Any topgear or motorsport fan worth their salt should have an ambition to have a go at the infamous Nürburgring, and although i still can’t quite believe it, this Friday I'll be doing it in a 19 year old Renault Espace 2.1 Turbo Diesel!
Last year a mixture of fear for the espace’s reliability and rubbish geographic knowledge of Germany meant we missed the opportunity but upon discovering that the Nürburgring is almost on the way to Frankfurt its too good an opportunity to miss.
For the less informed amongst us, the Nürburgring, nicknamed The Green Hell by Jackie Stewart is widely considered the toughest, most dangerous and most demanding purpose-built racing circuit in the world.
The 14.173 mile Nordschleife (Northern Loop) section has remained a one-way, public toll-road for nearly 80 years except when it is closed off for testing purposes, training lessons, or racing events. Since its opening in 1927 the track has been used by the public for the so-called Touristenfahrten, i.e. anyone with a road legal car or motorcycle, as well as tour buses, motor homes, or cars with trailers can have a go for the princely sum of €22.
The circuit winds its way through the forested hills around the town of Nurburg and features 33 left and 40 right turns, with very little run off and only Armco barriers to stop you ploughing into the nearby trees…
After some research the track is open to the public between 1415 and 1930 this Friday so it’d be rude not to swing by and have a go ;) The current lap record is 6mins, 47.5 seconds set by a £1.3m Pagani Zonda R on the 29th June 2010 (video) but i don’t think that’s in any danger of being broken by a £0.000001m Renault Espace!
I’ve updated the boomerang rally site to feature the changes to the first day’s route, which can be seen here.
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