BMW drivers training at the Nurburgring - trip report

[Blue Thunder]

Here is a (very late) trip report from my August trip where I took part
in the BMW drivers training.

SATURDAY - August 4th:

Left sunny Iceland on Saturday afternoon:


Wonder how this one would perform on the ring:


Flew to Frankfurt Hahn:


Right on schedule:


Had reserved a rental from Budget and this is what i got - Opel Vectra 1.8:


A reasonably good car.

I was going to Tauber Motorsports near Nurnberg (not Nurburg) and decided
to try to drive as far as I could. Went well - little traffic and a moonlit autobahn:

(it is not wise to try to photograph in the dar while driving - without seeing what
you are doing )

In the end I stopped at a roadside hotel about 50km from Tauber at 2am.

[Blue Thunder]

SUNDAY - August 5th:

Got to Tauber about noon and there the white one was waiting:


The guys that have worked most on my car, Oliver and Sebastian were on
vacation in the Dominican Republic so it was Gunther Tauber, Sebastians
father that greeted me when I arrived:


Had been painted on the inside:




Really like the helmet containers


Got Gunther to drive with me to the airport to drop off the rental and then
I got on my way to Nurburg. There was alot of traffic and very hot (no aircon....):




Took a while to get to Ringhaus - was there at approx. 18:30.

Put my things in my room and went to get some gas as well as checking in
for the driving training at the Dorint Hotel. At 20 there was a dinner for the
participants and trainers. Here you can see Greg Dexthe who was there in
his Evo - had met him earlier this summer when he hosted a track day at Spa.


An "interesting" car:


Few of these around for the training:


Unbelievable number of people taking part in the training :shock:


My table is in the foreground and Thorleif put me in group nr. 10 that was
full of Norwegians. Our instructor is at the table also, second from the right.
He used to race at the Ring around 1980 in a 2002tii. He raced for a few years
but now works as a development driver for BMW - drives prototypes and gives
feedback for development. Very nice guy and a competent driver.

After the dinner I went back to Ringhaus and went early to bed to be ready
for the action next day.

[Blue Thunder]

MONDAY - August 6th:

Woke up early to put on the number stickers - the weather was nice:


Skipped breakfast and took some refreshments with me to the track
and was one of the first to show up - the E30 guys were first in our group:


Then people started showing up:




RNGTOY ready for action:




A beautiful Wiesmann:




Kin Mak turns up in his M5 - know him from m5board:


Rune showing up in his C6 Z06 - awesome sound:


Our instructor Michael and Professor Green having a discussion. The professor
is driving the black Maserati:


The Maserati is just an "in-between" car for him while he waits for a new M3.
He also has 2 E30 M3's - one track car that is heavily modified and another
that is in mint condition and has only 5.000 km on the clock. BMW borrows
that car when they launch new M3´s in the UK and line up all the generations.
He likes this since he gets the car back perfectly detailed.

Alot to discuss since the professor has been to the ring for 25 years and
has participated in the training many times before with Michael:


Almost everyone there:


Andrew had some fluid problems with his E36 M3 and ended up driving his
E46 M3 CSL:


Finally on our way:


Since our group was to start by doing some slalom excercises on the back straight
we "had" to drive the whole ring to get there:


Here we are on the back straight and getting ready to do the slalom:


Here you can see the slalom course and the car is finishing the run.
You start at the right - drive through the 6 cones - stop and reverse back
through - then to the left of the cones and forward. You then slalom
through the cones and stop in the "parking space" at the end. Then you
back out and drive back through the cones and end the run by stopping
with your right front wheel on the green area that is at the judges feet
on the photo:


I won this part in my group and dit it in 58.XX seconds. I later found out that
the best time for the slalom for all the participants was 55.XX so I was happy
with my time.

After this we got "drunk" where we got special glasses to simulate intoxication.
First we got 1.2 promill glasses and had to walk a small course laid out with cones -
it was bloody hard!!!!




Then we got other glasses that are 0.8 promill and had to drive through a slalom
course - it was quite difficult:




When this part was finished we went back to the hotel and had a theory session
as well as some safety training. Parked in the shade because it was getting
damn hot.


Here are the gurus - Walter Briel to the right (has held the BMW training for
45 years!!!!) and to the left is Manfred Cremer who trains the fire department
in Bonn - a specialist in first aid:


First we learnt about the ideal line through turns and then we went through
first aid training - some of it "hands on":

[Blue Thunder]

After this we went to the skidpad that is close to the GP circuit. There we drove
down a small hill and then over a large piece of metal that moved quickly to the
side when the rear wheels passed over it. You never knew if it was going to the
left or right. We then were supposed to keep the car straight.






I didn´t do too well in this exercise (and really not anyone in a very light
car - especially those that were light in the back). Semislicks did not help either

Here is a video:
http://www.rngtoy.com/thordur/almennt/BMW_Fah...ang/skidpad.wmv

After lunch we went out to the track again to drive different sections of the
track. Here is a recording of the first one:
http://www.rngtoy.com/thordur/almennt/BMW_Fah.../hatzenbach.wmv

We were just supposed to focus on the line - not speed.

At this time I was started to feel bad in the heat - no aircon in RNGTOY and I
had a helmet on most of the time..... 30 degrees outside. Got a headache and
was feeling a bit nausious.

So after 2 sections I decided to take a break while the others drove.
Had a sip of water and voila.... my lunch decided to take the wrong way
through the digestion system and was promptly returned over the armco.

After this I felt much better and drove the rest of the sections until 8 oclock
when the training finished for the day.

Went straight to the hotel and to bed. I think I got heat exhaustion that day!!!

[Blue Thunder]

TUESDAY - August 7th:

The group met again on the straight but now the weather was not that nice - cloudy/fog:




The professor and Andrew having a discussion - the Maserati looking good:




The day before we had done the following sections:

Hatzenbach
Quiddelbacher Höne -> Aremberg
Fuchsröhre -> Adenauer Forst
Kellenhardt -> Wehrseifen

Today we were to do the following before noon:

Exmuhle -> Bergwerk
Kesselchen -> Klostertal
Karussel -> Hohe Acht

Pic with the names for those that need it....


We really had to take it slow in the wet - here is the group at the start of
the first section and I mentioned to our instructor Michael that Bergwerk
could be "interesting" in the wet:


That prediction was not long to come through - here we are finished with the
Bergwerk section and one of the norwegians had got into trouble:


He came in too fast into the breaking point at Bergwerk and instead of being
able to turn in he went on straight and used the armco to turn:








The whole side bent/scratched, both wheels scratched, the rear wheel
looked bent and the rear control arms were bent. He had to limp back and
exit at Breidscheid.

The rest of the group continued and now we were at the Kesselchen to Klostertal
part. When we arrive at a new section we put a red flag in a cone that is located
in the center of the track at the start of the section. This basically means that
noone is allowed to enter that section. This also means that the previous group
has left the section because the last car takes their flag with them and puts it
at the start of the next section.

Here we have all driven slowly through the section to make sure it´s clear and
here we are turning around to drive back:




Then we park the cars at the beginning of the section:


After everyone has parked then it´s time for a passenger ride with the instructors.
Michael is driving a new 335i (petrol twinturbo) touring, four wheel drive.
Very nice car and he knows how to handle it

After a quick passenger ride the instructor drives slowly back commenting on
all the different bends and gives tips on how to handle them.

When all the participants have had their rides with the instructor it´s time for
3-4 rides on our own. Michael then reviews our performance at different points
on the section. He then gives us instructions on what to improve on our way
back between runs.

Each section took about an hour and a quarter.

A real interesting part about all this were the drives back between runs - the
track is VERY different backwards. Parts that do not feel very steep when going
the right way are suddenly very steep when going backwards - strange


At this time it was getting wetter and I found out that an E30 is by no means
watertight:


Water was coming in both on the passenger and the drivers side.....

Here we are going for lunch:


After lunch we started by driving the whole lap for an hour. First 2 laps in a
formation but after that we were allowed to overtake. This was "interesting"
to say the least on semislicks

That did not stop me though from finally blasting the back straight
200+++ km/h
After the free session we continued with the sections and now it was:

Wippermann -> Brunnchen
Pflanzgarten
Schwalbenschwanz -> Galgenkopf

Here we are starting the final section:


By this time I was hearing weird clicking sounds from the inside of my car and
they seemed to originate from the left of the pedals - inside a hole in the side
of the car in front of the drivers door. What was also disturbing is that the
noises were also coming when the car was switched off. They seemed to be
the same noise that comes from relays when they click. It seemed to be
rather random but was occurring more and more. I figured that this was hardly
good but there was nothing else to do but hope it would stay ok and be able
to finish the day.

Here we have finished the last section and the last cars are finishing the run:






Finally the instructor shows up and everyone starts their cars..... and the
drama starts. RNGTOY will not start. Completely dead.

Fun... fun...... !!!!!!

Anyways - the car was towed to Ringhaus and pushed into the garage.
I started trying to figure out what was the problem but didn´t find anything
at first - all fuses ok. I then thought it had to do with the clicking noises.
Put my hand into the hole where it had come from and pushed the wires/boxes
around. After this I could get the car to turn the engine over but it would not
fire at all.

I tried to figure out what this stuff was and found one relay box and one bigger
box inside the hole. Opened both and they were soaking wet. After a quick
Google session I had found that the relay was for the interior lights and the
bigger box was a control unit for the central locking system.

Anyways - no matter what I did the car would not start. So the only thing
to do was to send an SMS to the Dominican Republic where Sebastian and
Oliver were on holiday.

After a few minutes there was a phonecall from the guys and now we started
trying to debug the car over the Atlantic. They made me remove all kinds of
stuff to check various connections but no success. At the end they were starting
to suspect the anti theft module that came with the S50 engine (EWS).

So we decided that I was going to call the BMW emergency service early next
morning and get a technician to Ringhaus to read from the ECU and see why
it was not starting.

Ouch... starting to remind me of my visit last year - broken down car at Ringhaus......

[Blue Thunder]

WEDNESDAY - August 8th:

Started the day by finding the BMW assistance number for Germany.
Phoned and was patched through to a guy that spoke excellent english.
He wanted a quick description of the problem and the car. When I said
it was and E30 M3 with and E36 motor with a supercharger there was
a silence.... followed by a very slow "Okeeeeeeeeyyyyy"

Anyways - he said there would be a technician calling me shortly.
A few minutes later there was a call from the technician and we discussed
the problem in more detail. He said he would be over in an hour.
So I just used the time for a quick shower and some breakfast before
I went down to the garage:




My new rims/tires for RNGTOY - need to have a set for the street:




While I was waiting I could hear the engines roaring on the track where the
other participants were enjoying their free sessions on the track.... grrr....

The guy from BMW arrived shortly and it turns out he was from the same
shop that worked on my M5 the year before - Kainz in Daun.


He hooked up his computer to the car and immediatly read a fault with the
EWS module and thought the EWS box was broken. Not what I wanted to
hear since I was to take my exam on the ring later that day. To order a
new EWS would take 2 days !!!!!

So we went to the next used parts dealer and got an EWS box that we were
going to try to code to work with the car.








Did not work so we called for a truck to move RNGTOY to Kainz and they ordered
a new EWS box. To order the box they needed the VIN number for the car that
the motor came out of and I had no idea what the number was. I called the guy
that sold me the motor and he could only check the number at his office the next
day. But he however said I should see it on the outside of the ECU - where I
was able to read a VIN number.

Anyways - ordering an EWS is a 2 day process so that I was just about to take
an exam but did not have a car......

Once again - Ringhaus to the rescue. Galina asked me if the car for the exam
needed to be track prepped... and I said no. So she promptly offered me to
use her diesel Golf for the exam (all the rentals were rented for the day).

I of course said "thankyouverymuch" and went down to the track to bet a new
set of numbers:


Then went back to Ringhaus:








Then had about 10-15 minutes to get to familiarize myself with the car - went
for a quick spin to try some roundabouts to see how it acted.

Then I went down to the track where they were lining up the groups for the exam:




Here you can see my group by the entrance to the track:


Here I am about to go out on the track - the track is soaking wet and I am driving
a car that I do not know at all!!!


The test was about driving the line that was tought. At 18 spots on the track there
were judges that gave points for our performance. The main issue was to take
the proper line but you could get a better score for driving faster.

When I had gone through a few bends in the Golf I realised that this was an
extremely tailhappy car and I decided to slow down and finish the lap without
crashing the car. Just drove slowly and concentrated on the line.

Managed to bring the Golf back in one piece and then I went back to Ringhaus
where the truck was picking up RNGTOY - same truck, same driver taking the
car to the same shop as last year with my M5 !!!








So now I basically just had to resort to being a tourist - grabbed my camera
and headed for the track entrance:


Really liked this white Gallardo spyder:








This guy seems to be the real deal....


People starting to head for the track - Touristfahren starting:


Really nice car:

[Blue Thunder]

Hard to miss this Lotus:


Hardcore track weapon:


Nice:


This old Pcar sounded really nice:


Yesssssss - Landcruiser FTW!!!!


Cool touring:


Awesome old Porsche:


One even older:



Also sounded nice

The Wiesmann cars are so nice:




One of the Zakspeed Vipers - these cars are silly fast




A development car from Jaguar heading for the track:




This guy was driving this very tasteful Porsche:






Nice lines 8)


A newer model:


Must have been a blast:


This one came into the pits with alot of noise - had dropped his exhaust out on
the track:


$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$




And finally mr. Extreme Powertech:




Lot of police cars.....:

[Blue Thunder]

Another Gallardo - this one in a gorgeous "pearlwhite" color. Much cooler in
real life than on pictures:




I liked this one also:


My friend Sveinn shows up:





Ready for anything:


Sveinn back from his first lap and now I get a pax lap:


Nice driving - althougH here we are being overtaken by his friend in a 997 Turbo:


But greater driving skills and Toyos reeled him in:


After this lap I had to leave for the final dinner at the Dorint hotel. At the hotel
they were unloading this car:




More nice machinery:




Participants arriving:


Next there was a long dinner with endless awards. I was surprised at how many
times some people had participated in the training. Some guys were being awarded
for being there 25 and 30 times!!!!

In our group these 3 were at the top:

Two of them are driving instructors and the third had participated before.

Best score for all the participants went to Thorleif who is here with nr. 2,
Steve Gill:


Actually these guys were driving on full race rain tires......

The scores were on the scale from 1-10 where 1 is best. If you go through a
bend taking the correct line and carry "normal" speed you get a 5,
driving like a world champion is a 1 and if you are totally screwed you get 10:

1 Weltmeister
2 Ausgezeichnet
3 Sehr Gut
4 Gut, zugig, sauberer Streich
5 Strich getroffen - befriedigend
6 etwas ungenau - ausreichend
7 Strich kaum getroffen - mangelhaft
8 Strich gar nicht getroffen - ungenugend
10 Blech oder totales Chaos

I was rather consistent - got all my scores in the 3-5 range and got 61 points.
My group was in the 52-78 range and Thorleif got 25!!!!

[Blue Thunder]

THURSDAY - August 9th.

Slept in

Nice to get a break after the busy days earlier in the week.

Borrowed Galinas Golf to go to Daun and visit the shop to check
on status. Discussed the car with Mr. Eckstein - the same guy I dealt
with the year before with my M5. Just wanted to be sure that they
looked carefully at the car now so that if it was not the EWS that was
at fault - we would not discover that on Friday so that I would not
be able to drive during the weekend.

He started telling me that they did not believe maybe it was not the EWS that
was at fault because the starter motor would turn. They thought that
if it was the EWS it would not even turn the starter motor. I did not like
the sound of that and made a call to the Dominican Republic and woke
both Sebastian and Oliver, the time was 7:00 AM over there :whistle:

They were sure it was the EWS and it was normal that the starter motor
would turn - they had experienced the same problem before and that car
did the same. What the guys at the dealership were referring to is a
newer version of the EWS system, version 3, but the car had version 2.

On my way back I got a phonecall from Eckstein where he told me that
we had a potential problem on our hands.....
The VIN number that was printed on the label on the ECU was not the
same that was displayed through the computer connection to the ECU.
It meant that the EWS on order might not work with the ECU in the car.

So we took no chances and ordered another one with the other number.
This way we would get another EWS on Saturday morning if the one
coming in on Friday wouldn´t work.

Just took it easy for the rest of the day.

[Blue Thunder]

FRIDAY - August 10th.

The day did not start well - it was FOGGY!!!!

Very annoying since the Oldtimer grand prix cars were supposed to drive
on the Nordschleife and I had looked forward to see then & photograph.

But by the looks of things - they were not driving anytime soon on the ring,
Ringhaus in the fog.....


Walked down to the track - where this oldtimer came out of the fog:


Rather quiet.....






No business anytime soon for these guys:


Then walked back to the hotel and on the way mr. Eckstein called and said the
car was ready The EWS module that had arrived did not have the correct
number for the ECU but the computer guru at the shop managed to make it work.

Got Galina to give me a lift to pick up the car.
Here you can see Gaute´s CSL with it´s modest paintjob:


When I got back to Nurburg the fog was still very thick so no cars were driving
on the ring - they had cancelled the Oltimer drive


Went and cleaned RNGTOY and then went for an early dinner at the Pistenklause.

Parked outside was this magnificent beast:




Went back to Ringhaus and decided to go to bed early to be well rested for the
driving next day <_<

[Blue Thunder]

SATURDAY - August 11th.

It was rather cloudy when I woke up. The track was to open at 11 for
Touristfahren but before that time the oldtimers were supposed to drive.

Decided to go to Brunnchen and see if I could spot some nice cars on the
track.

Not many people there when I arrived:


Not much action on the track - it was wet:


The only oldtimer I saw:




The action on the road was more interesting than the track:




Endless stream of cars going to the Oltimer GP on the GP track.

However - finally some blue sky!!!


There was a German BMW club that had a meeting at the parking place:


I went to the track entrance to be able to start driving asap since it was
approacing 11. I was looking forward to practice all the stuff I had learnt
on the driving course.

I record most of my laps with the Chasecam. There were some scots
that got some paxlaps with me this weekend and asked to get the videos
of their laps so I encoded them. I however ended up encoding all the
recorded laps from the weekend

Here are 4 of the 5 first laps - very wet but started to dry pretty soon.
One lap is missing since I forgot to press record :shame:

http://www.rngtoy.com/thordur/almennt/BMW_Fah...Lap-01_1117.wmv

http://www.rngtoy.com/thordur/almennt/BMW_Fah...Lap-03_0927.wmv

http://www.rngtoy.com/thordur/almennt/BMW_Fah...Lap-04_0847.wmv

http://www.rngtoy.com/thordur/almennt/BMW_Fah...Lap-05_0838.wmv

After these first laps I decided to take a break and parked next to this VERY yellow car:






People do alot of this:


Many GT3RS´s - very nice:




Then I just went on driving - here are a few pics of RNGTOY:








Was able to drive quite a few laps that day - all went well except one guy
let me know that I was spilling some fuel in turns. I went to Ringhaus and
looked at the car. It had spilled some gas it seemed from the cap and I
could not find a hole anywhere. After considerable scrutiny I figured I had
not screwed the gas cap on correctly when I filled up last time. After this
I had no problem with this (except that it is consumed very fast on the
track when driving full blast )

I was not consciously trying to get good lap times - just working with what
I had learnt on the course and having fun.

Here is the rest of the videos:

http://www.rngtoy.com/thordur/almennt/BMW_Fah...Lap-06_0903.wmv

http://www.rngtoy.com/thordur/almennt/BMW_Fah...Lap-07_0849.wmv

http://www.rngtoy.com/thordur/almennt/BMW_Fah...Lap-08_0857.wmv

http://www.rngtoy.com/thordur/almennt/BMW_Fah...Lap-09_0912.wmv

http://www.rngtoy.com/thordur/almennt/BMW_Fah...Lap-10_0855.wmv

http://www.rngtoy.com/thordur/almennt/BMW_Fah...Lap-11_0851.wmv

http://www.rngtoy.com/thordur/almennt/BMW_Fah...Lap-12_0832.wmv

http://www.rngtoy.com/thordur/almennt/BMW_Fah...Lap-13_0934.wmv

http://www.rngtoy.com/thordur/almennt/BMW_Fah...Lap-14_0834.wmv

http://www.rngtoy.com/thordur/almennt/BMW_Fah...Lap-15_1240.wmv

http://www.rngtoy.com/thordur/almennt/BMW_Fah...Lap-16_0901.wmv

http://www.rngtoy.com/thordur/almennt/BMW_Fah...Lap-17_0849.wmv

http://www.rngtoy.com/thordur/almennt/BMW_Fah...Lap-18_0840.wmv

http://www.rngtoy.com/thordur/almennt/BMW_Fah...Lap-19_0833.wmv

Did not take any photographs in between those laps but at the end of the day
I went for a walk around the carpark.


Many Cobras:










One down - zillion to go :

Saw this happen at the bend before the Karussel (Steilstrecke?) - went straight ahead into the wall.

Nice in this color:




Many Porsches seem to come crashed off the track

[Blue Thunder]

I really liked this one:








After this i went back to Ringhaus and reviewed the lap videos at the bar
having some beers. Nice to review the laps afterwards and see where I´m
making mistakes and where I can do better.

[Blue Thunder]

SUNDAY - August 12th.

Great weather - dry and sunny!!!

The night before at the Ringhaus bar I had promised the Scots staying there
that they could have some paxlaps. So this was the "ringtaxi" day for me

There were alot of closures so I didn´t get as many laps as the day before.

Here are some of the early laps:

http://www.rngtoy.com/thordur/almennt/BMW_Fah...Lap-01_0854.wmv
(I did not like the way the guy went through all the smoke!!! :blink: )

http://www.rngtoy.com/thordur/almennt/BMW_Fah...Lap-02_0903.wmv
(wasn´t paying attention to my rearview mirror when Max was suddenly on my
tail... just got the f**k out of his way )

http://www.rngtoy.com/thordur/almennt/BMW_Fah...Lap-03_0902.wmv

http://www.rngtoy.com/thordur/almennt/BMW_Fah...Lap-04_0846.wmv

Because of the closures there was some carpark wandering.... so I took some pics.



Some Maranello stuff:







The cobras still around:




Nice plate:


Nice paintjob & car




Alot of spectators:


Really nice 1502:




Anyways - did some more laps.

http://www.rngtoy.com/thordur/almennt/BMW_Fah...Lap-05_0843.wmv

Now my first solo lap of the day and it turned out to be the infamous lap where
I did some "drifting" through Wipperman :blink:
http://www.rngtoy.com/thordur/almennt/BMW_Fah...it_lap_0835.wmv

This is the guy I was "racing":




Next solo lap was less eventful - realized at approx. Karoussel that I was
almost out of gas and took it easy for the rest of the lap:
http://www.rngtoy.com/thordur/almennt/BMW_Fah...tofgas_0830.wmv

Next came a couple of laps where there were some irish guys as passengers:
http://www.rngtoy.com/thordur/almennt/BMW_Fah...-08_yi_0835.wmv

http://www.rngtoy.com/thordur/almennt/BMW_Fah...-09_oi_0818.wmv

The latter lap was my fastest.

I screwed up the recording for lap 10

Then a couple of more laps with the scots
http://www.rngtoy.com/thordur/almennt/BMW_Fah...Lap-11_0825.wmv

http://www.rngtoy.com/thordur/almennt/BMW_Fah...Lap-12_0835.wmv

This was the last lap I recorded since one of the guys at the gate spotted my camera
at the start of the next lap



It was too bad that I could not record one of my last laps since it was quite eventful.
I had overtaken a few cars down Fuchsröhre and was going through the
righthander just before Adenauer Forst when the back came loose all of a sudden
without any warning. So all of a sudden I was sliding across the grass and
basically waiting for the BANG when I would hit the armco - grass & dirt flying
into the car through the partially open windows.

Fortunately we did not hit the armco at all and stopped in the middle of the grass
just before Adenauer Forst. After a few seconds of digesting what had just
happened and also what COULD have happened - we carried on and finished
the lap.

When we came to the parking lot I looked over the car and did not see any
damage. But when I looked over the car again after getting something cold
to drink I saw this on my rear bumper:


It looks like someone has rubbed against the car - maybe someone "nudged" me
at the corner causing me to spin? Maybe. But I guess I´ll never know.

Here is also a pic of the interior with the Adenauer Forst grass


Anyways - I decided that I would not drive any more this day - not going to press
my luck any more

So I decided to do something relaxing and safe - got some paxlaps with Thorleif
in Steves CSL B) Did some very nice laps until it closed for the day.

After that I went to Ringhaus and later met up with Thorleif and Ed for a nice
dinner at the Pistenklause.

[Blue Thunder]

MONDAY - August 13th.

Packed up all my stuff + the extra set of wheels:




One of Franks new Caterhams:


Ahead of me was an 830 km drive to Aarhus in Denmark where I was going
to drop the car off to be shipped back to Iceland.

Got there in 7 hours with only two 10 minute fuel stops.

Checked into a hotel for the night.

[Blue Thunder]

TUESDAY - August 14th.

Took the car to the shipping company and filled out all the paperwork:


Then took the train to Copenhagen and flew back to Iceland.

This trip was excellent - the training course was well worth it

Now I just have to wait for spring..... when the M3 will be shipped back to
the Ring and the fun begins

[weenstan]

+109312312

Would read again, I really wanna do this one day haha.

[PenguinScotty]

After reading every line, looking at every photo and watching almost all the videos (Still have to watch some wet-lap ones ) i have to admit that this is one of the best trip-writeups i've read.
It's fun to read and the pictures and videos are perfectly placed. Your cameraskills are also very very good. You have an eye for the beautiful and can feel if a shot feels good or not.

From the wet-lap videos i can see that we have similar cautious driving styles in the wet . Mind you, you have a real reason... I wonder how much you are pushing with the S50 + Compressor.
Also curious about the suspension you are running. Öhlins perhaps?

All you need now is some straight cut gears

Sucks that you weren't able to finish your driving test in the E30, but i have to admit that the Golf was hilarious. It was really nice of her to lend it to you .
Still, there is always next year

*sigh*
You have caused me to really desire an E30 as well as trying to find some damn time off work...
I really do need a vacation soon

Keep it up, i think i almost enjoyed reading this as you did making it, almost

[UNDR R8D]

Wow, that was a great read man!

Well written!

That took my an hour to read it all and enjoy every picture!!!

I want to go!
I cant believe the amount of money trackside!

[AMDdude]

I need to go to www.kleenex.com now

[obnoxious2]

great writeup! i love all the pics. i want to do this someday!

[M3sRsick]

Wow, that must have been an unbelievable trip. I can't wait till the day I get to drive on the ring.

[Bimmer14PA]

Awesome stuff man!!!!!! Sorry you didn't get to do the tests in your car but good thing you got a quick loan. Awesome stuff again.
-Chris

[naustin]

oh man incredible! my turn next

[NoOneBetter]

Awesome read. I hope I can do that one day.

[ken_vs_ryu]

Awesome work!!! What an experience.