ED Memories: August 7, 2023

Monday, August 7, 2023

I wake up and immediately make a conscious effort to push the rather downer track experience of yesterday out of my mind. Here we are at the Nordschleife at last and I am bound and determined to enjoy it. Helping with that is the fact that it's looking like a nice day for the later part of the afternoon when we are scheduled to go on track. Yesterday was just a little too nervy in the rain for me with those grip levels, and I'm glad we only did a feeler lap.

It's an easy morning, and I rise late while Andrew works on his laptop creating more awesome GTS Chronicles Instagram content. He's really gotten into it in a big way, and it's a great way for us to share a little bit of what we have been experiencing.

We visit the grocery store to get supplies for the day and the price relief is palpable as things are WAY more 'normally' priced here than in Switzerland jeez. Breakfast buns, yogurt, fruit and milk for coffee. Perfect. There's a clever vending machine for baked goods! I got pizza slices, but I saw a woman just getting a freshly baked loaf of bread - saves packaging and shelf space! It even sliced it for her we also grabbed some snacks for the bike ride which we are next going to do. Now that's something I've been looking forward to, as it was a real highlight of the Nurburgring experience last time. I'm also looking forward to a bit of exercise and outdoorsyness around the track to banish my depressing thoughts from yesterday. 

The bike rental place is RIGHT next door to the flat (which is actually only 100m from the track itself!) so we walk over and rent mountain bikes and helmets. It's remarkably cheap, and well worth every penny. Being able to bike around the track and get so up close to it is really quite something, and I've read lots about the 24 hours of the Nurburgring and what a massive event it is for fans who come and camp out around the track. Something I would love to be able to do one day, and the biking gives you just a little bit of a taste of what that must be like. Mother Nature plus a race track and fast cars, what could be better?

Biking is uphill a lot at first - what a warmup - the payoff comes at the end tho as the last 7.5 kms are all downhill back to the flat. It's a 20.5 kms loop in all, with some major elevation changes - something you don't get any kind of impression of in videos or the simulator. I take it easy and walk in places where the strain would be too much for my knee. I had been somewhat worried about my knees leading up to the trip as they had both been giving me some trouble over the months prior. Thankfully though, no issues and pedal operation both car and bike is smooth sailing. 

It is overcast and there is a cool breeze - perfect for riding. We are in and out of trees the whole time, right next to the track, in reverse order, and we pretty much end up going around the whole thing. It’s extremely cool to be able to get so close to the track, and you really get a sense of speed when a car blasts past you no more than a few metres away. There are no cars on track at first, but by lunch, there are now several manufacturers testing out camouflaged cars - Mercs, BMWs, Hyundais, and definitely some EVs which go by with tire noise only - weird! Then some sportier cars: Jags for Nelson, BMW M4s, Toyota FRSs and even a couple of old BMW sedans??? Can't imagine what they are testing. There’s only one Porsche - a 911 GTS that sounded just amazing.

As we make our way back to return the bikes, the anticipation is building again. It’s dry, so I’m hopeful for a bit more of a proper session than our previous outing! We chill at the flat for 2 hours before the track opens at 5:30 for the tourist lapping time. We are there right on time. It is busy, but we head out early to do an ‘installation’ lap. Andrew is forced to follow me for the first lap, as we want some footage of the two cars together. After that tho, he takes off ahead because as usual, he is 'on it' right out of the gate. Takes me a lot longer, I’ve said before. I need to take my time and really feel it out obviously more than he does.

In between laps at one point, we zip over to the town of Nurburg to stop in at Apex Taxi to see if we can meet up with a famous ‘Ring YouTuber to say hi (we had told him we were coming to the ‘Ring). On the second try, he is there, so we have a great chat and laugh about our adventure and his business - he’s very nice fellow who is doing just fine these days thankyouverymuch due to his massive following on YouTube.

A couple more laps and we are done for the day - I’m wiped as it's so demanding, but this time I have no grip issues and I start to feel a bit more confident. Not Mister Cayman levels, but still better. I think I'll write a separate reflection on lapping the ‘Ring all unto itself, so worthy of it, it is.

We take Misha (the YouTuber) up on his recommendation for a dinner place and have a nice meal and chat to debrief the laps. 

It’s only a short walk back to the flat, where I snag the first shower and am now flat out.

A decent day done!

~ Luke

p.s. You can read the full, no-holds-barred accounting of this day at gtschronicles.com.