Page created: January 1, 1999
The following is an account of a first-time participant of the International BMW Nürburgring Driving School. The names of the participants have not been changed to ridicule the innocent. I also tried not to make too many things up.
7:40 pm - Cargirl and I meet the American group in Munich for the reception dinner. The organizer for the Americans is Dan Tackett (California). Dan has personally contributed to the building of the Nürburgring, as he had to replace the guard rail that his friend removed during a solo run near "Hohe Acht." The tool his friend used to do this was Dan’s brand new European-delivery M3. Meanwhile, Cargirl, who was able to drive on Nürburgring the previous week (once -- in a new 911!) try unsuccessfully to impersonate Tammi Hull as a way of getting into the school.
8:50 am - The group starts the "Barbarian Rally" of Bavaria. I’m in the Munich airport where I dropped off Cargirl for her flight. I miss the tour while I wait for someone else to arrive, but I would later explore the mystical world of the Munich subway. The search dogs eventually find my caramelized-popcorn trail and lead me back to my hotel.
9:11 am - The group checks out of the hotels and head for the ’Ring, a six-hour drive. Some of us stop at the BMW Museum in Munich first. So far, no one has totalled any of the cars. We're ahead of the group from last year.
3:23 pm - We are passed by four Ecomobiles. It feels like a mini alien invasion, but at high speed. These “vehicles” start life as BMW motorcycles. By the time its Swiss manufacturer is done, it’s a Barco-lounger for two, enclosed in a stream-lined shell with training wheels that drop automatically when it slows down. Think of it as a high-tech Gold Wing with air conditioning.
5:28 pm - I finally meet my driving partner, Hugh Golden from the Seattle area. He’s rented a 316i from Hertz for us. After last year’s group damaged 11 of 40 328s from BMW AG, we have to rent 316i’s and 520i’s. I make a mental note never to buy a car from a rental fleet.
6:33 pm - After registering and checking into our hotels, Dan organizes us into groups to drive laps around the ’Ring while it’s open to the public. It’s 17 DM per lap. Fortunately, the ATM machine is right outside the door where you buy the tickets. (The old man selling tickets from the Porsche commercial is no longer there.)
A third of the way into our first lap, we encounter a motorcycle accident. After driving another third of the track, there’s another motorcycle accident. I’m beginning to see why they charge more for motorcycles (22 DM). By the time we finish our lap, they decided to close the track for the rest of the day because of the accidents.
Although we only drive one lap, it’s still good seat time for me. There seems to be a lot of turns on this 21 km (13.7 mi) track. I’m wondering if it's too late to get a map of the ’Ring from Hertz.
7:35 am - Today is the first official day of the school. The American groups are designated groups 1, 2 and 3. Most of our cars have two drivers. There are six other car groups (with many serious cars), three motorcycle groups, and one Ecomobile group. My partner and I are assigned to Group 1 with Dan Tackett as our instructor and Ron La Place (Alberta) as our coach.
The track is broken up into nine sections. In each section, the instructor and coach will lead the students through the proper line for the corners in that section. Then we turn around and do it over again. We will spend about 1 hour 20 minutes for each section.
9:35 am - The rumour is true. We will have about an hour and a half to drive on the Grand Prix course this morning. All nine car groups (about 120 cars) will all go out at the same time, with each group playing follow the leader. There is supposed to be no passing for the first two laps. Picture deer frolicking in the forest. Now picture hungry packs of wolves going after them. Apparently, we (Americans) were the deer in the headlights of the M3s (Germans).
Our 316i is anemic. It slows down at all upward elevation changes. It slows down going around corners. It slows down when bugs hit its windshield. We learn to drive with our right-turn signal on most of the time, letting other cars pass us.
10:11 am - We pass a right-hand drive Rover!
11:00 am - We get the first American casualty, a 520i. It’s apparently bad luck (for the timing belt) to shift into 2nd gear while redlined in 3rd. They tow the car back to the hotel and tell the rental agency the car is not running well.
11:07 am - We finally get on the Nürburgring (it’s called the Nordschleife, or north loop) - for safety training. We are doing slaloms. Our group seems to have difficulty avoiding the cones. The German slalom instructor merely sneers.
4:00 pm - After wandering through the museum and go-kart halls since lunch, we are finally on the track for real. We follow Dan through Section 1. At the end of the section, we do the “Bimmer Ballet” (a three-point U-turn that all of the cars do at the same time) without swapping paint. Dan is very happy. We keep driving.
6:35 pm - My ears pop from the fast elevation change every time we go down into the “foxhole” (Füchsröhre). I notice that this is where the first motorcycle accident we saw yesterday occurred.
8:00 pm - Thus ended the first driving day, and it was very good.
This is the continuing saga of EMan at the International BMW Club Europa Nürburgring driving school. When we last left EMan, he had this silly grin he couldn’t wipe off
7:33 am - The second day began much like the first - lining up in the parking lot waiting. This time, however, we would be on the track all day long, with only a break at lunch time.
8:05 am - We start where we left off yesterday-Metzgesfeld. Our group has dubbed it “Mitch-gesfeld,” due to the adventures of one of our members from last year, all caught on video tape.
11:05 am - Bergwerk: the Holy Grail of the Nürburgring. This corner is considered important because it leads to a long, uphill straightaway. Exit speed is essential here, which our 316i has none of. The hill is too big for it. We wait for strong breezes, small woodland creatures passing by, etc., to help us up the hill.
1:03 pm - The Karussell is the most famous turn on the track. You have to dive down into the banking here. The popular lore is someone (way, way back when) was coming into this corner really fast and encountered traffic. With no where to go, he dove down into the culvert to avoid an accident. He discovered that it was a fast way around that corner, so he did it again on the next lap. Eventually, others started following suit. Today, it looks like a ditch that’s been paved in concrete. Think: “very small NASCAR track.”
2:45 pm - The instructors can’t decide the best line out of Klein Karussell (small carousel). All the lines my partner and I take also seem wrong. And of course, it’s one of the corners they grade for our final lap.
5:00 pm - Almost an entire day of track driving, with only a short break for lunch. It doesn’t get any better than this (well, it does, but this is a family publication).
7:45 am - We are trying to avoid safety training this morning. It’s first on our schedule. The motorcyclists, who are supposed to be on the track first, all appear to be still asleep, and there’s talk of letting the cars go out onto the track first for some full laps.
8:05 am - The motorcyclists have finally arrived, which means we have to do safety training.
8:20 am - Safety training today is hazard avoidance. Eventually, our German safety instructor from ADAC (German version of AAA) tells us the best way to steer around an object in an emergency situation is to step on the clutch right before swerving. This loads the tires only with side forces. If you brake or accelerate, then the amount of side forces the tires can handle will be reduced.
8:35 am - Steve (from Phoenix), after swerving around the cones, somehow manages to spin his 520i three times, just touching the guard rails with both the front and the rear of his car. Amazingly, the bumpers and trunk lid are just grazed, and there’s no other damage. We decide safety training is too dangerous. The German instructor sneers.
1:00 pm - We are lined up for the graded laps. The six groups of motorcycles go out first, then the Ecomobiles, another group of motorcycles, and then the cars. I’m supposed to be the fourth car out.
1:45 pm - For the first time in the school, it has started raining. They tell me it typically rains during this school, but so far this year the rain has held out until 10 minutes before I have to drive!
1:57 pm - With my partner Hugh Golden riding shotgun, we set out. Dan Tackett, our instructor, has told us Hatzenbach, the first set of turns, can be very slippery when wet. Since it has just started raining, I decide to be extra careful as I start off.
1:58 pm - AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!
1:59 pm - It hasn’t rained past Quiddelbach. It’s flat out in this area until we have to make a sharp right down into the “foxhole” and into Adenauer Forst, one of my worst corners.
2:00 pm - I make it around Adenauer Forst without taking out a guard rail. I’m happy. However, I screw up the Kallenhard corner (Kallen is so hard...). Consequently, I also blow the next corner. Hugh helps me to reset myself for Wehrseifen.
2:03 pm - Blew another corner, whatever it was called. I should at least get points for originality. My partner thinks it’s wet on this part of the track. I’m just trying to remember where we are, and what's coming up next.
2:07 pm - I’m going pretty fast into Planzgarten. You accelerate downhill and hit two quick rises (and possibly get airborne) before turning right up the hill. You brake slightly at the first hump and turn in after the second. Looking at the spectators lining the fences, and going much faster than I feel comfortable, I chicken out and also tap the brakes at the second hump before turning in. No points for this corner.
2:09 pm - Are we there yet?
2:10 pm - Finished, and the car’s still shiny side up! We get in line again, waiting for Hugh’s turn.
2:15 pm - Other drivers have started finishing their laps. Apparently in our group, if you have a video camera in your car, the rule is you have to spin. Seeing“guard rail- trees-guard rail,” even on a 3-inch screen, can be pretty exciting.
3:19 pm - Hugh takes his turn around the track. We both think he did pretty well. We’ll see at the banquet tonight what the judges thought about our driving.
5:45 pm - The track is open to the public again until 7:30 pm. We have seven tickets between Hugh and me. We plan to alternate after each lap.
6:55 pm - On our lap #6, we see a red E30 M3 against the guard rail after Eiskurve. We see a couple of the American guys going over to help, so we decide to go back to the main gate and report it. They send the safety car (a Porsche 968 driven by someone who looks like Father Time's older brother) to investigate.
7:00 pm - Coming out of Bergwerk, up the big hill into Kesselchen, we see someone waving us down. There’s an accident around the corner. Hugh thinks it’s one of our guys - it’s a 520i.
The 520i is lying on its roof, with parts and guard rail scattered all around. I see a few guys from our group wandering around. I fear the worst. I was afraid to go look into the car at first. Then I see Mark Tanner (Georgia), the driver, sitting on the ground. Mitch Herman (New Jersey) is wrapping gauze around Mark’s head. I also spot David Wrenn (Georgia), the passenger. Dave is okay except for the cuts he received from the broken glass as he climbed out the window.
I finally walk over to the car and look inside. Both front airbags had gone off, as well as the head bag on the passenger side (neither side airbags deployed). Looking at the whole accident, I was amazed at how minor the injuries were, a testament of the safety designed into these cars.
Another 30 minutes, and our group would have left the 'Ring unscathed.
9:25 pm - Dave had just picked up Mark from the hospital and walked into the banquet. Ironically, they just announced that Dave had the best score in his group, and Mark came in second. This reminds me that even good drivers have to respect this track, or any track for that matter.
Dave and Mark with their trophies, and Dan
Tackett in the background
(photo by EMan)
How did Hugh and I do? Hugh came in fourth in our group, and I came in fifth. We placed behind Mitch Herman and Chris Simon (Windy City) both driving a Gruppe M 320, and Blaine McNutt (California) in his European delivery 528 Sport. No 316i placed in any of the groups. There’s always next year.
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Page created: January 1, 1999
