A lap of the Nürburgring is a must for speed-seeking bikers
Welcome to the Nürburgring: the craziest race track of them all
Just 2.433-miles in, I’ve already done the equivalent of a lap of the Brands Hatch GP circuit and we’ve only just got started. With both sides of my Panigale’s tyres now nicely warmed we’re at the tight, downhill, left-handed Aremberg. It might be one of the slowest corners on the track and feels like hitting the pause button after the wildly undulating, blind-crested 175mph left-hander that just fired me here, but it’s still third gear-quick on the Panigale V4.
Just like the Kent circuit, the Ring’s old GP track (the Nordschliefe) flows seductively through trees, demanding big speeds and even bigger kahunas. These last few miles have drilled into my senses and my heart’s already banging on the limiter. At any normal track a lap would be over and it’s repeat to fade, but here at the Ring there’s still over ten exquisite miles to go, as the track gets faster, dizzier and madder with ever one.
With a tidal wave of industrialstrength adrenalin coursing through my veins, 12.8 miles and 73 wild corners disappear in a shimmying, wheelying blur. The Ring’s final gift is a flat-out, 190mph-plus straight, before I’m funnelled gently back into the car park (you can’t do a full flying lap). But my mind and senses haven’t slowed down. I’m close to OD’ing on adrenalin - shaking, grinning and already eyeing the magic barrier that leads you back on to the track, so I can do it all over again.
On a bike the only way to experience the full fury of the Ring is on a pay and play ‘Tourist Drive’ session, which turns this magical circuit into a one-way toll road, open to all traffic during most weekends and evenings over the summer season (make sure that you look at the Ring’s website to check timings before you go). The alternative is to go on a Ring training school, but they’re pricey and you’ll never get a full, free, flying lap. You’re chaperoned by an instructor and learn the track in segments, which is fine, but it won’t leave you in the same dribbling, shaking state of euphoria at the end of the day. Sharing the track with other vehicles is all part of the joy for me. Where else do you get the chance to get up close and personal with Porsche 911 GT3s or BMW M3s at full speed? Some are frighteningly fast in the quick corners, but none get close to a bike’s acceleration on corner exits.
Perfumed with the stench of tortured car clutch and brakes, the rarefied air at the Ring adds to the surreal drama and when you’ve finished your laps you can disappear off to enjoy some ‘ApresRing’ – drinking cold Bitburger lager and eating steak off a sizzling stone as you swap tall stories. “That would’ve been a sub-eight minute lap if that car hadn’t held me up through Wipperman.”
Ring flashbacks stay with you for days, months and years.
I first came here in 2002 on my Ducati 916 with Byrne-Up Tours. It scared the hell out of me but I fell in love with it immediately and I still can’t get enough. My ritual on arrival is always the same: fill up at the ED petrol station just down the road from the car park, buy a ticket, drop my tyre pressures and
shake like a junkie all the way to the track, desperate to get my first fix. If all this talk of speed and adrenalin puts you off, seriously don’t let it. Yes, it can be dangerous when white vans, coaches, superbikes and supercars share the same ribbon of graffiti’d tarmac, but it’s easy to stay out of trouble. Treat it like a fast road, expect the unexpected and keep your wits about you (see Billy’s Ring tips) and you’ll get home safely.
It’s more than the track
Even if you don’t manage a lap the Nürburgring must still occupy a place on your biking bucket list, just to experience the unapologetic decadence of the place. The Ring’s car park is a sea of glistening paint, frazzled tyres and faraway stares. Surrounding roads are like a travelling motor show as the Ring pulls in petrol heads in from afar, like a giant speed magnet. Costing 25 Euros per lap in the week and 30 at weekends, it’s not cheap and after four laps my Panigale has glugged a tankful of fuel. You’ll need half-decent sports tyres that have enough meat on them to get you there and back and there’s the cost of the crossing and an overnight stay to think about, too. But it’s so worth it.
The ride is the best bit
You can be at the Ring in around four hours from Calais if you take the monotonous, but toll-free E40 motorway to Eupen in Belgium and pick up the racetrack-in-disguise 258 in Germany. If you’ve got more time you can swing low and go via St Quentin, into Belgium past Givet in the Ardennes and up to the Ring in time for an evening session. Stay for a few days and you can explore the kind of smooth, twisty roads that you’d normally have to go to the Alps, Pyrenees or southern Spain for. Just avoid the Ring in the winter. The track is closed and it’s bitterly cold.