Apr 1, 2007 9:57:55 PM
- Porsche-Jeck
- Rennteam Master
-
- Loc: Rheinland , Germany
- Posts: 4856, Gallery
- Registered on: Jun 27, 2005
Ring-fun / lesson about driving skill vs. HP
Hi guys - just want to share some impressions from the Ring with you 
It has been a great weekend with wonderful sunny wheather and a lot of driving fun
Saturday we had a midnight event at a Porsche Center with 170 P-car drivers getting together to celebrate the start of the driving season (very nice event and really cool to see - and hear 
- that much P-cars arriving in the middle of the night at the Porsche center (lot of them arriving in groups of 10-20 cars) to talk gasoline 
Today part of the crowd reconvened at the Nordschleife in order to add to the gasoline talk some smell of actual gasoline
It was a pleasure to meet up with a Rennteam fellow - Harryo2b - at the Ring, obviously another true victim of the P-bug just like myself
The nearer we came to the Ring the more P-cars and other fine sportscars you could spot on the roads (actually I saw a CGT for the first time driving on a public road).
I decided not to drive on the Ring with my own car today, because first these first sunny weekends are notorious for crazy "tourist" drivers who don't know their stuff and second I'll do some DEs this Spring first and only then will do the Ring with an experienced guide on a not so crowded weekday (20 km of - admittedly utmost - fun is not worth to total a nice car).
So we had a good time sitting on the terrace of the Ring Cafe (right at the NS-entry) enjoying the sound of all the wonderful toys waiting for their hot lap (2 CGTs, several 997 GT3, 2 997 GT3 RS, F430, F348, Gallardo Spyder, Mosler....the list is endless). I would estimate that almost 50% of the cars have been P-cars (all MYs, all variants)
A buddy of mine (a true NS-addicted) showed up with his track-toy (Lotus Elise) and invited me to join him as a passenger in his car for a hot lap.
The guy has done a number of laps in the high 3-digits or low 4-digits, so he knows his stuff
We had the luck, that the track has been pretty much empty, so he could demonstrate the capabilities of the car and the driver
His toy is completely stock and equipped with a rather tiny 120 hp engine
It was incredible fun and I seriously started to think about my own driving skills (or lack thereof
) - no doubt he would have humiliated me if I'd have tried to follow him in my P-car.
After about 15 km a 996 GT3 passed us on a straight, but he never ever managed to really get away from the underpowered Elise up to the finish line (and the P-driver definitely
didn't drive like a soccer mom) He just gained maybe 50 meters or so.
It's really fascinating to enjoy a hot lap as a passenger with such a skilled driver behind the wheel (even more so in a cab). Great emotions if you approach the hot corners at crazy speed with a big audience sitting on the hills close to the track
However there is dark side of the fascination - just after we finished our lap the Ring has been closed for more than 1 hr. The ambulance car and a completely destroyed bike tugged away made me shudder
Also during our lap we spotted (after a yellow flag warning) a crashed white 993
So basically I returned home with a strange mix of feelings:
1.) Nice to have met a Rennteamer at the Ring
2.) To have seen (and heard) the agglomeration of fine sportscar is a joy per se
3.) The Ring still is fascinating me just like 25 years ago when I went there quite often
4.) Today's HP war seems even more ridicilous if you experience first hand what a skilled driver is able to do with an underpowered lightweight toy
5.) The "dark side" seems to be an inevitable price for the unique Ring business formula
6.) I have to work on my driving skills
7.) If the NS-bug will really bite me I need to get a dedicated Ring-tool (would be crazy to sacrifice the P-car).
8.) A Lotus Elise could be the right tool
I'll add only few pics (Harryo2b will chime in later posting the great pics he took with a real camera - I had a toy with me only)
First: the toy - we're waiting for our lap (driver got distracted by a blonde girl)
It has been a great weekend with wonderful sunny wheather and a lot of driving fun
Saturday we had a midnight event at a Porsche Center with 170 P-car drivers getting together to celebrate the start of the driving season (very nice event and really cool to see - and hear - that much P-cars arriving in the middle of the night at the Porsche center (lot of them arriving in groups of 10-20 cars) to talk gasoline Today part of the crowd reconvened at the Nordschleife in order to add to the gasoline talk some smell of actual gasoline
It was a pleasure to meet up with a Rennteam fellow - Harryo2b - at the Ring, obviously another true victim of the P-bug just like myself
The nearer we came to the Ring the more P-cars and other fine sportscars you could spot on the roads (actually I saw a CGT for the first time driving on a public road).
I decided not to drive on the Ring with my own car today, because first these first sunny weekends are notorious for crazy "tourist" drivers who don't know their stuff and second I'll do some DEs this Spring first and only then will do the Ring with an experienced guide on a not so crowded weekday (20 km of - admittedly utmost - fun is not worth to total a nice car).
So we had a good time sitting on the terrace of the Ring Cafe (right at the NS-entry) enjoying the sound of all the wonderful toys waiting for their hot lap (2 CGTs, several 997 GT3, 2 997 GT3 RS, F430, F348, Gallardo Spyder, Mosler....the list is endless). I would estimate that almost 50% of the cars have been P-cars (all MYs, all variants)
A buddy of mine (a true NS-addicted) showed up with his track-toy (Lotus Elise) and invited me to join him as a passenger in his car for a hot lap.
The guy has done a number of laps in the high 3-digits or low 4-digits, so he knows his stuff
We had the luck, that the track has been pretty much empty, so he could demonstrate the capabilities of the car and the driver
His toy is completely stock and equipped with a rather tiny 120 hp engine
It was incredible fun and I seriously started to think about my own driving skills (or lack thereof
) - no doubt he would have humiliated me if I'd have tried to follow him in my P-car.After about 15 km a 996 GT3 passed us on a straight, but he never ever managed to really get away from the underpowered Elise up to the finish line (and the P-driver definitely
didn't drive like a soccer mom)
He just gained maybe 50 meters or so.It's really fascinating to enjoy a hot lap as a passenger with such a skilled driver behind the wheel (even more so in a cab). Great emotions if you approach the hot corners at crazy speed with a big audience sitting on the hills close to the track
However there is dark side of the fascination - just after we finished our lap the Ring has been closed for more than 1 hr. The ambulance car and a completely destroyed bike tugged away made me shudder
Also during our lap we spotted (after a yellow flag warning) a crashed white 993
So basically I returned home with a strange mix of feelings:
1.) Nice to have met a Rennteamer at the Ring
2.) To have seen (and heard) the agglomeration of fine sportscar is a joy per se
3.) The Ring still is fascinating me just like 25 years ago when I went there quite often
4.) Today's HP war seems even more ridicilous if you experience first hand what a skilled driver is able to do with an underpowered lightweight toy
5.) The "dark side" seems to be an inevitable price for the unique Ring business formula
6.) I have to work on my driving skills
7.) If the NS-bug will really bite me I need to get a dedicated Ring-tool (would be crazy to sacrifice the P-car).
8.) A Lotus Elise could be the right tool
I'll add only few pics (Harryo2b will chime in later posting the great pics he took with a real camera - I had a toy with me only)
First: the toy - we're waiting for our lap (driver got distracted by a blonde girl)
BUT: squeezing 100% out of a car on a track is a completely different story 
), but as you mentioned the "hot topic" laptimes I just wanted to explain that a "tourist lap" never should be understood as a competitive race lap 
