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Nurburgring - International Driving Course (Cars and Motorcycles) See also: The NurburgRing Each year BMW run an International Driving course at the world famous Nurburgring. It’s open to cars and bikes and is on the Nordschleife or north loop where Formula 1 races used to be held until 1976, when some bloke called Lauda had a bit of a crash. You might have seen it on television a while back when Jeremy Clarkson was seen off by a girlie in a van! In fact the circuit was originally constructed in the 1920’s as a test circuit, then used for motor racing and was over 17 miles in length. After a few years the ‘small’ south loop was dropped (but much later this became the current F1 circuit we see today). The north loop is over 13 miles long and has over 30 bends with names and another 40 without. Set amongst the hills of the Eiffel region of Germany (it’s about ¾ of the way up on the left) the circuit has a tremendous variety of fast and slow corners on every type of gradient, with a variance in height of 1,000 ft. The circuit is still used for testing but is also hired out for corporate days and is open to the public most evenings and weekends. You can turn up in (or on) any vehicle, pay your 21 euros and go round at any pace you wish. While the price reduces the more laps you buy, the main concern (particularly to us motorcyclists) is the vast range of vehicles, drivers and speeds; which range from Fiat Uno’s doing 40 mph to 140 mph + Lamborghini’s. The danger this presents to all concerned sees several fatalities each year. The answer then, is to go when the circuit is closed to the rest of the public, as it is on the BMW course. You don’t need to take a BMW, or even own one. Any reasonably powerful bike will do and those on the 2008 course included Ducati’s and Suzuki’s as well as a BMW 800ST, a R1200RT and a GS. You don’t need any track experience as comprehensive teaching on the correct line is provided. In fact it’s the teaching that makes the course so special, as the whole circuit is closed and divided into about 10 sections of about 7 bends in each. You then learn one section at a time for an hour or so before moving onto the next one. In each section you ride through several times, stopping at the most interesting points, then ride back the wrong way. Not many people can say they’ve ridden the wrong way around the Carrousel! Each group has at least 2 instructors and they lead you around the whole circuit while other groups are having their lunch, before you resume section training again. This year there was more ‘free-lapping’ due to a rearrangement of the timetable, which runs from 8am to 7pm the first 2 days. As you become confident you can lap on your own during the ‘free’ periods, so in total you cover an average 450 miles on the circuit during the 3 days. On the last day there is an assessed lap, where the instructors stand at various points on the circuit and mark your ride, with emphasis on precision, not speed. The whole course then takes it in turns to do a lap, with the best drivers / riders getting trophies at the final Gala Dinner. It’s not a cheap event at some £900, depending on the exchange rate, and that’s not including accommodation. But if you work out what you might pay for a UK track day, where you get perhaps 140 minutes on track, and multiply it out, then the cost is about the same. And you do get a very nice t-shirt with a welcome dinner and lunches thrown in. Of course you’re getting instruction too and exclusive riding on perhaps the best track in the world. The course usually runs in the first week of August and details can be found here www.fahrerlehrgang.info While more than you will ever want to know about the Nurburgring is here www.nurburgring.org.uk So start saving now. |
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