The NurburgRing

The "Green Hell"!
Tales of horror and near-death have haunted the spirits of every fuel-fed car enthusiast.
The glory of doing the ‘Ring in a “decent” time prevails forever.
To master that track is the ultimate trophy, but who can truly say that masters it?
For it is like a wild beast, untamable.
The ‘Ring has been part of my imagination for a few years now, and when the Nissan GT-R appeared and all the “Porschegate” case started I only got more drawn to it.
Never a very computer game oriented person I actually did try and played Gran Turismo to learn the track, but to no avail. I really can’t steer a joystick in the proper manner.
So I was a ‘Ring virgin when I got there, and luckily Fred knew the track better than most guys know their girlfriends, otherwise I would have been quicker if I walked around the track instead of driving it.
The day begun in the usual way: sunny skies and a few miles ahead.
We went first to the RSR HQ to take care of all the details regarding our car for the afternoon.
Everybody was amazing.
Not just nice and thoughtful, but really amazing.
From Dale who showed us around and talked to us about the ‘Ring and RSR, to Ron, the Boss, who was the nicest guy, again, and asked for more details on what had happened to my car and how we could try and fix it in a near by shop if we wanted.
We spent a few minutes in front of a TV seeing a movie of an amazing wet lap in an Alfa Romeo just like the one we were about to take.
We signed the papers and since we had about 5 hours to burn went to the souvenir store.
There we were met by memorabilia from the “good old days” to the newly designed NurburgRing logo and merchandise.
We each bought a t-shirt and a bunch of other smaller stuff, and took picures next to the bronze statue of Sir Sterling Moss!
Lunch followed in the company of the greatest bunch of British bikers.
It turns out they go to the ‘Ring every year and they filled us with stories of the Green Hell and how it all worked over there.
We got lucky even, because just above our restaurant was this amazing place to look at the track were we spent the remaing hours until we headed of back to RSR.
Let me just tell you that the sound of 3, three, F430 Scuderias passing by in fury is something I think I’ll never forget.
A GT-R is silent next to them, and even Fred had to admit that his precious GT3RS sound much more restrained than that screaming howl of those high revving V8s….
Glorious stuff I tell you!
Back at RSR, we each picked up a helmet and had a few laughs with this really nice American that had come all the way from the States to drive the ‘Ring.
And then it happened: it started to rain.
All they grey clouds were above us, and during all day they had kept themselves from droping down water.
But now it was raining.
The fear of losing control of the car grew exponentially and we both cursed out loud for not being able to push the car further for fear of the wet track (we were going with slick tires, bear in mind).
Then the greatest thing happened: Dale turned to us and said that he was going to take his car (a 3.0 liter V6 Alfa Romeo 75) for a run down the track to check out if it was still drivable, and if the tires needed changing. He asked if we wanted to go with him.
Funny thing he had to ask. I wondered for about 10 seconds about the possibility of anybody turning him down on this….
When we were in the queue to enter the track he called HQ and told them to put regular road tires in the cars. It was now clear that the raining wasn’t going to stop.
We passed the tolls, and he accelerated a bit more, nothing out of the ordinary (it’s a bloody old Alfa V6, mind), but when he got to the first turn my lips turned to this gigantic GRIN.
Have I told you by any chance that Dale was a former Drifter in the U.K.?
Well, he was, and by the looks of things, he hasn’t lost zilch of his capabilities.
On two or three turns we even went further then 90 degrees of drift from the apex.
WOW!
I just burst out laughing!
And the ease with which he did it all!
His hands just spinning the wheel at an amazing speed while at the same time he talked us through the turns and straights and where we should push and were we should be careful.
When it ended I wanted him to do it again! :)
The cars were ready and heated up when we arrived.
We picked up our card and went to the track to have our fun!
We were going one at a time, and Fred was first to have a go.
I met up with our biker friends who had already been at the track and said it was soaked!!
I timed from the outside how long it took Fred to do his first lap: around 14 minutes.
First time ever, not bad, on a totally wet track, with a strange car in his hands.
He went for the second track and again I pushed the stop watch.
In the meantime I got busy besides the nice chat with our biker friends, watching all the amazing machinery that passed by.
On one of those occasions I saw him.
I had already chased him at lunch time, but I couldn’t be totally sure if it was indeed him.
Now I was.
Mr. Henry Catchpole from EVO magazine.
I’ve been buying that mag since… forever. And before I bought my car I read absolutely everything they had to say on the subject.
And now, the “newest addition” to EVO’s editorial staff was passing in front of me, in a V10 powered, white Audi R8.
Nice!!
Fred appeared from the gate. 12minutes and a few seconds. Not bad at all!
Away he went again, and again I clocked.
But now time passed and he didn’t show up.
All of a sudden a ambulance takes of from the pits.
I started to succumb to my imagination.
Oh please let him be Ok. Please!
I could never forgive myself!
14 minutes.
15 minutes.
16, 17, 18….
DARN!
20 minutes and no sign of him.
I’m cursing out loud now, where the F$&/ is he????
All of a sudden he shows up, big grin in his face: Did you checked my time?
“Yeah, you took, oh, almost 2 weeks!! What the hell have you been doing?”
It turns out that when he passed the tolls, he had been told to stay put.
That’s when the ambulance entered the track, but from where I was standing I couldn’t see him idling just after the tolls.
We changed seats and he risked is physical integrity to be my co-pilot.
I will never be able to thank him enough.
With him by my side telling me the turns and camber and length of the straights I could push my driving and post times that didn’t make me embarrassed to publicly state.

The best one I did?
Around 12:20 give or take a few seconds.
I’m pretty proud of that time considering that professional EVO drivers in a race prep VW Scirocco took 11:44 or something to do the track, so for a first time on track, with a old beaten Alfa Romeo (albeit also race prep with roll cage and seats)…
YEAH, I’m BLODY PROUD OF MYSELF!!