July 2008 'Ring Report

[stevie_b]

Unfortunately I didn't get to meet up with the WC contingent also heading out there as I needed to make use of the weekend... We stayed near the tunnel the evening before to avoid a stupidly early start, but despite this the long check-in queues and the fact we were pulled out to be swabbed for explosives meant that we missed our train. The rest of the group kindly waited on the other side at a petrol station. I think we might have come off the train on a different side to them as we never passed a petrol station on our way to the motorway, so we just drove at about 50 mph until they caught us up. We hadn't all met each other before so the first petrol stop was a chance to introduce ourselves.



The weather for the 'Ring was predicted to be pretty awful but in France it was hot and sunny so we stocked up with cold water for the rest of the drive...

After a blast on the motorway for a while we turned off onto the twisty route whilst another couple of cars stayed on the motorway route. A bus pulled out in the middle of our pack in Eupen and somehow we got split up and spent a good 20 mins on the walkie talkies trying to guide the missing 2 cars back to us.

[stevie_b]

It was still hot and sunny when we reached the 'Ring an hour or two after it opened. The track was bone dry.



The guys who had taken the motorway route had already been there a good while. We got caught in a big queue on the twisty route that wasn't worth trying to overtake so we trundled along at 40-50 mph for a lot of it. I unloaded most of my stuff from the car (we hadn't had time to drop our luggage/tools at the hotel by this stage) and swapped the wheels, bought a ticket and then was off for the first lap. The track was pretty quiet and despite my cautious approach we didn't have our mirrors constantly full of other traffic.

[stevie_b]

Sabine was on duty in one of the 'Ring Taxis.



One of our group said that the track opening was extended until 8pm due to the good light (which later turned out to be incorrect!), so I wasn't rushing and did another few laps. At about 7:20 or so I approached the ticket barrier and was pulling on my lid and putting on my gloves when the light went red. A bloke on a big bike pulled up alongside and told me to go. I asked him to go first as I didn't want a bike right up behind me trying to get past. I shouted a few more times to him to go and then my passenger said he was a marshall and was saying that if I didn't go that second we would be taken off the track! I looked in the mirror and saw that they had pulled the barriers across the entrance behind me - we were going to be the very last car out in Touristenfahrten that day! So we set off, knowing we were going to have a really clear track. The bike came out behind me which meant that I still had to keep an eye on the mirrors but I figured that he probably could watch out for himself. When he got really close I moved over and let him past but then he went a lot slower than we were before - maybe he needs to keep the speeds down at the end of the day so they don't need to fix a last minute crash!? By Breidsheid we had seen our first car on the whole lap and I guess the marshall then had to tag behind him to make sure everyone was off the track at the end of the session so we had our mirrors completely free and made good progress for the rest of the lap, only having to pass one or two cars in the remaining miles. Then I chucked all the stuff back in the car and headed off to our hotel, about 10 miles away. We had a nice dinner and a few beers and then decided that it was the perfect time to stash my spare wheels in the hotel. The car was parked in a car park about 400m from the hotel so the locals who were still up had a good laugh at seeing four Brits rolling a wheel each down the road at midnight!

[stevie_b]

Up early on Saturday and reached the track just after it opened. I was getting really bad scrubbing on my rear wheel arches with the wider tyres so I took a few minutes to raise the rear suspension then went out again. The track was really empty so just needed the odd check on the mirrors and it was great fun. You have to watch out what you catch up with as there are all sorts out there:



On a pax lap we caught up with two full sized coaches too, although they were doing a good job of staying well out of the way so we were soon past.

It was good to see a 16v Clio out that day and going well too, although later I did see it parked up on the grass on Dottinger Hohe (looked more like a breakdown than a crash):

[stevie_b]

Despite the weather forecast predicting rain during the day we had been lucky and it had been dry and sunny all day. In the late afternoon I could see the storm clouds gathering so quickly got out there and did a couple of laps before it got wet. On one lap drops had just started falling on the windscreen through the last couple of corners so I called it a day. Within a couple of minutes the heavens had opened and the track was soaked



My mate continued to lap for a while in the wet with me as a passenger and the track was almost completely empty for 30 mins+ as everyone had decided they had got enough dry laps in during the day to bother risking it in the wet!

[stevie_b]

We had a very interesting guided track walk that evening. The corners do look quite different when you are standing on them, with the gradient into Aremberg in particular being much steeper than I had imagined when sitting in the car



It did however stop raining later in the evening, so things were looking okay for a decent start on Sunday morning...

[LEIGH-ANNE]

Sounds like you had a great time - and looks like you had good weather for most of your duration, shame bout the wet bits tho

Makes me want to go.......

[stevie_b]

We stayed up later than was ideal on Saturday night, with some of our party coming back to the hotel well after 2am! Still, I was up bright and early again at 7am on Sunday to reach the ring for opening at 8. I had to fill up with petrol again - I was only managing 4 or 5 laps PER TANK of fuel! Including a very gentle warm down run for a mile or two on the road parallel to Dottinger Hohe after each lap I was getting less than 100 miles per tank. A bit of work with a calculator and this came out at 7.8 mpg, a lot less than I was expecting, but I wasn't going to worry about the cost of fuel for the weekend as I was having way too much fun. The first couple of laps of the day were okay - it was only really still damp at Tiergarten, which I didn't find too much of a challenge, but I was not going to risk attempting to do it flat as had been the case the day before. Grip was good elsewhere though with sub-9 minute laps still possible.

The Clio was back out there so he must have sorted whatever made him park up on the side of the track the day before.



There was a closure when a Civic rolled several times at Schwedenkreuz, scattering their luggage all over the track, and since we had checked out of the hotel all my spares and wheels were in my mates car so I finished lapping just after the track reopened, swapped my wheels back and loaded up my car so my mate could go back out. My brakes were shot by this time as they were juddering really badly when applied, and checking them out revealed cracks all over the discs and graunching really badly when slowly coming to a stop - I had spare pads with me but no discs so hoped I could nurse it back to the UK on the motorways without needing to brake hard too often. Everyone else then lapped until they had finished their tickets up and then we left the 'Ring a bit later than expected and had to motor back to Calais at a constant three-figures in order to make it in time for our crossing. We had about half an hour to spare in the end.

[stevie_b]

After over 100 laps between us and nearly 1000 miles there and back all cars got there and back without any major mishaps and we had a few minutes to relax at the tunnel before getting the train back to Blighty (at least my AA cover would kick back in once I got across, if we needed it!)



In the end, lucky with the weather, but probably the best weekend I have ever had. I am now already thinking about my next trip!

[LEIGH-ANNE]

Any pics of ur car going round then? :(