Nurburgring: Wow, what a trip!!!!

[V8 BJC]

Back in January I decided that I needed a European Road trip for 2007 so decided to organise a trip to the Ring for the Olde Timers GP. Having got the ferry, camping and parking passes sorted, 5 of us set off last Wednesday morning for the 1000m round trip. Below is a brief summary on what turned out to be a superb trip with the Cob.

Wednesday 8th Aug
Only 3 hours sleep from Tues evening. Too exited!! My passenger (Chris) arrived at my place at 04:30am and we squeeze as much stuff as we can into the boot. Set-off at 5am upsetting a few of the neighbours and meet Clarkson for drive to Dover. Meet Steve (AC04 COB) at Dover and all enjoy pleasant crossing to Dunkerque, then the fun begins.

Only 2 miles into France and sitting in motorway traffic my car decided to throw a spanner into our plans and promptly stopped running . With no spark at the plugs we were towed from the motorway and off to a garage and confirmed that the dizzy was dead. Having been looking forward to the trip for 6 months, the thought of it ending after only 2 miles was not so great. So, on the phones we go to try and source a new one and get it to France. At this point I must give big thanks to:

• Brian at Re-power who organised to get the dizzy motorbike couriered to another club member at very short notice.
• Roger Portman (Dodger) who brought the part to France the following morning and left his tour group to meet me with it.
• The rest of our group for being so patient while spending the first day of our trip standing in a Renault dealer 2 miles from the coast.
• The RAC who put all 5 of us up in a hotel, taxied us to and from the car (€180 bill), brought us all breakfast and paid the parking fees for both other Cobras. They have since realised that they cocked up as you can’t get 5 people in one Cobra and are chasing me for reimbursement. So if anyone asks, you aint seen me right!!.

As it turned out, we all had a good few beers that night and a comfy bed to kip in. The weather the next day was not so great so as it turned out, we did not miss much in the end.

Thursday 9th August
Following an RAC funded breakfast and a couple of Nurofen for some we set-off to meet Roger at the garage. Five minutes after arriving, the cap was changed, turned the key and still no spark. My heart was pumping now. After another 5 minutes, the whole dizzy was changed, turned the key and V8 BJC was alive once more . Mightily relieved and 24 hours past our original schedule, 3 Cobras and Rogers fine Alfa set off on the journey through France, Belgium and Germany to Nurburg. It started to rain soon after setting off and the bad weather stayed with us all the way to Germany. We stayed off the motorways and did keep moving so did not get too wet. The route took us along some fantastic roads with awesome scenery. I enjoyed the drive but it was dampened a bit by the rain. We arrived at the campsite just outside Nurburg just after 9pm, pitched tents and headed out for food and beer. We quickly realised that there way not much in the area and drove some 20km only to find a fuel station and McDonalds. Big Macs down and beer in to boot, back to the campsite for a few cold ones.

Friday 10th August
Get up and go for breakfast. Campsite owners notify us of complaints re noise and ask us to respect site rules regarding quiet time after 10pm. Mmmm Could be a problem here!
Head of to the new circuit to watch qualifying. On drive to circuit, realise that weather not looking good as fog/mist getting worse the higher up the mountain we drove. Park up with German club members, buy weekend entry tickets to find that qualifying cancelled for the day due to weather. Music playing on the PA system included Walking on sunshine and Why Does It Always Rain On Me. Realise that Germans do have a sense of humour after all. Spent the day walking round the pits looking at the cars before returning to camp site. The road from the track to the site was an awesome mix of long sweeping curves and a few straight bits with fantastic views so we had some fun on the way back. Had a bit of playtime up and down this road including giving some rides to the campsite owners. Popped in bar for a quick beer early evening, left after midnight having sunk a few and back to the gazebo for a few more.

Saturday 11th August
Up early with fingers crossed for better weather. Sun was out and clearing morning fog so all looked good for the days racing. After breakfast, meet angry German women waving her wonky finger and complaining again about the noise. We try to apologise, joke about the garden gnomes in her garden and set off for the track.
Sun shining, the racing was great with historic F1, Le Mans prototypes and GT cars all on the track.
For 6 months, Clarkson and I had been doubtful regarding our chances of getting our noisy cars on the old Nordschleife circuit. At 7pm we decided to go and try our luck. My heart rate rising on the way we arrived to rind the circuit shut as they were scraping an unlucky biker of the road. We would have to wait another day.
That evening we set off for a long drive through the mountain forest roads. These must be some of the best driving roads that Europe has to offer and the scenery was stunning. After a good feed, we set-off back along those fine roads to the campsite to find that we were banned from taking the cars tent side, so we parked up in the car park and set off for more beer.

Sunday 12th August
Crawl out of bed after 5 hours kip (confirmed that Clarkson is not a morning person – have photo’s to prove!). Laugh again at German women who had taken gnomes inside for safe keeping from CRC members. Head off to the track. Join German CRC for breakfast in their food / beer tent. These guys really know how to do these events. Head off mid morning to try our luck on the Nordschleife. No sign of noise testers, we buy a ticket and head out for a lap. WOW, what a track it is, a 13km mixture of twisty and fast sweeping bends with gradient changes everywhere. There are many points where you can’t see past the crest of a hill so we took it fairly easy first time around. Back in the car park we hurry off and buy more tickets and enjoyed two more laps even more with the confidence of a bit of circuit knowledge. The crowds in the stands were fairly quiet as most cars go past but they all went mental every time they saw a cob. Every time we past them they were on their feet cheering and clapping which was great. I did have one heat stopping moment when I turned a corner to find Clarkson on the side of the road against the barrier but was relieved to find that all was OK. Piece of advice to anyone that tries it, make sure that you have enough fuel before setting off for a lap. Dave will confirm that standing on the outside of a fast corner with all sorts racing by pouring a can of fuel in the tank has the nerves jangling a bit.
Back to the track for some more racing in the afternoon. Confirmed that Steve can sleep anywhere – main straight in the stands with 40 race cars on full throttle. Again, pics to prove later. Head off later afternoon with a great drive down to Spa where we stopped for the night. Again, good food & beer and not much sleep.

Monday 13th August
Early rise for the long drive back to Dunkerque. Awesome mix of A roads, B roads and motorways with tunnels for fun saw us just return in time to board the ferry at 4pm. More sleep for Steve here!!.
Back in the UK, realise how boring and congested our roads are on the drive back to Sussex. Arrive home knackered after a thoroughly enjoyable trip which almost ended after only 2 miles.

THANKS AGAIN TO THOSE WHO KEPT ME ON THE ROAD

Looking forward to Le Mans Classic 2008 already.


Will post some pics over the next couple of days when I get a few mins.

[Clarkson]

Now shall we tell the real story??

Good job you did not say anything about the fire alarm!!

Can't post any pics till 10 days has I have no broadband.

Anyway big thanks to Mr BJC for organising our road trip and thanks roger for the new dissy!

[runt]

Sounds fantastic, as you say its getting hard to find breathing space on our roads, just one thing though, all that feasting on big macs/ beers will surely, in time, adversely affect power/weight ratio..?

Paul.

[Steve]

Brian.you left a few anecdotes out...a few reminders

Brians "turkish massage"
Inadvertantly parking outside a brothel in belgium to fix a throttle cable.....interesting views in the "display"
the biggest steaks in Spa EVER

[Andy S]

Brian your tour diary was excellent mate, you had to be making notes though, as there is no way you would remember half of that especially with the amount of alcohol that must have been consumed.......
But then reading Steve's post it appears maybe not as he mentions one or two very interesting items that seem to have been missed, deleted, forgotton from your diary.
Now these sound just as interesting as the rest, so come on guys, lets have the full story.
And dont hide behind the 'what goes on tour stays on tour' crap either.

[V8 BJC]

Originally Posted by Clarkson

Now shall we tell the real story??

Good job you did not say anything about the fire alarm!!

Can't post any pics till 10 days has I have no broadband.

Anyway big thanks to Mr BJC for organising our road trip and thanks roger for the new dissy!

Fire Alarm ???

[V8 BJC]

Originally Posted by runt

Sounds fantastic, as you say its getting hard to find breathing space on our roads, just one thing though, all that feasting on big macs/ beers will surely, in time, adversely affect power/weight ratio..?

Paul.

Paul, unlike others , only 1 big mac for me. However, the steak in Spa was something else, sure we ate the whole cow between us. Nice place and the owners even provided first aid services on my cramped clutch leg!

[V8 BJC]

OK, here are a few more learnings from our trip.

Dont upset German women who live on campsites unless you are keen on getting fingered, wonky style.

TVR owners are complete lightweights in the drinking department as well as the BHP department.

Steve can sleep anywhere, and probably will.

Clarkson aint an early morning person

The RAC are very generous.

French OAPs can get upset very quickly when 2 pi55ed CRC members try to fit car cover at midnight.

GD's dont like track time, but owners do like to polish when they think no one is looking.

Clarkson is the Claudio Ranieri of the CRC, the tinkerman.

Steve is the 2am chef.

I have now eaten my lifetime share of scrambled egg.

3 Cobs in a motorway tunnel in 4th gear full chat sound bloody awesome.

Our roads are shit!!

[runt]

I was thinking that it must have been quite physically tiring, even allowing for the minimal gear shifting required with the V-8s, 'course you guys are still relative youngsters..
As for that clutch leg therapy, administered by perfect Aryan Heidi Klum lookalike..?
So.. who is the faster/ more naturally gifted pilot;Brian or Dave C..?

Paul.

[V8 BJC]

A few pics