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filip00 · 06-25-2023, 05:35 PM

Part 2.

So while in Stuttgart, one evening we were drinking with the night guard of the hotel, who is one very interesting dude, let's just keep it at that. We tell him our plans, our next stop being the Nürburgring, and he hits us with
"Oh really? If you're going north, you guys gotta go see the Sinsheim museum."
-Sins-what?
"Sinsheim museum! It's the best museum ever!"

Okaaaay, let me make a note. So I check google reviews, the museum has 4,7 / 5 rating, out of 24k reviews.

aaaalright, so let's check it out then.

Before going to the ring, we go to Sinsheim museum. Little did anyone know, this would be *THE BEST* museum we've ever been to.
The museum is huge. They've got a huge outer area, and several halls.

From the parking lot, you can already see a lot airplanes, but two that immediately stick out are the Concorde and Tupolev. These aren't just models, those are actual plans and you can go inside them!

Inside the Concorde:

Inside the Tupolev:

There's plenty of other planes, but I didn't take pics inside. So let's go inside and see what we have there....

Brutus, the car with a 46 liter engine....

This room has so many classic Ferraris and Lambos that it's just incredible to see them all together like that.

What the hell is this thing

Well that's an Alfa Romeo Aerospider. Made in the 1930's! 1934-1937. 2,3l 6cyl, 105hp

And other classics....

There's a whole part dedicated just to cycling, a lot of bicycles and history, but again, not gonna spend eternity uploading all pics, sorry

here's a sneak preview...

Then there's a huge large hall with war stuff. Cross section of a half blown tank is interesting to see

So let me also tell a short story here. We go into one of these endlessly huge halls, and we see locomotives, steam ones. They're just huge, probably 25m long. And I'm looking at them, and there's trays beneath them, some full of oil that's been dripping in them. So I'm confused - there's oil dripping from them, yet some are 100+ years old. What gives? And then I see.....not just locomotives....some tanks as well, and other stuff. They've got 1€ slot near it - you can throw in a coin, and IT WILL TURN ON FOR A SHORT BIT OF TIME.

That's just amazing. So of course - it will not blow steam, but you will actually see it move. Seeing a huge tank turret move, or a 100 year old locomotive run its wheels - that's just amazing. And Sinsheim delivers with everything. Apparently next year they'll be getting a submarine! Just AMAZING museum. I didn't show 1% of actual stuff you could see there.

But let's move on. Our destination, Nürburgring, awaits. We finally get there, and go to the Fan shop. There I spend way too much money but hey, if you drove the ring, you are allowed to have a ring sticker on your car and wear the merchandise without being a poser, right?

While on the ring, we came just in time to see the Nürburgring Classics races. One day they were driving on the Nordschleife, the other two days on the GP track.
There are many different classes, but what's interesting - you can freely go to the drivers paddock and see the pits/boxes and how the cars are prepared. Some pics from various classes:

So, let's come to the main point of the trip, THE Nürburgring Nordschleife.

I could write endless posts about it, but I'll try to stick with just the important/interesting stuff.

Before coming to the ring, I did around 1000-1100 laps on the simulator (Assetto Corsa). The track in the game and real life is *the same*. Exactly the same, everything, every curb, every inch. So that helped A LOT. The track is very difficult, very long, you're not alone on it. there's a whole bunch of guys who are so good and who drive so fast, that you wouldn't believe it. You think you're fast in your GT3RS, then all of a sudden, you see flashing lights behind you - a beat up e36 needs to run by you, because the dude in it is making sub 8min laps like it's a joke. So there definitely is no room for error, and you definitely don't want to lose time and concentration by thinking where you are on the track, is the next corner hard or not, whether a particular corner is slippery, what's the camber, if there's a blind jump, etc etc. You want the track layout to be last of your concern - so that you can focus on everything around you, and your car. On our way to the Ring, we drove the autobahn - speeds at 220-250km/h for quite a bit of time. But that's straight line. I have a lot of experience with that, sure, but I never drove 150-180km/h in a corner before. And I mean real corners, not just a curved road. Driving dynamics are completely different when you skid along the track at 60km/h and 160km/h-

That being said, if you don't have a well prepared car, you're in for a bad time. Every day we've seen cars get towed from the track. Whether it was a mechanical issue or it was a crash, you could see everything. The track is ruthless. I saw a dude go out after one lap in his RS4, smoke from all four wheels wells, he panicked as he was leaving the carpark due to so much smoke he was creating.

My 370z - man, that thing rodeo'd the ring like it's a joke

I did 10 laps in total - no problem whatsoever! I guess I'm not a bad mechanic at all

so what's worth noting - oil cooler is a must. Upgraded brake lines, brake oil and brake pads are also a must. Knowing how to setup your suspension is a must (ARBs, camber, tyres).

Onboard footage:

Only thing that would improve the experience is if I had better tyres. I had all 4 new tyres on the car, almost a square setup (245-255) but they overheat very quickly and they aren't the best in the grip compartment. This last lap could probably be improved easily by at least 30s if I had better tyres. But I'm not complaining, I chose these tyres specifically to be just OKAY, because I like throwing my car sideways, and if the tyres are too sticky, 370z doesn't have that much torque in the low revs, so it's struggling a bit and I'm not on this type of track often, if at all. My local track is a small curvy one which I like to just have fun on, throwing the car around. But anyways, I digress.

Some more pics from the carpark:

E36 gang going to lunch:

A couple of nice NSX's

Maybe this 1 minute video actually shows best, what it's like to be on the Nürburgring. I shot this literally after a lap, after we had coffee, before going for another lap. You quickly become immune to being amazed by nice Porsches because....there's an endless supply of them. Them and all other nice cars.

While on the Nürburgring, maybe it's only OK to visit the Nürburg - the castle itself, right?

On the way back, the car hit another new milestone, 30k km.

After a great week on the Ring, we have a multiple day trip back home where we stop in Nuremberg - a nice city, homeplace of Albrecht Dürer, after which we also stop at the Red Bull Ring - where the missus had a Porsche Cayman S training course. We had great fun there, but that's a story for another time.

Over and out.

06-25-2023, 05:35 PM	#75 (permalink)
filip00 Track Member Join Date: May 2021 Location: slovenia Posts: 558 Drives: 370z pack Rep Power: 125427	Part 2. So while in Stuttgart, one evening we were drinking with the night guard of the hotel, who is one very interesting dude, let's just keep it at that. We tell him our plans, our next stop being the Nürburgring, and he hits us with "Oh really? If you're going north, you guys gotta go see the Sinsheim museum." -Sins-what? "Sinsheim museum! It's the best museum ever!" Okaaaay, let me make a note. So I check google reviews, the museum has 4,7 / 5 rating, out of 24k reviews. aaaalright, so let's check it out then. Before going to the ring, we go to Sinsheim museum. Little did anyone know, this would be THE BEST museum we've ever been to. The museum is huge. They've got a huge outer area, and several halls. From the parking lot, you can already see a lot airplanes, but two that immediately stick out are the Concorde and Tupolev. These aren't just models, those are actual plans and you can go inside them! Inside the Concorde: Inside the Tupolev: There's plenty of other planes, but I didn't take pics inside. So let's go inside and see what we have there.... Brutus, the car with a 46 liter engine.... This room has so many classic Ferraris and Lambos that it's just incredible to see them all together like that. What the hell is this thing Well that's an Alfa Romeo Aerospider. Made in the 1930's! 1934-1937. 2,3l 6cyl, 105hp And other classics.... There's a whole part dedicated just to cycling, a lot of bicycles and history, but again, not gonna spend eternity uploading all pics, sorry here's a sneak preview... Then there's a huge large hall with war stuff. Cross section of a half blown tank is interesting to see So let me also tell a short story here. We go into one of these endlessly huge halls, and we see locomotives, steam ones. They're just huge, probably 25m long. And I'm looking at them, and there's trays beneath them, some full of oil that's been dripping in them. So I'm confused - there's oil dripping from them, yet some are 100+ years old. What gives? And then I see.....not just locomotives....some tanks as well, and other stuff. They've got 1€ slot near it - you can throw in a coin, and IT WILL TURN ON FOR A SHORT BIT OF TIME. That's just amazing. So of course - it will not blow steam, but you will actually see it move. Seeing a huge tank turret move, or a 100 year old locomotive run its wheels - that's just amazing. And Sinsheim delivers with everything. Apparently next year they'll be getting a submarine! Just AMAZING museum. I didn't show 1% of actual stuff you could see there. But let's move on. Our destination, Nürburgring, awaits. We finally get there, and go to the Fan shop. There I spend way too much money but hey, if you drove the ring, you are allowed to have a ring sticker on your car and wear the merchandise without being a poser, right? While on the ring, we came just in time to see the Nürburgring Classics races. One day they were driving on the Nordschleife, the other two days on the GP track. There are many different classes, but what's interesting - you can freely go to the drivers paddock and see the pits/boxes and how the cars are prepared. Some pics from various classes: So, let's come to the main point of the trip, THE Nürburgring Nordschleife. I could write endless posts about it, but I'll try to stick with just the important/interesting stuff. Before coming to the ring, I did around 1000-1100 laps on the simulator (Assetto Corsa). The track in the game and real life is the same. Exactly the same, everything, every curb, every inch. So that helped A LOT. The track is very difficult, very long, you're not alone on it. there's a whole bunch of guys who are so good and who drive so fast, that you wouldn't believe it. You think you're fast in your GT3RS, then all of a sudden, you see flashing lights behind you - a beat up e36 needs to run by you, because the dude in it is making sub 8min laps like it's a joke. So there definitely is no room for error, and you definitely don't want to lose time and concentration by thinking where you are on the track, is the next corner hard or not, whether a particular corner is slippery, what's the camber, if there's a blind jump, etc etc. You want the track layout to be last of your concern - so that you can focus on everything around you, and your car. On our way to the Ring, we drove the autobahn - speeds at 220-250km/h for quite a bit of time. But that's straight line. I have a lot of experience with that, sure, but I never drove 150-180km/h in a corner before. And I mean real corners, not just a curved road. Driving dynamics are completely different when you skid along the track at 60km/h and 160km/h- That being said, if you don't have a well prepared car, you're in for a bad time. Every day we've seen cars get towed from the track. Whether it was a mechanical issue or it was a crash, you could see everything. The track is ruthless. I saw a dude go out after one lap in his RS4, smoke from all four wheels wells, he panicked as he was leaving the carpark due to so much smoke he was creating. My 370z - man, that thing rodeo'd the ring like it's a joke I did 10 laps in total - no problem whatsoever! I guess I'm not a bad mechanic at all so what's worth noting - oil cooler is a must. Upgraded brake lines, brake oil and brake pads are also a must. Knowing how to setup your suspension is a must (ARBs, camber, tyres). Onboard footage: Only thing that would improve the experience is if I had better tyres. I had all 4 new tyres on the car, almost a square setup (245-255) but they overheat very quickly and they aren't the best in the grip compartment. This last lap could probably be improved easily by at least 30s if I had better tyres. But I'm not complaining, I chose these tyres specifically to be just OKAY, because I like throwing my car sideways, and if the tyres are too sticky, 370z doesn't have that much torque in the low revs, so it's struggling a bit and I'm not on this type of track often, if at all. My local track is a small curvy one which I like to just have fun on, throwing the car around. But anyways, I digress. Some more pics from the carpark: E36 gang going to lunch: A couple of nice NSX's Maybe this 1 minute video actually shows best, what it's like to be on the Nürburgring. I shot this literally after a lap, after we had coffee, before going for another lap. You quickly become immune to being amazed by nice Porsches because....there's an endless supply of them. Them and all other nice cars. While on the Nürburgring, maybe it's only OK to visit the Nürburg - the castle itself, right? On the way back, the car hit another new milestone, 30k km. After a great week on the Ring, we have a multiple day trip back home where we stop in Nuremberg - a nice city, homeplace of Albrecht Dürer, after which we also stop at the Red Bull Ring - where the missus had a Porsche Cayman S training course. We had great fun there, but that's a story for another time. Over and out. Last edited by filip00; 06-26-2023 at 03:43 AM.