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What's the scene re insurance? Is The 'Ring considered a race track or a public road by UK insurers?
Ive been looking into this..
Most policies say they dont cover de-restricted toll road, which the ring is.
But the Ring is a public road so i guess you have to be covered 3rd party by the insurance. they will try and wriggle out of it but you will be covered at least 3rd party.
If you call your insurance company they will say "no" point blank, your average call centre staff are just not going to understand
Ive heard somewhere that
http://www.keithmichaels.co.uk do insurance for £60/day
some more of my findings
What I can say is that the normal public road driving laws apply on the 'Ring during the public sessions.
- The police will sometimes monitor speeds through the restricted sections and will give out tickets.
- Overtaking on the right is strictly forbidden and professional racers who have done thousands of laps on the NS have been taken to court if they have have been observed overtaking (even safely) on the right during a public session.
- You may not drive a car unless its tyres are road-legal and it has a valid registration plate (however, they disallow cars with dealer plates).
- Subject to the noise restriction (which may technically apply on all public roads - not sure), you may drive anything that's road-legal. To wit, there were pictures floating recently around of somebody (a Brit, as it happened) who has a, well, it's a sofa on wheels that's been SVA'd, and that was allowed on the NS for public lapping.
- If you are in a reportable accident (one involving more than one vehicle, or a personal injury) the police must attend, file a report, etc. At that time you are required to produce your ownership and insurance documents, as you would be on any public road, and if you fail to produce them you will have a problem, as you would on any public road.
All the above make the NS sound rather public, and certainly closer to being a public road than to being a race circuit like Brands or Hockenheim, where essentially none of the above applies.
If the insurer has said on the phone that the cover applies to "any roads", surely the NS is a road.
With regard to other claims that the insurer could avoid, if you damage Armco at the NS you are expected to pay for the repair. I don't think that such applies on normal public roads in either Germany or the UK.
So far as insurance is concerned, there is no substitute for telling the truth.
You see, if you cripple a 23 year old breadwinner with 2 small children, you are going to be facing a multi-million pound damages suit, and the insurance company will unleash their 600/hr QCs to wriggle out of paying. They will go over your car, proposal form and accident report with a microscope and your barrack room legalities will be as much protection as wet tissue paper. How do you feel about spending the rest of your life paying off the damages and legal fees?
(And in case you think this is theoretical, some 30 years ago, a friend of mine found herself on the end of a 250K damages suit after an accident. She lost. The insurance company paid.)
So, call your insurer and tell them you're going to the 'Ring. If you have to buy competition insurance, so be it.
