Expedition: Nurburgring (N + GP)
Entree: Frontside Misty
After a strong build-up including the Ferrari, Lamborghini, Porsche, Mercedes, and BMW museums, we finally arrive at the pinnacle of automotive experience in Europe: The Nurburgring.
The Nordschleife isn’t your usual race track, instead, it’s a narrow, winding, elevation-changing road that measures around 20.8 kilometers. All this means that when we got there, some (a lot) fog would put the entire track on indefinite closure as the officials monitored conditions. I thought it was reasonable to close the track when the visibility was less than 10 meters, but locals didn’t feel the same. At the same time, the first (of two) DTM race were delayed, meaning that both the Nordschleife crowd and the DTM crowd homogenized into the event center. We would also find ourselves in the event center, swerving in and out of shops to pick up Nurburgring souvenirs while hoping for the track’s reopening.
The only consolation prize was an RWB that visited Apex while we were singing documents although it would be much cooler to see one on track (more on that later). But we would also find out that my laps would get scheduled to the day after (28th), right when the DTM race 2 is on.
Entree 2: Outside the Ring
The 28th was sunny, the track opened at 10:00AM, and open lapping began. Off we were to YouTube corner, real name Brünnchen, a fast right that’s just wide enough for some safe oversteer and gentle crashing. As the track came to life, the sidelines packed with underdressed tourists and lawnchair sitting locals all here for the same purpose: to watch cars rush down the most famous race track in the world. This was my first official Nurburgring experience, and it’s every bit as phenomenal as its reputation suggests.
Main: Drive to survive
Like the track itself, coordinating laps there was quite the bumpy experience. While booking my laps with Apex, the GR Yaris was my original mount of choice to do 4 laps on the Nurburgring with until someone crashed it before we got there, an M2 quickly took its place before also suffering a collision, and the succeeding M4 retired due to a technical failure. Within Apex’s now bare stable, I landed on a 24h endurance race winning Cupra 300 for my 4 laps. From SEAT (subsidiary of VW), the Cupra is essentially a souped 300hp Mk7 GTI that had its internals replaced with race car guts.
The laps themselves were great, although much different from Assetto Corsa or anything else trying to reproduce the experience. The surface is smooth in texture but bumpy in shape, made for a few moments where the ABS would kick in as the car hopped around bumps under hard braking. The track was much narrower than I expected, and the major elevation changes made me second guess my memory of the layout. I didn’t take it above 205km/h so that I wouldn’t end my bloodline with my sister being on board as well.
I made sure to hit the jump at least once and took Karrousel as fast as I could while trying to scrape the bumper off. Locals flew by me at impossible speeds, yet lap traffic felt safer than any track day I’ve been to. Everyone behaves well on the deadliest race track in the world.
