I arrived in Nurburg on Wednesday (May 14th), the weather was good, I could hear something going on in the pits... There was a trackday taking place on the new circuit. Like all good trackdays, a varied mix! Stefan had travelled down from Sweden to meet me, he first joined me as a passenger two years ago, then last year he brought his Opel OPC, for 2014 he turned up in a 996 Turbo. I think he's taken a liking to this place! We did a couple of tourist laps on the Nordschleife and then headed off for something to eat. We then came across this...... 'It be the work of the devil' - A front wheel drive BMW!! Back at the guest house, AMG Mercedes were parked up for the night in their latest test mules.
Thursday, we took a day trip to Stuttgart to visit the Mercedes Museum. 6-wheel G-Wagen, quite a beast. I spotted this very battered looking trophy, it was the winners trophy for the 1939 German Grand Prix, on closer inspection, it became obvious why it was so battered, I bet this thing got passed round like a hot potato after the war. An incredible piece of history, it would have been all too easy for Mercedes to hide this away, but the Mercedes Museum isn't just about cars, it's also about how the world has developed since the invention of the motor car As I was touring the museum with a Swede, the name on the side of the 1989 Le Mans winning car caught my eye - S.Dickens. Stefan straight away said “Yes, Stanley Dickens” I pride myself with thinking I know everything about motorsport, but for some reason this Swedish racing driver with the very English sounding name had until now, completely passed me by, so that was my education for the day!
Friday, we were back in the Nürburgring pits for VLN practice, this was to be the last race before the 24 Hours in June, this is always a favourite for us, such great access behind the scenes of a motor race. The man who jumped from space - Felix Baumgartner was in the pits, he was racing for Audi, in preparation for the 24 Hours, lets hope there's a good documentary to follow. Black Falcon Mercedes, winner of last year's 24 Hours and a favourite for Saturday's VLN race, tragically Sean Edwards was killed after last year's victory in a training accident, but his name still lives on the front of the car. Sponsors, all teams need them! Subaru STi always field one car
The Opel Manta lives, with the old master Volker Strycek still at the wheel Strycek Jnr. also seems to be carrying on the family tradition The mighty Ford GT
The Brits were represented, although the Saxon Motorsports 1 Series was destined not to make the start of Saturday's race.
A few classics in the pits The good weather continued, it was great to be back in the Eifel region Our meal in Adenau that evening was interrupted at Blau Ecke by a TV crew filming a series on restaurants, they didn't seem interested in speaking to us
Saturday, race day. I spotted this NSX in town, it used to belong to a friend of mine, last time we drove this car was in England, my friend now lives in Canada, here we meet again in Germany, a small world! There was some sort of NSX meeting going on in town, they were all over the place. A few oddities on the Nordschleife prior to the race!! We watched the start of the race at Hatzenbach This Renault Clio driver was none too happy after hitting the wall, I think some damaged bodywork jammed the steering A big accident caused the race to be red flagged and cut short by nearly an hour, but a result was declared with full points awarded, the winner was the Black Falcon Mercedes. With four different manufacturers (Porsche, Audi, BMW and Mercedes) all performing competitively, the 24 Hours must be wide open.
Time for a few laps on Saturday evening, the track actually opened early, due to the race being cut short Cafe racer was turned away, maybe due to his denim leathers! MKII Escort
Sunday, this was a full day of public driving, unfortunately Stefan had to bid me Auf Wiedersehen, he had a 1200km drive back to Sweden. To see him off in style, we managed a quick lap in my car before he left Oh dear, there's always one! There seemed to be more Ferraris this year, not just posing, but actually hitting the track, perhaps they're finally becoming a little less fragile? The bikers Me holding off a couple of GT3s (or should that be 'holding up!') An old favourite down at the fuel station Speaking of fuel...
1980s East Germany meets West Germany No sooner had Stefan gone, I found some old Swedish metal! E30 M3s in track prep are rarer and rarer these days, most have been turned into 'garage queens' and sold on for a healthy profit Lamborghini Aventador, it appeared to stop at Adenau Bridge, but there didn't seem to be any drama once parked up. An amazing car from any angle.
Good to see the Roma Tuning Golf again Lovely 964 outside Lidl Meanwhile Aldi could only muster this Mazda 323 Turbo 4WD, once an homolgation special, winning at WRC level. Strange how some homologation specials have the collectors falling over themselves to pay sky high prices, yet others don't even have enough following to keep them on the road I returned to the car park for the last couple of hours of public driving Very nice M3 Looks like I've managed to get both MKI and MKII Escorts into my report Some sort of Mayday festival had been taking place, hence the trees hoisted high Drove through the industrial estate on my way back to the guest house Manthey Porsche, if you've got the cash, you can arrive and drive So, that's the end of my report. Who knows what 2015 will bring.....
