| A lap of the Nordschleife |
|---|
| Through the barrier and on to the track |
Through the barrier, the first
thing to do is stop on the right so you can stow the ticket and get your
gloves back on, and optionally wait for your friends to do the same.
The techno-warriors will also be resetting stop watches and clearing
the track log on the GPS :-)
|
|
|
| Antoniusbuche to Hohenrain |
Out on to the straight, the first
bit is pretty dull*. The track
goes straight for a long time, dipping downhill
and curving gently left. To make this bend interesting from a standing start,
you'd have to go absolutely ballistic ... so I never bothered and just croozed
until I got to the first decent corner, the right hander of Hohenrain,
where my lap really started.
*
Some folk get on to the track, pull a huge wheely and make a lot of noise.
We generally expect to pass them around Hatzenbach :-)
|
|
|
| Chicane & T13 |
Up on to the kerb*
on the left and through a right-left flick. Ahead of you is a tyre wall barring
the way to the GP circuit. Instead you have to take what I think is one of the
most difficult corners on the circuit ... it's a simple second gear 90 right,
but what makes it hard is the very high armco barrier blocking your view
through the corner. Apart from not wanting to hit your head on it (Oooh,
just like the Isle of Man), a car might have spun and be parked just out of
sight, but you'd have no idea until you got there - yes, it's happened to me!
After the bend there's a short straight, along which was the public access
point to the circuit until mid 1998. Old hands call the section T13
after the designation of the grandstand overlooking it.
*
OK, OK ... there was a big, slippery, red and white kerb here, and it
was horrible even in a car. By August '99 it had gone and the remaining slight
bump was bike-friendly.
|
|
|
| Hatzenbach |
The next left-hander, at the end of the short straight, is a great test of
courage. It's strongly cambered but it's the first decent left-hander of
the lap so it's a huge risk on cold tyres. On the second or third consecutive
lap though, it's fantastic. Curving in a graceful (or not) arc from the exit,
back to the left side for the entrance to Hatzenbach proper. Steeply
downhill - dab the brakes if you must, or don't if you're brave - it's a
fast double right-hander with a big bump on the apex.
Back across to mid-track for a left-hand kink, then into a lovely
double-right where you can get lots of
lean*.
(You can get a great view of this section from the road running south west
out of Nürburg)
It's important to get well over to the right now, because
Hatzenbach is
getting twisty - a left-right-left where errors in line are compounded as you
go on. Much better to go in slowly and come out fast, than to go in a bit
hot and have to stand it up and brake! It's even trickier in a car, the
extra width makes the bends more significant
Finally you pop out of Hatzenbach and, on the short straight, you
again have to cross to the other side of the track. Why is nothing
ever easy? :-)
*
Still remember this is early in the lap
- while riding a friend's 'blade, the rear tyre suddenly let go here and I fell
hard on my knee - luckily it gripped again and I was able to carry on ...
|
|
|
| Hocheichen to Schwedenkreuz |
The next right-left is important for lap times, leading as it does on to a
straight. This chicane is the prelude to a very fast section - for me
it's as fast as the Döttinger Höhe straight or the
Fuchsröhre, and the more speed you can carry on to it, the better.
The right hander is straightforward and quite open, but it
tempts you in too fast, as it leads immediately into the tricky tight downhill
left. The left can be taken fast and under power as the camber is very
good, but the surface is a bit uneven.
Exiting Hocheichen the straight drops away to a bridge
(Quiddelbacher-Höhe), then rises to a crest where the front wheel
will certainly go light. It's flat out from Hocheichen to the crest, and
the turn point for a very fast double-right is just over the crest, so you're
dealing with a light front wheel, at high speed, just a few inches from the
left-hand kerb. Gulp. For a while I was backing off before the crest and then
braking before the turn, but in the end I was able to keep it flat over the
crest, change down, then turn-in. Of course this is on a weedy 600, on a
GSX-R1000 you might find differently!
This fast double-right (Flugplatz) feels absolutely wonderful.
as you take the long bend in a constant arc, flowing from kerb to apex to kerb
to apex to kerb. Exiting the bend it's bank to the left, accelerating as hard
as you can. The next bit down to Schwedenkreuz is flat-out - one of the
very fastest parts of the circuit - with a couple of bumpy crests thrown in.
The GSX-R gets a bit frisky around here!*
Schwedenkreuz is another courage test, being very fast and (I think)
off-camber. There's a crest around the turn point too, which causes a lot of
trouble to rear-wheel-drive cars as it can induce a spin (visibility is good
though, you can see any wrecked cars in plenty of time). The crest and the
camber make a car feel very bad, so braking was quite hard for me there in the
Impreza, but on the GSX-R I just changed down one to
check the speed, and turned in.
*
"Frisky" as in, "it tried to kill me": I got to the Ring in August 99 with the
yokes dropped 5mm, which I'd tried at Lydden (could two circuits be more
different?), and had found to speed up the steering at the cost of a slight
loss in stability. I exited this left-hander-over-crest on the right of the
track (I'd normally stay tight to the left) to overtake another bike. The bars
started to waggle and then slap as I came back across to the left, I finally
managed to get it calmed down with about a yard of track to spare ... well, I
got the bike calmed down, I took until later that evening
:-)
The steering went back to standard geometry the following
morning, and for good measure I fitted a steering damper ... there are
some thrills I can do without!
|
|
|
| Aremburg and Fuchsröhre |
Aremburg was one of my favourites. The braking is very hard (on a
horrible rippled surface), coming from a supersonic approach to the tight
hairpin right. You can see all the way through the bend, and can use all the
track on the exit - this was one of the leaniest bits of the track for me.
Now there's time to get back to the right of the track to straight-line the
entry to Fuchsröhre - an amazing ride, going ballistic as you
plunge down a 10% slope through some gentle esses (which you can just about
take in a straight line) which switches to a 10% rise suddenly enough for the
tank to hit me in the chest so I said "Oof!"
A deceptively fast left can be taken more or less flat-out - I just changed
down (still steeply uphill here), and then braked a little for the slower
right-hander.
|
|
|
| Adenauer-Forst and Metzgesfeld |
A good line through
Adenauer-Forst always eluded me. In plan it's a tight, but very simple,
left-right chicane, but it's just at the crest of a hill so you don't get a
clear view of the chicane until the initial turn point. The turn seems very
late and it's not surprising that a lot of people go straight on to the grassy
run-off*!
On my first lap of the Nordschleife, this was one place that really
caught me out. One clue that this might be a scene of regular mistakes is the
large crowd that often gathers ...
Exiting the chicane (or more usually, struggling out of the chicane in too
high a gear) we're in to Metzgesfeld, with first a flat-out left kink,
then a fast but not-quite-that-fast left. Exiting that, it's time to brake
hard for the final left-hander.
*
Once we approached the chicane to find a car reversing back on to
the track!
|
|
|
| Kallenhard to "Miss-Hit-Miss" |
The left-hander is roughly flat, and leads immediately into a right-hander
with the track falling away. The transition from left to right here was one of
my favourite feelings on the lap - if you get the right line, you can go
straight across the apeces and shoot down the hill, otherwise you end up
going hard left/right.
Dropping steeply down now to Kallenhard, a tight right hand hairpin
requiring very hard braking. This bend has one of the best track surfaces of
the whole lap (as good as a short circuit), and as such you can get
some good lean.
Smartly back over to the right side on the short straight for a fast
(almost flat out) left kink, which you must exit on the left. This is a great
ride, as now we're tearing downhill and entering the fast triple-right known
as miss-hit-miss (because that's what you do to the apeces). The speed
is the main challenge there, as I always found the line pretty clear.
(The open view over the Eifel does make you think - if anything
does happen while you're cornering at 100+, maybe you'll pause briefly
at the armco, but then it's down the mountainside ... not that the 100mph crash
into armco would be fun even, without a mountain to fall down ...)
|
|
|
| Wehrseifen to Breidscheid |
The glorious exit of miss-hit-miss followed by the short downhill
straight gives much too much speed for Wehrseifen, a very tight
left-hand hairpin.
The classical line is quite difficult, requiring hard braking on the
straight, round the little right and then more hard braking* for a late entry to sweep around Wehrseifen.
I tried different lines, and eventually preferred the "point and squirt"
method: glance off the apex of the right-hander and aim straight for the nose
of the kerb at Wehrseifen, brake very hard (almost to a standstill),
turn the bike, and whizz off. It's much slower through the hairpin itself, but
the approach is quicker and quite a bit easier.
We're still going steeply downhill, picking up speed quickly through
a right kink before a dab on the brakes for Breidscheid. This is the
lowest point on the track, a fast, open double-apex left starting downhill and
ending uphill ... it's extremely daunting: Straight ahead of you is a
concrete wall, and beyond that, a drop off the bridge onto the
Adenau-Breidscheid road. If you lose it a little further round, you end up
interfacing with the people waiting to come on to the track at the
Nordschleife's other entrance.
(Because of this entrance, this section has a 50kph speed limit - I didn't spot
it for ages. I can't say I've ever seen anyone taking any notice ...)
Friend
Richiemouse
lost the front of his GSX-R here, and was very very lucky not to be badly hurt
(though I was less lucky as he'd borrowed my spare leathers!).
His bike was a write-off though (still, not all bad news, he bought my "old"
GSX-R,
so I could buy a new one :-) )
*
All this hard, downhill braking really takes its toll on a car. The brakes
on a normal road car (like our Impreza) have all but disappeared by this
point. Luckily this is the lowest point on the track and the brakes get
a rest until we arrive at Klostertal a few miles away. In my opinion a
brake upgrade will make more difference to your enjoyment of the 'Ring than any
amount of go-faster engine goodies.
|
|
|
| Ex-Mühle to Kesselchen |
The track now turns uphill again, and dives straight into Ex-Mühle,
a simple right. Well, I think it's simple, but I found it quite hard to
pick the right entry speed, and always seemed to be turning in too late and
making it tighter than it needs to be. I also found it a bit of a struggle to
get across the saddle and change down two gears in time to go through the
corner, so I was often to be found gurgling out of the corner in the wrong gear
- and the incline really punished me. It's much easier on a GSX-R1000
:-)
A good straight with a left kink takes you to Bergwerk, a decreasing
radius hairpin right considered by some to be the most important corner on the
track. The last half of the corner is out of sight as you approach, and the
temptation is to turn in far too early.
I consistently took the bend far too slow, although (unlike
Ex-Mühle) I at least got the gear right, so I had some drive up the
hill. Anyway ... a quick exit from Bergwerk is (in theory :-))
handsomely repaid all the way up Kesselchen, an awesome climb through
very fast multiple left handers* , with a couple of
slight lefts and rights thrown in. Some of the track is pretty bumpy, not so
noticeable on a bike, but in a car it's quite a ride. Never a problem, but this
is the part where Amanda often realised she'd left her sports bra at home
:-)
Finally there's Angstkurve, a slightly slower left, leading to a
blind crest and slightly tricky (at this speed) right. Then a quick dash
through a left kink to another heavy-braking zone, for ...
*
This was another of my
favourite parts of the circuit, accelerating on full lean for ages. It's
like a very long version of Schwantz Curve at Donington.
|
|
|
| Klostertal to Höhe Acht |
Klostertal, a lovely, simple hairpin right, exiting uphill (still) on a
short straight under full acceleration, where hitting the small bump on
the left will see the front wheel variously going light or pawing the air,
depending on bike and style :-)
Now it's the famous Karussell. Adverse camber on the outside, you
will initially be amazed to discover that the horrible, rough, bumpy concrete
surface on the inside is the better option. Karussell is a full hairpin
which tightens towards the end, so if you don't control your speed there's a
high risk of popping out. I absolutely hated it for a while - with the lowered
suspension in the Impreza, the tyres would scrape the arches under compression,
while on the bike you really have to strain against the g-forces and look as
far around the corner as possible.
I never really did enjoy it, but at least I finally got to grips with it.
Hanging off really helps, and I was stunned to get my knee
down on one lap in August '99! I wonder how far from the horizontal that put
me - maybe I was even pointing downwards? :-)
Powering uphill (still) from Karussell leads to a fast-as-you-like
left, then an intricate slower left-right, which is really satisfying to get
right. After a short straight it's over the crest (finally!) at the highest
point on the track, and around the right hander at Höhe Acht.
|
|
|
| Wipperman to Eiskurve |
I found Wipperman one of the trickiest bits of the track. Once I learned
the entry point for the initial right (where the armco on the left peels
away), I found the trick was to keep the speed steady through the
right-left-right. I found it much better to ride a constant speed here than to
squirt-and-brake.
A short straight leads up to an exciting initially blind 90° right*, then a squirt and down a gear for Eschbach, a
90° double-apex left where I keep it tight on the exit, although the
official line is somewhat different - I never remembered to try it. Initially I
braked here, but after a while I just rolled the throttle and peeled in to the
open 90° right of Brünnchen.
This is another place where the presence of a crowd suggest extra caution!
A short straight leads into a slippery uphill 90° right, then another
short straight into Eiskurve. The adverse camber here often caused my
footpegs to ground at turn-in. The exit line has to be just right, as we go
straight into a right over a crest.
*
After snagging my footpeg on the inside kerb, I ran wide on the exit and had a
bad crash in '00
|
|
|
| Pflantzgarten to Schwalbenschwanz |
After all this struggling since Höhe Acht, it's nice to see the
track open out and gently snake down to Pflantzgarten. Straightlining
the curve, there's a drop before a right. What you do with your braking
depends who you are and what you're driving: In the Impreza I'd brake hard
before the drop, release, and reapply afterwards (braking across the
dip causes the wheels to lock). In a Brembo-braked Impreza 22B, I braked
only after the dip. On the
GSX-R
I rolled the throttle over the dip and didn't brake.
The right is quite simple *, although the kerb pokes
in from the left just beyond the next crest, so exiting about mid-track is
ideal. I always forgot this bit :-)
The left is quite fast, and there's a short straight to get plenty of speed
for the next big dip, taken on a slight left-hand bank. My mate Ian did
fantastic wheelies over this every bloody time, but I just bottled it, rolled
the throttle slightly and got a pathetic little front-end wiggle.
Now another fast right-left with a similarly intrusive kerb, and some
gentle curves which you can pretty much straightline.
There's an uphill right-hander at the end, and I found it really difficult
to judge the braking point. There's a bit of painted armco on the left to
indicate the turn-in, but it's not easy to see approaching at speed. After
negotiating that, it's into the left of Schwalbenschwanz, which opens
out on the exit (although you can't see that from the entrance).
*
Despite the simplicity, I still managed to lose the front and
crash here in '01.
Very luckily, it's one of the few places with a gravel trap.
|
|
|
| Back on to the straight |
A short uphill straight leads to Kleines Karussell, which I liked even
less than the big one - the camber on the concrete banking is very variable.
It's only a small corner though, so it's over soon - but it's definitely much
easier to take in a car.
After that it's straights and rights all the way: uphill to
Galgenkopf, a double-right with a fast entry, just glance off the
apex kerb out to the left, then back in again for the second apex.
(This bend always reminded me of Charlies at Cadwell Park)
The last bend tests your faith in tyre grip, a long, long right hander
exiting under hard acceleration (theoretically) on to Döttinger
Höhe straight.
A lot of people then wind it up to max speed on the straight before pulling
back into the car park ... if you're like to brag about big numbers on the
speedo, it's worth doing once I spose :-) |
|
