As we get deeper into the winter months
I find myself more often thinking back to the warmer season we have left
behind. This past fall I had the pleasure of taking my first vacation to
Germany. We made the usual touristy stops, the Rhine River, The Romantic
Road, Nuesweinstein Castle and of course no Porsche enthusiast would go
to Germany without a tour of the Porsche Factory.
Although the factory was one of the must-sees
that we scheduled I have to say the highlight of the trip was driving the
Nurburgring. My wife, Tobey, and I traveled with our friends and fellow
Porsche owners Steve and Mary Beth Centorino. Within a half hour of booking
our tickets we were on the Nurburgring website http://www.nuerburgring.de
looking for the track schedule to find the availability and cost of driving
the old road course. Fortunately there was an open day the day after we
arrived in Germany.
Our first destination was set, now we
needed a car. After arriving in Frankfurt Saturday morning we went directly
to pick up the car. We had arraigned for a VW Passat, presumably with a
2.0L engine. Renting a Porsche or a Touring Sedan such as a BMW was cost
prohibitive on this trip. We figured that the VW was an acceptable compromise
as it is still a German car. Anyway, the clerk at the rental desk felt
generous and gave us an upgrade. Cool! What did we get, a Mercedes, a BMW?
Nope. We were presented with the keys of a Navy Blue Metallic Peugeot Wagon.
Not only was this car not German made but we were down to 1.6L of engine!
The best we can say about this car is that it accommodated our luggage.
After a quick breakfast Sunday morning
we headed straight for the Nurburgring. The weather was a lot colder than
we anticipated so our first stop at the track was the goodie store for
sweatshirts, and the required restroom stop. Then we were off to purchase
tickets. As we pulled into the parking lot the first thing I noticed was
the assortment of cars. There were of course your regular daily driver
cars (like ours) but there was also a great deal more small European cars
that had been "enhanced" for the track. Wild paint jobs, lowered suspensions
and "soup-can" exhausts were the norm. There were also a large number of
motorcycles and of course the more elite cars, 944 Turbos, a Nissan Skyline
GTR, two Lotus Elises and one 911 GT3.
The ticket booth is set up in a white
tollbooth looking building close to the track. I was relieved to find the
girl behind the desk could speak English. We purchased two laps for 20
Marks each. At that time the exchange rate made it $10 per lap. There are
no helmets required, no chalk talk and no written rules to follow. All
four of us plus luggage decide to go for the ride.
To enter the track you drive up to what
looks like a parking garage gate. Steve drove first so he inserted the
ticket into the machine, the arm rose and we were entering one of the most
historic racetracks of our time. I found it very difficult to watch the
road and run the camcorder at the same time but I could see Steve was having
trouble with his desire to go fast and the capabilities of an underpowered
car with street tires, 4 passengers and luggage. Needless to say the car
was not correctly balanced. This got him into trouble within the first
10 minutes where we came upon a hairpin turn and the rear tires got a little
loose, but Steve was able to keep the car in control. The course took us
about 15 minutes to complete effectively tripling Derek Bell's time driving
a 956!
We pulled back in to the parking lot off
the main straight and switched seats. Entering the track this time we had
a motorcycle ahead of us swaying back and forth to warm up his tires. As
we came around the first turn the bike was gone. I quickly understood Steve's
trouble with this car. I took it a little easier around the track so as
to not get into a situation. Steve reminded me that I was driving off the
line. I had let my concentration waver as I watched the 911 GT3 pass and
disappear around the next turn. Driving the Peugeot made me appreciate
our Porsches a whole lot more. In fact I found it almost laughable that
we could only reach 80MPH on the front straight going downhill! Next time
we will rent a higher performing car.
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