AudiOn19s Posted August 8, 2017 Report Share Posted August 8, 2017 (edited) Nurburgring has long been a bucket list item for me, one that my wife made a reality when she surprised me for Christmas and booked a European trip for us. Because of a lack of time off from work currently we spend 8 days over there and it was pretty abbreviated but absolutely a trip of a lifetime. Thought I'd share our adventure, if you're looking to book a trip over there and have any questions let me know and I can hopefully share what I learned from our adventure. Saturday A.M. We arrive in Frankfurt and go to claim our rental to head out to watch the VLN race at Nurburgring. Rental is an Alfa Giulia diesel manual. Stunning car, everyone stares at this thing and I mean everyone. It would start up conversations with people at every stop. 5 minutes into the journey we get a flat and had to call road side assistance for a repair . Not how we were planning to start this adventure. Europe 2017 by Andrew Kutscher, on Flickr Europe 2017 by Andrew Kutscher, on Flickr Europe 2017 by Andrew Kutscher, on Flickr We finally get to the Nurburgring around 2pm and are able to watch the end of the VLN races, taking in numerous viewing spots surrounding the track. Finding some of these spots was half of the adventure as you'd just see cars parked in a pack and get out, walk through the trees and come upon a clearing showing the track. Europe 2017 by Andrew Kutscher, on Flickr Europe 2017 by Andrew Kutscher, on Flickr Europe 2017 by Andrew Kutscher, on Flickr Europe 2017 by Andrew Kutscher, on Flickr That evening we stayed at Hotel Nordschleife which was a quaint little hotel run by a local family. It was cheap, clean and we could see the race track from our balcony which was pretty awesome for me, I literally fell asleep to the sounds of cars lapping in the evening public lapping session that night. http://www.hotel-an-der-nordschleife.de/ Dinner was at a popular local establishment just up the road from the Hotel that turned out to be owned by the same family that owns the hotel. They gave us a free bottle of red wine as we were leaving and make sure that they had glasses in the room waiting for us when we got there. http://www.pinocchio-adenau.de/ Europe 2017 by Andrew Kutscher, on Flickr Sunday - Public lapping day at Nurburbring. I rented a BMW 228i from Rent Race Car which was well prepared with sticky street rubber, good brake pads and an upgraded suspension from stock. The car was a little lacking in power and this is a BIG power track but weighing all the options and the "what if" factors this was the best choice for me as a rental. Europe 2017 by Andrew Kutscher, on Flickr I put in a lot of laps on iRacing before we left and felt like I came up to speed pretty decently without too much issue but never really got to the point where I pushed hard or got outside of my comfort zone. I still managed an 8:42 BTG time which I'll take for my first visit to the track. Europe 2017 by Andrew Kutscher, on Flickr Edited August 8, 2017 by AudiOn19s Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AudiOn19s Posted August 8, 2017 Author Report Share Posted August 8, 2017 (edited) Sunday Mid Day it rained a little so we explored the region around the track while it dried and then went back for more lapping. There is an industrial section just across the street where all the manufacturers set up shop as from Monday - Friday from 8-5:30 every single day the track is closed for manufacturer testing only. There's also a BMW performance center in town, the castle up on the hill and lots of cool little things to see. I didn't take near enough pictures of this stuff but it was awesome. Europe by Andrew Kutscher, on Flickr Another thing I can say about Nurburg is that the the whole town is just a car guy Mecca. We pulled into the parking lot at the first hotel and there's a group of guys working on their cars and prepping them for the lapping session that evening. All night there's really neat stuff driving up and down the streets, hooliganism runs wild in the town but it's absolutely great for a gear head. The roads around the track are almost as entertaining as the track itself. Everything that's been said about the track in shows such as top gear is 100% true. You can't capture the scale and presence of this place until you are there. It's really an amazing experience you have to do in person some day. Sunday evening we had dinner at the PistenKlause. This is the Hotel / restaurant owned by Sabine Schmitz family. Their signature dish is steak they bring out raw that cooks on hot stone in front of you Europe by Andrew Kutscher, on Flickr Europe by Andrew Kutscher, on Flickr Europe by Andrew Kutscher, on Flickr That evening we stayed at the Lindner Congress Hotel in Nurburg. This is a much more upscale modern hotel. It's located right on the grounds of the GP track and at the main Nurburgring viewing area for GP races. Europe 2017 by Andrew Kutscher, on Flickr Europe 2017 by Andrew Kutscher, on Flickr Europe 2017 by Andrew Kutscher, on Flickr Edited August 8, 2017 by AudiOn19s Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AudiOn19s Posted August 8, 2017 Author Report Share Posted August 8, 2017 (edited) Monday morning we drove to Paris. This was my wife's single request for the trip was she wanted to see Paris. Germany is really nice to drive through and not just because of the Autobahn, but it's nice rolling country with neat stuff to see. France is like driving across Indiana...it was kinda boring. Paris was a pretty cool city. I'm not much for Architecture and history but she got a kick out of it. We saw most of the sites from a tour bus and explored around where we could. 2 days is NOT enough time to really experience Paris but we got to see almost everything, while doing almost nothing. We had ZERO issues with language barrier and or people being rude to us. Europe 2017 by Andrew Kutscher, on Flickr Europe 2017 by Andrew Kutscher, on Flickr Europe 2017 by Andrew Kutscher, on Flickr Europe 2017 by Andrew Kutscher, on Flickr Europe 2017 by Andrew Kutscher, on Flickr Europe 2017 by Andrew Kutscher, on Flickr Europe 2017 by Andrew Kutscher, on Flickr We stayed at the Pullman Hotel right at the Eiffel Tower. We had a room on the top floor of the hotel where we sat and had drinks in the evening overlooking the tower. It was pretty darn cool. Found a restaurant one night where everything on the menu was crepe based to get some local cuisine. http://www.pullmanhotels.com/gb/hotel-7229-pullman-paris-eiffel-tower/index.shtml Europe 2017 by Andrew Kutscher, on Flickr Europe 2017 by Andrew Kutscher, on Flickr Edited August 8, 2017 by AudiOn19s Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AudiOn19s Posted August 8, 2017 Author Report Share Posted August 8, 2017 (edited) Wednesday we headed out for Belgium to go on a track tour of Spa Francorchamps. As luck would have it there was a Ferrari customer day going on at the track. Ferrari sells all of their old race cars but for the most part they stay in -house. In this program Ferrari maintains the cars, takes them to the track and owners essentially arrive and drive their prized possessions. We're not talking road cars here, there were v8 and v10 F1 cars, FXX (enzo) race cars, FXXK cars and 599 series race cars. We had full access to the track while they were out there lapping all day. Next time we go back I will make arrangements to have a rental and drive Spa too...just couldn't quite make it work with the timing of the trip this time. Europe 2017 by Andrew Kutscher, on Flickr Europe 2017 by Andrew Kutscher, on Flickr Europe 2017 by Andrew Kutscher, on Flickr Europe 2017 by Andrew Kutscher, on Flickr Europe 2017 by Andrew Kutscher, on Flickr Europe 2017 by Andrew Kutscher, on Flickr Europe 2017 by Andrew Kutscher, on Flickr Wednesday evening back to Germany where Yasmin wanted to stay in a castle...so we stayed in a castle. This place is called the Schlosshotel Kronberg https://schlosshotel-kronberg.com/en/?gclid=Cj0KEQjwwqXMBRCD1afDldbp5qEBEiQAP4BDaKvA1ZqD3nX5O7SotrDKPhnBvWnWRgTFGSnyfBvCV_waAjKm8P8HAQ Europe 2017 by Andrew Kutscher, on Flickr Europe 2017 by Andrew Kutscher, on Flickr Europe 2017 by Andrew Kutscher, on Flickr Edited August 8, 2017 by AudiOn19s Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gergwheel1647545492 Posted August 8, 2017 Report Share Posted August 8, 2017 OMG i love this already. Sounds like an awesome trip and is on my bucket list!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zx2guy19 Posted August 8, 2017 Report Share Posted August 8, 2017 Hell yeah man, this looks amazing. What a fun trip and even better that your wife took the liberty of booking it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iwashmycar Posted August 8, 2017 Report Share Posted August 8, 2017 wow. amazing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BIGGU Posted August 8, 2017 Report Share Posted August 8, 2017 Seriously jelly. BTW you need to stop by my place and try my sim out some time now that its completed. Also saw you blue toothed to your rental *CRINGE* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AudiOn19s Posted August 8, 2017 Author Report Share Posted August 8, 2017 Thursday was off to a small college town where there was a museum with a Michael Schumacher exhibit I wanted to see. Europe 2017 by Andrew Kutscher, on Flickr Europe 2017 by Andrew Kutscher, on Flickr Europe 2017 by Andrew Kutscher, on Flickr Europe 2017 by Andrew Kutscher, on Flickr Europe 2017 by Andrew Kutscher, on Flickr Europe 2017 by Andrew Kutscher, on Flickr Then we headed back to the Nurburgring to watch some of the manufacturer lapping and we went for a Ring Taxi ride in the F80 M3 that evening. It rained for the ride which somewhat sucked but the guy was entertaining and had great car control and we drove most of the lap sideways with walls just a couple of feet from the surface for nearly the whole track. Europe 2017 by Andrew Kutscher, on Flickr Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AudiOn19s Posted August 8, 2017 Author Report Share Posted August 8, 2017 We saw a ton of test vehicles while in the region which was pretty cool. Everything from the upcoming M8 to the GT2 RS lapping the ring to a DB11 that was in the garage at our hotel Sunday evening. It was pretty common place to see these cars in the region. Europe 2017 by Andrew Kutscher, on Flickr Europe 2017 by Andrew Kutscher, on Flickr Europe 2017 by Andrew Kutscher, on Flickr Europe by Andrew Kutscher, on Flickr Europe 2017 by Andrew Kutscher, on Flickr Europe 2017 by Andrew Kutscher, on Flickr Europe 2017 by Andrew Kutscher, on Flickr Europe 2017 by Andrew Kutscher, on Flickr Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AudiOn19s Posted August 8, 2017 Author Report Share Posted August 8, 2017 Thursday night was off to Stuttgart where we Stayed at the V8 Hotel at Auto World in a horribly corny but appropriately themed room on the grounds. https://www.v8hotel.de/en/ **it's a little dark but we were in the "car wash" room Europe 2017 by Andrew Kutscher, on Flickr Europe 2017 by Andrew Kutscher, on Flickr **this was the view out the window of our room..it literally opened into the autoworld showroom** Europe 2017 by Andrew Kutscher, on Flickr The next morning we woke up, had breakfast and walked the grounds of Auto World. Europe 2017 by Andrew Kutscher, on Flickr Europe 2017 by Andrew Kutscher, on Flickr Europe 2017 by Andrew Kutscher, on Flickr Europe 2017 by Andrew Kutscher, on Flickr Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AudiOn19s Posted August 8, 2017 Author Report Share Posted August 8, 2017 Then it was off to the Porsche Museum Europe 2017 by Andrew Kutscher, on Flickr Europe 2017 by Andrew Kutscher, on Flickr Europe by Andrew Kutscher, on Flickr Europe 2017 by Andrew Kutscher, on Flickr Europe 2017 by Andrew Kutscher, on Flickr Europe 2017 by Andrew Kutscher, on Flickr Europe 2017 by Andrew Kutscher, on Flickr Europe 2017 by Andrew Kutscher, on Flickr Europe 2017 by Andrew Kutscher, on Flickr Europe 2017 by Andrew Kutscher, on Flickr Europe 2017 by Andrew Kutscher, on Flickr Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AudiOn19s Posted August 8, 2017 Author Report Share Posted August 8, 2017 ...and we finished up at the Mercedes Museum Europe 2017 by Andrew Kutscher, on Flickr Europe 2017 by Andrew Kutscher, on Flickr Europe 2017 by Andrew Kutscher, on Flickr Europe 2017 by Andrew Kutscher, on Flickr Europe 2017 by Andrew Kutscher, on Flickr Europe 2017 by Andrew Kutscher, on Flickr Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AudiOn19s Posted August 8, 2017 Author Report Share Posted August 8, 2017 At that point we were tempted to head back to the Nurburgring and rent the M2 for 6 laps, but there was weather moving in and we decided to call it at that point. We headed to the Hilton at the Frankfurt airport (which is a bitch to get to just for reference) and then we flew home Saturday morning. Can't thank my wife enough for putting together this special trip and putting up with the agenda which was mainly car related. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Versluis Posted August 8, 2017 Report Share Posted August 8, 2017 Tried to look through the photos, but they are HUGE. Looked like a one in a life time trip. To see the Ring and Spa would be amazing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AudiOn19s Posted August 8, 2017 Author Report Share Posted August 8, 2017 I cant' stand flickr right now...first time using it and it uploads things in a completely unorganized manor. I'm trying to figure out how to resize them off of the BB code after the fact and I'm not seeing a quick fix Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caseyctsv Posted August 8, 2017 Report Share Posted August 8, 2017 Very cool trip - what a neat gift! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
morabu Posted August 9, 2017 Report Share Posted August 9, 2017 That looks like it was one HELL of a nice little vacation! I am super jelly. Nurburg and SPA! I want to drive them both. Thanks for posting the pics and experience with us Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Franchi Posted August 9, 2017 Report Share Posted August 9, 2017 Ha, 8:42? Holy fuck, thats amazing Andy! Esp for first time around the ring! We did a similar trip four to five years ago and I pulled a 12.32 in an rental Audi. But at least I improved that to a 11:43 by the fourth and final lap.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
10phone2 Posted August 9, 2017 Report Share Posted August 9, 2017 I could not be any happier for you. Great photos and great trip. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AudiOn19s Posted August 9, 2017 Author Report Share Posted August 9, 2017 Ha, 8:42? Holy fuck, thats amazing Andy! Esp for first time around the ring! We did a similar trip four to five years ago and I pulled a 12.32 in an rental Audi. But at least I improved that to a 11:43 by the fourth and final lap.... To clarify, First time there...that was lap 11 though :-). My first lap was in the 9:30 range and I kept improving from there. I feel like I could have gotten to sub 8:30 without issue had I caught a break with traffic on a couple other laps. I ran more than 50 laps on iRacing before we went to get comfortable with the track. It still doesn't prepare you for the real thing but it did a pretty good job of getting me up to speed none the less. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaron Posted August 9, 2017 Report Share Posted August 9, 2017 Love seeing the pictures to the story you told at Audi club. I'm green with envy. Great job driving too, as usual! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRTurbo04 Posted August 9, 2017 Report Share Posted August 9, 2017 Wow your wife is kick ass you luckY SOB! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fiji ST Posted August 9, 2017 Report Share Posted August 9, 2017 You married yourself a good woman. What an awesome trip. I may have to copy this trip at some point in my life. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RyM3rC Posted August 9, 2017 Report Share Posted August 9, 2017 Enjoyed reading through this, thanks for posting. If you did it again, what would you do differently? Besides scheduling to drive both tracks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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