I have just got back from spending two weekends at the Nurburgring in Germany.

It was my first time there - what an amazing track!!

There is no way to describe the number and variety of corners and the altitude changes are dramatic. There are some sections that you would not be able to walk up easily and you have to drive the car over it at about 100mph.

The car behaved beatifully drove all the way there did 15 laps and drove back via France about 3000 miles. Used a lot of fuel!

 

There was another Z car at the campsite - it was black UK registered but owned by a French chap. We looked each other's car up and down but my French is another language so I didn't get chatting to him. It was a track car that he trailered there and back - some real implressive brakes on the front.

 

Drivin Ivan

Sounds like great fun....

just exactly how much fuel did you use?...lol :eek:

Awesome mate. That sounds like a great trip.

 

One day I think I will get myself to the Nurburgring, daft as it sounds I am getting some practice in on GT4, but what you said about the altitude changes comes as no surprise from some of the in-car stuff I have seen.

 

Well done for getting there, thrashing round, and getting home in one piece :D

 

Regards,

 

Rob.

Long time no see Ivan, sounds as if you had fun mate, was thinking about driving my car to italy when i go on hols but the fuel bill would work out astronomical.. Hope to se you at a meet soon.

 

what lap times did you get?

 

Marcus

That sounds excellent mate, got my first track day on monday at Castle Combe with UJCC. Would like to try the Nurburgring. How bumpy was it? some of the vids look like it would take out your suspension! especially the karousel.Dave

what was your time per lap mate

The Z car handled the track really well.

I took the carousel on quite aggresively from the start - the car took it really well, It is really bumpy but also grips the car and pulls you round. The real skill seems to be when to feed the power back in (size of testicles directly relates to how soon you press the pedal hard).

I managed to data log my 6th lap before the battery went on the laptop - looked like 10:30 ish lap - I have yet to import it into a spreadsheet and look at properly.

By the 15th lap I was much quicker and cursing the motorbikes for being so slow in the corners. It was totally satisfying to out accelerate most cars up the big hills - especially the lotus and VX220 (Opel Speedsters) drivers with thier semi slicks.

The ring taxi (M5 with a few tweaks) was pretty scary when it came up behind - so much faster!!

Saw a lot of seriously nice cars there: White lamboughini Countach, Carrera GT a million GT3 porsches (seriously every other car was a GT3). Had a lot of people asking about the Z car - taking pictures too - mostly because they thought the damage on the rear was done there!

I will be going back fairly soon.

Just worked out that I have spent over £500 on Fuel too!!!!!

OIL price Crisis, what you lot talking about I have been on holiday.....

 

Drivin Ivan

I did try to learn the track on the XBOX and playstation, but you get a real eye opener when you get there.

There is no distance between the corners, they just go from one to another with no time between them at all.

Some parts of the track give you so much compression downforce that when I went round once badly needing a piss there was a small leak - I didn't make that mistake again.

Tyres and brakes are taken to the limit - I had to wait at least a half hour between runs to let everything cool down enough to go again - that's with braided lines and racing brake fluid (£50 a litre Castrol SRF). I did get some new front pads from Ryan before going out and they performed really well - consistent throughout - I think he said they were the Mintex pads.

I have got Goodyear Eagle F1's on the front and Continental's on the rear and once I managed to get them hot and sticky they really gave good grip and confidence at high speed - Had to do a burn out down the straight to get the rears warm in the damp though.

 

Ivan

Didn't that German woman on Top Gear do a 10.08 in a Transit ? :bow:

 

Not knocking your time - I'd be rubbish!

Some parts of the track give you so much compression downforce that when I went round once badly needing a piss there was a small leak - I didn't make that mistake again.

Ivan

 

Hilarious.....Ivan, You liked the Ring then ............

 

:p :p :p :p

There were so many moments when I thought my pants were gonna fill with something a little firmer!

The worse one was when I was changing down to third the rear wheels were locking when I forgot to match the revs - but there is so much to be thinking off: Mirrors, track conditions, line, boost, tyre temp, brake temp trying to blip the throttle before letting the clutch fully out and then having to endure crazy G forces - so easy to make a mistake that can lead to another - you get this on pretty much every corner for the first 6 or 7 laps.

 

I was pretty confident that I had got more than 1 lap below 10 minutes, but I was not there to try to do lap times I was there to do a Recon mission on the place.

Now I know what I am gonna need to go there and try to set a lap time that could be considered respectable for a standard engined Z car.

One of the most important is some friends there to compare notes and give encouragement, Had I gone alone I would have been put off pretty quickly.

 

Ivan