Hi all, This has always been a dream of mine, so in keeping with my philosophy of "making it happen" I am planning a trip to the Nurburgring in 2015 for myself and maybe 5-10 others from NZ. We are going to arrange shipping for our race cars, these will be mostly Gp.A/DTM cars from 1984 -1992, plus a couple of original Cologne Capris and a Mk2 Zakspeed Escort from the 1970's. The plan is to come over an find a nice historic race meeting to run at, and do some laps in our cars (many of which have already been around this iconic track already! ) This is going to be purely a fun trip, nothing too serious, and nobody has any aspirations of winning the world-championship-whatever. For me personally, driving a race car around the Nurburgring is on my "bucket list" and now I finally have something worth dragging over there. So my question to you all is, what race meeting would you recommend and why? If time permits, many of us would also like to take our cars to Spa and drive some laps around there too. This will depend to a large extent on the timing of events. Or maybe the LeMans 24hr classic that is held 1 week before the main event, I am told this is for historic race cars and consists of 1 hour races for the various age groups (of cars!) Just a few ideas , I look forward to your suggestions. cheers Conrad
Hi Conrad, excellent choice with the Nordschleife and Spa, but this is almost 3 years into the future? Or did you mean 2013? One option might be the DTM revival at the Ring. Make sure you will be able to drive the Nordschleife, not just the Grand Prix circuit. Another might be participating in an RCN (3 hours). These have a time trial character. Another option might be participating in one of the various track days. Youll have to wait on the schedule before you can book any dates. I suppose to make the most of your time, you'd like to be able to drive on most days? John
Hi John, yes almost 3 years away,(2015) but it will be a big excercise logistically, and as there are several people who are interested in coming it gives everyone time to plan, save, rebuild/finish cars etc. It is a much bigger excercise when you have to move all this gear and people halfway around the world! Yes the Nordschleife is a must, and a big part of the reason I want to do this trip! I have just found that the LeMans classic is for cars up to 1979 only, so that is out. But events at Hockenheim, A1 Ring etc. would also be nice to do in conjunction with Spa and Nurburgring. Maybe 2-5 events in a 4-6 week period if that is possible? I think maybe the Youngtimer event might be a little too "serious" for what we are looking for, but what is the format of the DTM Revival? Race lengths, eligible cars etc? Conrad
Plus at least one from Australia, my car having been there and at Spa in 87 ... There will be quite alot of planning to get there, but it would be great to do Classic or Historic events like ? VLN Nurburgring ? Youngtimers ? Spa Classic ? Hockenheim Classic ? Zandvoort ? ? Zolder ? We would need to be in Europe for 6 weeks or more to make it all worthwhile. If any of you racers have experience of these kinds of meetings, or have any suggestions, please contact Conrad or myself ! Bill bcutler@bigpond.com
4-6 weeks is a good long stay! VLN is probably also out of the question. depends on how much risk you want to put your cars to? http://www.tourenwagen-revival.de/ John
Hi, Conrad, I would make very sure of anything you Book and with who. I think the Track will still be there and functioning, but under who and what rules etc in 2015 is anybodys guess. www.pistonheads.com/news/default.asp?storyId=26033 Please do not shoot the messenger. Regards, The Gorilla.
Conrad, This year's DTM Revival didn't allow the cars on the Nordschleife, only on the GP track, but it is a great event, See my report You could do worse than a trackday at the Ring, public days can be a bit crazy and I'm assuming that your cars aren't road legal anyway? Consider the value of your cars and experience of driving the Nordschleife. Trackdays are properly organised and drivers tend to have an amount of respect for each other, some of the UK trackday organisers run days: http://www.destination-nurburgring.com/ http://www.rmatrackdays.com/european-track-days/nurburgring-nordschleife.asp I'm sure John can point you in the direction of some of the German trackday organisers. Alan
would this be an opportunity to also hold an "s14 meeting at the Ring" ? no problem at all, if not. keeping the group small also has its advantages. renting the nordschleife costs somewhere around 14000-20000 euro per day (2 years ago, need to check on current pricing). assuming it was 20k, and charging 400 euro per entry, you would need 50 participants to break even. Meeting would have to be during the week, perhaps a thursday and friday, or a monday and tuesday would be possible. it would be good to pick a month where the chances for good weather are higher. John
What an awesome idea, you got my attention. That's something I would like to do as well. Do you already know how much shipping for container and insurance will cost to Germany ? Thomas
Hi Conrad, here you can contact the guys from the Touringcar Revival. They can give you some informations. http://www.tourenwagen-revival.de/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=69&Itemid=59
Hello Conrad, Great idea! ... you must drive the Nürburgring - Nordschleife with your car. The 2015 timeline is a bit far way ... but from your prespective NZ is so far ... you will need all the backward scheduling you can use. DTM revival + Nürburgring event would be ideal. We have done that in 2011 and I am certain we could gather up a nice group of cars to make it special. This year we combine it with the Eiffel race weekend and was great but it was just the annual Spanish group ... Classic Le Mans is every 2 years and the race groups only allow up to 1979 car that actually raced at Le Mans before (BMW M1 Pro, CSL Gr.5, 320i Gr.5). The registration fees and regulations are getting more complex so actual racing is too cumbersome. I still recommend you go watch it. We were there this year staying near the track in Arnage and I will certainly go in 2014. Late May - June is usually the window when all of these events take place so a 4-6 week trip in 2014 would most likely allow you to see/do all. Manuel
Don't forget to drive over to the UK for the Silverstone Classic in July - probably the best motor racing day out I've had in at least 20 years.
Well Conrad, 2015 is only now 1 year away! Today brought news that the track has finally been sold, it has stayed in German hands (despite rumours otherwise): http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/news/...ce-car-supplier-capricorn-175335332--spt.html
Conrad, maybe a two day track day with Destination nurburgring is in order? http://www.destination-nurburgring.com Ive been before and although its expensive, its very well organised and plenty of time on the track. Would love to met everyone, so will make sure to driver over!!!! Andrew
Looks like fun, but for an event like that I would just hire a race car locally. If I am going to haul my car from NZ to the Ring it would have to be for a race meeting I have been keeping an eye on events, and the HSCC Super Touring series in the UK is looking good. After visiting Spa in late 2012 that would have to be top of the list as far as places to race for me. Ideally looking for an event that will allow Gp.A and DTM cars to run. Youngtimer series only allows Gp.A to 1988 I think. conrad
