Continued from
PART 1...
We left Switzerland and spent about 5 hours zipping up the autobahn to Koln to see a friend that wanted to go to the ring with us.
We did a little "window shopping" as we arrived downtown.
The weather had been absolutely perfect up until then .... first rain and a harbinger of things to come the next day.
The next morning we headed to the "Green Hell" with much anticipation not knowing what to expect since it was also the weekend of the "oldtimers GP"
Are we in the right place .... anyone take a guess on what this is?
Yup /// found the hotel and a great stablemate ... and an interesting facility down the street
Now on to the track with the sounds of engines screaming in the air .... intoxicating! Right on time for our Taxi .....
Seriously, it was a royal pain getting up at 4AM out time to try and get tickets (took me three weeks) but the trip around the ring at speed and to do it on a rainy day before we took our car out was Priceless. I envy the members on this forum that live so close .... I would be so broke!
OK, retracing a little, these we a couple of photos I forgot from previous days. Imagine yourself coming around a bend at speed and running into this ...
There were several of them in a pack ... and I thought the guys on bikes were in danger ....
This area was too beautiful not to share ....
OK .... so after the taxi lap we decided to wait out the rain and let a dry line develop for us rookies. To our delight we ran into some more forum members .....
we were not alone .... one with the steering wheel on the other side
There was also some other good company.....
We watched for a while as people pulled up and through the gate to go out ... one of these is a forum member that was at the track day the next day ...
Finally, it was time to buckle up and get out with a little break in the weather, boy was I excited. The experience was incredible and I managed the line between crazy and safe pretty well. Mid lap, after realizing that i did not like leading a group into blind corners over hills that I did not know I found an e46 M3 that seemed to know the track and stuck to his bumper .... now that was fun. 1M was super fun/fast and gave me more confidence that i should have had in those conditions. Probably exceeded some of the break in recommendations but had 1250 miles on the car at that point
We pulled into staging area with the sweet smell of hot brakes and tires and switched drivers (my son). Thanks to "frozenspeed.com" (thanks Jochen) for these great shots out on the track.
All I can say to all of you is this needs to be on your "bucket list"!
OK .... so in the beginning I told everyone that my first BMW was a 1988 e30ic .... so here is a little love to the E30M3 that I always wanted ...
We left the track to get to a viewing area and watch some cars pass .... here are a few track shots.
Another couple VO's on track .....
What a day ..... we went to the hotel and everyone had a great time, food, beer, storytelling and getting to see everyone's pictures because Jochen was stationed in the pub. Car performed flawlessly ....... took one last picture .... bedtime (yes, camera shake was beer influenced)
OK everyone .... I hope this isn't to anti-climatic but the only device we had to shoot video was the I-Phone and the back seat passenger got whipped around a little. I think you can get a sense of the speed and blind turns - exciting ..... it was still wet as you will see there were two mis-haps.
So if you have made it this far thanks for looking. The next two shots are at the drop off in Frankfurt ..... This was truly a fantastic adventure for us - I sincerely hope you can all experience the "JOY" of driving our BMW machines the way they were designed, now the wait, hope she has smooth sailing ......... Auf Wiedersehen!
