Nürburgring an intense track
WORLD’S MOST INCREDIBLE public road is on many drivers’ bucket lists for a good reason
The danger becomes evident late in the afternoon. Entering a corner at Germany’s Nürburgring Nordschleife, I spot the crumpled remains of a Honda S2000 — both airbags deployed, the front and rear completely destroyed. The driver is standing by a steel barrier, which bears the scars of not just this impact but others that have come before.
Suddenly the gravity of what I am doing — piloting a Guards Red 2013 Porsche 911 C4S around this track at speeds that top 260 km/h — takes hold. For some reason I say “sorry” for the driver who has totalled his S2000.
I also realize I could very well have been him.
“Focus,” I tell myself, “focus” — saying it out loud for impact. The $130,000 Porsche quickly passes the wreckage and we are soon back at speed, the exhaust of the 911’s 400-horsepower flatsix absolutely destroying the tranquillity of Germany’s Eifel forest on this warm and sunny summer afternoon.
This forest about two hours northwest of Frankfurt is home to the world’s most incredible public road, a road that — for good reason — is on the bucket lists for everyone who loves cars or simply wants to drive the most challenging course on the planet.
Despite its “public” status, the Nürburgring is very much a full-blown racetrack. The Nürburgring also encompasses a Grand Prix course, built in 1984, making the entire complex like a shrine to the great sport of auto racing.
As was witnessed by the unfortunate Honda driver, there are accidents every day at the Nürburgring. On the first day, the Honda and an M3 were wrecked. On Day 2, a GT3 hit the Armco so hard it broke the barrier. Two GT3 RSs also got banged up, as did a 911 C2S driven by an auto journalist in my group.
There are also deaths at the ring. While no one seems to have official figures, over the years, “this track has claimed over 200 lives,” Top Gear’s Jeremy Clarkson said in a 2004 episode.
Opened in 1927, the Nordschleife today runs 20.8 kilo- metres through 300 metres of elevation changes, encompassing roughly 75 left-and-right bends.
Depending on the car, and driver, it can take as little as six minutes and 48 seconds to complete one lap of the Nordschleife — if you are Michael Vergas in a Radical SR8. If you are Porsche factory driver Timo Kluck, who is my instructor and who I am following on the track, a lap in a 991 Porsche 911 C2S can be completed as quickly as 7:37 — the fastest a bonestock C2S has ever gone.
As I follow Kluck around the track, trying hard to memorize each turn, and position the 911 on the proper line, we begin to build speed as the day progresses.
This day, organized by a German company called Sport Auto, will see approximately 20 groups (one of which is for Porsche AG) of drivers, with six cars per group. Most of the groups are European drivers who have paid about $3,000 to be part of the Sport Auto program, and will be taught how to drive the Nürburgring using their own, track-oriented cars, many of which are Porsches, including GT2s and GT3 RSs. There are many other great cars, including Nissan GT-Rs, McLaren MP4-12Cs, BMW M3s, Audi R8s. Everywhere I look, there is more sexy sheet metal.
Despite the beating the 911 is taking, it continues to perform flawlessly, the Pirelli tires providing serious grip, the front end devoid of understeer, the PDK transmission helping to flip gears at the precise moment every time — the carbon-ceramic brakes never once feeling inadequate. And this from a car I collected at the Frankfurt airport, packed my luggage into, and then drove to the track without anything more than a check of the tire pressure.
Still, there is a constant reminder of danger. Skid marks off the track are everywhere. Spectators have gathered at one challenging corner in anticipation that something nasty might happen, or simply to see some of the awesome cars.
Despite the risk, the pull to go faster and to complete another few laps remains irresistible. Panged by worry when the car wobbles over a crest at 175 km/h, at other times filled with confidence pushing past a GT3, I am making the 911 go as fast as I think it can, yet Kluck, my instructor, continues to pull away whenever he wants — and he’s driving the same car.
He knows the danger, too, but he also knows the limits of the 911 — a car that seems perfectly suited for the Nordschleife. This track, like this car, both encompass equal measures of awe and beauty. Both are meant to be driven hard, and both should be treated with the utmost respect.
On the second day of the Sport Auto program, I was asked to give up the 911 C4S for a Cayman S equipped with a PDK and carbon-ceramic brakes.
After two laps of the Nürburgring, I came into a deep appreciation for the Cayman. While it felt almost as fast as the C4S, it was noticeably nimbler. I think I was as fast as the day before and, like the 911, the Cayman S simply pounded away at the track, corner after corner, without a single issue.
The PDK, I must admit, is a much better gearbox for this track, especially when trying to learn the course. Porsche’s automatic gearbox does exactly what it should whenever the driver wants, and it allows the driver to focus on turning, braking and picking the proper line. Having to row a manual gearbox would be only one more variable to contend with, something any driver can do without at the Ring.