Big weekend ahead! Planned 6 months in advance to mark 2 birthdays in the group, we put together a punitive expedition to the Nürburgring with friends.
On the programme, in no particular order:
- Birthday party
- Convoy road trip
- 12-person villa
- 3 days on site
- 991.2 GT3, 2X GT4 981, Alpine A110S St1, Panamera Turbo, Megane 3 RS, Boxster S
We set off from the Paris area after a sensible evening, I head up to Lille to pick up Tristan and the GT4, then on to Germany via Belgium. The other half of the convoy went directly, and we take the chance to let loose a bit on the autobahn.
Arrival on Friday mid-afternoon, shopping done and the rental keys collected, we head straight for the track opening, refuel at the legendary petrol station at the end of the road. It's sunny, dry, tyre pressures set... everyone's ready.
In the little car park there are 2 Custom Racetec machines, and our very optimistic novice Alpine driver asks:
"-Can I follow them?
-Er, no. Those ones, you move over to the right and let them go, don't even try to follow them!"
Lucky break at the opening: the GT3 is the 1st on track, but with cold tyres not up to pressure, it'll only serve to sweep the track. At least there's no traffic.
1st lap for Tristan's GT4, we dive into the Green Hell... already lots of people on track. Looking back, it actually feels a lot like a rally-style drive in the forest, organised by NASCAR. And however much Tristan revised and worked on the route on the simulator, when you've also got to manage traffic and the manual gearbox, it's hard to remember whether, beyond the next crest, it goes right, straight on or left!
Back to the Devil's Diner car park for a debrief with the guys. As usual, almost no stock cars: a Schirmer M2 next to us, roll cages and big brakes galore.
Of course we meet up with friends there, including Gabs and his E36 back from the dead, and after the almost inevitable crash that closes the track, I jump into the other red beast, a bit angrier, the GT3, with its driver who already has a good 150 laps under his belt.
2 laps at a strong pace, with 25 to 30 overtakes per lap, a pass through a cloud of dust from the absorbent spread on the track after the recent crash (be careful to slow down even after the patches of absorbent, because your tyres are dirty). The Catalyst quickly shows the trend, even if each overtake costs about 0.5 sec ... it flies by, the flat-6 screams like the devil, it surfs from bump to bump, and although you sometimes feel the front end struggling a bit, the rear end is masterful and the traction clean and immediate to pull out of corners or the Karussells.
Almost all of us string together 3 or 4 laps and then back to the villa... Drinks & BBQ: we debrief, we wind each other up, we replay the match = the best!
Day 2
There at the opening, or almost: we haven't even reached the barrier before there's already been a big crash... more than 1 hour of closure. Once again we bump into friends and shop customers.
After that, it's grey but dry, it's flowing and everyone strings laps together despite the 370 cars on track.
The Mégane 3 RS is out of the game: it's crabbing, the geometry moved after getting a little too friendly with a big kerb, and the rear steps out to the right with just a lift of the foot.
The Alpine's tyres are badly worn.... the fronts are showing canvas locally in the centre, so off to the tyre shop, which sorts it over lunch. It'll head back out on 4 new Cup 2s for a very reasonable price, with some welcome advice.
The afternoon is less drivable because of fairly heavy showers and a greasy track... so a stroll around the Ring Werk next door. It ends with a light drizzle and we can drive again carefully, but it's doable.
Despite this shortened afternoon, we still made the most of it, and back to the house via the very nice little roads of the Eifel.
The next morning is under the same clouds. It's flowing, inevitably, with fewer than 100 cars on track, so we can string laps together too. Noon arrives ... off to the pizzeria to refuel properly before hitting the road!
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