| The Green Hell Visited |
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Text: Dhruv Behl
Images: Chandrika jain |
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If you saw our January 2008 issue, you may have noticed our lead story for the New Year. Just to refresh your memory, it listed 8 around-the-world destinations to visit if you have even a hint of petrol in your veins. Number one on that list was the Nurburgring Nordschleife (North Loop). We attempted to make the trip ourselves last year, but fate intervened and the plan got thwarted at the last minute courtesy of a missing passport. Thankfully, there were no such complications this year – so here’s what you need to know first hand. |
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| The Track |
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Statue of racing legend, 5-time F1 world champion, Juan Manuel Fangio, 
outside the merchandise shop at the Grand Prix circuit – identical to the one at Monza |
At the risk of using one too many superlatives, the Nurburgring Nordschleife is absolutely the most demanding and ultimate stretch of 22 kilometers on the planet. As you may have rightly noted, that’s an unscientific observation to say the least. Nevertheless, I’m willing to challenge anyone to prove otherwise. |
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The Nordschleife, adjoining the Grand Prix circuit, is a 173-corner rollercoaster ride of dips, crests, bumps and extremely fast blind corners with no margin for error whatsoever. It’s unlike any other racetrack in existence today, and is a Mecca for any car enthusiast who relishes being challenged behind the wheel. It also has a reputation for being one of the most fearsome pieces of road in the world. Three-time former Formula 1 champion, and legend of the sport, Sir Jackie Stewart, is the man who christened the Nurburgring the ‘Green Hell.’ He may have won a number of races there, but once exclaimed that if he were ever to go around the track slowly, and in doing so notice the real dangers it posed, he would never have raced there again. The ‘Ring’ is also the site of the near fatal accident of another three-time world champion – Niki Lauda. His fiery crash meant that 1976 was the last time an F1 car would go around the Ring in anger.
The Ring is generally closed during the winter months, but open to the public for the majority of the year – mostly on (very busy) weekends known as ‘tourist days.’ |
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Thanks to the diverse range of challenges thrown up by the track, which make it ideally suited to highlight the dynamic shortcomings of any car, the Ring is largely used by various manufacturers as a test track – certainly any new car that’s launched these days with even the slightest sporting pretensions will undoubtedly be tested at the Ring. In fact, it’s even caused a battle for unofficial lap times. The Nissan GT-R, launched earlier this year, upstaged the Porsche 911 GT2 by setting a lap time of 7 minutes 29 seconds – making it one of the fastest production cars to go around the Ring. Porsche didn’t take kindly to that news, and bought a GT-R to verify the claim. Needless to say, they couldn’t match Nissan’s time, and in turn questioned whether the GT-R was actually in production trim. |
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| How to get there |
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The ‘North Loop’ of the Nurburgring covers practically an entire mountainside and encircles the Nurburg castle in the Eifel region of Germany. Construction of the Ring, which took over two years to complete, began in 1925 essentially in an effort to stimulate the local economy and provide work for the residents – it must have been a mammoth task to say the least.
The closest major cities to the track are Cologne and Düsseldorf – about 90 and 140 kilometers, respectively, north of the Ring. Frankfurt, meanwhile, is approximately 120 kilometers in the opposite direction. We flew in and out of Düsseldorf, and rented a car from the airport – the unrestricted sections of the Autobahn being an added bonus. After all, it’s only in a country like Germany, where you still find large sections of unrestricted highways, that you can expect to find a treasure such as the Nurburgring.
The North Loop is technically designated as a one-way public toll road. Anyone with a road legal vehicle – car, motorcycle, caravan or even bus (yes, tour busses are not an entirely uncommon sight at the Ring) – can pay 21 Euros toll, and test their mettle at the infamous Ring. Like on the Autobahn, certain rules do apply however. For instance, you can’t overtake on the right, and the Police will prosecute dangerous driving. Apparently, there are also some sections of the Ring which have a speed-limit – not that I chose to inquire too much about that of course, and, by the looks of it, neither did anyone else for that matter.
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Some examples of the unusual and exotic metal in the parking lot |
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| What to drive? |
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Technically, on the Ring you’re allowed to drive anything that’s road legal, but you probably want to be slightly fussy in regards to what you actually choose to get behind the wheel of – especially if you’ve made the trip specifically for the purpose of getting out on track. A standard road car will probably give you a sense of the track, but will struggle (especially with the brakes) after more than a handful of laps. By the looks of it, Porsche and BMW seem to be the staple diet at the Ring. And these weren’t just standard Porsche’s and BMW’s either – the majority were the best of the breed 911 GT3 RS’s and M3 CSL’s.
Even if you just want to get a sense of the track and feel like your rental will suffice, be warned that most large rental car companies have a ban on using their cars at the Ring, and the insurance coverage will be void if things go pear-shaped on track. Nevertheless, the Ring gets hundreds of visitors from all parts of Europe, and the rest of the world, on practically every weekend. Some bring their own cars, while others rent cars that are available specifically for use at the Ring from various local establishments – referred to as ‘Ring Tools.’
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My mentor, and courageous co-passenger, for the weekend - Dutchman Jaco Velders |
I got lucky and found a Dutchman by the name of JacoVelders, who was lured by the Ring and now lives in the local village of Barweiler. He has several thousand laps of Ring experience under his belt – both as a driver and instructor. Jaco also has a handful of Ring-prepped cars that he rents out, not only for tourist days but also a local racing series named VLN. He was courageous enough, or foolhardy enough (or both), to agree to be seated next to me as I attempted to learn the finer points of driving on the Ring for the first time in his race prepped E36 BMW 325i.
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The Ring-prepped 325i was brilliant on the downhill sections |
The car had BMW’s silky smooth and bullet proof 2.5 liter inline-six. In race trim, it probably produces about 200 horsepower, which, especially compared with all the Porsche’s, isn’t earth shattering by any stretch. What it does have, however, is a beautifully neutral chassis and rear wheel drive. It also had what felt like the absolute ideal suspension setup for the Ring – not too firm so as to get thrown off-line by the bumps, but stiff enough to keep up with much more exotic metal on the downhill sections. In fact, Jaco refused to divulge the secret behind the suspension – except to say that it’s infinitely adjustable. The fantastic handling meant that it was the perfect tool for my first time at the Ring, but its relative lack of power meant that I’d have to carry as much speed through the corners as possible if I had any chance of reaching my self imposed lap-time target of being under 10 minutes. It was certainly about to get interesting. |
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