|
 Brothers Richard and Adam Fry
(right) took
an aging Volkswagen Jetta to the famous Nurburgring Race Circuit in
Germany, for a fun Track Day, where members of the public can drive the
course.
Before
heading off to Germany, Richard and Adam spent some time making the car
ready for its track debut.
They stripped out as
much unnecessary weight as they could, and also tinkered
to improve the handling and general overall performance.
The project was in memory of Richard and Adam's
sister Rhian, who died suddenly in 2000, aged just 17.
The brothers hope that
their project has helped to help raise awareness of CRY, and are planning
more Track Days in future.
Read the diary of their trip to Germany below!
Day 1 – late Friday 26th
May & Saturday 27th May
22:27 (Friday) –
With Adam driving, we set off for Dover - fully loaded and guided by
Sat-Nav.
23:45 (Friday) –
Sat-Nav sent us on a wild goose chase. Bored of geese, we shut the
lid and the shut the woman’s voice up in one angry swoop! We are now
pleased we purchased the AA Euro map.
01:10 (Saturday) –
M20 dot matrix signs warn of heavy Dover traffic. No notice taken of
signs, as Clarkson says: “they lie”.
 01:25
– Entered Dover…heavy traffic, engine off and we’re stationary. We
spot a Gumball Rally Lotus. Bad traffic keeps us at a snail's pace
for next forty minutes.
02:05
– Finally arrive at ferry boarding gate. Friendly double-chinned Norfolk
Line check-in man informs us that the 02:00 has just set sail…..if we’re
lucky we might 04:00. If not, it’s a long wait until 08:00. Great!
02:45
– Whilst parked up we spot a Caterham 7 with a ring sticker! Had a chat
with the driver who gave us some tips and general encouragement.
03:40
– Board ferry.
06:00
– Off ferry in France, and finally get on motorway.
We shoot through France
and stop in Belgium for a fuel top-up. Holland and Germany are easy,
straight through. We start to see hills and good looking roads -
getting excited!
 Stop
to top-up on fuel near the ring. After we set off we notice the
alternator light come on. We check it out - car looks OK and is
charging, so we press on.
Signs for ring! Car
starts to play up - stuttering up some hills - but it is a warm day and it
has done a fair few miles!
13:30 – We arrive
at the ring - so much activity, it’s really happening! Area is full
of race-prepared and exotic cars. There are a large number of British
people also.
We take a look around,
but don’t do a lap yet due to the car being full of our stuff, and also
because of its little faults. We do talk to many people though, asking if
they know of a VW equipped garage.
Weather isn’t too bad
just showers now and again
 15:00
- Get a lift to ringracing.org to see where it is, and then take the Jetta
up straight away, we are booked in for 18:00.
We head back to the ring
car park to kill a little extra time. Car seems OK now - light still
on and exhaust blowing a bit.
18:30 - Get car
looked at. Bad news - they can’t fix exhaust or alternator as it’s
hard to find the parts for an old car at the weekend.
We head to hotel Lang and
set up for the night.
Get to hotel - nice.
Empty some of the stuff we now realise we didn’t need out of the poor
Jetta. It’s not so low at the back now thankfully.
Day 2 – Sunday 28th May
 07:00
– After deciding to risk the 'recovery charge' of 170 Euros, by doing some
laps with our alternator light on, we got up early to have our included
breakfast. See two guys at breakfast who were on the ring yesterday in a
blue VR6 mk2 Golf. Turns out the owner runs Formula 1 in Brighton! They
confirm we have made the right decision by going for it!
08:10
– Arrive at Ring. Track is still wet from overnight rain but nice and
empty. Need to time it just right for a clear, not too wet, lap.
09:05
– Rich buys a 1 lap ticket and heads out on our, and the Jetta's, first
lap.
09:08
– Track is damp and very slippery but nice and quiet. Rich takes it
relatively easy but it is still very scary for the passenger Got
passed by a Lamborghini Diablo, which was exciting - and it didn’t even
disappear that quickly! We make it round and it was an exhilarating
experience for both of us.
 09:22
– Pull back into car park to let the Jetta cool down. Open the bonnet to
aid this. The car seemed to cope with its first lap very well, and no
sign of any failures even with our alternator light on.
09:50
– Track still seems fairly quiet so I head out for my first lap. It is a
nerve-wracking feeling when you put your ticket in the barrier and set off
for the 13 miles that you have no clue about - with BMW CLS’s and gt3
911’s flying past you!
First impression was how
wide the straight is…..that doesn’t last long though. Started off quite
well, but had a small panic when it seemed like about 15 cars were trying
to pass me all on one straight! After they got passed I loved every
second of the lap and it felt like I got a good rhythm going considering
it was my first lap.
We both did another lap
each before a sign of the Jetta’s problem occurred. We finished a lap and
then parked up but the area was muddy so we decided to move…..car didn’t
start. Oh dear! Decided to leave it to cool down for half an hour. This
worked a treat, and the Jetta burst into life like it was only a fraction
of its age.
 This
trend of the Jetta fixing itself continued after our next two laps!
15:00 - Lunch
Time. The addictive nature of lapping does result in you losing
track of time. All of a sudden you feel hungry and find out it’s past
lunch time and you’ve not eaten all day! As this happened we decided to
have lunch and do some viewing.
We headed to Adenau as
this was the only viewing place we knew how to get to. Spent about an
hour there in great weather, enjoying a variety of cars and getting some
good tips on the best line.
A few recovery trucks
passed us so the track must have closed. We thought it was a good
time to head back to the start area for a few more laps when the track
reopened.
 17:30
– Just about to head over to buy a ticket and the Jetta won’t start!
Looks like our luck has run out. Well at least we didn’t have to pay the
170 Euro tow-off fee!
We get a jump start from
some fellow UK ringers, and with mixed feelings head off gingerly for the
hotel.
Only a few hundred metres
from our destination we had to stop at some lights, the Jetta didn’t like
this and stopped. Being so light it was easy to push for safe parking
overnight.
21:00 – Over
dinner we weighed up our options. Tow back to the UK or a fix and
drive?…..it had to be the fix
Day 3 – Monday 29th May
09:00 – After a
quick breakfast we discover the hotel manager speaks excellent English and
knows the local VW garage. We get a tow down to them. After explaining
in our broken German to the mechanics that we need to leave at about
mid-day to catch the ferry he sets to work.
 With
typical German efficiency, the part is shipped in from Bonn for 11am and
promptly fitted.
12:15 – We re-load
the Jetta and set off homeward bound feeling a little nervous but also
happy we’re on the move.
Germany, Holland and
other countries fly by, and after a short stop to refuel both the car and
ourselves, we arrive at the port in perfect time. We have a chat to a few
other ringers and people that are interested in our car.
21:40 – Back on
British soil. Just a quick blast and we’ll be home.
23:18 – After 950
miles, a few mechanical gremlins, serious lack of sleep and a whole lot of
fun, we make it back. Both the Jetta and ourselves, thankfully, in one
piece.
Adam and Richard Fry
Special thanks to:
You can read more about the project by
visiting www.nurburg4nowt.co.uk |
