Nurburgring 2007 – Classic Endurance Races

I last raced at the Nurburgring in 1992. I never thought I'd be going back there again but.... You may remember, in my write-up on how George Tuma has invited me to share the driving of his "Jagermeister" RSR at Watkins Glen, I may have mentioned that he has also asked me to share the driving of his original 1974 Porsche RSR in Europe this year. All this is as a prelude to getting an entry in the 2008 "Classic Le Mans", which is organized by Patrick Peter of "Tour Auto" fame. The idea being that, if we enter into several of the Patrick Peters' "Classic Endurance Races" (CER), our entry MAY be chosen to take precedence, when it comes to selecting the entries, over other people who have not taken part in the CER series.

So on Tuesday afternoon, I set off from Tampa airport, basking in 90-degree sunshine and arrived early next morning at Bonn/Cologne airport where, despite it being June, the temperature was in the 50s! Shivering, I picked up a 1.2-liter Opel Corsa and drove, on mixed Autobahn and country roads, to my hotel in Cochem, a picturesque little village that nestles alongside the Moselle River and there checked into my hotel.

Next morning, after a rattling good sleep, I drove the 24 miles to the Nurburgring. I arrived to find the circuit with cold winds blasting across it and occasional rainsqualls joining in! This was going to be fun?

There were several cars already there as the format for these races is a half hour practice session, then two half hour qualifying sessions and, finally, a one hour race on late Saturday afternoon, as Sunday was given over to the ELMS Nurburgring 1000Kms. Their transporters were already in the paddock and it was quite an eye opener to this scribe to watch as untold amounts of electronic gear and set up stations, as well as the cars, were unloaded into the pit garages. I photographed several of them, little more than F1 cars with bodywork and the stand out for me was the Diesel-powered Works-run Peugeot 908 coupes, looking very purposeful in their black paint. To watch them scream past the 100 yard marker boards before a 90-degree left-hander, before they even lifted off the throttle, let alone braked, was a revelation. To back up these fantastically fast prototypes were a whole class of GT Aston Martins, Porsche GT3RSRs and Ferrari 430s.

The CER outfit was all garaged under a large marquee set up in the paddock and, towards the end of Thursday, most of the 45-car entry showed up. There was a delectable showing of GT and Sports prototypes from the late 1960s to 1979 and most impressive it was, featuring four Porsche RS 3-liters, six RSRs(!), two 935s and a solitary S/T. American cars were represented by a HUGE Dodge Charger from 1974, a big block Chevrolet Corvette from 1967 and a "Greenwood" 'Vette from 1972.

In Sports prototypes were my old Lola T70 Mark IIIB looking remarkably the same as when I last raced her in 1992 (I think!), two Porsche 908/3s (one with a turbocharged engine), and seemingly hordes of Chevrons, ranging all the way from 8s to B21s, plus the occasional Lola T212. Two of the Ford DFV-powered Lola T280-286 were present and four BMW "Procar" M1s plus a 1972 CSL made up the BMW contingent. There was also an extremely well driven Ford GT40 and two of those oh so sweet little Alpine A210-220s from the late 1960s. Where saloons were concerned, there was (alongside the BMW CSL) a Ford Capri 2600RS and an Escort BDG. The final few places were taken up by a Porsche 906 and an Osella.

So Friday morning saw the first practice session and George Tuma went out in "our" RSR, an extremely original 1974 Porsche, complete with 3-liter engine and returned to say that some of the RS 3.0s, which are supposed to have just 230 horsepower, were very fast. How right he was proved when I got my turn to drive in the afternoon. Siggi Brun, our man in charge of the RSR's race preparation led me around to show me the right lines in his RS 3.0 and. after just three laps, drove off into the distance. I contented myself with re-learning the circuit and found the 3.2 mile Grand Prix track a pretty technical place to learn. It had also changed its configuration considerably since I was last there.....!

And so to Saturday; all a bit of an anti climax really as, after George taking part in the morning qualifying session, we could only wait until 4 p.m. came around and our race started. As George started the car, I got ready in pit lane to take over but, after just over 22 minutes into the race, we were done, the engine springing a severe oil leak and retiring to the paddock. Ah well, that's motor racing! I packed my gear, got out of the circuit quickly and drove back to Cologne/Bonn airport to catch my plane back home. Next race is at Spa, Belgium on 17-18th August and George and I are going to get there a few days early, in order to get some track time in and (attempt to) learn this formidable circuit. Happy days!