I prefer European cars above American cars, but there are a few exceptions:






But seeing the American car competition, I still prefer the Lamborghini's, the Ferrari's, Maserati's, Porche's, Mclarens, Astian Martins, the Mercedez Sport, Bently, Jaguar and the Bugatti sport cars. More sophisticated, faster, more beautiful design and etc. American cars are seen by Europeans as blunt, coarse and crude. They lack the driving experience and pleasure of driving these European, Italian, French, German and British cars.

[pieter]

But this Corvette is pretty fast too!

[karl]

Pieter

Although not a speed freak, I do enjoy the videos you have presented of the Nürburgring. Although I have never had the pleasure to attend even though at times had plans to do so that did not materialize.

Nor the pleasure of owning an Italian sports car, just love the sound of them such as a Ferrari, Lamborghini and such, the Italians do build wonderful sportscars. But, we should never discount the Americans, and you brought out a very wonderful designed Sportcar, the Ford GT 40. Some one got that one right in design, function, power, balance and performance in speed and handling. The Corvette is very very powerful, but also very heavy, and shows it in the corners when inertia swings its nasty head.

You have asked of my self of the Autobahn {Bundesautobahn}, yes, as a young man, my self and some friends sometimes would test our selves on motorcycles and run up to about 200 Km/h and try to stay in the left lane as much as possible, until an {Italian fellow} would scare us off to the right lane. Once used to speed, it is not scary, simply ride a head of your self so no suprizes, if some thing unexpected arrises, your reactions will take over. A nasty suprize could and has happened one occasion, my chain broke at speed and broke the casing of the gear box on my 1000 Honda F. Ripped my pants and threw hot oil on my leg, but was able to coast off the road way until we were able to have it towed to a repair shop near Hannover on the E30. This all ended for me with motorcycles.

This was only on the rural areas of the Autobahn, for otherwise the overheads would signal traffic speed limits for any congestion.


Karl