Nürburgring

After travelling about the Netherlands catching up with friends and family for the last few weeks it was strange being back on the road again, but the sunshine was fading from the north and it was great to be back in Wickse. We headed south from Nijmegen across into Germany aiming in the direction of the Rhine and Mosel rivers so we could follow them south. On our way we quite unexpectedly spotted the Nurburg ring race track marked on the map! Oops I'd thought it was the NurEMberg Ring, about another 300 km's further west! I thought I'd seen enough Top Gear's to get that right.

It's famous for it's 13 mile 73 bend race circuit that is open to the public, making it one of the most demanding race tracks. "Greatest & most challenging race circuit in the world" in the words of Jackie Stewart, all time racing great.

We didn't quite make it on to the course with Wickse, although the French speed camera's will attest to Wickse abilities ;) On our way to the track you could sense that the racing culture wasn't far away, luckily we were there on the weekend and fast cars could be see going to and forth from the track. Fortunately for us the Renault World Series was being staged this weekend on the F1 race circuit next door to the larger ring. Brilliant set up and the entry was free too, courtesy of Renault.

Fine tuning the fine machinery

More expensive machinery unwrapped

Formula 3.5 in action

Check out that cornering

The F3.5 cars were great (and we were thankful of the ear plugs) and we stayed to watch the Megane World Series too. Not much resemblance to the original Renault Megane, but it made for great viewing, although number 31 managed to fend off plenty off attacks to lead the race all the way from the beginning.

Tightly packed for most of the race!

Wheels lifting all over the place!

Faster and faster they go round...

Racing below the Nür Castle (Nürburg)

Number 31 lapping one of the stragglers to take the win