The Road to Essen

Day one is complete, and we made it to Nurburg where the streets and driveways are littered with Porsche 911 GT3s, BMW M3s, various hot hatches, and a lot of tourists lining up for what sounds like its going to be quite a track day tomorrow. Whether I end-up driving the track or riding along, I am most definitely looking forward to some quality time with the Nurburgring, where I have not been since my compatriot Jonathan from here at TTS and I last drive in 2008 – just prior to being banned for life by Sixt Rental Car.

Nurburg is actually a pretty, quiet little hamlet nestled in the Eifel mountains of western Germany. On a clear night the stars are plainly visible and the air is distinctly fresh smelling, save for a slight oily odor. I kid you not.

We took the scenic route through some of the area’s more interesting side roads, which our Porsche 911 GTS Carrera 4 couldn’t eat up fast enough. It is really quite an impressive car – powerful and firm, yet remarkably easy to drive. It’s one of those cars that makes you wonder why you don’t own one already. Oh yeah – the price tag.

After landing here in Nurburg, we made our way down to the Pistenklaus – home of the steak on a stone, which comes out of the kitchen basically as a raw slab of meat on top of a rock heated up to about 1000 degrees. It works though – cut off a few pieces of meat, let them cook, and voila – no ringworm!

The rest of the evening was spent drinking beer and sharing stories of past ring experiences as well as making the trip over here this time. One poor fellow lost his license on the way – we even saw it happening – for doing 182 kmh in a 110 zone. Lucky for him he has another license at home which is being overnighted to him. And that pretty much sums it up.

Tomorrow: track day!

Oh yes – the photo is of a Bristol coupe spotted at the Euro Tunnel awaiting the journey to the Mainland. Destined for Essen no doubt!

~Reed