Nordschleife open for 4 full days, 4-7th October, sounded good. The weather in the Eifel mountains can be unpredictable in Autumn but I have been before at that time so I knew what was in store. The Clio was almost ready to go, I bought some bits for brake cooling and a cold air feed into the engine bay but ran out of time, these will go on in winter, I fitted an ITG panel filter and as a recurring exhaust knock decided to revisit 2 days before we went I upgraded the rear mounts (that were in poor condition but worked) to Prima Racing mounts (quality product) and put a new Renault mid mount (thanks to the guys at Martyn Bell Motor Engineers again!), fortunately this sorted the knocking.
As per usual we took a good collection of tools and equipment with us knowing that the Ring can eat the best of cars for breakfast let alone a French Clio, I also took the Yoko A048 shod OZ F1s, a set of front pads and most fluids. We followed our usual routine of getting the Hull to Rotterdam ferry on Thursday night and arrived at the Ring at about 13:30 on Friday after leaving Rotterdam at 08:30.
The weather was dry with some dam patches but we changed the wheels to the F1/Yokos and went for a couple of laps, the conditions improved and on the 4th and final lap of the day my mate put in a particular spirited lap in which we found out that going flat out from the exit of Planzgarten 1 through to Schwalbenschwanz means the Bellof S is a challenge to say the least (we opted for a lift for Bellof S in future).
We stayed at Hotel Zur Berg, this has been our usual hotel for the last few trips, it is perfect walking distance from the Pistenklaus (Steak perfection) and 30secs from the car park and entrance to the Nordschleife. The hotel itself is simple but perfect for what we go there for, good WiFi, clean, good nights sleep and of course, great German beer.
Saturday, total wash out, rain in the morning so we went to watch various cars attempting various levels of successful (and unsuccessful) drifts at the Brunchen, lunch was at the delicious Pinnochios pizza in Adenau, just remember that 1 pizza is enough of 2 people, they are enormous. Following a good feeding we walked up to Wehrseifen and started a long discussion about the best line into and around it, the track was closed at this point, after waiting for plenty of time the track reopened. After a few hours a dry line started to appear, we decided that it was time for a lap and at the moment we got to the car the rain returned and stayed. It’s safe to say the highlight of the day was the quality of my steak in the Pistenklaus as we completed 0 laps. I have done numerous track days before in the wet but the Nordschleife is not a place I am prepared to push, it is notoriously slippery in the wet and with A048s and no run off we thought that saving laps for the next two days of what should be good weather was a much better idea.
Sunday, waking up at 07:30 there was fog but a dry car park. There were damp patches but the outlook for the weather was good. After completing a couple of laps we hit with the first closure of the day, a trend that continued for the rest the day, we completed a dismal 4 laps in the whole day due to the amount of closures and difficulty in getting on and off the track. Granted we were not in any rush in the morning due to attempting to get Glastonbury tickets (in which we were also unsuccessful) and with hindsight we should have been more ‘on it’. We were unlucky and by that I mean that every time the track reopened the crush to get back out was so great that it closed again before we were on, I am still amazed and disappointed that for the large majority of the day we were ready to drive and we were only able to drive 4 laps. This raises numerous questions about the best way to drive the Nordschleife, public days are at a weekend extremely busy and posses the largest possible spectrum of talent, this results in plenty of closures, we certainly saw bikers that had come off on the laps we did which is another issue as they generally require medical attention and subsequently police assistance, the nett result of which is longer closures. Although more expensive I suspect that closed trackdays are the way forward, we will have to see.
On a positive note, the laps we did were of good quality and the car was performing very well with the exception of the brakes. We were lapping at consistent 9:15ish BTG but safely under 9min pace traffic and barrier repairs causing some large slower sections.
The brakes were causing an issue at two places, Aremberg (heaviest braking area of the track) and Breidscheid, the rest of the track braking wise was not perfect but acceptable, both the problem areas are following reasonable meaty braking zones and we suspect that they brakes were getting hot, really hot. We will have to see if this is the case on other trackdays once I have fitted some ducting for cooling. The final incident of the day was something loose making a metallic tinging noise from under the car, closer inspection revealed an issue I have been meaning to sort for months on the exhaust and despite hundreds of pounds of prep I managed to miss the issue, the worst case of doing half a job I have ever suffered.
Monday, one of the best days I have ever had at the Nurburgring. Despite having to fashion a repair first thing in the morning with the help of RingRentals and using nearly all the tools we have brought (justified what looked like way too much). The only negative to the day was the GoPro video camera deciding that it was not going to work properly and not recording any of the fasted laps we completed. We completed 10 laps of varying quality including an 8:52 for my mate (his best is an 8:26 in his DC2 Integra, talented guy) and an 8:51 for me, again these were far from clear laps and I think we would safely both completed laps of around 8:40 (maybe less) if clear laps were possible, with more confidence in the brakes I sure we would have been better too.
We were optimistic of the last hour for some faster laps but thanks to an ageing Audi running high boost leaking oil from the Foxhole to Adenauer Forst it finished the day early, pity, but still a cracking day. We also enjoyed a couple of laps with Rob and Sam from ph9 web and computing solutions and their R888 shod E36 M3, always good to get perspective from another car.
Again I left the Nurburgring wishing I lived closer, wishing I have more money to devote a large portion of my life to mastering it (sorry wife and kids). The fastest cars to come past us all weekend were the cars in the video below, the Raeder Motorsport TT RS, the Devotec and Lukecustoms M3s were also both serious cars, lots of money spent on very well prepared machines. There were other E36, 46 and 92 M3s that were very quick, a UK black M3 was driving supremely in the wet on Saturday including a spectacular drift out of Wehrseifen that had everyone smiling despite the horrific weather.
There was also the obligatory GT3 RS collection, 996 and 997s which are still quite simply to me the finest vehicles in existence. The one sporting the Armco scrape continued to lap after this, now that’s commitment! The wide arch white E92 M3 looked as if it was the fastest car I the car park, he even took the time to weave to warm his tyres once out of the toll… then held the Clio up through the majority of the Hatzenbach, was another very well prepared car nonetheless.
The Clio was very good, the brakes were a bit of a let down but the performance from the engine was very good, 130mph+ into Schwedenkreuz impressed me, but it was the suspension and damping that allowed for the quicker lap times, certainly the way it was able to deal with kerbs and bumps when loaded up inspired confidence no end, this left time to concentrate on other aspects to aid the lap. It is no coincidence that the Trophy is set apart from other Clio’s by its Sachs Dampers, these truly are worth the hype in every aspect, simply phenomenal, this aspect of the Clio was superior to previous quick laps in the DC2, although the Honda is the quicker car and excels in other areas.
My car wears regular springs, I think with stiffer springs the setup would be better for track driving and the Nordschleife, but entering corners on 3 wheels is always entertaining for driver and spectator, there is a video I am waiting to see with the Clio on 3 wheels on half the corner through the Hatzenbach, I also have a picture from one of the photographers on here Ring of the car on 3 wheels (below). If we had not had to repair the exhaust our original plan was to set the rear ARB to hard setting for the last day in an attempt to dial out the under steer, not that it was a large problem but with the A048s the rear was extremely reluctant to play even with trail braking, this again would have increase our speed and amusement I’m sure. The Yokos were extremely good, the fronts were worn as expected, maybe the front pressures were slightly too high looking at the wear but with such long waits to get off the track checking the operating temperatures was difficult as things had started to cool once we were able to check them. The rears look good and it pleases me that both front and backs have plenty of live left in them for more trackdays. I was more than happy with its performance and 8:51 was impressive (it was easier to extract that I had imagined, testament to the car me thinks).
The weekend closed with trip to the Nurburgring Shop in the ‘new’ complex for a couple of bits and bobs, there are some insanely priced items of clothing in that shop, good job they are generally in extremely good taste and things I would love to own, I left the shop feeling good that the credit card had avoided a serious hammering! Next back to Rotterdam and to restaurant Bazaar in the city centre, ferry, home and back to normal existence. Great trip, again.
brisbane956 
Pretty good read mate and that last picture is amazing.
I’ll be doing this trip In march hopefully.
Do it mate it’s amazing.
Was very lucky to get the last picture 🙂