Nordschleife

The Nordschleife at the Nürburgring racetrack in Germany, also known as the Green Hell, is one of the most famous racetracks in the world. With 20.832 km of winding and undulating roads through some breathtaking scenery in the Eifel area of Germany, the course with 73 turns is also where many vehicle manufacturers turn to in order to test and prove the handling of their vehicles. It is also the scene of a 24 hour sport car race. The reverence for this location comes from the twisty nature of the circuit, which also contains enormous variations in altitude with some exhilarating steep sections, with almost no run-off areas on the corners. As the guide said, it is closer to a drive on a closed, one-way country road than a modern race track.

For an Australian car fan living in Germany, it would be inexcusable to miss an excursion to this gem. It has taken me 3 years to take my BMW here to unleash its full potential around this circuit. Ok, perhaps more like gingerly tip-toeing around the blind curves and constantly looking in the rear view mirrors for green Porsches and menacing Nissan GTRs. In October 2008 I bought a 4 lap pass, and my friends Alex and Jason accompanied me on various tours of the Green Hell. Jason also drove his Ford Escort around for one lap. Fortunately I had some practice around the circuit in a racing game - they can be useful in real life after all.

In preparation for my laps, I strapped our luggage (I was returning from a 2 day trip to Frankfurt to Munich) securely to the boot, removed the decorations dangling from my mirror, and waited in line at the boom gate. The boom gate opened, the Porsche 911 in front of me roared into the distance, and then it was my turn.

My total lack of track driving experience was quite apparent from the outset. I had never driven this car around a proper race circuit previously, and making my maiden attempt around this track can certainly said to be jumping in the deep end. Before the end of the long first straight, I saw a black blob in the mirror. As I wound through the esses the black blob materialised into a Toyota RAV4, its driver spotting a rather serious appearance with his racing helmet. It passed me, rolled into the next corner at a dangerously steep angle, and then disappeared into the distance.

The ignominy and embarrassment of this moment is hard to imagine. But I slowly became braver and gained more speed, and the faster cars went pass me without any issues. Further along the track I noticed that the cars were not overtaking me anymore, despite me leaving room for them. Then the ah-ha moment dawned on me as Alex mentioned, "you're only allowed to overtake on the left hand side here". I was hogging the left hand side of the road all this time trying to allow the pass on the right hand side. I should have read the instructions more thoroughly!

The remainder of the lap was completed without further ado, with a snail-like time of 12 minutes 10 seconds. To put it into perspective, the master of the ring, Sabine Schmitz, completed a lap in a Ford Transit van in 10 minutes (admittedly with some aerodynamic assistance). Before the next lap we put the luggage into Jason's car, and took him onboard. A faster snail seemed to have taken over the driving, with a lap time of 11:30.

Jason decided to run a lap in his humble Ford Escort, which he bought for less than €2000 a couple of months beforehand. Having had race driving experience, he settled into his rhythm quite quickly but was limited by the handling of his car. The most dramatic moment came halfway through the lap when he announced, "Lok Man, I think that we have run out of brakes". Fortunately they held on and brought us safely home. This little demanding detour most likely contributed to the blown head gasket in his engine some days later.

My last tour of the circuit was also the quickest. After I passed through the boom gates, the traffic lights turned red and I waited for further announcements. The waiting cars reversed from the boom gates and returned to the parking lot. I waited together with 2 motorbikers and another in his Opel Kadett until the accident on track was cleared, before we filed out onto the track. After cruising past the Kadett on the straight, it was a dream come true - a virtually uninterrupted lap with no traffic around the Nordschleife. I could enjoy the dips, bumps and twists without constantly worrying about ring-taxis and Porsches tail gating me. A time of 10:30 was a satisfactory outcome, and with that I drove home, still shaking with excitement, wondering when I would have another chance to repeat this fantastic experience.