Reserved 6 - My Drop off in Frankfurt
Well, I did it....I handed my new baby off to the logistics company for here trip back to Canada...
We were just getting acquainted, too!
Packing up to leave Nurburg left me with one deep regret. Not planning two days at the track. I woke up thinking, "I could really knock some serious time off, now!". My brain had assembled large chunks of the track for me while I slept and I wasn't as nervous about being out on a track I didn't know, in a country far, far from home with no home town resources at hand. Boy it was tempting not to head over to the start/finish and dump everything out in the lot for one or two more laps!!
I mentioned that I had great difficulty getting some of the videos uploaded from the German countryside, but they went up quick here in Canada. 4 min instead of 80-90 min, much better!
Here are a couple from earlier in the trip that I couldn't get up due to upload issues:
1st up is the video I took as I sat watching the car rotate on the table on the delivery level of the BMW Welt. I think poor Sven thought I was nuts, but he was good about it...
2nd up is video I took while we wrapped up at the M-Studio after meeting Brian, the Director of Sales and Marketing for M and the staff of engineers who worked on the car, including the develpement and track testing. I made a comment during the video that the engineers didn't want to go on video, but in case they're watching....I never really asked them. I made the note becuase of how quickly they all said good buy when I pulled out the video camera.
3rd up is the 2nd half of the Wrap up at M-Studio
4th up is a second clip of the exhaust note:
5th up is a quick video, another one through 3 gears, attempting to cature the sound of the car from the inside:
6th up is a video I took as a "Walk Around" of the car as I was handing it over to the logistics company yesterday before my flight home. I was a little rushed so it wasn't a good as it could have been, but I saw a request for a walk around and I wanted to attempt it before the car went away for 4 weeks on it's way here!
I wanted to try and inculde enough detail in the notes that if someone wanted to try and duplicate at least a portion of the trip, they could.
Here are some really useful things I learned while I was away:
In regards to driving in Germany:
- Don't pass on the right. Its financially ruining, something like $10k Euro fine
- Get the heck out of people way, and if that means there are four lanes and you're not in the 4th one closest to the right and someone is gaining on you...you move to the fourth one, even if that car has two more to the right of you to use. Most likely they aren't becuase there is someone gaining on them in those two lanes.
- People really do make use of the no speed limit opportunity. Watch you mirrors. Doing 125 mph does not keep you from being passed, we were passed at that speed several times, every couple of minutes actually.
- Yes that is a VW delivery truck passing you.
- People expect you to accelerate quickly away when joining the flow of traffic
And the most important thing we learned was that all these rules are the same ones you use on the Nurburgring, becuase it's a public road! There are posted speed limits on the track, and they "can" be inforced, but rarely are. The smoothness with which the activities on the track flowed was becuase everyone followed these rules, which are common on the road, to a T on the track. The only other one was that to signal the car behind to pass, you use your right signal, and move right giving as much room as you can...or if it's a twisty part, you turn the signal on to acknowledge they're there and then get out of the way ASAP.
There is no need to where a helmet, but I can tell you, it sure made me feel a tiny tiny bit better about wailing through the trees at 230 km+ on a narrow piece of road....I would bring one, rent one or borrow one if you could.
Havng completed the whole trip, I now know that the budget for the whole thing looks much like this:
$1100.00 return Flight (from Toronto)
$110 Euro Hotels Munich (might not need either)
$55 Euro (including Breakfast) Hotels at the Track and in Frankfurt
$1.80 Euro/L ($130 per fill up) I used two full tanks, including the track time.
$40 Euro per day Food
$24 Euro per lap, or 4 laps for $89 Euro - Track Tickets
$50 Euro per lap instruction time, apparently they can only go for one lap?
Total for me ~$3100 CAD (including three days hotels and food in Munich most of you wouldn't have to spend)
I also spent a few bucks at the Welt, but not much as the floor matts I bought there were $59 Euro for the set of four, Touch up paint kit $19 Euro and souviniers. They provided free breakfast at the Welt, and money on the BMW Visitor card ($10 Euro in the store and $10 Euro at the food counter, which my friends used since I had eaten free....)
BMW also tossed in a massive Coffee table book detailing the construction of the Welt, its wonderful. We bought a second one of those to bring home, too.
Something I forgot to mention up above...I got to keep my German License Plate off the car!! When I arrived at the drop off point in Frnakfurt, the person who processed my car's trip home said they didn't likely need it and that I could take it with me! Its now sitting on my desk awaiting me to assemble all the other tidits into some kind of frame.
I have more photos and detail to add as well, and will soon.