Blowing off a little steam in Germany...
Bobb Fwed
Posts: 1,119
This has nothing to do with programming or electronics (except I was taking a break from them), but I had so much fun, I wanted to share it with others who may have otherwise never heard of it.
The Nurburgring Nordschleife race track, in Nurburg, Germany (not to be confused with Nurnberg/Nuremberg, Germany), is unique in several ways. One being, it is the longest race track in the world (at 20km/12.5mi), and one of the most challenging because of its length and design, with massive elevation changes and fast, tight corners. You can take your personal cars on the track because it is officially a "public toll road", but we got a rental "race car", specifically setup to run on the Nordschleife. So yes, that is me driving.
Best when watched in HD full screen, because the added detail gives you a much better sense of speed.
I would love to hear other people's unique experiences during their vacations abroad!
The Nurburgring Nordschleife race track, in Nurburg, Germany (not to be confused with Nurnberg/Nuremberg, Germany), is unique in several ways. One being, it is the longest race track in the world (at 20km/12.5mi), and one of the most challenging because of its length and design, with massive elevation changes and fast, tight corners. You can take your personal cars on the track because it is officially a "public toll road", but we got a rental "race car", specifically setup to run on the Nordschleife. So yes, that is me driving.
Best when watched in HD full screen, because the added detail gives you a much better sense of speed.
I would love to hear other people's unique experiences during their vacations abroad!
Comments
:sick:
The package we got with the VW Scirocco Cup+ for a "half day" or more precisely 6 laps, was 600 Euro, which is currently about $840 (there were lesser cars to rent at lesser prices too). Not cheap by any means. But as we were told (and found out first hand), there are a massive number of accidents on the course, and I would imagine, per capita, rental cars have a higher likelihood of an accident. Not to say that accidents were covered by the 600 Euros. If we wrecked the car, we would have been liable up to 10,000 Euro (the car is probably worth about 30,000). But they had optional insurance, where for 200 Euro, you would only be liable for 8,000 Euro. So, yeah, it's all very expensive, and thank goodness, we did not wreck the car.
I'm just glad my dad picked up the bill.
Reminds me of my laps around the Lime Rock circuit in CT with my Porsche 911 30 years ago. I wish Lime Rock was that long.!
O! M! G! If I had only known that was open like that. Many trips to Nurnberg (actually Erlangen) to conduct training for Siemens Medical ..... That would have been a blast had I known during a couple of the two weekers. Too far away otherwise. Of course, if you catch the A6, A7, A9 and some other sections, you can still have a wild ride. I typically rented either a Benz or BMW when I was going somewhere, so keeping up on the Autobahn was no big deal for the most part, though I clearly remember being passed by a Porsche with a monster tail like I was standing still. (Just after one of the guys snapped a picture of the speedo over my shoulder clocking at 210Kph between Nurnberg and Munich!!!!. Anyone want to try this, only two rules you need remember. Keep out of the left lane unless you ARE that Porsche, and do not ever pass on the right. Fines are massive. Oh, and they don't look for you for photo tickets, they just bill the rental car company who then hits your credit card. Uh, the registered driver on the rental contract........ On a six month assignment, went somewhere almost every weekend. Berlin, Bamberg, Frankfurt, Munich, Prague, Regensberg, Garmish, Brenner pass (this was night, winter, snow/icy, scarry as s41t) into Italy, Rio Veggio, to Rome, back to Rio,to Pisa, Rio, Florence, Rio, Venice, backroads to Romantiche Strasse (beautiful ride, to do if you are ever there), Zurich, parts of Austria, backway back to Nurnberg from Zurich. Springtime, and the snow tunnels (really overhead concrete shelter things) melting most incredible shades of blue, w/ deep gorges to make things interesting. Fried by the end of that trip....... but to have been able to do the Nordschleife track I would have happily gone way past fried to do that once...........
Frank
Sadly, we went all the way to Europe, just to rent an American car. We were transporting a family and two weeks worth of luggage, so we needed a large car, and the largest the rental company had was a Ford Mondeo. Which, as it turns out, is not very similar to Fords you can get here. The diesel engine was interesting. No glow plugs (so no warm up time before you start it up, even when it's really cold out), I can't find stats on it, but my guess is that it put out about 100hp, but probably close to 300ft-lb of torque. This meant it never accelerated fast, but it never seemed to stop accelerating. The tires were rated to 210kph, so I thought I'd at least like to hit that. I got to 209kph, but then ran into traffic.
Come to find out, the time that we went (late September, early October) is kind of their "construction season". They figure most of the tourists are gone, and they want to get road work done before winter hits, so it seemed like every 40-50 miles there was constructional for a couple miles. The Autobahn was not quite as fast and efficient as I would have liked, or was obviously possible. It was especially bad in Switzerland.
Just a quick rundown of our trip: we landed in Munich, hit a few small cities for a couple nights heading toward Switzerland, we spent a couple nights in the most beautiful place on Earth (in my opinion) in the Swiss Alps, in a town on the side of a cliff call Murren, who's only access is a gondola, or some serious rock climbing. We had breakfast at Schilthorn, which is a solar powered rotating restaurant at just about the top of the world in those parts. We then spent a couple nights in France, did one night in Nurburg (for the Ring). We stayed a couple nights with some friends who live in Belgium, spent a night in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Then headed up through German Rhine country for a couple days, checking out castles to our hearts' content. Finally, ended up back in Munich to meet some of our friends from the city itself, and others from Slovakia.
Oh, and the 14 hour flight there and back (out of San Fransisco), was not one of the highlights.
All in all, a very busy 15 days, but well worth it! It was, by the way, my first trip to Europe.
Frank
I've done hundreds of laps Nordschleife but only virtual with Forza and Gran Turismo. The Nordschleife is only 100 miles south of me but I would never do a lap in my car, I don't want to break it.
Stephan
Interesting concept of simulated practice. For a nice diversion, check out google for video games and surgeons. That guy that kicks @$$ on grand theft auto or such may just be the guy you want running the DaVinci robot for someones surgery.
......Miss traveling ....................
Frank
For our robotics viewers:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9Bjs99A0k0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTZoAHjqS8U