NÜRBURGRING WOOHOO

Friday last was the plan to hire a bike for nürburging but on getting
up and finding the roads wet we decided against it , instead planned
for Monday when there was little chance of rain, so friday went for a
drive there and it turned out to be a great day although it did rain
on the last section home

but was fortunate that didnt hire a bike as the track was closed for
the day for some classic racing , so was good anyway to catch some
classic from a few view points
and had some great Gokarting action which was fantastic as havent
done that for so long, thinks there will have to be an Ausmoto Gokart
event in the near future

so the plan for monday came into effect , the weather looked ordinary
but was hoping it would hold out
So off we head , Chris riding his CBR600 F4i and me as pillion to
Aachen to pick up a bike , 40 mins as pillion on the CBR isnt all that
fun with a shite seat and nowhere to hold onto, but we get there in
one piece after a blast down the autobahn , fortunaley i brought the
thermals over but was still stuck in jeans, chris had a helmet ,
gloves and jacket for me so relatively good , the stock F4i has quite
a nice note which is surprising

Get to Aachen to the dealership for a bike,and the rain starts ;(,
this is a huge dealership that sells bikes and also rents bikes , so
we see what they have,
Kawasaki,Harley,Buell,Aprilia,Ducati,BMW , so the question put to me
was what bike would you like? , i say i had a ducati what have you
got? , well you can have the monster 620 , the 1000ss or the 999 ,
after 0.1 sec though i say 999

so we go through all the paperwork ,300 kilometres , theft excess of
€1000 $1750 , crash excess of €4000 $7000, me thinks if i crash it
will be tossed off a cliff and reported stolen

cost for the 999 was relatively good €149 $260 , a 749 can be had for
the same price as a VFR ,ZZR1200,fireblade , ZX9 for €109 $190 or
drops down to an Aprillia RSV1000 or the ducati 1000ss for €99 $173

anyways we set off in the minor rain and have to battle the rain,
traffic on the wrong side of the road , head off and get so petrol at
a nearby station before tackling the eifel area, but to get to the
petrol station required a short squirt down the auto barn,so gave a
chance to give the bike a bit of berries and geez does it go compared
to the old 916 ,

get some fuel and head off down the eifel , unfortunatly the light
rains doesnt let up and have to contend with some cars, wet roads and
some leaves in sections , but still some good sections of road for a
good hurry along , the roads here are unbelieveable just miles and
miles of sweet smooth twisty roads , after about 60 kays we stop for a
bite to eat and a warm up as its only 8 degrees today , coupled with
the rain and wind its not a pleasant day, but a shitload better than
working

body now refueled and ready to contend some more roads 29K to
Nürburgring, off we head and a kay or so up the road and the roads
have dried out and long sweeping corners can now be tackled at silly
speeds and here we are again at Nürburgring

weather is pretty average , bit windy, but now we find it is 1130 and
the track will not open till 100 pm so hit the cafe and warm up a
bit ,more people fill the cafe as the time gets closer , then the rain
comes in , shit now its wet again , finally gets to 1pm and go
and pays ya money €14 $24.50 and line up ready to go , and the guy say
nah mate you cant go squidly sneakers and jeans so have to do a
clothes swap with chris , so now wearing leather pants and just
fitting into chris´s boots they let me go out, Chris had decided going
out in the bad conditions as can go any day, there was guys that were
freaking out that i might go and kill myself from the wet condtions
but chris assured them it was ok after they thought it strange that we
had changed clothes and he had explained i was from australia and this
was the only oportunity i had, makes for a good excuse to buy some
cheap gear in the UK on the next trip

I follow out behind the "ringcab" a BMW M5 that is driven around by a
person and takes up to 3 passenger for a cost of €130 $225 and out
they go sideways onto the track, I have no hope of keeping up with
them with them being such good drivers and it being wet , fortunatley
no longer raining but the damage has been done

the track is 20.8 kilometres of up and downhill, tight, twisty and
some open sections, but overall a very demanding circuit that requires
extreme respect , the only place i could liken it to would possibly be
bathurst multiplied by 10 , a lot of areas have very little runoff
areas and a lot of the coners appear over crests and then go disappear
left or right, also some spectacular views , i get a couple of cars
pass me through the section but was all good as everyone was out there
taking it easy , as the other thing is there is no insurance coverage
at the Nürburgring and if you damage any part of the circuit you have
to pay for that as well

so from there we head back to Aachen and it pisses down on the way
back, so now freezing cold and wet we head back at a realtively slower
pace getting back to drop the bike off and find can hardly move
anymore because all my muscles are frozen and difficult to walk being
so cold and yet have another 40 mins on the back of chris´s bike back
to his place where warm shower awaits, fortunatly the trip back was
rain free but still cold

it as good to see that Ducati still keeps some things the same , on a
bike with only 4000 kays on the clock the speedo was erratic , 1
blinker didnt work, the idle speed was set low and caused the bike to
stall often and then was hard to start again, disappointing on a $30K
bike, on the upside the clutch is a lot easier to use , the bike is a
lot easier to ride , lot less weight on the wrists , i wish i could
have adjusted all the pegs and seat to suit me as it had been set for
a tall person to ride so was a little strange sitting at the front of
the seat , the brakes were supurb and the suspension felt good , as
per all reports the bike sounds like shit with the standard pipes so
quite disappointed with that and very little inducation noise , but
does it go ?? does it what, great power delivery and a nice little
shift light (although hard to see because of the screen) , very tall
geared even higher than the 916 but still relatively easier to lug
around and can be ridden with not too much revs on the tacho unlike
the 916 , would i buy one? maybe if they brought back the ducati soul
but i cant see the moneys worth in it at $30K+ , would rather a S4
monster for a lot less $$$

1 nurburgring info
http://www.nurburgring.org.uk/
http://www.nuerburgring.de/eng/index_e.htm

2 place of bike hire
www.kohl.de
www.motorradvermietung.net

3 pics here even 1 to keep smack happy
http://homepages.ihug.com.au/~glenmark/Nurburgring

 

I went to Swansea with smack. It was ok.

 

I hope you used a clean needle.

 

**** OF SPAMMER BITCH!!!!!!!!!!

Bastard.

Bike hire info noted for next July... ;-)

Jules

 

Mate, did the ring in May in my car and realised it is a dangerous place,
but as I had bought my train ticket, I took my bike in June and even if the
track is great, it is bloody dangerous place with the speeds that the bikes
do around this place. Still, as I am back in Germany for another weekend at
the start of December, a hire car and the missus and me are taking another
lap. When the weather is good, to many people. On the Friday that I arrived,
a Ferrari flipped and killed the two occupants. Also, pity it was wet
because the roads all around the circuit are superb biking roads, reminds me
of the old highway and the route up to Katoomba, across to Bells line road
and down to Richmond, except without the hassle of the nasty police/nazis of
Australia. Maybe, they could learn something off of the europeans

 

What? No boobies?

Aaron
ZX6R

 

Tom Torok will clean the seats for you.

 

July , bugger my mate is going to be in Aus then otherwise you could
have had a local guide

 

yep dangerous some very tight spots

unfortunatly december will prob be really crap weather

guess the roads are similar but a lot better
plenty of police nazis up there and from what i saw on the tv if your
bike has an illegal pipe and is caught on the road they remove the
pipe, take it and leave you to get home yourself, and me thought we
had it hard in aus

 

too cold

but i heard E Scott Boobies is around somewhere

 

It will be wet and cold, but a nice sedate drive around the circuit. With
the noise regs, they are not always enforced. My experience of the police in
Germany/Europe have always been good, unlike the hassle of the Aus coppers.
I do dread the day I come home and I have to stick to the speed limit.
Especially that spot after Brooklyn bridge where it goes to 90KP/h.
Honestly, what a joke

 

Excellent read Glen
Most excellent read

 

(Johnnie5) wrote in

You bastard!

Wow! An Australian marshal at the Ring! "Go Squidly!"

Gary