Thought I'd finally get on and write my long overdue report. As you will see, my thread title says report(s), I have just been for my second trip of 2015, but I'll start with my first trip from April. So, we'll begin in the most logical place for any Nürburgring trip, at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium! We took the overnight Hull-Rotterdam ferry, my friend Peter (PBC M3) had also joined me in his latest oil burning BMW, we decided to call in at Spa on the way down to the Ring, there was a McLaren trackday being held. Well, it would be rude not to... In recent years, McLaren Automotive have built three different models of road car: McLaren 12C (Built 2011 - 2014) McLaren 650S (Built 2014 - present, the successor to the 12C) McLaren P1 (Built from 2013, only 375 produced, Hypercar, Supercar, whatever you want to call it, capable of delivering 900bhp. Safe to say, it's one of the world's quickest cars) You don't get too many photo opportunities as good as this! Perfect weather, only one thing we were short of, a set of keys!!
Spa, one of the world's great circuits (Also makes quite a nice walk) La Source hairpin, always a good place to see the cars up close
We arrived in Nürburg on Thursday evening, Stefan had made his way down from Sweden (Too bad you missed the McLaren day Stefan). Peter was just running in his new 335D xDrive We went out for a couple of laps. Saw this Corvette at the car park, some American guys pulled up in a BMW and shouted "Don't get one, they overheat and break down!" Friday was VLN practice day, all the usual interesting sights in the paddock The big hitters Kreidler - Once a name Grand Prix motorcycle racing, scoring eight world championship titles in the 50cc class The weather was to be very mixed over the weekend, that can make driving the Nordschleife very tricky, it can be wet on one side of the circuit and dry on another part Here's an example: Before After Lovely Z8 Stefan with one of his fellow countrymen We finished the day off at Pizzaria Pinocchio
Saturday was qualifying and race day. The 2015 R8 GT3. Audi had sent some of their DTM drivers along, in preparation for the upcoming Nürburgring 24 Hours Another casualty of the wet weather Last minute repairs Ominous black clouds... We decided to watch the race from the new circuit Great viewing from on top of the pits A mass arrival for wet tyres! We had our Swedish weatherman on the roof! The winning Audi R8 of Christopher Mies and Nico Müller. This was the first time we'd taken in a podium presentation at the Nürburgring. Sunday, Stefan and I headed off back to work, Peter hung around in town another day before starting a proper holiday! As always, it was great spending time with you guys.
July, and I was back in town. Since my last visit, Audi had won the Nürburgring 24 Hours with their new R8. However, other manufacturers were about to debut new cars this weekend, round 4 of the VLN. The weather was somewhat warmer than April, in fact, it was a little too hot at times. Spotted the latest road car from Mercedes AMG in the car park The AMG GTS is powered by a new 500bhp V8 twin turbo 4 litre engine The latest new car that you can't buy, because they were all sold before anybody had a chance, the Porsche Cayman GT4 Newest isn't always best though, hard to believe it's over 10 years ago since I drooled over one of these at the Detroit show. Only 1270 were ever produced, the Carrera GT remains an icon in the supercar world.
Peter Dumbreck, as usual, in the Falken Tyres 911 Lexus were out with a brand new car, the Lexus RC F GT3, this is the very first GT3 car from the Japanese company Time for more trucks. Being a Munich manufacturer, BMW always use MAN Trucks. Er, hang on a minute, a de-badged Iveco, very naughty BMW ;-)
It was so hot, Porsche had reverted back to air cooling! The mighty Ford GT, still turning heads The car everybody was talking about, the world debut of the new Mercedes AMG GT3 Mercedes also wheeled out their multiple DTM champion / GT superstar Bernd Schneider for the race, now 50 years old, he is still very much on top of his game, he took pole position by over 5 seconds!
Saturday, the usual qualifying and race day, more lovely hot weather I was a bit surprised to see sport and a sport+ button in a racing car! Should it not be sporty all the time!! Excuse me ladies, I'm trying to take photos
Alpina had made the long journey down from Iceland. Nice to see something with a bit of colour, this is not a car you would lose on a car park! Sveinbjörn, it was good to finally meet you. A few £$millions worth here, the Ferrari boys were in town Just one 4WD imposter I got a scare on the car park, for a moment I thought VW had bought BMW and released a van!
I watched the start of the race as the cars joined the Nordschleife We had two ladies on the podium, Sabine (who needs no introduction) finished third, while Italian racer Michela Cerruti was in the winning BMW Z4, helping the Walkenhorst team to their first VLN win. The new AMG GT3 had a wheel bearing problem and finished well down the field, but Mercedes have promised more VLN outings for the car this year.
Sunday - My friends Shaun and Paul were in town, at the beginning of a two-wheeled tour of Germany. Shaun on his way down to Adenau Sunday evening, things at the car park were relatively quiet I took Shaun and Paul out for a tourist lap, this was Paul's first look at the Nordschleife, Shaun had been before in a car, but he was determined to do a lap on his bike. Shaun, you sure know how to pick a four-wheel opponent And they're off! Well done Shaun This is the nearest I will get / be allowed to doing a lap of the Ring on two wheels Swedish E46 M3 - Having seen this, there's plenty of scope for modifications to my car!
Monday, time to kill, perfect weather. I took a walk on the Moselle and a walk round Cochem, always a nice place to visit. Monday evening, end of trip. Rotterdam ferry, a rare sighting of two Panthers! End of report - Look forward to 2016....
Hi, Some very nice pictures and write up. Be interesting to see how the Lexus shapes up given what has been invested so far. Cochem is really nice as is Koblenz and lahnstein, really nice area of the Father land, all the way down to Wiesbaden. Regards, The Gorilla.
