It’s gotten to the point that I can see the outline of the Nurburgring Nordschliefe course just about anywhere I go, because there are tons of cars that sport that damn sticker just about everywhere I go in town! Nothing against the guy from the college who slapped it on the back of his Focus ST to look cool, but twenty to one says that he’s never seen Germany, let alone the Green Hell! I’ve got double or nothing that if he were to take his car to the track on one of the tourist drive days, that he’d learn that tapping the Armco barrier is an automatic slam to the wallet to the tune of damage to the barriers and the cost of the workers who have to come out and peel that hatchback off of the course. Not good. Then again, it’s a tourist lap…nobody actually needs to get out there and crank down to see if they can clip a new personal best. In fact, outright racing is forbidden during these days. You’re there to have fun and to take a run down one of the most renowned strips of asphalt in the world…if anything, we’d pick something cool to cruise in instead of just going to cut a hot lap! What would you take? I’d personally like to find a happy medium between old-school classic and new-school handling prowess, so maybe a modified third-gen Camaro would be a good choice? Then again, the guy driving the Plymouth Road Runner around the course is making a neat argument for the cool factor…
Last year I went through one of the outfits that sets you up with a car and gives you some instruction (RSR Nurburg) I had a Ford Fiesta ST. It was plenty fast. I never felt I didn’t have enough car. The whole thing was much more reasonably priced than I thought. And Yes, if you crash, you pay for the car, track damage, worker time, and for any other car that gets caught up in your mess, so drive at 7/10ths. You are not going to be as fast as people who are there constantly, and there are dozens of people with cameras waiting for you to get it wrong for their youtube channel!