I would end up going out for a 2nd lap. This was a greasy affair, but there was more of a dry line. I could enjoy the car a little more, as the dampness began to ebb away. I even managed to do an overtake. An overtake of a car which is probably alot easier to drive around than a 20 year old Coupe. That car was a Golf Mk7 R.
He would end up sticking on my tail quite a bit. Never quite close enough! Maybe he thought I know what I was doing, after I approached him earlier! This was great fun.
I would then end up hitting the Dottinger straight again. But this time, my adrenaline was pumping, the car felt right, and so I went out for my third lap.
This would be a very fun lap. It would also be a lap where I knew more about the track than I did before. Still not quite enough, but more to enjoy it. I figured that at the braking zone of Aremberg, where my car seemed to almost 'hop' from left to right, wasn't down to me hitting a greasy section, it was down to the tarmac being rippled there! It's just the fact that I had more braking power, which combined with my later braking, exposed the flaws with the road surface. So I braked a little more carefully, and kept the car taught
.
This would also be a lap where I actually completed a dry lap in the M3 for the first time! OK, the situation wasn't ideal. The car was warm, the tyres were definitely beginning to get a little too warm, being Michelin Pilot Sport 4Ss, and I was now debating a little lunch, especially as this would be my final lap of fun for the year (well, maybe not if you count elsewhere, but I'll save that for the thread). I was truly enjoying the curves and actually making decent progress down the 'ring for a change, until I saw a red flag at Wipperman. That F80 M3 in Yas Marina Blue? It had become friendly with a barrier and TBH, it looked like it needed a tow truck. A shame, but this is risk of coming to the 'ring. It's a reminder to treat the day as a fast country road drive out, not a trackday.
I would then complete the lap and let the car cool down. While I was also chilling, it was time to admire what else was about. A friend of mine in the area told me that during early October, the Nurburgring was going to be renamed E36 'ring, mainly down to how many were about! It seemed more of them were about than the total production quantity of 6 pot E36s! It was crazy! It seemed it was more of an E46 time this time around.
But while we are here, here's a cool E36 caught on the track:
I'll also apologies for using watermarked images from RaceTracker. It's a great resource. I've bought photos from there in the past. However, as much as I wanted to buy more this time, I couldn't justify £100 on 8 images this time around. Maybe I will in the New Year.
At the same time, I'd bump into
Bridge to Gantry's Dale Lomas. It's always good to catchup with someone who has eyes on the ground all of the time at the Eiffel. Many things came up in question. Wellbeing, obviously was one, as well as how business was, especially during the lockdowns we had all endured as well as the
Death of a driver last October at the 'ring and how things were judged. I'm not going to get into what's right or wrong, or the risks taken here, but it's interesting that we all still liked the idea of a Touristfahten. Yes, 'ring trackdays are potentially safer and operate better, but they also stop alot of cool stuff from not being seen, as well as friendships being born. It's not something I considered before, being in the 'trackday is best' camp. But I was having fun. People were having fun. A knackered VW T25 had as much attention as a McLaren MP12 or an ApexTaxi'd M4! That's the fun thing about the Nurburgring. TFs tend to be less 'clicky' and more open. Alot like the ethos of the RR crew
.
Dale mentioned about doing a final lap of the 'ring at the end of the day, at around 4pm. I said I'd consider it.
However, a few of us, like magpies, wondered around an ApexTaxi F82 M4. An American had hired it. However, I was more interested in this.
An M50 engine'd and track prepped E30 325i. It was very cool, and owned by some Dutchmen who often travel down to the Nurburgring. More of their footage can be seen here:
We got talking, and admired each others cars, as you do generally. We decided to talk a little more about the 'ring and things, so we decided to go for a coffee. Here, I'd get a taster of how most Covid-19 places operated in Germany. In short, you had two things in operation:
Indoors worked on 2G : 2G meaning
-Recovered from Covid-19
-Fully Vaccinated against Covid-19
The Terraced worked on 3G. This meant:
-As per 2G
-Unvaccinated folks can enter, but with proof of a negative test.
These rules had been in place for some time in Germany now.
But, as I entered, it was clear we were going to wait a while! With this in mind, we drove out
As the Dutchmen and I drove out to Adenau, we parked up, grabbed a coffee from the Schillinger (Think of it as something between the Greggs and Costa of Germany), and then we retreated back to the cars. Our initial plan was to go to Scheudenkrauz corner for viewing. This however would become fairly quickly derailed. It seems even more Dutchmen turned up! No, this was not setup, no one knew who they were! It however, made an already enjoyable experience that much more enjoyable.
What did we have? Well, We had some E36 Compacts,a 316i badged E36 Coupe which clearly was something more 6 cylinder powered than what the badge suggested
. No, these weren't friends of either of ours. Just some cool Beemers who spotted more cool Beemers, that's all.
Oh look, an E36 Compact!
This Beige E30 has a cool story behind it. It's now a 2.7 auto. I know, a little strange. Owned by a young owner too! However, his main focus was to not have a snorting pseudo race car that would have journos and influencers jizzing in their pants like the Lonely Island crew. Oh no.
What he wanted was something a little more sophisticated. He wanted something which had good torque, yet was compliant with rules, but also faithful to the early E30 and BMW designs. Something which could be a comfy yet cool looking tourer from his and ladyfriend. It was frankly refreshing to see something like this. OK, the wheels aren't my thing, but the rest of it worked so well
.
While I was admiring the E30s and 36s, the youngtimers were admiring the Jaegermeister car and surprisingly, my own M3! I guess the modern classic thing, and prices in general has played a part in that. Maybe the 'new' new cars as we'd call them here just don't have the appeal of a naturally aspirated car with simplish things to make it more fun.
Funny, E46 M3s are surprisingly big money over in Europe compared to older non M BMWs. That's not quite the case over here as we know, where even a nice E30 316i is now around £5k. But I guess this is what gives the mutual admiration. The young chaps wanting a 'dream car', me admiring the timeless design that is the E30.
This is the joy of the 'ring and Touristfahten. It's not a Rich Boy's playground with a stereotype. All things go, people get along, and are approachable. It's a varied automotive mecca which a live audience alot of the time. But things can change there, and the Jaegermeister brothers and I almost forgot why we grabbed a coffee! We wanted to get to Schwedenkreuz.
Now, we took some roads which we probably shouldn't have taken in hindsight, but what I will say is, we could see with our own eyes one of the deadliest corners of the Nurburgring with our own eyes. What we couldn't see was the cars! Where were they!
There was only one thing for it. Grab some shots of ours, while breaking bread over life etc.
At this point, we wondered why the track was so quiet, and so we went back to the 'ring. At the Nordscleiffe entrance, it became apparent there was a significant coolant spill, which had basically closed the track down. A shame, but it's what happens at the Eiffel.
However, it just meant we could admire more metal in the Eiffel. This included a lovely Alfa Romeo:
Maybe a cool E36 will do it for you if Italian stuff doesn't appeal. That Alfa was gorgeous however!
But then, a familiar car on YouTube popped up. It was
Misha Charoudin's E34 M5, which Sreton of
M539 Restorations is restoring in part for Misha.
It's funny, I wanted an M5 for a very long time. I adored the look of them so much! Then again, I suspect a few things came into play as for why this didn't happen.
-When I had the chance to buy one in budget, Other cars came about within budget I wanted, like the 944 Turbo
-2 friends of mine liked them, but not enough to leave a lasting memory
-Horror stories of engines basically dying and taking mortgage worthy bills to fix didn't help
-Suspension issues on the 3.8, which frankly, is the engine we all want, are far from cheap to fix.
-In all honesty, a steering 'boxed car, which isn't much different to a E34 probably would have got to me.
But the noise of that S38 unit! They just sound glorious! How glorious?
That can save any situation right?
But this is why I ended up with a car with a similar reputation anyway! I do adore my M3 I must say. Drives are an event and it goes so well, yet can do 30MPG on a run a little over the legal speed limit. The chassis also feels special compared to a few cars I've had. It doesn't just feel like an E46 with a Pseudo race engine. But while the emotions came flooding back, I figured I'd park what had become with my car ownership over what could have been.
Who am I kidding? It looks good eh?
It was then time to get the obligatory M Center shots. This M3 looked quite different now, albeit with sutble touches only, as to when I last took shots of it here almost 4 years ago.
But, all good things have to end. The hacienda was over, and while it felt like this was the period of decadence for me in 2021, I packed my things and my friend and I drove the M3 back, complete with German's finest beer, including Tegernsee and Paulaner in the boot
.
But that was that. Do I suggest the more sociable of you folks on here go to the Eiffel if you can? Definitely! Maybe an RR collective should go up soon.
But on this rare note of actually completing a thread for the first time in a long time, I'm over and out.
Hopefully, you enjoyed the read, and may it make you consider this automotive mecca in a now faraway land
.
. It even met an old friend. Yup, my friend now owns the 2.5T Mondeo, where he had it temporarily over.
. More will come later on 
.
