Postcard from the Nurburgring

Regular DSC readers will know that the Nurburgring 24 Hours is one of the Ed's favourite races nowadays and the grid for the 2011 edition promised a cracker.

Ground down by my enthusiasm the Dep Ed too would make the trip and, thanks to Nissan GB and Bob Neville at RJN Motorsport we were making the trip in style aboard an ever so impressive (as things would turn out) Nissan 370Z.

First impressions of the car were confused - comfortable, very peppy and clearly well equipped but on a wet evening the noise from the rear tyres, splashing through the Surrey puddles was such that I felt the need to check I hadn't left the tailgate open!  On the one hand it's good to hear what's going on at the rear of a powerful rear drive coupe - on the other it became pretty distracting.

The car's capabilities though were never in doubt, now perhaps overshadowed by the GTR the Zed offers a whole lot for not a lot - c.350 bhp from it's 3.7 litre V6 which provides a lovely note up front when pressing on.

The six speed box is a joy to use with a truly joyful synchronised down shift rev matching system that matches the revs on downshift , blipping the throttle at just the right moment, lovely, lovely stuff!

As things would turn out though that would be one of only a couple if things that would occupy the thumbs down column in a trip which showed very clearly indeed what unbelievable value the 'Zed' offers.

Sat Nav engaged and luggage packed (plenty of space both in the rather shallow load compartment and behind the seats, the 370Z is a strict 2 seater, we were off.

Nowadays I don't get a lot of opportunities to travel with Mark so this was a great chance to chat, and to reintroduce him to my patented brand of road trip games!

Unfortunately he's quite good at this stuff so the "name as many different cars that have taken part in the British GT Championship" challenge was despatched before we reached the Channel Tunnel (113!).

From Calais we'd opted to take the road via Lille rather than the roadworks choked Brussels and thus were treated to a Sat Nav that tried to bully us into something other than our chosen way for rather too long!

In fact the system fumbled us into a wrong turn when the roadworks hit us in any case, I haven't had the heart to check on a map where we actually went that morning but suffice to say I'm sure our extensive travels around the Maastricht ring road weren't entirely necessary!!

Soon enough though we were away and free and with my own internal Sat Nav re-engaged we were homing in on the Motherboard of Motorsport - Kerpen, massive Michael Schumacher Karting centre? Check - enormous and filthy looking power station? Check -Signs to the Nurburgring that actually take you a route that takes 2 hours longer? Check.

With the Nissan making short work of the autobahns - That section is unrestricted isn't it? Whoops!! It was time for the car to get a drink - economy, whilst not of the diesel lightly sipped variety was pretty good for a 300 bhp plus sportscar.

I did though make the cardinal error of not comparing costs of fuel resulting in my paying a clear 20 cents more per litre for 98 octane juice than anywhere else seen on the trip ( with the sole exception of the pumps in e paddock at the 'Ring!)

Refuelled with fuel and a large bar of Milka chocolate with Dime bar bits (very highly recommended) we were soon in the midst of the scenery which announces the arrival - geologically speaking- of the Eifel - and all too soon the regular train of Ring specials, tweaked Golfs, bikers, garages in every village with fleets of Ring rentals started the pulse racing just a little.  The Nissan meanwhile was loving the challenges of the twisty roads hereabouts, even with some rain in the air and slightly greasy surfaces to deal with it was surefooted and responsive, steering g weighted beautifully and enough poke under right foot to deal with anyone dawdling too much without delay.

The road sign for Adenau just made it race a little more - particularly with the added advantage of a soundtrack from the race cars by then out for a free practice session - no chance for even a glimpse of the cars over the famous bridge - 2011 has seen extensive sight screens erected - but it encouraged us to hustle a little, the accreditation centre alongside the flat out Dottinger Hoe was negotiated without the dramas suffered by the Radio Le Mans advance guard of messes Hindhaugh and Roller.

With a few minutes remaining of the free practice session it was a no brainer to park up the Nissan (OK to dump it by the side of the road!) scramble up a grassy bank that was well on it's way to becoming muddy and join the dozens of fence hangers watching the cars blast by at warp factor several.

It's a great way, even with just a couple of laps to savour, to get yourself into the groove for this extraordinary event, to get some idea of the differences in pace between the top GT cars and some of the less glamourous Production runners.

And it gave me the opportunity too for the first sight of a number of cars - the Aston Zagatos and their wailing V12s, the lovely Ferrari P4/5 Competizione, the neat but rather uninspiring little Artega, the rather 'Halfords' looking Golf GT24s and the visually challenging Mini Coupes - now estate agents have something that looks even more like a fashion accessory to parade around in!

Then it was time to introduce Mark to the truly extraordinary spectacle that is the Ring 24 paddock - put simply if you are used to the neat awnings and huge transporters of the LMS and ALMS - or even the less extravagant surroundings of the British GT paddock - then this is going to be a culture shock.

From the huge and shiny hospitality units fielded by Audi, VW and BMW, through the tyre 'village' hosting no fewer that 10 major makers - Dunlop, Michelin, Pirelli, Bridgestone, Hankook, Kumho, Falken, Continental, Avon and Err the other one!  Ah Yokohama!!

Then onto the large awnings housing the bigger multiple car teams, annexed to them, shanty town like , are the easy ups for the smaller teams, looking like an automotive version of a refugee camp, cars up on stands and team members huddled around camping stoves.  At the back of the pits there were the teams making camp on the tail lifts of their trucks and then there are the garages.............Beyond description!!

After a brief catch up with Messrs Hindhaugh and Roller it was time to attend to my task for the day - the Wall of Fame - aka the marked up entry list and other assorted notes, maps and timetables that keep the RLM broadcast rolling for the duration.

And what an entry list! It really does need a wall to do it justice - with cars and drivers of particular interest picked out it still takes some moments to acquaint yourself with it's scale - 207 cars listed with almost 800 drivers! Even the amended list on Friday morning required well over 100 changes to our original item. Sadly that included 5 withdrawals, the race entry down to a 'disappointing' 202!

One of the other things you need to get tuned into for this epic event is the different timescales you are dealing with - near 9 minute laps take some getting used to when you're used to 3:30 being a relatively long time!!!

Things take a long time to emerge here, take your eyes off this one and you WILL miss something vital! It's a real test to cover but I absolutely love every single moment of it.

With little info about who is in what car, with several drivers pedalling more than one and with precious little video coverage available until raceway there's a lot of airtime to be filled - happily fuelled by the very excellent staff in the Aston Martin suite - again RLM's hosts for the weekend.

Beyond that there was a steady stream of sausage and potatoes via the catering in the press room and a very welcome offer too from Audi for lunch in their splendid hospitality unit.  It was there that the RLM and DSC crews (by now bolstered even further with the arrival of Paul Truswell) met and chatted with Damien Smith, editor of Motor Sport magazine, a conversation in which Bill Boddy's remarkable and continued contribution came up - just days later he was gone at the grand old age of 98 - RIP WB.

Porsche had a major presence at the race this year with 8 of their 9 factory drivers on the grid and an entire floor of the Tower taken as a media lounge - odd then that they didn't take the opportunity to announce their plans to return to Le Mans in front of such a captive audience, the corporate calendar instead dictating the softest of soft launches just days later.

Our accommodation was around 40 minutes from the Ring proper and that meant a convoyed journey each evening and morning to/ from the circuit, 'our' 370Z together with the RLM Pathfinder - Suffice to say that the pace of these journeys  was somewhat spirited - suffice to say too that the (left hand drive) Pathfinder's advantage in forward vision was more than out weighed by the Zed's pace and handling - overtaking opportunities were able to exploited safely, impressively and enjoyably!

There were, as usual, astonishingly few opportunities to catch up with individual drivers in the run up to the race proper, just try finding the one person you are looking for in the midst of that little lot!

Come race day though and Jim Roller and I decided that a pre race pit walk was in order, to pick up the pre race atmosphere and to gather as much comment and reaction as we could - Words cannot adequately describe the scene as over 200 cars and their crews attempt to exit out onto a grid occupied by no fewer than 40,000 fans!

Add in a pipe band, grid girls and TV crews and there's a recipe for chaos!  In amongst all of this though we managed to gather interviews with an astounding array of notables - check out the pre race podcast on www.radiolemans.com

There was a point though, beyond around row 15, where progress up the grid was impossible - so back to the booth it was for one of the most enthralling races in years, a race which at various points could have gone the way of Audi, Mercedes, Ferrari or BMW but which eventually went, once again, to the lead Porsche of Manthey Racing.

It was good to see meanwhile that RJN had not one but two 370Zs at the Ring this year, their regular SP10 (GT4) car joined by a more highly developed SP8 version, this a 4 litre car with bigger brakes and wheels, a large rear wing and front splitter completing a very aggressive stance.

Both cars were finished in the iconic Falken livery, the team running on Falken rubber this year and learning fast about their new tyre partner.

“We’ve done a lot of work with the tyres in the VLN races leading up to the 24 Hours,” said RJN Team Principal Bob Neville.  “There’s always more you can do though and we were working hard to find the right balance in both the free practice sessions and qualifying too.  We found a good compromise for both cars for the race though.”

It didn’t exactly prove to be lacking in qualifying either, Alex Buncombe taking pole in SP10 and the SP8 car qualifying well up too in a class which also included the factory run Aston Zagatos and the super quick Lexus LFAs.

Both cars translated that good form well into the early stages of the race too, on a drying track the wily RJN team had opted for cut slicks on both 370Zs and both ran easily inside the overall top 30.

24 hour racing though is a cruel game and before dark both Nissans had hit trouble, the SP10 car with gearbox issues and the SP8 hitting trouble with its diff.

After that, and an off following contact for Tanaka San in the night it was fightback mode for both cars, and a spirited display that owed as much to the will to finish as it did to any realistic chance of a podium.

Despite that the SP8 car finished an excellent 4th in class, a bittersweet result after the car had held a podium slot through the night.

It might have been a major effort to bring the cars home but both Michael Krumm and Guy Smith hung on right to the end, despite both being due to fly to a test session for the FIA GT1 Nissan GTR team the following day – “The car was great, really strong and fun to drive,”

For Bob Neville it was a mixture of pride in finishing one of the most demanding races on the planet, and frustration that the cars could have finished much higher up the order.

“Of course you always want to do better, but that’s because we know they can do better.  Adapting one of these cars is not a simple task, You start with a very capable road car but then you need to stiffen the chassis with a roll cage and save weight too.

The RJN race cars are based on one of the most popular versions of the Zed in both Japan and the USA, the Version Nismo.  They can thus take advantage of a number of detail differences between our road car and the NISMO car.

A small rear wing rather than a spoiler, a very slightly longer front end and aero improved lower sills plus a homologated 3.8 litre engine.

Aston Martin again retained their 100% finishing record from their factory entered cars, RJN meanwhile welcomed both their cars home despite their problems, the Falken liveried pair cheered home not only by the team but also by Falken’s European MD and his 1400 guests, all of whom appreciated the car’s press-on attitude whenever they were out on track..

On the way to the finish line we had great racing, sublime marshalling, scary accidents and more drama in 24 hours than in a lifetime of F1.

A tired but happy de-rig and return to the hotel, beer and Grosse Schnitzel all round and a deep and dreamless sleep later and it was time to head, quickly, to the Tunnel, the Zed still gobbling up the miles without a hint of the hard ride issue that some had warned of - I stepped out of the car in Epsom wishing it was with me for longer - and with the car looking remarkable value at c. £30,000 for a fully equipped, rapid and capacious Grand Tourer I'm just a mild windfall rather than a lottery win away from one!

The race pics above are from Soren 'Zorro' Herweg - so good that Nissan featured his tag on their badges!!

GG