Trackdays.de organised a very succesful trackday at the Nurburgring Nordschleife yesterday. From 8 AM till 2 PM the track was reserved for the 40 cars that signed up for the trackday. The straight was open so the drivers could take their cars to the maximum on the long straight, an opportunity you won’t get when the track is open for tourists. Among the participants were 2 Porsche Carrera GT’s, 2 brand new GT3 RS’s, a Lamborghini Gallardo, a rare Mercedes CLK-DTM, a Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano, a couple handsful of Porsches and a lot of other lovely toys. Top Run organisers and GT3000 members PCP and Nitro were there with their Porsche GT3 and Lamborghini Gallardo. Top Run participant DMC worked on his lines at the Green hell with his M3 CSL. You can read his story below!
DMC’s Nurburgring Nordschleife story:
So I started on thursday with a serious bout of hayfever, eyes blood red and sneezing constantly.. 2-3 hours sleep tops for the last 3-4 nights due to the sodding thing.
I jumped into the car and did the 400 odd miles to the ring. Arrived at the best hotel i’ve seen yet out there, 54 Euros and its the cleanest nicest place i’ve yet been to in Germany, food superb and staff super super friendly (keeping that one a secret Had dinner with the lads who were all great company and excellent to boot. A few too many beers were consumed and a distant stiff neck i’d been nursing all day started to hurt more and more until i was in total agony, could hardly sleep at all, despite the lager i’d consumed. tops 90 minutes sleep. Anyway had to be at the driver’s briefing ring-side for 07.30 and i still had to sign up. So the alarm woke me at 06.15, and i was down for breakfast about 30 minutes later (29 minutes of which standing in shower trying to ease the soreness in my neck!) Managed to get out on track soley due to the kind lady in the hotel providing me with two of the best pain killer’s i’ve ever had!!
First 2 laps reminded me just how little I remembered but some parts were starting to come back to me and some of the lines, but probably only 10-15%. Came in after two full laps and realised i was drenched in sweat, its seriously hard work and I was obviously very nervous and stressed i suppose. Anyway couple of glugs of water a little walk round the car park and admiring some of the stunning motors in attendance.
About half an hour later I went out for 2 more laps.. getting faster, and remembering some more, probably about 30% now… but again, forgetting in which order stuff came, which was kinda important when i ended up missing a left and going straight on and through the gravel.. came out backwards and was able to spin it round and keep going.. sounds elegant and controlled but believe it wasn’t… no barriers/other cars collected and only my pride damaged. Gingerly finished that lap and came in. Felt totally dispirited and as though all my progress had been flushed.
1 hour later a good friend of the Top Run guys turned up and took me out for some instruction. Great advice and very simple instructions, he was very complimentary and the adjustments he was making were very small, brake a little sooner, a tad less throttle, a tad more, etc etc.. so was very encouraging, and by the end of the 2nd lap with him I felt much happier, started to link some of the sections together..
Started to feel shattered at this point, the lack of sleep for the past 5 days really catching up on me, and the pain killers i took near breakfast time were wearing off. So i called it a day at about 11.30am and came home. Still in one piece and feeling , well a little mixed if i’m honest.
Our pictures:
