Nuerburgring Mueseum Erlebniswelt…
aka
Grüne Hölle Musuem und Ring....
Erlebniswelt am Nürburgring
Nürburgring
53520 Nürburg
Tel. 02691/302602
Fac. 02691/302651
Cost: 20 euros for the museum
+5 euros for the back stage tour
http://www.nuerburgring.de/startseite.html
The RingWerk (museum) is open every day 10am until 6pm.
To drive the Ring it is NOT open every day! Check their website before driving out there!
For quite some time I have been meaning to come back to the ‘Ring! Once you come here… you always want to come back again and again.
It is not just the race track that draws you here… it is what is in the air here in the Eifel. You can feel the car fever in the air around the Ring/Eifel area.
The fist time I came here was way back in 1993. A lot has changed since then. And not all for the better. The Ring attractions have gotten much, much bigger and more expensive. It is still a MUST SEE for any car nut, but I miss the old ‘Ring I remember. I miss the old Opa who took your 5 DM for one lap of the ‘Ring. It was so informal. You had to be in the know to find the entrance to the North Loop. There was not that many hotels or restaurants back then. The old ‘Ring museum had no high tech exhibits. It was just a medium sized building stuffed full of 60 cars and a few hundred motorcycles. You could smell the gas and oil dripping from the cars onto the oil catch pans (much like Hockenheim’s museum of today). It just had such an old school flavor to it.
The new ‘Ring Werk Museum is great. Don’t get me wrong… I just miss the old ‘Ring Museum. The current Museum is one of those Mega Museums. The building is huge. There is an Arcade shopping Mall with nothing but car stores inside. Selling car models, car clothes and even car brands and used cars! Heck, they even built the worlds fastest (200 kph!) roller coaster than screams thru the Arcade & Musuem (although that has not opened yet) and then shoots up over the first turn of the Grand Prix F1 track.
I went to the ‘Ring last Monday/Tuesday. I wanted to go during the week, bc I knew I’d have a higher chance of seeing some uber rare prototype testing on the Ring. The Ring opens to the public after work hours 5pm. During normal work hours (8am to 5pm) the various car makers use the Ring to test their latest prototypes. Anyone can go along the tracks fence and have a look. A lot of the car makers test garages are strategically located to the track entrance or access points to the Ring. I always like to go watch from the Pflanzgarten turn just off of the B-412. It is only a few kms from the Museum.
Also a cool place to visit… dare I say a MUST SEE is the tiny no name Tanksteller (gas station) just down the street from the Ring Museum/Dorit Hotel. It is near the “Doettinger Hoehe” turn near the main drag straights. This little gas station is a model car paradise!!! They had some many rare small models and T-shirts and even a toaster that toasts your fav bread with a ‘Ring logo on it! My favorite thing I saw on this trip! :”)
I went to the Ring Werk (museum) first… But I was too early! I got there at 9am and realized I needed to wait another hour. Lol SO…. I ended up walking around the entire Erlebnis Welt. I really was blown away how comerical the Ring has gotten. Its nice, but it is very different from the Ring I knew and loved. Its more like a Disneyland for car junkies. There were sooo many high end car boutiques and venders in there. And It looks like during special events the mega huge jumbo-tron tv would really be cool to watch. There is also an indoor karting bahn in the Musuem building! One sure sign of tourism was when I was in Adenua ad I drove by a Rewe grocery store and then had a huge sign saying they are open EVERY day until 22:00! It is very rare a German store is open past 18:00 or maybe 20:00 IF it is a big metro area. Never saw that before in a small dorf/village.
Ok… well…. I will let my pictures do my talking. Enjoy and feel free to ask any Q’s you might have.
IF you would like to see ALL my photos you can check out this link here:
http://s764.photobucket.com/albums/x...Museum%20Werk/
Dackelone
A good map showing you the MANY turns and places around the Ring.
Nuerburgring is about two hours West of Frankfurt and should not be confused with Nuernberg near Wuerzburg or Muenchen (Munich). The best way to find it on a map is to type in “Mayen” which is the nearest “big” city near it.
Driving on the Autobahn you take the A3 (direction Koeln (Colonge)) then change to the A48 direction Kloblenz, I then took the slightly longer way by getting out at Mayen (B-258 road). You can continue on the A48 and exit onto the A61 and then get out at the Ring. When you go thru Mayen there is one hell of a nice curvy road all the way to the Ring. It is only about a 30 min detour, and I would recommend going thru Mayen. There is also a mining attraction park there and also this is the home of the Volcano are of Germany. There is also a Volcano Park near Mayen.
When you see one of these signs… you know the road is curvy and fun! Just don’t get too carried away!
B-258 road.
Lots of dead bugs on my 400 km one way trip to the Ring.
I arrived at the Ring at sunset (10pm ish) and was greeted by this wonderful sight!
Just you average Aston Martin dealership!
There is the commercial zoned area (just down the street from the Ring, in Doettinger Hoehe on the B258) where a lot of the late comer automakers have setup a Ring testing garage. Like Jaguar, GM/Opel, Zakspeed, ect.. (sorry about the crappy photo)
Jag Center…
I ended staying at the Dorit Hotel, it sits where the old grand stands use to be. The hotel has a great view of the track too. I prefer the small mom and pop type German Gast Haus’s, but I was so tired after driving to Sinsheim, Hockenheim and then to the Ring in one day. Lol I did ask for a discount and got one! Normal room rate was 120 euros, I paid 100 euros.
The hotel has so many car things in its halls!
Back side of the Dorit Hotel…
Just some of the cool old photos in the halls of the hotel…
Luckily my car did not have to sleep alone in the Dorit Garage!
A quick walk down the street and onto the Museum…
Pit board direction signs…
The Museum upstairs to the right. Auto Arcade to the left and gift shops…
New Lindner Hotel… I think I will check them out on my next visit. They even have nice cottage style apt homes for rent near by for cheap! 60 euros.
Worlds fastest rollercoaster… 200kph!
Inside the Arcade… automotive paradise! Bring your wallet!!
Ferrari Store...
Racewear24...
Aston Martin boutique...
Jumbo tron Tv...
Rental town homes…
Yokohama Store…
ADAC the German version of AAA but much, much better!
Only 30K kms!
DigiTech chip tuning…
Nissan…
GTR… there was a little sign saying how Nissan only brought in some 40 cars for the European market!
A 1:200 map of the ‘Ring…
Entrance to the BMW grand stands…
Cars for sale on consignment…
Boxster for rent!
Der ‘Ring Museum…
Before we go inside the museum… there was this little beauty! In that Frozen Grey paint. Mmmmm….
Checkout that sticker price! That is really what these cars sell for over here!
This is what greeted me just inside the Museum…
Entrance to the Ring Werk Museum…
Model engine XXL…
Hidden in the corner of the museum in an umarked hallway… this little jewel…
E46 M3 GTR racer… ran at the 24hrs of the ‘Ring. 120 liter tank,3997cc 90’ V8 motor, 500 PS@8,000rpms with 480Nm@6,500rpms.
When West cigarettes raced in the communist east block… the would not allow any cigarette adverts... so they changed their race cars name to EAST!
Take your photo in this red race car!
Formula 3000 MB engine…
‘Ring Meisters…
Rosemeyer…
Schumi…
Jim Clark…
Caracciola…
Ayrton Senna…
Jacky Ickx…
Nurbus simulator ride…
LKW rennen…
F1 cars...
Starting grid…
Hands on pit stops… every hour.
Blown apart BMW F1 car…
Downstairs at another ‘Ring gift shop…
LEGO Ferrari…
Reception area where you wait for the “Back Stage” tour to start…
A small model of the new F1 track…
The Back Stage tour is an all walking tour! And walk we did!
The old ‘Ring…
To the right of the Dorit Hotel…
A test car from MB… a new R-class…
The site of the very first ‘Ring museum… now a future parking lot! The “Ring Werk is the background…
Rollercoaster tracks and Ring tower where we are headed to the top of!
…just under the steps to their meeting rooms is a small memorial…
A driver who was killed at the Ring in 1928… Čeněk Junek, in English Vincenc Junek
Walk this way into the old garage paddock area…
We get a special pass to go into the tunnel and into the inner part of the new part of the F1 track…
There is a small snack bar that the test drivers use to take a quick break at.
One of a bunch of BMW X1’s that are used as track support cars…
Walking into the tunnel there are MANY classic plaques …
Where the Dorit Hotel stands today is where the old main grand stands & press boxes use to be….
Wolfgang von Trips a German driver who was killed at a F1 race in Italy, in 1961. He was likely to win that race too.
And M// school going on…
A short walk for lunch at the Dorit during M// school…. Cost 1,000 euros for two days.
The castle (burg) ruins of Nuerburg…
Lots of drivers and their families have planted trees in their memory. Every tree has a small Plaques.
The one on the left is from Japan…
Track safety response car…
Now this is my type of gas station… only SuperPlus and Diesel!!!
Where we are headed up… for a nice view of the Ring…
State of the Art fire rescue truck… no kidding this is what they use!!!
First the front straight…
The garage area…
During the 24hrs of ‘Ring… they have to fit EIGHT cars per bay/door!!! Normaly just two cars share this space on a typical race event at the Ring!
The other side of the garage…
Preparations for next months Oldtimer race…
Upstairs in the drivers hall…
World’s tallest and shortest F1 drivers. I forget their names. But they are fairly recent drivers.
Oh grand history of this place!
Rosemeyer…
The old days…
And today…
Press and driver’s briefing room…
The view from the top…
Gas station/tunnel/M// school cars…
And back out we go…
A quick drive into Nuerburg to go see the BMW Test Center…
Test Center… no they don’t take visitors!
The infamous garage door that the prototypes dart out of and onto the Ring…
My little favorite spot to watch the cars in Pflanzengarten just off of the B-412 headed towards the A61…
Future CLS AMG – it sounded really good!
Future MB SLR cabrio… I like the fake (tape?) door seams on the fabric roof!
Current e92 M3…
AMG C Class...
The MB guys were using this e61 M5 to judge how fast thier new CLS AMG was going...
New CLK ?
This black X1 got onto the track here… it sounded like it had N55 power… ?
This Panorama V8 NA had a nice sounding exhaust…
That same R Class from the hotel area…
Had to chuckle bc the guy was driving one handed around the Ring…
SLR Cabrio again…
And there it goes… dam this thing sounded mean!!
Sportier Boxtser S or CS???
That CLS looking thing… but dam was it big. Like S Class big!
New 535i wagon… sounded like a N55…
a 370Z with Opel tags on it!?!?
This X1 was interesting… sounded like it had a N55… AND it had US style orange headlights!
That SLR cab again…
I thought I would end on a high note… this M5 only came around once while I was there.
Sounded quite healthy!
I decided to refuel since there are very few Esso’s in this area… I went back into Doettinger Hoehe to go visit that famous little gas station that sells all sorts of cool models. I have been reading about this place for years… and never quit knew where it was. Its just down the main street from the Ring on the B258 (direction Mayen).
The little no name gas station…
I should have bought one of these toasters!
…sells for 30 euros.
