I’ve been invited on the above. It strikes me as a good laugh. The approx 250 quid cost so far will include maybe 2 laps in a hired car, transport there and back and a bnb.
It doesn’t include food and beer obviously!
Therefore its pricey already.
However has anyone any info on the fees associated with a little “off”?
From what I gather they can charge you hundreds/thousands depending on the damage you cause which thoroughly puts me off!

You can get specialist insurance if you think a crash is likely, it’s forking expensive though, in line with the apparent value they place on their armcos!

Its a great experience, but it needs to be treated with respect, the financial cost could be the least of your problems.

Yes that’s the problem.

1/ its a stag do so there’s gonna be plenty of oneupmanship/testosterone about.
2/ hiring two identical race prepped cars which will only add to the competition.
3/ I don’t like losing
4/ last nights beer
5/ I’m crazy enough in a go kart.

Looks like it might be a no then.

The Hire Cars’ insurance will specifically exclude the ‘Ring – so maybe the spend your money with the Taxi instead:

http://www.nurburgring.org.uk/ringtaxi/taxi.php#.Uyoo4LVFDZY

Having been involved in an accident on the ‘ring there’s a few things you need to know:

1. British insurer’s exclusions on the ring are worth sfa. They can squirm all they like. It’s a public road in Europe. So long as you’re on a “Touristfahrten” weekend or one of the rare mid-week sessions you are covered. If it’s a closed session then you will need track day insurance. If only to cover point 5

2. There is no “racing line”. There are two lanes, the right hand one is for slow cars, the left hand one, for fast. Fast = OH MY GOD HOW QUICK DID HE PASS US?

3. Someone WILL die during the weekend. This is normal. They usually clear it up in about 40 minutes. When I was last there it was one of the ring marshals. Quite sobering.

4. Being a German road, all normal German laws apply. This includes drink drive law. The limit in Germany is 1/2 that in the UK. German police patrol during tourist drives. Spending a couple of hours in the back of one of their cars while they sort through paperwork is no fun at all.

5. When you off, try and avoid the armco. It is in 3m long sections and they’re stacked 3 high. Each metre costs €1000. Take a credit card.

6. Join ADAC. They are one of the few organizations who’ll pull your twisted heap off the track when you off.

7. Expect to see some of the best drivers you’ve ever seen fall off the track.

8. Carousel is bumpier than you’d think.

9. The ring taxis are well worth the dosh. Though I believe that BMW may have pulled out of offering the stunning M5 laps a coupe of years ago.

10. Blag a lap in one of the regular’s Elises. It will change your life.

11. You don’t know the course. Don’t even consider thinking you do. This corner isn’t the corner you were thinking of.

12. Savor and enjoy every second. It is a properly magical place. Steeped in history and ghosts. It so very nearly closed last year which would have been a tragedy.

Gute Fahrt!

Oh and the turn up and drive Clio Cups and Suzuki swifts are awesome. Even if they do pre-auth your credit card for €3500

I think hot_fiat’s above post is probably the most informative and well answered offering I have seen on STW in a long time.

I read it all, and I’m not even going!

On point 1 – yes, they will pay out, but can then come after you to reclaim their costs. I know someone personally in for a six figure sum.

Hot fiat, as Jamie said very good post.
I’ve been mulling it over all bloody (sleepless) night and I just can’t take the risk. Sounds really piss poor I know but after reading the “fine print” (in fact it isn’t that fine its pretty clear) on the rent4ring website you can be charged €3500 excess just for the Suzuki. Chances are I won’t crash or die even but I don’t think I’d enjoy it with that in my mind. And I really don’t see the point in going and not actually driving.

Edit
Regarding point 1 what insurance are we talking about? Driving or holiday?

Self-preservation and common sense kicking in wrightyson. 🙂
It’s a pity you won’t be able to put that awesome sticker on the back of your car though isn’t it. 🙁

Point 1: driving insurance. I take my own car with a bog-standard uk insurance policy. So long as the toll gates are in place and you can only complete a bridge to gantry lap then the ring is part of the unrestricted German autobahn infrastructure. Your U.K. insurance will (has to) cover you to drive on this. As soon as the tolls are wheeled out of the way, (for closed sessions) the ring becomes a race track and you need track day cover.

I’d really like to know the circumstances behind Nathan’s friends situation. I wouldn’t put it past an insurance company to attempt do that though. Ours tried all ways to say we were racing, only capitulating when the German police got involved, again. The guy we hit in the 911 was pretty peeved throughout and gave my mate who was driving quite a bit of hassle.

The Hire Cars’ insurance will specifically exclude the ‘Ring

I made the assumption is was a locally hired car, no idea of a UK one although I noticed that the ‘Ring exclusion had made it on to my car (and bike) insurance last time.

What hot fiat says, albeit no. 8 is a tad understated.

Oh, and it doesn’t matter what you are driving nor how good you think you are, you will feel like the slowest car on the road at times. This should not be seen as an invitation to put your foot down.

Last time we were there was probably 2008 & there were lots of ‘xbox racers’ who clearly thought they’d learnt it well enough to be quick. Almost invariably they hadn’t & you can’t rewind/reset/restart in the real world.

Fantastic day out mind.

We once drove near it on our T5 camper, I was quite tempted to take it round 🙂

You won’t be able to drive a German rental car around the ring. They have GPS and have spotters at the ring.

All club together buy a Ford Puma for £500 and take it to the ring! It will be an amazing weekend, might end up being expensive, but still amazing.

b r – Member
The Hire Cars’ insurance will specifically exclude the ‘Ring

I made the assumption is was a locally hired car, no idea of a UK one although I noticed that the ‘Ring exclusion had made it on to my car (and bike) insurance last time.

The hire cars being discussed are from Nurburgring specialists

All club together buy a Ford Puma for £500

^^Exactly this^^ perfect!

Your U.K. insurance will (has to) cover you to drive on this.

They’re obliged to pay out for any third party claims, but if it’s excluded in the policy Ts&Cs (which it now is, by name, in every policy I’ve seen in the last few years) they certainly won’t be paying out for your car, and they may come after you for the 3rd party claim that they paid on your behalf.

If you like cars then go for the experience. Even if you don’t drive it’s a car spotters paradise and the beer is good.
I went there for my 40th (thanks to Mrs Beanum) and had a great time. We rented a track spec Golf GTI and there was so much going on(overtaking MPVs full of kids, being overtaken by Volvo estates and Club spec 911s) that the chances of crashing were pretty slim. It was only on my bonus fourth lap when I was getting the hang of the car and the track that I had any “moments” and even then it was because I had to adjust my line to let something much faster past.
With the 4000€ excess on the car in mind, I stopped at that point. If it was a stag do though, who knows…?

What’s the wurst that can happen…? 😆

and they may come after you for the 3rd party claim that they paid

How on earth would that work? They either pay up or they don’t. They can’t pay up and then turn around and decide that you weren’t covered and go after you. We had quite along discussion with the German police (they were actually very nice) about this and the exclusions in policies. They were of the opinion that so long as the ‘ring was open as a toll it is part of the German road system and all polices were valid, irrespective of whatever was written on them. Otherwise they’d start excluding other notoriously dangerous roads like the Peripherique, Milan’s Tangentiale, the whole of the A57, Newcastle’s Blue House and Haddrick’s Mill roundabouts. Where would it end?
See it as a deterrent against being a loon. You would be covered (third party) but it wouldn’t be a simple case.

3. Someone WILL die during the weekend. This is normal. They usually clear it up in about 40 minutes. When I was last there it was one of the ring marshals. Quite sobering.

Seriously?

While track management does not publish any official figures, several regular visitors to the track have used police reports to estimate the number of fatalities at somewhere between 3 and 12 in a full year.

From the wiki page.

It’s a pity you won’t be able to put that awesome sticker on the back of your car though isn’t it.

Having been on a multitude of stag do’s and witnessed some of the idiotic things that go on, and also ridden the Nordschleife on my motorbike and witnessed some horrific crashes first hand, I would say that mixing the two is the daftest idea I’ve ever heard of 😀

Maybe you aren’t the ‘weekend away/dress as smurfs in Warsaw/have a fight in a strip club etc’ type of characters though in which case you’ll probably be alright. Have a healthy dose of respect and a huge dose of common sense before you put your ticket in the gate and you’ll be okay. Its an incredible experience, second to none in my opinion.

Although I’d never go round it on a motorbike again! Having a Skyline GTR go past me sideways, about 2 foot from my left handlebar at 100mph was sobering. As was calling the ambulance to a fellow biker who had smashed head first into the Armco right in front of me and was missing most of his face.

peterfile – the statistics are massively understated. People die there every week. If they don’t die at the ring, ie not until they get to hospital, or in the ambulance on the way to hospital, it doesn’t count, for example.

http://www.agtlaw.co.uk/nurburgring_insurance.html

You are using your vehicle outside of the terms of the policy, they will try to recover their loss should it be large enough to make it worth their while. I’ve made a successful circa £15k claim for a crash there but that was back in 2003 before the insurance companies were quite so wise. The person I refer to crashed and several other cars then proceeded to crash on the fluids spilt by his car.

Local ‘ring specialist hire places will be fine but the excess is expensive.

Get passenger rides – don’t be afraid to ask people in quick cars, often they’ll be more than happy to let you hop in, if you have one take a helmet – I wouldn’t let a stranger in the passenger seat of my car without one. Go to tiergarten http://www.am-tiergarten.de/ (book in advance by email if there is a big group of you) and have large amounts of steak and beer, you’ll have a blast.

PS. There is a bike hire place from memory so you can get a bike and ride round the outside of the circuit to get to some great viewing spots.

I went there back in 2006.The weekend I was there, the track was closed for 2 hours to clear up a motorcyclist. Those guys are nuts.

I understand that they sometimes charge the driver who is responsible for causing the track to close if it’s a large amount of time, also, along with the cost of barrier repair and vehicle recovery.

From what I saw, even if you feel you’re driving within your limit, there’s plenty of nutters around which may end up with you having an off. I saw a caterham, spin on a bend, with no damage to him or the car, but the fwd car behind had to lift off, spun out of control, and rearranged 5m of armco.

To be honest, it was a great weekend, and a petrolhead mecca, but anyone going needs to know the plusses and minuses.

Nathan, that’s quite a downer of a read. Boo to insurance companies!

To clarify, there’s going to be two Suzuki road, but race prepped cars hired. One for the lads, stag is having his own.
These come with 3500 euro excess and cover you third party. The idea Is to go in a mini bus.
I like driving a lot. However I really don’t see the appeal in being at the ring for 11 hours and getting hopefully one lap in, in a car I’ve got to be sooo careful in.
Could go just for the beer but that isn’t really gonna happen till the Sunday night after racing/driving like miss daisy.

One of my mates is always going on about a Porsche based road trip to the ring but I’m terrified of putting one into the barriers/another car.

deadlydarcy – Member
It’s a pity you won’t be able to put that awesome sticker on the back of your car though isn’t it.

The only ring sticker I own, drive it most weeks but never done a full lap.

^^^ 😀

Nurburgring is one of the best things i’ve ever done, and I travel a LOT.

I drove all round europe last summer in my Skyline, Alps (Swiss and French), Belgium F1, Monaco, French and Italian riviera,etc etc, all great fun, but all topped by the ring!

In a word, EPIC 😀

If you like cars, you have to go! (although perhaps not on a stag…)

I spent 4 days there, every session was closed at least once to clear up accidents. First days there I saw a GB biker plant the armco head on, had to go and flag down traffic… Last session I was behind a biker as he dropped it, luckily he just skidded down the road, again, I was flagging down traffic on track…

There’s no way i’d ever consider doing it on a bike, EVER.

That said, if you can keep your head, drive within your limits, AND WATCH YOUR MIRRORS (just because you’re doing 120mph doesn’t mean a 911 wont fly past you), you’ll love it.

Also, tourist days are good fun to watch, if a little worrying!
When the track is closed to the public, it is usually booked by industry, great place to see the camo’d up new models having their neck wrung, think bentley going sideways at 100mph…

I also spotted the new McLaren out on track testing before, camo new Lexus and camo new M3 out playing.

The car park is also great to wander round if you’re not driving, stuffed full of track prepped exotiques.

Have fun, stay safe, go home happy and in one piece 🙂

Also, my DH bike completed every lap with me it the back of the car 8)

As a side note, if you want to go and party, but don’t fancy the risk of driving, you can cycle around the entire track and get some great views of harder to access sections.

the very last thing you want to take to the ring is a £500 ford puma with not knowledge of the history of the vehicle and how well it has been serviced. It could be on cheap and cheerful black rubber things pretending to be on tires, the head gasket could be ten minutes from shot and you really dont want to be responsble for dropping a sump’s worth of oil all over a race track…

There’s no way i’d ever consider doing it on a bike, EVER.

Only went once when I lived in Germany back in 2000; got passed by a car whilst flat-out on a Kawasaki superbike – ex-Le Mans Porsche doing over 200mph…

3. Someone WILL die during the weekend. This is normal. They usually clear it up in about 40 minutes. When I was last there it was one of the ring marshals. Quite sobering.

Seriously?

While track management does not publish any official figures, several regular visitors to the track have used police reports to estimate the number of fatalities at somewhere between 3 and 12 in a full year.

From the wiki page.

I’ve been 5 times, and there’s always been a fatality, worse was 5 in a weekend. It only gets recorded as a fatality if the death occurs at the track, doesn’t count if its in the helo, or hospital.

If you have the chance, book it on the same weekend as the trackdays.co.uk track day at Spa. You can easily drive from the ring to spa in about two hours on some amazing roads and spa is easily THE best experience I’ve ever had driving. I’ve done it ever Easter for the past 3 years and its been mega.

As mentioned, you won’t learn the ring in 1 or 2 laps. I’ve done maybe 30 now and I still don’t have a clue. Adenau (the local town to the ring) is a good crack too, the hotel in the middle of town serves all day and sat out in the sun watching fast cars roll past is a nice way to spend your day if you don’t fancy driving.

£1000 for a 3 tier 3m section of Armco?
Wow, recently bought some af £49 a length so by my reckoning thats £150 for the triple section.
Get some armco, take a trailer. Sorted !

I’ve been 5 times, and there’s always been a fatality, worse was 5 in a weekend. It only gets recorded as a fatality if the death occurs at the track, doesn’t count if its in the helo, or hospital.

That’s mental! Scary stuff indeed.

Wonder why the regulars’ research is so far off the mark compared to tourists’ experiences? Maybe it’s edited on wiki to detract attention? I can’t seem to find anything online which supports a high death rate, have you got any links to decent articles, I find it quite interesting (I appreciate it’s quite a morbid interest!)

I can’t seem to find anything online which supports a high death rate, have you got any links to decent articles, I find it quite interesting (I appreciate it’s quite a morbid interest!)

The only official figures I’ve seen were in the local police station at Adenau, but they only count fatalities if death occurs at the track. Ben Lovejoy’s site has loads of information, might be more on there.