And now, the Nurburgring 2017 episode...
After 2 years of not visiting the Nurburging ring (been there in '09, '10, '11, '12, '13, '14) it was time to have another go at the Green Hell. This time with a twist: the wife
.
She's been with me on track days but never at Nurburgring. Initially I've had some doubts that she will enjoy it but in the end it was just great (almost perfect if not for the changing weather).
We've arrived on Saturday at the La Lantera Pension, changed the tires and then went for 3 laps.
Nothing special on Saturday or Sunday, when I manged to do 8 laps (it was raining in the morning and I only went out in the afternoon).
On Monday though, the temperature was just perfect and not that crowded. It wasn't exactly free, but it was manageable. I've done another 7 laps and I went 3 or 4 times below my previous best time. Thus, my new best time is 8:51.37 (according to VBox Sport) or in short,
8:51:
A few comments:
- @ 0:19 I brake more than I should have because of the yellow flags and because the Megane RS slowed down in front of me. According to VBox I lost about 1 second over there.
- @ 1:10 I reject the incoming call (you can hear the phone ring from the beginning) - it would have been an interesting lap if I was having a phone conversation in the meanwhile
- Flugplatz @ 1:45 is not the best approach I've had but it is close enough.
- @ 2:28 I signal right and ease of the gas (just a but) to let the Caymen GT4 pass. Since he shows no interest in overtaking I signal right 6/7 seconds later and procede on the racing line. After he overtakes me a bit later he gives me the thumbs up so I guess he wasn't too pissed about it.
- @ 4:45 I caught up with a mk6 GTI. Although I was overall faster then him, you can easily see the difference in horse power between the 2 cars. I would expect he was stock because that's about how much better a 230bhp turbo car pulls but I can't say for sure. Anyway... I need more HP!
- @ 5:35 I lift off for a second at Mutkurve. I've had a progressive approach and by the end of the trip I could do the Mutkurve flat out. Interesting feeling but that's why I come to Nurburgring.
- @ 5:45 the Ariel Atom catches me and later overtakes me so effortlessly... That is one nice car...
- @ 7:25 the is probably the fastest approach for Brünnchen I've had.
- @ 8:05 at Pflanzgarten II I ease of the gas in order not to run in the Seat. I also use the curb not to take any chances.
Comments (especially about racing lines & stuff) are very much welcomed!
The day after the track was much more crowded and I could not come close to the best lap again.
The car behaved great during the whole trip with a few highlights::
- the Pilot Sport Cup 2 tires are awesome for Nurburgring (as I previously wrote, I did not like them on Hungaroring or Adancata Motorpark Romania)
- the car's setup was great with 8 front / 7 rear (Bilstein B16 harshness out of 10) but it was a bit too soft for me. I should go with 9/8 next time or even 10/9.
- the brakes were, again awesome but they need replacing. Already ordered replacement JHooks for back & front, Pagid RS29 for the NQSBBK and DS2500 for the rear (current setup).
- the engine was great apart from a lap were I've had a few missfires.
- a small platic came of the gearbox assembly and now I ocassionally have problems changing gears
. I once wanted to go from 3rd (red line) to 4th but manged to put it into 2nd
. It's never happened till now... Hope the engine did not suffer any permanent damage (I would hate to change it for a 2.0
)
All in all, I've had a lot of fun, managed to push my limits a bit further and returned unscathed . In the end that's what's I'm after, not lap times. Lap times are just an indicator of how much I've improved. I think that with this car and this driver, on an ideal day, I could go as low as 8:3X.
