AndyE

Pictures:

http://www.b1a.co.uk/ring/july/gallery.htm


Instructions for a successful Nordschleife Touristenfahrten weekend:

Book some flights and a fun hire car. Pay for some airport parking you won't use.

Rush like hell to East Midlands airport, then miss the plane anyway.

Find alternative flights. Book three hours before departure, so you can pay a fortune.

Drive 125 miles to Stanstead to get your ‘new’ outbound flight.

Experience a fire alarm at Stanstead, then almost miss this flight because you were eating all day breakfast.

Eventually arrive at Cologne airport at half ten. Get car. Drive to Camping Am NR, which will be packed with DTM-ers and experience simply the most spectacularly unusual atmosphere on earth!

Don’t get any sleep. Never mind, German Brass-band heavy-metal tinnitus to keep you company the next day.

Have an excellent day on the ‘ring, see some amazing driving (and riding), and hopefully put in some neat and quick laps. Do some viewing, too. Take some photos.

See Ben Lovejoy's 944. It seems to be wearing tyres bought at some sort of antique autojumble!

Find that a stalled 350z with some sort of peculiar immobiliser fault can leave you embarrassingly stranded (but just out of everyone’s way) in the toll queue.

More DTM campsite, cue more German thrash-metal-marching music. Even some sleep!

Another excellent morning at the ‘ring, unfortunately a few crashes, S2000 at Wippermann and a couple of bikes.

Over the crest just before Schwedenkreuz at the top of fifth gear, see marshals frantically waving flags due to crashed Ford Escort. BRRRRAAAAKKKE! 350z Brembos are very good.

Remember that you have to get on, or you’ll miss another plane. Spaghetti at the Breidscheid restaurant is excellent.

Fly back, then arrange a lift from East Midlands airport! Another excellent (but this one a bit expensive) weekend.

willbyname

Sounded like a fun time was had by all, apart from the flight changes of course.
Nice pics Andy, what was going on with the CBR with a stabilising arm and extra large "peg" on the left hand side?
Did the rider have a disability? If so, then fair play to him/her, it just goes to show what a bit of ingenuity can do to help you get out there and have fun.
Dare I ask, how did the Z compare to the M5?

Will

AndyE

There was a group of motorcyclists who turned up, unloaded their wheelchairs and this machinery allows them to do it - the arm "flicks" out at under ~2mph to stop them falling off. It uses what looks like a modified wiper motor.

Here's another picture:



This chap was wearing no shirt later, and he had a scar like a zip from the middle of his back to his neck, presumably where his spine has been operated on.

You're right, it's amazing the lengths these guys have gone to to keep on biking.

How does the Z compare to the M5?

It's much more flexible from low revs, probably mainly due to the clever VVT. It produces a decent (and usable) amount of power and torque from 3.5L, and has very confidence-inspiring handling to boot.

It's mechanically quite agricultural with a noisy gearbox. It's quite plasticky inside, and a large strut brace across the rear suspension turrets costs you boot space.

BUT, it was brilliant. It's very easy to drive fast. The brakes are great, even if emergency stopping at 150mph.

I wouldn't replace the M5 with one, it's just not quite powerful enough, and is definitely quite a lot less refined, but it was REALLY good fun.

You can hire one from SIXT.DE for a weekend for Eu.200. I'd recommend it!!