We’re both motor racing fans and I’m bit of a petrol head, so we thought we’d make a quick stop at the Nürburgring as we were passing through the area. The Nürburgring, or more specifically, the Nordschleife (literally, “North loop”) is one of the most challenging race tracks in the world. It’s over 20km long passing through the forests of the Eifel mountains. It used to be the Formula 1 track 1970s (with a southern loop section) until it was deemed to be too dangerous.
The Nordschleife is still occasionally used for racing, but most of the year they allow the public to go around it for €25 a pop. It’s pretty common to see 100bhp city cars being driven by timid first timers lapping with 500bhp race prepared track toys for people that drive hundreds of laps per year. Needless to say, it’s a little crazy and there are lots of crashes and the occasional fatality. But the ‘ring is a mecca for petrol heads. Joolz really wanted me to drive The Van around the ring, but I wasn’t keen. This was mainly because The Van would be so slow that we’d be a liability. We would be the slowest thing on the track and some cars would be managing to average twice the speed we’d be going, so closing speeds would be scary. Also that we even had a minor accident, we’d be dealing with flying furniture and kitchen implements. It’s an extremely rare even for me to veto something as too risky that Joolz is happy to try…
We did go to the Nürburgring visitors’ centre, which includes the Ring Shop that sells branded…. ‘stuff’?
Cook like a racing driver? 
Greenhell toast? 
Because nothing says, “Driving god” like a hot water bottle.
After that, we went to one of the public viewing points. What we failed to realise until we’d arrived was that it was a public holiday. This was good because there were plenty of cars on the track. But unmarked dust bowl that was a makeshift car park was disorganised and totally packed! I fought my way through the chaos and pushed The Van through some very small gaps to get a front row spot. With the back doors open, I perched on the bed and got a really good view while Joolz made a light lunch before joining me. We got some jealous looks. We had a really chilled afternoon.
Front row luxury seats 
Blind entry 
Nadgery exit
After that, it was onwards to Koblenz.