So it's been a dream of mine to do some laps around the Hockenheimring since I have been here in Europe. It's a little less than 3 hours from where I live and work. The first tourist day of the season this year was posted on the Book of Faces by all the car guys in the area that are members of the groups for gearheads. I had just upgraded my front brake pads to HP+ pads and put Super Blue fluid in. I jumped at the chance.

We left here and headed off onto the autobahn towards Hockenheim. It took us less than 3 hours even with stopping for fuel just before getting there. I had gone through a half tank. Even while cruising at 100-110MPH the whole time minus a couple places where there was construction going on and the normal speed of 80mph in the large city areas.

Overall I had a great time and it was pretty organized. 40 people on the course at once was almost too many for me because of slow and fast traffic either holding you up or zooming by you. German road rules were supposed to be followed which prohibits passing on the right but that went out the window the first lap. I took around 60 pictures or so which you can find on my Flikr page which has a link in my Sig. Here are the videos of the first session which lasted 15ish minutes. I did two more sessions and the traffic got worse throughout the day. I taped the second session but being that my computer is slow and the internet here in Germany is slower the others must wait. I did manage to find the grip threshold of the tires and that the brakes worked really well. Here are the vids. Enjoy.

 

Steve, well done! That looks like a bunch of fun! German "passing rules" always amaze me. As in how is there no crashes in these vids? lol.

Did you run in a certain experience group, or was it sort of a free for all?

 

Free for all. There are no passing rules that are enforced at Hockenheim. There were a couple of crashes. A Honda hit a wall. Last session I went off after coming in hot to a corner. Unscathed. My buddy with the Shelby slid about 200' off track at the end of the back straight coming feet from the wall. Flat spotted his front tire to the threads. It helps to have a passenger to help with traffic management. This was the first time Wearing my helmet the whole time and also on a GP track.

 

Nice werk but why did you let those dudes pass you

 

I hate to hold up the faster guys. All seasons held me back a bit. I was 10 seconds off of the time my buddy had in his M3 with summer MPSS's. I have another video but that will have to wait. It's of the 2nd session.

 

Oh yea I was just kidding .... there's always someone faster/quicker, Be safe not sorry and broke

 

Very true. I would rather be slow and safe than fast and in a wall any day of the week.

 

Hey Steve, I live right down the road from Hockenheim! On April 11th 2015 there's the Jim Clark Revival there. We'll be there with our 69 fastback racer. Drop me a PM and maybe we can meet up there.

 

That would be awesome. I plan on going back as many times as I can before I ship my car. Nürburgring too for that matter.