KSaiyu
(Banned)
- 2,822
Three weeks ago I finally ran out of excuses not to go on a weekend trip to the Nurburgring with a mechanic a few garages down from my dad's, who travels there with a group every few weeks during the Spring/Summer months. Needless to say it was a great experience, and once back home I was already thinking how I could go later this year with a budget car or with my Alfa....if it ever gets restored.
Anyway, on to the pics. We saw this ahead of us on the M25 early Friday morning and the mechanic commented that he was probably headed to the same place. He was right, and as noted by GTP_Grenade in another thread it belongs to David Yu.
I was going in the M3, the VXR belonged to someone else in the group. Equipped with a Milltek exhaust it sounded (and looked) like a BTCC racer, and he's planning further upgrades to take it to 300bhp. In the background is the Eurostar line, which runs parallel with the motorway we took in Belgium for a good few miles. I was told that one year there was a guy with a modified RS4 who thought it would be fun to race the Eurostar....
The entrance. As a lot of you probably know it's 22 Euro a lap, but you can buy in bulk that works out cheaper the more you buy. In the group, the M3 owner and the two bikers bought a black "watch", that you wear around your wrist and gives you unlimited laps (to an extent) through the year, which costs around a grand.
All sorts of machinery was there, so there was much to look at when I wasn't a passenger.
The inside of the M3, now complete with race harnesses for the passenger and driver seats, with the drivers being a proper central locking one. Other additions were the wing as seen in the other pic, plus a front splitter that came with the bumper. The reason being the car was bought as a insurance write off, with the front needing a lot of work including a new bumper, which is where on ebay He found one with a splitter for a reasonable price. Yellowstuff pads and Michelin PSCs were on as well, but apart from that it was stock, with standard suspension and engine tuning.
My first passenger outing was in the M3 on Friday afternoon, with the track damp and few cars out. Bear in mind this was their first visit this year, and last "season" his weapon of choice was a heavily modified Mini Cooper S. Add in the fact this was the first time he was driving the M3, previously a write-off in anger and you can appreciate this was always going to be a sighting lap and a step into the unknown.
First lap, slow speed, turn into the chicane before the pits....rear end goes. It's almost over before it's begun, and it's a theme for the rest of the lap - he describes it to driving on an ice rink. Testament to that comes with yellow flags halfway around the lap, and a Porsche 993 on the grass with it's front end wrecked. The result was a track closure, something which I was told happens regularly and can last from a few minutes to over an hour, which is precisely what happened on the Saturday with barely any chance to breath between closures at one point.
First video is the only one from that rain-affected day, and it was a passenger ride in the VXR. It was amazing to see the difference between this and the M3, the Vauxhall's traction control always intervening to keep the car controllable. Most cars on the track that day were BMWs or other RWD cars, and this passed most with ease as the others visibly squirmed under braking and acceleration. Most of the vids are short since they were taken with a mobile or a digital camera.
A short vid from the next day whilst I was standing at the entrance to the barriers.
This one is from the Sunday, taken in a rented Mk5 GTI starting just after the barriers. The Ferrari and GT-R were British registered, I remember the Ferrari going pretty slowly all the way around. Funny thing (or not that funny I guess) was that the driver I was with had an off at Adenauer Forst, although I didn't capture it on camera. Pretty lucky to get away with only a chipped rim considering how we landed back on the track....
A short video of a quickish lap with the M3 driver, faster lap is next....
The best camber he could get out of the fronts was -1.5, so he's already looking for uprated suspension in the future. At the time of writing the leather seats and door cards are out, so there's only two Sparcos (£60 for two on ebay!) up front now. Also, anyone have any idea on what pressures to run, a friend of his said he found out it should be 36 cold, he started the day on 30 which, combined with the camber led to significant sidewall flex.
Now for my best video, although the damn camera cut out just over halfway through. I timed it Bridge to Gantry (without him knowing at the time) and he came in at 8:36 - which isn't bad considering the suspension, traffic and the 3 lots of luggage in the boot. Speaking of traffic, two in particular were pleasant surprises!
The experience gave me a new-found respect for the M3 as previously I regarded it as the choice of car for posers and nothing more. Hours on the motorway and just one lap was enough to put paid to that misconception, it really is an awesome machine. Next stop is to not just be a passenger albeit in something much less expensive, and I can't wait to bag another ride in the lighter, uprated version with (I'm hoping) less traffic driven by the mechanic that I admittedly underestimated!
Anyway, on to the pics. We saw this ahead of us on the M25 early Friday morning and the mechanic commented that he was probably headed to the same place. He was right, and as noted by GTP_Grenade in another thread it belongs to David Yu.
I was going in the M3, the VXR belonged to someone else in the group. Equipped with a Milltek exhaust it sounded (and looked) like a BTCC racer, and he's planning further upgrades to take it to 300bhp. In the background is the Eurostar line, which runs parallel with the motorway we took in Belgium for a good few miles. I was told that one year there was a guy with a modified RS4 who thought it would be fun to race the Eurostar....
The entrance. As a lot of you probably know it's 22 Euro a lap, but you can buy in bulk that works out cheaper the more you buy. In the group, the M3 owner and the two bikers bought a black "watch", that you wear around your wrist and gives you unlimited laps (to an extent) through the year, which costs around a grand.
All sorts of machinery was there, so there was much to look at when I wasn't a passenger.
The inside of the M3, now complete with race harnesses for the passenger and driver seats, with the drivers being a proper central locking one. Other additions were the wing as seen in the other pic, plus a front splitter that came with the bumper. The reason being the car was bought as a insurance write off, with the front needing a lot of work including a new bumper, which is where on ebay He found one with a splitter for a reasonable price. Yellowstuff pads and Michelin PSCs were on as well, but apart from that it was stock, with standard suspension and engine tuning.
My first passenger outing was in the M3 on Friday afternoon, with the track damp and few cars out. Bear in mind this was their first visit this year, and last "season" his weapon of choice was a heavily modified Mini Cooper S. Add in the fact this was the first time he was driving the M3, previously a write-off in anger and you can appreciate this was always going to be a sighting lap and a step into the unknown.
First lap, slow speed, turn into the chicane before the pits....rear end goes. It's almost over before it's begun, and it's a theme for the rest of the lap - he describes it to driving on an ice rink. Testament to that comes with yellow flags halfway around the lap, and a Porsche 993 on the grass with it's front end wrecked. The result was a track closure, something which I was told happens regularly and can last from a few minutes to over an hour, which is precisely what happened on the Saturday with barely any chance to breath between closures at one point.
First video is the only one from that rain-affected day, and it was a passenger ride in the VXR. It was amazing to see the difference between this and the M3, the Vauxhall's traction control always intervening to keep the car controllable. Most cars on the track that day were BMWs or other RWD cars, and this passed most with ease as the others visibly squirmed under braking and acceleration. Most of the vids are short since they were taken with a mobile or a digital camera.
A short vid from the next day whilst I was standing at the entrance to the barriers.
This one is from the Sunday, taken in a rented Mk5 GTI starting just after the barriers. The Ferrari and GT-R were British registered, I remember the Ferrari going pretty slowly all the way around. Funny thing (or not that funny I guess) was that the driver I was with had an off at Adenauer Forst, although I didn't capture it on camera. Pretty lucky to get away with only a chipped rim considering how we landed back on the track....
A short video of a quickish lap with the M3 driver, faster lap is next....
The best camber he could get out of the fronts was -1.5, so he's already looking for uprated suspension in the future. At the time of writing the leather seats and door cards are out, so there's only two Sparcos (£60 for two on ebay!) up front now. Also, anyone have any idea on what pressures to run, a friend of his said he found out it should be 36 cold, he started the day on 30 which, combined with the camber led to significant sidewall flex.
Now for my best video, although the damn camera cut out just over halfway through. I timed it Bridge to Gantry (without him knowing at the time
) and he came in at 8:36 - which isn't bad considering the suspension, traffic and the 3 lots of luggage in the boot. Speaking of traffic, two in particular were pleasant surprises!The experience gave me a new-found respect for the M3 as previously I regarded it as the choice of car for posers and nothing more. Hours on the motorway and just one lap was enough to put paid to that misconception, it really is an awesome machine. Next stop is to not just be a passenger albeit in something much less expensive, and I can't wait to bag another ride in the lighter, uprated version with (I'm hoping) less traffic driven by the mechanic that I admittedly underestimated!
I thought it was half that.
