Nurburgring in a Cooper

chris901202 said:

After about 9 laps now I'm getting a feel for it, but still know I can improve in a few places.

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That has to be one of the most dangerous statements ive heard of the Ring, 9 laps is nothing compared to what the best of the locals will have and the best Ringers such as the test drivers and races have 1000's or even 10k + laps in some cases, and even they still make mistakes, you wont have even got a feel for a normal track after 9 laps let alone the ring.

Completely agree with you, when I say feel - I mean I'm not going into corners completely blind. I'm still well aware that 'track knowledge' constitutes hundreds of laps, the VLN drivers have driven thousands.

Unless you are employed to drive on this track or have raced it many times I dont believe anyone has a "feel" for this track, its such a bitch of a track to try to understand, and when you factor in the climate that this track lives in it makes it even worse. Ever changing track conditions, traffic, car evolving and many other factors make it nearly impossible to truly "master" this track.

For me this track takes a rally approach to be successful at. I can bet that very few drivers that race on this track will race at anything higher than 95%, you try to push at 100% and you will crash 9 times out of 10. This is the colin McRae theory as he was one of the fastest rally drivers to have lived, his biggest downfall was not being able to hold back that 5% that people like sebastian Loeb are brilliant at.

As George said, the GT drivers who race the ring will probably drive each lap at around 85% - 90% of their capacity.

Jesus Christ 10.17 in a stock Cooper?!
I've been at the ring myself this week are you in the red R56 with black headlight rings? I'm in the red r50 Cooper with white roof and stripes.
I've done 7 laps and best time was 11.44 and that's with kw v2s

Saad did a sub 10 in a mini one.

Sweet Jesus of Nazareth that unbelievable, that been said we have been timing cones till 130kph sign will try till bridge tomorow.
On a side note seen 4 people carriers and a minibus lapping in the last 2 days wtf?

Decent lines, decent pace!
Just forget about timing. Its not what u drive it's where and how u do.

U choose some nice quite days to lap, it was madness out there last sunday::getcoat::

stefan740 said:

Decent lines, decent pace!
Just forget about timing. Its not what u drive it's where and how u do.

U choose some nice quite days to lap, it was madness out there last sunday::getcoat::

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Yeah I was there too, it was crazy. Looks like the weather won't be great over the next few days either, so might call it a day until the quieter sessions next week.

.MATT. said:

Jesus Christ 10.17 in a stock Cooper?!
I've been at the ring myself this week are you in the red R56 with black headlight rings? I'm in the red r50 Cooper with white roof and stripes.
I've done 7 laps and best time was 11.44 and that's with kw v2s

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Yeah that's me, are you still around? I'll be there at the evening session tomorrow.

I did a 9.52 this evening which I'll upload tomorrow, the conditions were nice and the traffic was low. As people say, it's not about the time, it's about the line and getting a good drive I guess. I got past a GP down into Quiddelbach Bridge, but it was simply due to taking a better line.. + the fact I'm getting some instruction from a guy that's done 100s of laps.

Yeah I'll be there tonight usually get there for 4.30 ish It's my last night unfortunatly. I guess tuition does make a big differance I was miles faster round Oulton park after tuition

chris901202 said:

Yeah that's me, are you still around? I'll be there at the evening session tomorrow.

I did a 9.52 this evening which I'll upload tomorrow, the conditions were nice and the traffic was low. As people say, it's not about the time, it's about the line and getting a good drive I guess. I got past a GP down into Quiddelbach Bridge, but it was simply due to taking a better line.. + the fact I'm getting some instruction from a guy that's done 100s of laps.

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Good time, lack of traffic, and instruction definitely helps. Well done.

I'll be over on Wed & Thurs if you're still there?

Phil_McCrackin said:

I'll be over on Wed & Thurs if you're still there?

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Yeah might still be around next week - depends on the weather, if it's poor I might travel to visit some friends. If it holds out I'll stay to do some more sessions!

Drop me a message on here when you arrive :thumbup1:

chris901202 said:

Yeah might still be around next week - depends on the weather, if it's poor I might travel to visit some friends. If it holds out I'll stay to do some more sessions!

Drop me a message on here when you arrive :thumbup1:

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I'll be in a Green mini and with a octavia vrs and more than likely an Escort Cosworth or Impreza

.MATT. said:

Yeah I'll be there tonight usually get there for 4.30 ish It's my last night unfortunatly. I guess tuition does make a big differance I was miles faster round Oulton park after tuition

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As discussed earlier in the car park:

6. No 44A Bus On The Racetrack! - Nurburgring - Ferrari 430 Scuderia - September 2011 - YouTube

Hope you got round OK, we gave up as soon as the started to pour down! ::getcoat::

good clean laps, how much did you pay for the tutor?

if you get on when its quiet you can manage a great time fairly easy. The last time i was there in my R50 i got a 9:32 lap in, that was with a 50mph slow down on a small bit of the track due to them replacing a bit of Armco.

Just dont get too confident with yourself. You get cocky and this track will bite you in the ass!