Quote:
Originally Posted by JoeW04
Is anybody else going to this? lucky enough to be going to Le Mans the week before and thinking about doing something similar as I do for Le Mans driving over Friday stopping somewhere an hour away from the ring and heading to the circuit Saturday morning
|
Yes. I wouldn't miss it for the world - if I did one event each year, it would be the Nurburgring 24.
Your plan is sound except that there will be limited availability of B&Bs and hotels so you might have to pay a bit more than you'd like. That said, an hour is a wide radius so you should find something. It is almost impossible to find a bad B&B in the area, the standard is amazing.
If you plan to watch the start at the Grand Prix circuit then get there early. The main stands (especially the Mercedes Arena) will be full by 10am. The main spectator areas around the Nordschleife are rammed from Thursday. The roads will be jammed from the start until late at night.
None of that should put you off. It's an incredible event.
My preferred approach is to watch the start and early hours from the bottom end of the GP circuit, by the hairpin, away from the crowds. By early evening the grandstands will be emptying and there's great viewing to be had - glowing brake disks at several points. I then walk up to Hatzenbach for a couple of hours, then sleep in the car until just before dawn before heading off to Brunchen, Pflanzgarten and perhaps Adenauer Forst. By dawn the party animals will be asleep - I had all these places pretty much to myself on Sunday morning last year. There are some road closures but otherwise you can drive around, your parking pass is good for every car park and there are plenty of people to ask for help/directions.
It's a pretty heavy party zone in places but I've always found everyone to be very friendly and good-natured. I've been offered many a beer and invited atop many an impressive scaffolding to take pictures.
Don't hesitate. Plan it now. You'll only scratch the surface on a single trip, which means you'll have to go again the next year to visit different parts of this incredible track.