... there’s the oppomeet! Due to the race that had just ended (rubber braking trails) and the ongoing rain it was incredibly slippery. There was a lot of wheelspin, brakes locking up and even a 360. Tomorrow: Oktoberfest in Munich.
Our initial plan was: Saturday watch the race, Sunday drive the Ring ourselves. A few times. However, after an insanely dry summer Saturday September 22nd was wet. Very wet. But not nearly as wet as Sunday would become, wetter forecast told us. So we drove the Ring on Saturday, during the 1 hour it was opened for tourists. After we were done, we all seemed to need to change our underwear. It was slippery. VERY slippery. For example, I’ve had wheel spin at 3rd gear at maybe 3500 rpm countless of times (new Michelin Pilot Sport tires). What was much more scary was the utter lack of grip at the corners, due to oil and rubber remnants of the race just hours before.
Our group were among the last on the Ring that day. I, personally, driving my 1987 Peugeot 205 cti convertible, got to overtake a newish Jaguar, the BMW in the picture above and some kind of Opel Corsa with Nürburgring decals. I was only overtaken once; on the final straight by a Porsche 911 ring taxi, while I had over 190 kmh on the insanely accurate speedometer (no, the drive train is not stock).
When we had all finished our lap we all shared the same opinion; the slippery-ness was just too dangerous for us. If the wetter would not significantly improve the next day, we would not go back on the track.
And that’s exactly what happened. The wetter was even worse, so we decided not to do it again. Pure self-preservation. As an alternative we did a few cultural activities. Which were fun too. We visited ancient city centers, medieval churches, millennia old Roman mines and a huge statue (1897) about the unification of Germany. I’m sure more pictures will be uploaded soon.
Pictured cars:
- Audi A3 (FSI)
- Lincoln mkVIII (one of very few in Europe) (scheafft)
- Mazda mx-5 RF, red (rental) (gmporschenut)
- Mazda mx-5, white. Joined on Sunday. (Out, but with a W - has found the answer)
- Peugeot 205 CTI (duurtlang)
- Renault Twingo (BvdV the Dutch engineer)
- Subaru BRZ
- Suzuki Cappuccino (BlurpleToyotaDishwasher)
Tomorrow: via Rothenburg ob der Tauber and/or Nördlingen to Munich, where we’ll visit Oktoberfest. Tuesday BMW museum Munich and then multiple days of Austrian/Italian/Swiss Alpine roads. And the Mercedes and Porsche museums in Stuttgart at the end.