Arrival: Friday 24th of September in the small village of Jammelshofen at the Waldhotel. At just aprox 10km from the Nürburgring.
Under a blue sky, the locals are already slowly preparing for winter. One of the local farmers had just finished mowing the grass from the ski slope.
Next day was the start of the ADAC Barbarossapreis. This is the penultimate race in the VLN series. A series highly regarded in Germany, with a mixture of professional drivers and highly skilled amateurs. Driving touring cars, from almost stock to specially built GT cars.
At 8.30 the qualifying starts and the race starts at 12. And while the spectators slowly arrive, the paddock shows a higher stresslevel.
And tyres are about the most important item it seems. On race cars. At least: its always a highly discussed subject.
After qualifying, the spectators get a change to get a close look in the paddock: admire the cars and check out the people that are involved.
This is such a purpose built race car: The Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus SCG 003. Full of beautiful details. The car was ordered by a wealty American, designed and built in Italy and now has a Japanese engine. This particular car didn't make it till the finish flag, but its sister car, the white #701 came in a well deserverd 4th. The best finish so far for this team.
And then its time for the Grid Walk where the specators can go on to the starting grid, with the drivers, mechanics and of course: the cars.
This would be the wining team: the Haribo racing team AMG, with a Mercedes-AMG GT3
And after a penalty for overtaking under a yellow flag, they would come in second: the Porsche 911GT3R by Mantey racing.
The movie shows the grid walk. And remember its by far not so busy as the Grid Walk the 24 hours of the Nurburgring.
Like I said: the Mercedes-AMG, here behind the Porsche would be victorious. A great and exciting race under really special weather. Very Eifel-unlike. But you won't hear me complain.
Sunday I drove of to Spa Belgium on aprox 1.5 hours drive from the Nurburgring. It was a race for the ELMS championship. Comparable to cars that participate in the WEC (like the 24hrs of LeMans). I will only show you some photos from the Autograph session, because the race was very boring. Partly due to the fact that the Flamish speaker was inaudible and the Twitter account manager of the ELMS Series, just happen to have a day of. So the spectators, had no idea who was leading, who had already made a pitstop, who had technical failures, etc.
So, just some photos taken in de Pits where the drivers where signing autographs and got on the photos with their fans.
This man summed it all up:
My final day I spent around the Nurburgring. First I headed down to the Gewerbepark am Nurburgring. A small industrial area next to the Nurburgring, Here you can find car manufacturers like Hyundai, Aston Martin, Jaguar, suppliers like Ohlins shockabsorbers, Continental tyres. Therse company rent the track for testing their cars and products. And race teams like Phoenix Racing, Get Speed and Black Falcon.
Then of to the Nordschleife. Probably the last time in 2016. The track was hired for the afternoon by SkyLimitEvents. It gives (mostly) amateurs the oportunity to drive at almost race speed. Unlike Touristenfahrten, where overtaking is only allowed on the left side, like on a normal road. And unlike the Touristenfahrt, cars are allowed to drive on slick tyres but drivers have to wear a helmet. I dont know what is cost to drive on an event like this, but all in all, the real driving time was no more than 4 hours.
This driver was very unfortunate, when his Fiat Uno caught fire. Nothing serious, but financially a small catastrophy.
After that everybody put his foot to the metal.
Of course, I couldn't end my visit to the green hell without a few laps in my lovely 330i. But no photos of that. Perhaps next year? For 2016 I think its Goodbye.
