Nurburgring

[andyt]

Anyone been around this in an RS6? Two questions, firstly what sort of times can you do? I know if I tried it, I'd go round pretty carefully (I'm no race driver and could easily get caught out), but even taking it easy, is a < 10 min time achievable, or do you have to know what you're doing a bit to manage that? ISTR Clarkson doing 10 minutes in some sort of diesel but then compared to me, he knows what he's doing!

Secondly, does the track show up on the RNS-E?

Just interested..!

[bazza]

Ive recently been to the ring in my RS and all i can say is......you got to go.

The car was made for that track and its such an awesome drive.

I did 6 easyish laps (as i was the support car for my friends 325 track car) and i would say that we were getting late 10 early 11 min laps.

We did do one quick lap but we didnt time that as we were concentrating on the track.

The RS6 is an awesome car to go around the ring in. It really does change in to an absolute animal and you can actually feel the benifit of the DRC in such a heavy car. (had new shocks before the trip)

One thing you will need is a lot of cash...i was doing nearly a quarter of a tank of fuel per lap. Plus the local petrol station has 102 ron for 1.74 eur a liter

As for the sat nav. I have the RNS-D and i didnt have the disc for Germany so i coundlnt comment on that im afraid.

Cheers

Baz

[Wolverine]

I did a couple of laps (3 in total) on the GT Circuit around Bedford. This is about 3.2 miles, and is quite heavy on the brakes. I wouldnt do it again .....

I had a totaly different experience ..... car felt very nose heavy when pushed hard, and even taking off the traction control left it still wanting. I delaminated one of my tyres, and my pads caught fire, and my disks were shot by the end of the day (very expensive laps). The RS6 isnt a track day car, its just too heavy and the 4 wheel drive setup doesnt suit track work.

However, on the road, its a completely different animal. On a wintery, wet day as we have had in the last few days it really comes into its element as a B road basher. Push it to 8.5/10 and its magic .... the four wheel drive gives the security you need on the road and gives you the ability to slingshot out of corners, giving a distinct advantage over other real wheeled exotica .... M5s in particular (even the new ones) have a hard time keepin up.

Personally, I'd go out and buy a cheap S1 Elise (about 5k with a bit of miles on it) or hire one and take that to Nurburg .... prob be a alot cheaper too.

[s4woody]

been to the ring several times..in many diff cars and a few diff bikes..aint been in my M5 yet but i will..
great track but hard on the car and you have to concentrate of its very costly...go and enjoy..

[Pau1]

Glad someone asked this question as I'm heading there on the 10th July. My main worry is the brakes, looked at getting the Pagid front pads but they are about £350, alot of money for front pads. Might be worth it though.
Am really going for the jolly and not to set any fast times, just think it'll be a better trip in the RS instead of the TVR.

Has anyone got any good tips or suggestions for the Nurburgring then?

[DavidT]

Have a look here: www.nurburgring.org.uk It contains pretty much everything you need.

It's a good idea to take spare pads with you to the ring if you want to do serious lapping but I would have thought RS6 brakes would be fine, far better than most anyway ! It mostly depends on your driving style & the ring is not the place to go for 'lap times'.

[PhilT]

Last year we did the Scuderia Hanseat... I took the RS6 (KW v3) and it was a hoot. I have about 150 laps of the ring under my belt, so sub 10 min laps aren't too much of a problem. The Ring is a B road, it's not a traditional track. The is an Audi franchise in Adenau that will source and fit pads pretty cheap (Worth having an alignment there too IMHO), or there is a garage in Nurburg that will fit if you supply.

The fact is that there are a few/many corners that are blind and traffic that is unpredictable; it's not how fast you are on the racing line, it's how well you can handle being off the racing line or how well you react to coming round a corner at 100+mph with a crash in front of you.

Treat it with respect at all times!!

[S4INT]

I agree with all the sentiments above, however I personally think the 'Ring is easier on your car than a track day.

I have only been the once, in my B7 RS4, and did 8 laps, but the tyre and brake wear was pretty minimal. I managed an 8:40 bridge to gantry, which was pretty full-on, but I think the lack of run-off, blind crests etc, temper your speed compared to pounding around a well-sighted circuit.

I did a passenger lap with PhilT in the RS6 plus, and I thought it went, handled and stopped pretty impressively for such a big heavy car. He even had a little bit of sideways action through Brunchen

[MalcolmSu]

coincidentally there was a really good two page article (by John Forbes) yesterday in the Mail on Sunday on taking a car to Nurburgring. Not sure if it's available online.

[PhilT]

I did a passenger lap with PhilT in the RS6 plus, and I thought it went, handled and stopped pretty impressively for such a big heavy car. He even had a little bit of sideways action through Brunchen

sideways is rare. Hopefully the ARBs will help for future attemps.

What made me laugh most was the guy who said that I was pushing out a cloud of smoke from the rear wheel as the car went from tripod to quattro mode out of corners

[W8PMC]

I did a passenger lap with PhilT in the RS6 plus, and I thought it went, handled and stopped pretty impressively for such a big heavy car. He even had a little bit of sideways action through Brunchen

sideways is rare. Hopefully the ARBs will help for future attemps.

What made me laugh most was the guy who said that I was pushing out a cloud of smoke from the rear wheel as the car went from tripod to quattro mode out of corners

How much fun was that??

The really shouldn't have laps were the best though.

To concur, the RS6 is more than capable around Nordschleife & assuming you don't go mental, you'll have a blast. Not advisable to start timing yourself as this will often end in tears.

After Scuderia with Phil, i managed an 8:28 BTG which is only less than 1/2 min slower than Walter on semi slick tyres, so i was pleased with that.

As i often argued with the instructors, i found my fun laps were not my fastest & i think Phil would agree??

[PhilT]

I don't know mate, apart from the little showboating sections they were pretty much "on it" laps. Defo exercised my butt muscles

[foz01]

I would rather the RS6 for the run down- and the honda lotus shed for actually going round

[R1NGA]

The Ring is a fabulous place but should be given the highest respect as it really does bite when you least expect it. I went there first on bikes with Yamaha in the early 90's and used to make up to 6 trips/year, averaging about 40-50 laps a visit. Don't care to think how many laps I've done in the 16 years since.

In the early days it was a real surprise to see any non-Germans at the place, but now of course all that's changed. It really was the worlds best kept secret.

All I would say is take it steady and even if you think you know it, you won't fully. The most dangerous are those who think they've mastered the place on PlayStation and then take themselves and others out before they've reached Breidscheid Bridge. I've seen too many accidents there unfortunately and you just have to concentrate.

The track is unpredictable in many respects, most of all in terms of grip in the wet. There are sections that are like ice after a rain shower and you simply have to find out for yourself where the grip is or isn't - and it changes all the time. I used to Instruct with Yamaha and Honda in the past and on 2 wheels you don't get a second chance. We would run a full day of closed-off section training and on wet courses we would stop at all of the real slippy bits to make sure the message got home to people. Many still crashed on the final assessment laps though....

Timing is not a cool idea either. A full lap is about 25secs longer than the typically spouted Bridge-to-Gantry times, assuming full chuff on either a big sportsbike or Scoob/Evo/911/RS6 type. Walter does sub-8 minute full laps I'm afraid, not B-to-G. Best I managed on the R1 was an 8'10" full lap (the benefits of having the place to yourselves), which equates to about a 7'45" B-to-G. But any B-to-G under 8'30" is very good going. Interestingly my old car (an early import STi Subaru with track tyres, cage and all the trinkets - before they became Max Power fodder I might add!) would lap almost as quick as the bike. More grip and wider torque spread and far more braking grip. I'd never drive like that again though, as you always have to assume that there's nothing nasty round the next blind bend - someone else's sump or radiator contents, which often happens - and that's not a risk I'm prepared to take anymore.

I agree with you that the Ring is easier on the car than a track day, but the Ring should be driven smoothly, so as not to overstress the car (or driver...). Non of the Brake-Late-Throw-it-in techniques for me thank you.

I would never take a bike around the Ring again - I managed 11 uneventful years staying upright (apart from falling off in the mud at Adenauer-Forst, pulling a wheelie to show off...) but lost 2 close-ish friends who were less fortunate. I'll stick with cars from now on thanks.

If anyone goes, take it easy, enjoy it and you will have a ball. Never lose respect for the place though, as it will have you in the back of the ADAC helicopter en-route to Koblenz Hostpital quicker than you could say 'Oh Bugger'. My brother had a monster accident there in the pee-ing rain there in Aug 2004 (it's on the net - the Big M3 Crash - somewhere), but he was out cold in the chopper so doesn't remember the ride. He sure recalls the £10,000 bill for armco alone (I'm not joking either).

Phil G

[PhilT]

Well said Phil