Cheating death to check off the bucket list!
I nailed the apex of ‘Klostertal’, and hit the gas. My upgraded rental car accelerated very quickly, flying slightly downhill towards ‘Steilstrecke’, a nasty right-hander with a concrete barrier only 8 or 10 feet from the track. Hugging the the edge of red and white curb, a sudden realization: Too fast!!
I gripped the steering wheel super-tight, exclaiming “Too hot! Too hot!”, lifted off the throttle, driving deeper into the corner to be able to brake hard and steer, but without locking up. My heart pounding, I was about to lose control, but let the car travel wide, my left tires riding over the curbing as i negotiated the corner. I held the corner smoothly, slightly sawing the wheel, and I was quickly back on the asphalt, headed towards the famous ‘Caracciola-Karussell’.
What a rush!!
The Nurburgring Nordschliefe is 20.832 kilometers of two-lane asphalt, lined with red and white curbing of different heights. It winds through a very hilly part of western Germany, and is named for the castle remains that are in eyesight of the track.
Every corner has a name, and many of the drivers here can rhyme them off in order. It is one of the most famous, and most dangerous, racetracks in the world. To date, sixteen drivers have lost their lives here. I had zero interest in being number seventeen.
I knew that today, Thursday, was a ‘Track Day’. On ‘Track-days’, anyone in a road-worthy car (capable of 130 kph) can drive the Nurburgring. The middle of the long straight serves as track entrance, controlled with gates and electronic cards. There is a small ticket office near the track, and I pulled my black BMW 3 series into the adjoining parking lot. Since there was a six-hour endurance race on the weekend, I expected the track to be busy, and it was.
I stood there for a minute, surveying the scene.
Taking advantage of perfect weather, scores of drivers, friends, fans, and cars were everywhere. The parking lot was full, so cars were parked on every piece of flat-enough grass available.
The air smelled of hot exhaust, scorched brakes, and palpable excitement.
This was a special place.
It just wasn’t right that I was here alone. My wife had passed away months prior from long-term heart problems. Ivana knew how this was a bucket list item for me, and would have been excited to see me drive.
She loved going to racing and sports events, but this would be the first time she saw me behind the wheel on a track. We should have done this vacation together 5 years prior. A common regret I have now, ‘What we should have done sooner.’ Life is unpredictable, and shorter than you expect. Ivana should be here with me.
I wandered over to the track entrance, to get my bearings. Rising above excited voices, the precision sound of finely tuned engines filled the air. A few not-so finely tuned engines as well. I noticed a few electric models, but they just don’t have the same bad-ass engine sound.
There was a steady stream of cars up and down the road alongside the track, and the vast majority was either entering or exiting. A solid line of cars was waiting to enter the track, lined up at one of the gates. There was another gate on the far side of the track for those completing multiple laps at once. One by one, the drivers pulled up to the gate and held their pass cards up to the scanner. As soon as the gate had risen high enough, the driver could accelerate and go, but had to navigate the orange safety cones to get their lap started. Once clear, hammer the accelerator, and roar down the track!!
The track entrance and exit are only separated by a few feet of guardrail. That makes it is easy to find a spot to see all the cars taking laps.
The best view is from the second-story patio at “The Devil’s Diner”, and the beer is reasonably priced. The food looked good, but I did not eat there.
Many of the cars were stock models, with various levels of tuning. Most automotive manufacturers were represented.
There were drivers of all financial means, appreciating each others efforts to run clean, fast laps. There were highly tuned machines, complete with roll cages and colorful liveries, some new and some older models. Most cars had some sort of modification done.
All the cars had stickers and logos, some many, except for the very high end Porsches and McLarens, of which I counted three. (Why lime-green? The metallic purple was stunning, but I didn’t have my camera ready.)
Some drivers and fans were under the hood, either showing off their machines, or making adjustments. A couple engines had clearly endured overheating problems, and the drivers were waiting for the engine to cool down before making adjustments or repairs. A couple guys were waving smoke off the engine of a small ford hatchback painted bright yellow, while a few onlookers were offering advice.
I walked into the ticket office. The attendants were quickly re-loading driver’s ‘Green Hell’ swipe cards. I told the woman it was my first time driving the track, and she graciously showed me the various options. I bought four laps worth, 2 for today, 60 Euros, and 2 for Sunday, at the weekend rate of 70 Euros. I was given my own “Green Hell” card. British racing legend Jackie Steward gave the Nurburgring Nordschliefe it’s “Green Hell” nickname after a rainy, foggy victory in the 1968 German Grand Prix.
As I was paying the bill, the attendant pointed to a large panel on one wall, with a list of the track rules. “Read them and follow them. Zero tolerance.”
Her English was good, and her tone indicated that the rules WOULD be followed. It was a substantial list, and included such particulars as “Pass only on the left”, and “50 kph limit at accident sites and around any yellow flags.”
There was an emergency phone number to call if you had any problem and had to stop on the side of the track. Doing as instructed and considering Murphy’s law, I made sure to save the number in my phone.
I walked out to my car, and went about getting in line to enter the track. I’m pretty sure I gave the seat belt a couple extra tugs as I drove into line. I was about eighth in line, a silver Mercedes directly in front, and a well-driven black Ford hatchback behind.
I had a word with Ivana. It felt so wrong for her not to be sitting beside me! I know she was watching and would be very happy for me, loudly cheering me on! Still, I wiped away a few tears as I moved up to the gate. I told my wife that I loved her and missed her so much
“Here we go, Boo. I wish you were here!!
Then it was my turn. I pulled up to the gate, pressed my card to the scanner, the gate quickly rose, and I was off!!
I was really here, really driving the Nurburgring!
I had driven the legendary track for thousands of hours on my Playstations. Gran Turismo is still my favorite game. My awesome wife had lined up at 4 a.m. to buy one of my consoles and steering wheel systems. Ivana would not use the simulator herself, but had watched me race for hundreds, maybe thousands, of hours.
Her favorite thing was watching me complete the license tests and track tests. Cheering when I achieved a gold rating, and laughing at my temper tantrums when I couldn’t pass a level after many, many attempts.
I had practiced before my vacation, steering wheel and all, to reinforce the track layout in my memory. At least I would know what corner to expect next. Seventy-seven corners, although some say over a hundred.
Ninety percent of them at least partially blind. Very unforgiving, the track was lined with concrete and steel barriers.
Red and white concrete curbing rises at the edge of the asphalt, as if trying to funnel automobiles back to the middle of the track.
No simulator could ever do the Nurburgring Nordschliefe justice.
As soon as I cleared the safety cones, I gripped the wheel tight and pressed the accelerator to the floor. A slight bend to the left, and a rather steep downhill that allows most cars to reach over 200 kph before heading back uphill through a couple switchback corners, ‘Hohenrain’, that I handled well, and a hard right hander that I had to take sharply on the inside as I was being passed. I don’t know by what car. (I think silver?) I had no time to look before a hard left and right combination past the actual start / finish line. While I had known the corners from the game, the elevation changes and depth perception were on a different level!
Two kilometers into my lap and I’m having the time of my life. The track is narrow, and demanding. One thing a simulator can never duplicate is fear. And when you barrel into turn one and see the concrete wall getting very big, very fast, fear becomes very real. A motivating factor to pay attention and drive well, fear demands you give the racetrack complete concentration.
Past the starting line, the lap begins with several tight, technical corners, ‘Sabine-Schmitz-Kurve’ and ‘Hatzenbach’, and I drove them well. I was passed by a few cars, and impressed with how deep into the corner some of the drivers would go before they braked. Track knowledge is paramount to a fast lap.
Later in the day I would talk to a couple guys from Denmark, who had both driven over one hundred laps around the Nurburgring. They confessed to still not knowing every nuance of the track, and claimed that the track changes from year to year. That claim would be backed up a few days later, by a professional driver with several hundred laps under his belt.
My lap continued, around the very tight ‘Hocheichen’ corner and around the long smooth double right-hander ‘Flugplatz’, holding my line as a couple supercars roared past me. I watched them get a little air as they crested the hill, before braking on the other side and disappearing around the next curve, accelerating as if shot from a cannon.
My eyes never looked at my dashboard. Never once. No time. They were glued to the track, only glancing away for an instant, scanning my side and rearview mirrors for traffic approaching my rear bumper. I cannot stress enough how fast you have to react, to the track, and to other cars.
As I wound my way through the ‘Adenauer Forst’, (Adenau Forest) I was feeling pretty good about my driving. My practice had been well worth it!
The next five kilometers are very tight, the car seldom in forth gear, but I made my first passes in this section. I was also passed by a few, those drivers with track experience really had an advantage here, as power took a backseat to car control in this section.
Perhaps I was feeling too good about my driving. I hammered the accelerator through ‘Kesselchen’ and ‘Mutkurve’, or courage curve, remembering not to brake. I went in a little fast to ‘Klostertal’, but skimmed the curbing perfectly, and hit the gas. As I mentioned at the beginning, ‘Steilstrecke’ almost had me. I had learned a valuable lesson, never get too confident, or the Nurburgring will bite. I caught my breath in the ‘Caracciola-Karussell’, which I handled in second gear along the concrete-banked two-hundred degree corner. Wild!
I began another tough section with tight corners, driven almost entirely in third gear. Classic corners like ‘Hohe Acht’, with its steep blind climb, ‘Hedwig’s Hohe’, at the top of the hill, and ‘Wipperman’, a set of switchbacks, set you up for ‘Brunnchen’, or Little Well. A steep downhill means you hit ‘Brunnchen’ at high speed, but the curbs are lower so you can use them to take the corner quite wide and not lose much speed.
While in the Nurburg area, I was staying at a great bed and breakfast, ‘Pension-N Ring’ (Pension is translated as guesthouse). I could see the long Nurburgring straight from the back deck.
Breakfast was always a wonderful, fresh, local spread with your eggs made to order. Local beers and sparkling or still water was available for 2 euros a bottle on the honour system.
The rooms were all named after famous corners, and mine was ‘Brunnchen.’ Cool black and white photos of the corner decorated my room.
I knew it well from Gran Turismo, and it seemed appropriate that I drove it perfectly, making a nice pass around the outside.
You can really motor over the next few corners, at least, if you know the track and angle your car for the driving line BEFORE you crest the hill at ‘Eiskurve’. No wonder they called it ‘ice curve’, you could very easily lose control here, and end up riding the guardrail down the hill. If you hit the crest the correct way, your car would be lined up for a straight run through the following s bends, ‘Pflazgarten.’ and onto a very fast, flat section of the track. Just remember to brake for ‘Schwalbenschwanz’, or ‘swallow tail’ will have you wrecked.
A couple more corners, and you shoot out of ‘Galgenkopf’, or ‘Gallow’s Head, and hit the accelerator on the main straight. Not too fast, however, as you soon have to begin braking for the track entrance and exit area. I pulled my car to right side, and fell in line to exit the track. I wanted a minute to relax before taking lap two.
I gave a couple fist pumps, congratulating myself for my first lap on the Nurburgring Nordschliefe. A dream had come true, a bucket list item was checked, and I felt like a king.
If only Ivana had been there to see. She would NOT have gone for a second lap with me, I know that for sure! The fun at ‘Steilstrecke’ would have been enough for her in the car, and likely for my eardrums! She would have happily watched and talked to the people as I drove more laps. I miss you, Boo. I will forever.
I followed the short line of cars off the track and found a spot to park. I took a long drink of water and flexed my hands. They were sore from gripping the wheel so tight. I had never noticed on the track. I exited the car and walked around, admiring the cars and chatting with whoever.
Since 1927, the Nurburgring Nordschliefe has been a true test of both man and machine. There is no track on earth like it.
To anyone who loves cars and loves driving them, this place is Nirvana.
