My son and I had the oppportunity to spend some time last weekend visting and
drving on the Nurburgring in a rented 528i, 5 speed. Loads of fun but had to
watch out for the very fast cycles and race cars practicing at the same time.
There was even a large bus loaded with sightseers and a class A motor home
chugging around the course. Sort of a moving chicane. Also a lot of skid marks
visible on the track when I viewed my video.
The charge for a single lap is 20 marks (approximately $11) for a car while a
cycle get charged 23 marks. Only thing I can figure is that they have to
pick-up or mop-up cyclists more often. If you live close enough or have a lot
of frequent-flyer miles, a yearly pass with unlimited track use is $250. Not
bad if you can afford the tires and brake pads!
I was there for the German grand prix in 1966 when Dan Gurney almost won and
the full course was used for the race. Now the south course is 2.3 miles with
the north circuit length being 14. Does anyone know when they split the courses
apart and made major modifications to the south circuit? As I remember it from
'66, after the hairpin on main straight in front of the old grandstands led to
a back straight similar to the front one and took the cars onto the big course
for the 14 mile run.
There was also a vintage event taking place on the south course when we were
there so we had some very nice pre-57 cars to look at and listen to. My color
prints and videos came out very well and if anyone is ever in the central
Jersey are and would like to spend some time drinking a few German beers and
discussing vintage cars, get back to me. They museum and other exhibits at the
track are also worth while seeing. I have a lot of info on the area in case
anyone is thinking of going over.
Happy and safe motoring.
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