The Morning

Friday July 28^th dawned bright and beautiful. The sky was clear and temps were around 20º C. But we knew it would get a lot hotter than that. After the breakfast we headed out to our bikes. Kawasaki ZX-11 for me, and Honda CBR600F for Casper. Last night I was suffering from a weird starter button problem, like some kind of connection failure. But this morning the engine woke up like a charm. I thought I was okay. Wrong. As soon as we came out from the bank after exchanging some money the damn button didn't work! Talk about an embarrassment, pushing a 150bhp bike for a jump start ...

We rode from the bank straight to where they sell tickets to Nordschleife, just to be ready for this evening. They've moved the ticked booth and track access to 2/3 down the 4km straight, between Döttinger Höhe and Antoniusbuche. That was a bit disappointing, since it meant we couldn't do the whole 4km flat out :(. Anyway, then checked out the Grand Prix circuit and the surrounding facilities. We didn't, however, go in to the museum. We just didn't feel like paying 22DM to be indoors on a fine day like this. So we walked to the infield of the GP track instead. The construction workers were busy getting everything ready for the European Grand Prix, I guess. From the overpass to the infield we got our first glimpse of the old Ring, the Hatzenbach section. And of course the famous Nürburg castle. Nothing much else to see here so we headed straight away to the outdoors karting track. 20DM for 10 minutes?!? The price was the same as in Finland. Outrageous!! We thought of trying them out the following morning but never did ...

Then it was time to do some riding in the Nordschleife infield. First a drive through Nürburg town, then up the twisty and bumpy road to Adenau. Since it was still early, and we had 4000 km behind us on this trip, we decided to wash our bikes on a gas station. The gas station was located just beside the bridge that takes Nordschleife to Ex-Mühle. It was fun hearing tire squeal and engine roar when we worked on the bikes. After lunch in Adenau we rode back under the bridge to the infield, through a town called Quiddlebach and on to the bridge just before Flugplatz (see the map below). We walked right up to the track and saw variety of Porsches, BMWs, MBs and Audis on the track. We tried to walk up the hill to the top of Flugplatz but couldn't because of heavy bushes and other plantations. So we rode back to the gasthaus to get some rest and to drop off all extra gear. On around 17.15 it was to head back to Nürburg ... boy was my stomach full of butterflies :)

The Preparations

There were around 40-50 bikers and a couple of dozen cars already at the parking lot as we arrived there. As we parked the bikes I realized that we didn't have enough fuel to do the planned six laps! God, what a rookie mistake.That aside, we walked to the ticket automate. From the automate you can buy 1-lap, 5-lap, 6-lap or 20-lap tickets, for both cars and motorcycles. We bought 5-lap tickets for 92 DM. First bikes were already getting onto the track as we walked back to ours. Most, if not all, bikers were wearing all-leather gear and knee-pads opposed to our all-weather Gore-Tex ... we really felt like rookies! :)

We started the bikes (yup, a push start again for me) and rolled down to the track access gate. The sound from my Yoshimura exhaust pipe gathered some glances and now I felt real nervous! The gate works like the ones on airport parking lots: you insert the ticked with a magnetic stripe into a machine, the machine reads it, extracts one lap from it and raises the beam. We were on the track! My plan was to take the first lap really easy, study it, to get into the rhythm ... Although my GPL experience would help me a lot, I knew there must be some differences.

On The Track

We accelerated out, carefully. The straight from Antoniusbuche to Tiergarten seemed to continue forever until the track suddenly drops heavily and curves to the left. Somehow I felt this was an omen of things to come. Then the chicane, nice and easy does it. At this point I must have been on the wheel of the trusty Lotus, because exiting the chicane I expected to be on the start/finish straight of the '67 Nordschleife. Big mistake! As you might know, the '67 start/finish straight and the back straight is now under the Grand Prix circuit. Nowadays, after Tiergarten chicane the track immediately heads down to Hatzenbach. In GPL it would be like a 90º right-hander just after the final bridge, through the red-and-white tire barriers and down to the tight downhill left-hander (see the map). Needless to say, I overshot the right-hander big time but was able to stay on the track. Now I decided to take the first lap REALLY easy. I eased off the throttle and let Casper go. We both wanted some distance between us.

Downhill to Hatzenbach I. The left-hander seemed to last forever, but after the track straightened out I felt I was on familiar turf. The medium right-hander at the bottom of the hill and then onto the twists and turns of Hatzenbach II. The track was narrower than I expected, and in some places really bumpy. I threw the bike around these tight turns, still at rather low speed. Around Quiddlebacher Höhe and downhill to Flugplatz. At this point, like Alison Hine so adequately put it, the track had seduced me! I accelerated hard down the hill, up to 200kph, and suddenly the front tire was off the ground!That scared the living daylights out of me and I got off the throttle. That of course ruined the Flugplatz for me but it didn't matter, not at this point. I had totally forgotten the little dip after the bridge on the way to Flugplatz, present also in GPL. The sheer acceleration caused the front wheel to become airborne and that's not a nice feeling at 200kph, especially since I didn't expect it. On later laps I started to actually enjoy it and could keep on going up the Flugplatz at around 220kph.

Back to the first lap. Like I said, I took Flugplatz really easy. Nice right-hander at the top of the hill and then I knew I could gather some speed. I was doing 190kph (easy does it! :)) going down the slope towards Schwedenkreuz when I remembered the dip just before it. I made sure the same thing didn't happen here what happened before Flugplatz. I braked early into Schwedenkreuz and even earlier into Aremberg. Schwedenkreuz is smooth and fast as I discovered on later laps when I had built up my confidence. Aremberg is one of those curves that seem to go on forever but the exit of the curve is smooth and very nice to get hard on the throttle. Then down to Fuchsröhre ... WOW! ... and up to Adenauer Forst. I was only doing about 170kph at the bottom of Fuchsröhre but vertical G-forces when the track starts up to Adenauer Forst still caused a terrific dizzy feeling, like a slight black-out. On later laps I'd get up to 200kph and the feeling was sensational! But there wasn't time to enjoy it as the track first curved to left and then hard braking into Adenauer Forst chicane.

Out of the chicane, slight uphill to Metzgesfeld, a very nice sweeping left-hander, hard braking into the left-right combination and then down the hill to Kallenhard. Very hard braking is required to slow down a 270kg bike going down a steep slope into Kallenhard. I overshot the apex on the first three laps until I learned to brake a little earlier. The tight right-hander is heavily banked and the track continues to steeply downhill. Flat out around a left-hand kink, a slight tap on the brakes into the next left-hander, and then a very enjoyable series of right-handers into the tight Wehrseifen hairpin. Those right-handers actually form one constant-radius turn. On my first lap I took them at 80kph and on my 5th lap I was able to go 130kph around them. Wehrseifen hairpin on the other hand is very tight and scary! Steep decline, banked pretty hard and blind. Luckily I was expecting something like that from my GPL experience so I took it very easy, but on the following laps I braked later and later until  I almost overdid it :).

Exiting Wehrseifer a right-hander, then hard on the accelerator down the hill towards Ex-Mühle. On my first lap I braked way too hard into Breidsheid, the left-hander over the bridge. It looks a lot slower than it actually is. I never got it really right. Then up the hill into Ex-Mühle. That's a weird corner to go up. You can really brake late here since the G-forces push the bike down. Your body weight gets on to your arms and I really struggled on the turn on my first couple of laps until I learned how to do it. Hard acceleration out of Ex-Mühle towards Bergwerk. After the tight right-hander are series of sweeping and fast left-handers. Here you can go really fast! On the first lap I did take this section way too slowly. Lap after lap I learned the line and was doing 230kph into Kesselchen. Again, too much braking at Kesselchen on the first lap until I was able to do it at 180kph on later laps. That felt really great! Then Klosteral, fast left-hander, a slower right-hander and then hard braking into the right-hand hairpin preceding Karussell.

I totally missed Karussell on my first lap. I braked way too late and had to take a wide line around the banked concrete section. On the following laps I made sure I hit it. Riding Karussell with a motorcycle must be one of the weirdest sensations I've ever felt! First of all, it's made by flat concrete blocks to form a half-circle, or 180º if you will. Riding on it shakes the bike real hard. That shaking added to the fact that the bike is pretty much at 90º angle to the rest of the track (i.e. you're riding in a horizontal position!!) due to the steep banking makes Karussell a unique experience. Again the G-forces made me dizzy! :)

After the Karussell it was uphill climb all the way to the highest point of the track, Hohe Acht. Then follows the sections of Wippermann, Eschbach and Brünnchen, a series of lefts and right, mostly downhill with some uphill entries to curves. Especially the incline from Wippermann to Eschbach makes your blood moving again, away from the brain causing yet another dizzy feeling. I couldn't get enough of them! :). After Brünnchen uphill again, first a very slow left-hander, then a blind right-hander and suddenly the track just drops down from under you! Again a nice feeling in the guts as I accelerate down the slope. Coming fast down the hill, at around 180kph, there's a small dip on the track just where you're supposed to start braking into the following right-hander, just like in GPL. It was great to get it right: little braking just before the dip and heavy braking just after it, leaning into the following double-apex right-hander and up the hill :)

The descent down to Pflanzgarten scared me on the first lap. Although I was trying to take it nice and slow, I couldn't but nail the throttle on top of the crest and nearly overcooked the fast right-hander down at the bottom. Once again I learned that I could actually do it like that because, again, the G-forces allowed some serious braking. Then it was flat out towards Schwalbenschwanz. Well, not entirely flat out on the first lap. It's a blind right-hander at the bottom of the Pflanzgarten so I needed to go slower. Up the hill into a sharp left-hander and it was time for Kleine Karussell. The same thing happened to me here that happened at Karussell, I overshot the banked section. On the following laps I nailed it, but it wasn't as much fun as Karussell. The concrete had some serious cracks on it and they made me feel uneasy. There was actually only one line through the banked section which didn't have cracks in it, and in order to hit it, I needed to enter slowly and accelerate out. Some of the other bikers just threw their bike into the banked section with ease and were tons of faster than I was. I guess they've had a lot of practice :)

Then there was really just two turns to go before the final straight. Once again steep incline to the apex, the bike got real light at the top. It shook and rattled as I leaned it to the final turn, slowly accelerating. Once I saw the home stretch I nailed the throttle. At first I didn't know how far I could keep accelerating so I backed off at 600m sign, doing 250kph. After couple of laps I was able to get a better exit from the final turn, extend the acceleration up to 400m sign (could have gone even further ... next time!), and the needle of the speedometer was at 280kph. Great stuff! :). The long straight has been resurfaced and is smooth as silk. A nice place to run top speed. Also a very nice place pass some Porsches ... :D

Some Comments

The first thing I noticed was how narrow the track was! I really couldn't imagine Formula 1 cars racing this track which was just wide enough for my bike! The second thing was that the track could use some resurfacing. The asphalt on some of the corners was pretty badly worn and those places shook the bike pretty bad.

The grip level is amazing. Since it's used almost every day the track has lots of rubber laid down. I had no problems getting my feet scrape the asphalt, once even the foot rest touched down. In fact, I could've been doing it all the time if I had more skill and nerve.

The elevation changes are phenomenal. Television picture, photos, video clips or GPL doesn't do them justice. They have to be seen and experienced by oneself. For example, the descent from Quiddelbacher Höhe towards Flugplatz is so steep I couldn't bring myself to open the throttle fully at first. The whole track is like a rollercoaster ride, except a lot better.

After two laps Casper and I were talking how difficult the track was. I felt frustrated. I couldn't get into any kind of rhythm around the track, and was thinking this isn't even fun. Over and over again during those first couple of laps I did the same mistake: braked too much into a fast(ish) curve or a corner. It was understandable of course, but very frustrating at the same time, realizing that you could've gone a lot quicker. Then, I started braking a bit earlier into corners, and learning the track enough to know were I could go faster. Now it began to feel like the Ring! :)

There were a couple of Porsches racing each other. Once I had to let them pass me, and it was great fun to follow them around for a while, out-accelerating them. Then I made the mistake of going too slow into a corner and they were gone.

I also learned where to watch the mirrors for faster bikes and cars. At first, they just blew past me with ease, but once I began to go quicker it wasn't so easy for them. One time I accidentally caused a small moment of danger when accelerating out of Pflanzgarten towards Schwalbenschwanz. I cut one of the flat-out curves right beside the curbing and saw from the left hand side mirror that another biker had to ride up the curb to avoid contact with me. After that incident I learned that the best place to check your "six" was when exiting a corner. I'd looked at the lower side mirror to see if anyone was following me out of the curve and approaching fast. If there was, I could signal them past me if necessary.

I urge everyone to go and drive around the ol' Ring. It's worth the fee and great fun. I'll be back for sure, this time for a couple of days :).

Differences With GPL Track

In general, Papyrus has done an excellent job recreating Nordschleife for GPL! My hat goes off. But there are some minor differences. Now, at this moment I don't know if the track has been changed since 1967 so I'm just going to go over the differences with the present track. If you have some information on track changes, please let me know.

Couple of things that apply throughout the track are the elevation changes and distances. What I mean is that almost all the hills and climbs are much steeper in real life. Like I said before, they have to be experienced by oneself. GPL just doesn't do them justice. Another thing is that all the straights and distances between curves and corners seem shorter in real life. This could be because I'm sitting higher off the ground on my bike than in GPL car, or some kind of "fish-eye" effect caused by GPL's wide-screen display, I don't know, but that's the feeling I got driving around the track. Also, there are a lot of trees nowadays that didn't exist back in '67 and that makes some sections of track seem darker.

If I start from the beginning of the GPL lap, the biggest difference is of course the absence of the pit complex and the start/finish straight as well as the back stretch behind the pits. There is now the Grand Prix circuit where the old '67 pits used to be. Going down towards Hatzenbach section the slow tight left is even tighter in real life, and the track drops even more. Accelerating downhill, the following medium-speed right-hander and the flat-out left kink is spot-on in GPL. No differences there. Also Hatzenbach II towards Hocheichen is very well done. The tight downhill left-hander that leads to Quiddelbacher-Höhe and Flugplatz is steeper in real life. That track really drops down from under you.

Flugplatz is well done. Although the incline is again a bit steeper the feeling is the same. The same goes for Schwedenkreuz and Aremberg. Even the small raise just before the fast left-hander is there. Aremberg is a bit more banked on the real track than it is in GPL. The descent down towards Adenauer-Forst seems shorter, otherwise spot on. My GPL experience helped me to find the correct line immediately. Then, the incline ... well, that's something else. It is so steep! No wonder you hit bump stops in GPL at the bottom! :). Adenauer-Forst chicane is spot on, although the real track doesn't have the grass banking on the left side as GPL does. I guess Papy added that to prevent cutting the chicane.

The drive up to Metzgesfeld is uphill all the way. In GPL the track seems to dip down before the medium-fast left-hander. The following chicane before Kallenhard seemed "smaller" and tighter. And again, no grass banking in real life. The downhill towards Kallenhard is steeper and the tight right is more banked.

Ex-Mühle is well done and almost spot-on, as is Bergwerk. The following fast section towards Kesselchen is dark because of the forest on the left-hand side of the track. The trees also make most of the left-handers blind there. Karussell is well done, although GPL doesn't, or can't, simulate the effect of the flat concrete plates. The section from Karussell to Hohe Acht really is uphill. I get the feeling in GPL that there's a downhill section right after Karussell. It's not there. Uphill, all the way.

From there on, all the way up to Schwalbenschwanz is great, and very recognizable. Elevation changes are bigger and the straights shorter, otherwise well done.

Perhaps the biggest "complain" I have is the section after Kleines Karusel. In GPL there seems to be a small left kink and a dip down where you have to ease the throttle not to get wheelspin. That's incorrect. The real track goes straight and uphill towards a much tighter right-hander than in GPL. The right-hander is almost similar to Wippermann curve, or Ex-Mühle (not so steep though).

The final curve before Döttinger Höhe and Antoniusbuche is dead-on, as is the straight itself, although much wider these days. The end of the 4km straight is somewhat different. I didn't notice that big of a raise before you go under the bridge. The jump is there, but the real track goes down rather than raise first then level. The final chicane on the other hand is well done, except no armcos or fences nowadays.

There you have it. Like I said, Papy did an excellent job recreating the track for us. Without them I would've never went there!

Thanks Papy!