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#186171 - 06/12/03 07:28 PM Back from Europe (incl Nurburgring) - PICS and VIDEOS!
Redshift Offline
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Registered: 05/01/02
Posts: 172
Loc: Raleigh, NC
We’ve been back from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland since last Friday, 6 June. We had a blast. Here are some of my impressions, some pictures from a couple tracks, and some video that I thought you would enjoy.

(1) Driving In and Around Europe

First of all, we Americans know nothing about how to run a driving system. Germany requires a ton more training for their drivers than we do, and the minimum driving age is a more respectable 18 years. They maintain their roads immaculately. Everything is signed very consistently and in a very easy to understand way. It doesn’t differ from one part of the country to another – you know an Autobahn sign when you see it, and it doesn’t change. The whole system is amazingly efficient and straightforward.

Now, on the Autobahn, which is just a word for highway or expressway, the best I can gather after reading a ton of information is that while on the actual autobahn, there is no speed limit unless otherwise noted. They have round white signs, with red circles around them, and numbers inside the circle, to indicate the speed limit. If the limit is recommended, but not required, the number appears in a blue square. I didn’t really understand everything 100% until after I got back and did a lot more reading about it, so I’m hoping that I don’t receive any speeding tickets in the mail 

Our rental car, seen below, was an Audi A4 Avant (meaning wagon) front wheel drive (non Quattro) with a 1.9L four cylinder turbo diesel (yes, diesel) engine. Redline was 4500 RPM, and to the best of my knowledge, the engine produces 100HP at 4000 RPM and about 185 lb-ft of torque around 2000 RPM or so. Not exactly a Z06 but it was very fuel efficient, and since fuel in Europe is mighty expensive (more so with the poor dollar to Euro conversion rate), having a fuel efficient rental was a thing of beauty.

** Some of the following pictures have larger versions available – click the picture to see a larger version, if available **

Our rental (no, we did not bang up the fender – it was like that already!):



Fuel prices – keep in mind that these are per liter, and that there are 3.79 liters in one gallon – for example, even the “cheap” diesel fuel we had to buy was Euro 3.18 per gallon. Now remember that one US dollar buys only about 80 Euro cents, and we are talking about paying USD$3.98 per gallon for diesel fuel. Unleaded, as you can see, was a lot more expensive. Note that the typical octane ratings in Europe are not 87, 89, and 91 (or 93) like here, they are 93, 95, and 98 or so.




In fact, the average car I saw in Germany was a turbo diesel (denoted TDI) wagon, whether it be an Audi, Mercedes, or BMW. We saw very few American cars there, and extremely few SUVs. Most vehicles were cars, and most of those were wagons with diesel engines.

Our car was pretty decent, especially when on the autobahn. Germany has no speed limit (where designated) but Austria’s max speed is 130kph and Switzerland’s is about 110kph. Our car was good for about 235kph (almost 150MPH) when fully loaded with all our luggage and both of us. Not bad for such a tiny engine. It would not even get to redline in 6th gear (unlike our cars, 6th gear in this Audi is not a super overdrive, so in theory it should have been able to, but it lacks the horsepower).

Here is a video of a quick stint on the autobahn as taken by my wife from the passenger seat:

Driving fast on the autobahn (WMV format, about 3MB)


You make really good time if you can maintain a constant speed of over 230kph (like we did from Hockenheim to Frankfurt for half the trip)!

(2) Nurburgring – the Mecca – 21 May 2003

For those of you have never heard of Nurburgring, look it up on the web. It’s one of the world’s most daunting race tracks – and is one of the longest. It’s over 20km (13 miles) long with almost 75 (or over 100 by some people’s count) turns. It is an incredibly beautiful track – but there are a lot of blind corners so you have to watch it. Obviously, being so long, a single lap takes a while. My first lap out was about 22 minutes long. This was in the Audi rental. Then my wife, who also enjoys going to the track as much as I do, went for her first lap. About 25 minutes, not bad. I went for one more, and did the 2nd (and final) lap of the day in about 12 minutes or so by the rental car’s in-dash clock. I was pretty happy with that. The safety guys didn’t let us take the video camera or digital camera out on track with us, so I only got a few pictures.

Us standing in front of the Nurburgring track map and rules (we had been traveling for 30 hours, so give us a break for looking tired!):



Below you can see several pre-release cars being tested at the ‘ring as well as some other already known vehicles, like the Mercedes SL. All had special stickers that allow them access to the ‘ring without paying the per lap fee as we had to do. One lap cost about 14 Euro.

Special sticker:



The white car is a Mercedes SL test vehicle, presumably owned by DaimlerChrysler. The silver car is a pre-release Lamborghini Gallardo. The black funky looking cars are, I just found out today in the latest version of [i]Autoweek[/], Maserati’s 2005 Quattroporte (well, the four door is – not sure what the 2 door is). Like the Maserati, all the test cars had the special sticker as well as full data acquisition systems in the form of a computer with a huge wiring harness connected in the passenger seat. You can see through the window of the Maserati in one of the pictures to see what I mean.







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#186172 - 06/12/03 07:28 PM Re: Back from Europe (incl Nurburgring) - PICS and VIDEOS!
Redshift Offline
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Registered: 05/01/02
Posts: 172
Loc: Raleigh, NC






The track was not very crowded at all (heck, even 100 cars on a 13+ mile track is “not crowded”) – maybe 20 cars out there total. We could really focus on driving the track properly and I can guarantee that I am going back there at least several times in my life to drive it again. It is a great, great track.


(3) Hockenheimring – 5 June 2003

Hockenheimring is more of a spectator stadium configuration as you can see from the pictures below. It is about 100km outside of Frankfurt, but you can get there in about 30 minutes if you have a car that will take it.

In one word, it was a scarynightmare. I’ve had my share of on-track hours (I’m no racer but have had over 60 HOURS of high speed on track experience in the driver’s seat, and at least another 30-40 hours in the passenger seat) and this was downright scary. Anything goes – no helmets or safety check required. Cars passing 3 and 4 wide. We saw two of them nail each other on the very first lap (what happened to a warm up lap?). It was totally out of control, nuts. We went out for about 10 minutes and had enough – I wanted to return the rental car in one piece and come home uninjured. We came in and sat in the stands and watched from there, and then it was a lot more fun. Here is a video taken from “Sachs Curve” (AKA “Showoff Curve” as you will see in the video):

Driving fast on the autobahn (WMV format, about 11MB)


Now here are a few photos I took from the stands and walking around the paddock. It was very hot that day – over 90 deg. Farenheit.








(4) Summary

Overall, we had an awesome time overseas. I can’t wait to go back. We met 2 other Corvette owners – one from my C5Forum site and one from Z06Vette. We met the first one in Munich and had dinner with him and his wife, which was great. We met the second at Hockenheim where he had his Z06 (you can see it in the pictures) out on the track.

If you have any questions about Europe, the tracks, driving, etc. just let me know. It was a blast!

Cheers.
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#186173 - 06/12/03 07:48 PM Re: Back from Europe (incl Nurburgring) - PICS and VIDEOS!
Cliff Cherry Offline
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Registered: 03/08/03
Posts: 140
Loc: Caldwell, NJ
Pretty neat experience! I could name several NASCAR drivers and ask if they were driving the green car at Hockenheimring, but I'll be kind :p .

It's funny how 230km/h doesn't look that fast on the video out the window, but I'm sure it was eek !

Thanks for sharing cheers !
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#186174 - 06/12/03 08:31 PM Re: Back from Europe (incl Nurburgring) - PICS and VIDEOS!
Redshift Offline
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Registered: 05/01/02
Posts: 172
Loc: Raleigh, NC
Quote:
Originally posted by Cliff Cherry:
Pretty neat experience! I could name several NASCAR drivers and ask if they were driving the green car at Hockenheimring, but I'll be kind :p .

It's funny how 230km/h doesn't look that fast on the video out the window, but I'm sure it was eek !

Thanks for sharing cheers !
Probably longer and more widely spaced white dashed lines wink
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#186175 - 06/12/03 09:19 PM Re: Back from Europe (incl Nurburgring) - PICS and VIDEOS!
Cliff Cherry Offline
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Registered: 03/08/03
Posts: 140
Loc: Caldwell, NJ
I'm looking at the trees and they aren't flashing by too quick. Of course if you had a roof cam like the NASCAR guys it would probably look faster with the more panoramic view cowboy .
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#186176 - 06/12/03 09:22 PM Re: Back from Europe (incl Nurburgring) - PICS and VIDEOS!
Redshift Offline
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Registered: 05/01/02
Posts: 172
Loc: Raleigh, NC
Quote:
Originally posted by Cliff Cherry:
I'm looking at the trees and they aren't flashing by too quick. Of course if you had a roof cam like the NASCAR guys it would probably look faster with the more panoramic view cowboy .
It didn't feel that fast to me either, but I regularly hit 130+ at least several times one or two weekends a month, so I'm used to it.
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#186177 - 06/13/03 03:44 PM Re: Back from Europe (incl Nurburgring) - PICS and VIDEOS!
Chew Offline
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Registered: 05/01/02
Posts: 311
Loc: Washington, DC
WOW, great pics, Brian! Consider me jealous laugh

savewave
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Chew

2007 Sly Silver Pontiac Solstice GXP
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#186178 - 08/10/03 01:19 AM Re: Back from Europe (incl Nurburgring) - PICS and VIDEOS!
BryantGTP Offline
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Registered: 03/26/03
Posts: 2481
Loc: Franklin, MA
That video of Sachs Curve was one of the funniest things I've seen in a while.

Props on that one...
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#186179 - 08/10/03 01:23 PM Re: Back from Europe (incl Nurburgring) - PICS and VIDEOS!
04compGTP Offline
Junior Member
Registered: 12/25/02
Posts: 22
Loc: Richmond BC CANADA
Hey Brian.....
glad you enjoyed your european vacation....especially Germany....i have travelled to Germany 5 times in the last 10 years...and i also had the opportunity to drive on the autobahns....and loved it....here in Vancouver we drive 100-120 kph on our highways but driving 160-220 kph was sure a rush over there...i think we have to be thankful here in North America that our gas prices are reasonable...last year i had the opportunity to visit the city of Ingolstadt....also the headquarters of Audi AG....i toured their plant where they produce the A4 and A3...the plant was immaculate....no dirt or grease to be seen...the workers were dressed in very clean overalls...typical german work environment....i have family over there so i am looking forward to my next trip !


see you in KC ???


Witold
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#186180 - 09/20/03 10:33 PM Re: Back from Europe (incl Nurburgring) - PICS and VIDEOS!
jvojr Offline
Member
Registered: 07/31/03
Posts: 583
Loc: Catskills, NY
Your story was magazine worthy. The pics and vids were phenominal. You rock.
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