The Ring.

digitalwolf

digitalwolf

digitalwolf

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Joined
27 Mar 2004
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England
My mate came up with a great idea, why don't we go to nurburgring!

He wants to take his golf there (mk1 gti) whilst it is running properly.

I have been left cheif organiser, so basically how do you do it?

Get in the car, drive to Germany, go on the track, find some where to stay and then the day after drive back?

How much does it usually cost etc? Any tips from the guys that have been?

Thanks.
 
Been a few times now, next trip Easter!

Costs depends how you factor everything in...

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Eurotunnel

Peak Time: £120 ish
Off Peak: £100 ish

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Hotel Costs

These can vary but allow €50 a night to be on the safe side.

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Petrol

The circuit is 330 miles from Calais so budget for a mixed drive down there

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Meals/Beer etc... whilst there

Depends how much you drink but it is approx the same cost as going out here, although depends on where you go!!

and obviously ring tickets which are €21 per lap, €70 for a 4 lap ticket, €135 for a 8 lap ticket etc

Personally, i wouldn't drive there and then drive on the track in 1 day.. You want to be refreshed and not tired when you take your first lap!

Its a great place and be prepared for many trips back! The other way to do it is to buy a track car (ring tool) and leave it there, like I do :)

I then fly over (low as £20 return) and then drive for about 1hr to the circuit!!

Cheap as chips!!
 
Peak bank holiday weekend ferry in August cost us £85 return.

Overall, we (mattpc & wife, me and wife) went for a week. Stopped at the Hotel Nordschlife a couple of nights and at Camping am Nurburgring, both good. Total cost for me and the wife was £800 inc ferries, a lot of beer (festival on), several steaks at Pistonclause, go-karting at the ring indoor track and of course trips on the ring itself - oh and we stopped in the Marriott in Brussles on the way back for that dosh. Don't worry about the Mk1 either, my D plate MR2 managed just fine, aside from boiled coolant:D

Bit of advice, go out in pairs, the passenger looking for bikes in the mirrors, especially at first and take your time. There are 147 corners to get wrong and the amount of exotic metal we saw pranged proved it happens a fair bit.

Overall, I am now extremely envious of you!!!!
 
I'm going in May with a few people, costs so far haven't been too bad £85 for 3 nights at a hotel/b&b place, £30 for a return ferry from Dover to Dunkerque and another £30 for european breakdown. Will probably get travel insurance as it's only a few quid for me, but the main cost is definately going to be petrol and ring laps! Hoping that and food will only be a few hundred quid so should be a good trip.

Really looking forward to it, it's quickly creeping up!
 
Rule one: don't go at peak times like bank holidays, it'll be heaving.

Rule two: stay at least three or four days to spread the overheads. Food and accomodation is cheap out there so forking for ferry/tunnel & fuel to get there and back is daft for only one or two days.

Rule three: don't bin it :D
 
TaKeN said:
Dude.. sooo tempted to come along :p

Diesel 306 on the ring ? :eek:
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We passed: A Range Rover (N plate) with a roof box, a Seat Altea, Renault Scenic and my two personal fav's...a Camper van, complete with bikes on the back and...A 2CV!!!!:eek: On the H plate, 2 english lads stopping near us!!!

Unleash the derv!
 
Vertigo1 said:
Rule one: don't go at peak times like bank holidays, it'll be heaving.

Rule two: stay at least three or four days to spread the overheads. Food and accomodation is cheap out there so forking for ferry/tunnel & fuel to get there and back is daft for only one or two days.

Rule three: don't bin it :D
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Agreed, you an do this trip on the cheap or do it correctly, no idea on the cost of my last trip but its over £800, i found a credit card recipt for one nights food and beer at the Pistenklause, 425 euros :p
 
1. Check dates - the Ring is not open to the public all the time. There are stories of n00bs booking a trip only to get there to find it's closed for private testing. Opening times available on the official site. Touristenfahrten are the times you want if you're not familiar with German.

2. Book ferry/tunnel. Speedferries tend to be a good mix of quick and cheap but fill up well in advance. Norfolkline is cheap and can be booked last minute. Eurotunnel is the quickest and best, but this is reflected in the price.

3. Book a hotel. As mentioned above, http://www.nurburgring.org.uk/ is a good resource and has a list of decent hotels on it. Expect to pay £30/night minimum, £10/night if you go to the campsite.

Then:

- Have a good read of Ben Lovejoy's website about the Do's and Don'ts, there is a lot to take in and it's all good stuff.

- Watch this excellent video by northloop.co.uk about safety on the Ring.

- Consider ADAC insurance. Like the AA, but better, cheaper and will cover the UK too. ADACplus costs €80 a year and will recover you from the Ring if you crash or breakdown (€150 otherwise just to get towed off the track!). UK breakdown cover providers won't tow you off the Ring.

- Remember that it is almost certain that you will not be insured on the Ring. Furthermore, if you do stack it, you will have to pay for any circuit damage you cause, summarised below (courtesy of http://www.nurburgring.org.uk/):

Base fee for attendance of armco truck: €150
Removing damaged armco: €10/metre (x2 or x3 or x4 for multiple-height sections)
Replacement armco: €31/metre (x2 or x3 for double/triple height)
Removing damaged armco posts: €5.10 each
Replacing armco post: €39 each
Safety car attendance: €82 per 30 mins (car + 2 people)
Circuit closure: €1,350 per hour
Recovery truck: €190 (inc VAT)
Hospital stay & air ambulance: Let's just say, do NOT go there without travel insurance! (Though a European Health Card - which replaced the E111 - may cover the hospital bit.)

- This is a write up from my first trip: http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17643657
 
Don't you spend most of your time looking in the rear view mirror though? Moving out of way for the faster cars, more experience people? Surely that takes the fun out of it?
 
Enfield said:
Don't you spend most of your time looking in the rear view mirror though? Moving out of way for the faster cars, more experience people? Surely that takes the fun out of it?
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Surely there's a chance of this happening on any track day, not just the 'ring?
 
me and the gf went with another couple (kitchster_uk and missus) and it probably cost about £600 for the week per person all in. Big costs were fuel, beer and tickets for the ring. Other expenses were gokarting and fuel. We mixed camping with hotels and ate out for most meals. Tbh it all depends on how much driving you do, how much fuel you use and whether you have beans on toast around the camp fire or have a hearty meal and get lashed in a local facility. It's not an expensive place to visit unless you stack your car so it just depends what you want to do.
 
Enfield said:
Don't you spend most of your time looking in the rear view mirror though? Moving out of way for the faster cars, more experience people? Surely that takes the fun out of it?
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Wrong! Don't go on a bank holiday weekend in the summer. It will be a nightmare. Get on the track during the week and yes there will be plenty of people about still but there will be far less and sometimes you will only see a handful of other cars on your lap. Yes you have got to watch out but theres still potential for loads of fun and if you are a vaguely compentant driver you will probably be blasting past some much more powerful cars than your own. I certainly did in my lowly mx5 and I'm no "driving god" I can assure you.

We got it just right on our trip arriving over the bank holiday weekend in August and not venturing out on to the ring until most of the ideots had left. Apparently it was chaos out there over the weekend but during the week despite it being August it was relatively civilised.
 
digitalwolf said:
As we are young boys, sleeping out in the cold or the car isn't a problem.

Is there a place you can camp? And food etc, we'll take our own haha.
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When you can get a single room with en-suite and breakfast for £25 a night, you have to be serious tight to still camp tbh.

As I said, the accomodation costs pale into insignificance compared to the cost of travel and fuel. Two laps of the ring will cost more than your room will each night!
 
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