What do I drive on the Nurburgring?

[northloop]

I forget the exact figure but around 600 laps of the ring is the equivilent to the full expected life of a road car........ That means my 205 has lived 2 lives to date

Depending on how many laps you do, first trip normally around 10-15 a 3 day weekend will cost you £5-600. You can reduce that figure if you get people to share the car with you.

[handpaper]

The ring is no harder on a car than a decent A road plus motorway intersections.

Driven as you would drive a normal public road in the UK, say 60 mph maximum, no heavy braking, acceleration or cornering, avoiding bumps where possible, that's probably true. You could drive round like that, I suppose; 15-20 minutes of gorgeous scenery punctuated every few seconds by something howling past at up to three times your speed.
But most of us don't drive over there to enjoy the scenery (though it is lovely), we go to have fun, to explore our cars' abilities, to do things that just aren't safe on a British A-road.
BMW estimate that 'spirited' 'Ring lapping causes wear at twenty times the rate of normal road driving. Do this for long enough and things wear out or break.

[UweM3]

The ring is no harder on a car than a decent A road plus motorway intersections.

Driven as you would drive a normal public road in the UK, say 60 mph maximum, no heavy braking, acceleration or cornering, avoiding bumps where possible, that's probably true. You could drive round like that, I suppose; 15-20 minutes of gorgeous scenery punctuated every few seconds by something howling past at up to three times your speed.
But most of us don't drive over there to enjoy the scenery (though it is lovely), we go to have fun, to explore our cars' abilities, to do things that just aren't safe on a British A-road.
BMW estimate that 'spirited' 'Ring lapping causes wear at twenty times the rate of normal road driving. Do this for long enough and things wear out or break.

The ring Taxi M5 get a set of new brakes disks and pads every 20 laps....

[Silverfang]

The ring Taxi M5 get a set of new brakes disks and pads every 20 laps....

Think I'd better invest in Group N discs and pads when i plan going out!

[northloop]

Just because it supposedly has them it doesnt mean it needed them. From memory the report also said the car had tyres changed daily and i'm pretty sure that isnt the case.

[UweM3]

Just because it supposedly has them it doesnt mean it needed them. From memory the report also said the car had tyres changed daily and i'm pretty sure that isnt the case.

judging from the amount of still decent looking tyres in the backyard of the BMW testcenter (we walk past there to get to our hotel) I have my doubts.

didn't say the car does need all this, but keeping in mind that we talk about the decision of a major car manufacturer to put these interval in place I do think that this indicates the wear they expect.

Better safe than sorry.

[UweM3]

The ring Taxi M5 get a set of new brakes disks and pads every 20 laps....

Think I'd better invest in Group N discs and pads when i plan going out!

you don't need Grp N disks IMHO (btw what are "Grp N" disks? The BMW Grp N cataloge doesn't list any other disks than stock for Grp N).

Just a good pair of stock disks or other make which has succesful surfived trackuse on other E30's driven on track. Pads is another story, but I don't think there's a "one pads fits all" recommendation

[northloop]

Better safe than sorry.

Agreed

[Andyboy]

And when the Ring taxis are replaced, they go back to the Munich recycling centre to be cut up.

[northloop]

I think you will find that parts are taken off to have analysis done first. Probably not much of the car left when it goes in the crusher

[Weeman]

I use my 318is, not lightning quick but great fun, and quick enough to put a smile on your face which is what its all about. I've tried to keep it simple with Ds3000's front and back, std disks, dot 5.1 and braided lines for the brakes, Bilsteins and kw springs for suspension, poly bushes, strut brace. Fully stripped (except sunroof, i need that when its sunny) Omp seats, harnesses and a weichers cage, left the engine alone, fitted a powersprint group N exhaust and may consider smashing the cat up. But i'm leaving it as std as possible in that area.

Like gary has said, fast isn't the way, you get just as many smiles per lap, driving within your limits and simply having fun. Oh and if you go the cheap and slower approach keep the cigarette lighter in the car so you can plug a kettle in and make yourself a brew up kesselchen.

[handpaper]

Oh and if you go the cheap and slower approach keep the cigarette lighter in the car so you can plug a kettle in and make yourself a brew up kesselchen.

I ask passengers if they brought a newspaper

[Andyboy]

I think you will find that parts are taken off to have analysis done first. Probably not much of the car left when it goes in the crusher

.....your point being??

At the end of the day, the cars end up at the Munich recyling centre and are crushed. Just like I said. But of course everyone likes to be an expert......



The cup of tea comment isn't far of the truth. I've lit and smoked a fag between Breidsheid and Steilstrecke in a 320i E30 - it was THAT slow.

[agreen]

I ask passengers if they brought a newspaper

- i dont see this guy reading lmao

[northloop]

I think you will find that parts are taken off to have analysis done first. Probably not much of the car left when it goes in the crusher

.....your point being??

At the end of the day, the cars end up at the Munich recyling centre and are crushed. Just like I said. But of course everyone likes to be an expert......



The cup of tea comment isn't far of the truth. I've lit and smoked a fag between Breidsheid and Steilstrecke in a 320i E30 - it was THAT slow.

You must be good to be able to smoke that fag while taking Bergwerk

[Weeman]

I save my fag smoking for as i pass the gantry, calm me down lol

[Silverfang]

The ring Taxi M5 get a set of new brakes disks and pads every 20 laps....

Think I'd better invest in Group N discs and pads when i plan going out!

you don't need Grp N disks IMHO (btw what are "Grp N" disks? The BMW Grp N cataloge doesn't list any other disks than stock for Grp N).

Just a good pair of stock disks or other make which has succesful surfived trackuse on other E30's driven on track. Pads is another story, but I don't think there's a "one pads fits all" recommendation

Friend showed me a link for some off a Rally parts site, Can't find it at the moment, so will ask him later!

As for the rest, thinking ATE Superblue fluid , Goodridge hoses and Ferrodo or Pagrid Pads, being i'm on a budget it'll be whatever is cheaper

[UweM3]

if you go want to go for cheaper, delete the PAGID pads from your list (£140ish only for the fronts....)

[handpaper]

XLRaceparts have a variety of performance brake pads for e30s:
Mintex 1144 @ £62 are good, 1155 @ £80 are better.
Pagid Yellow (RS29) are awesome, but expensive at £140.
All prices are for an axle set (4 pads) and excluding VAT and delivery.

Uwe, if you know anywhere cheaper for the RS29s, I'm all ears

[UweM3]

Uwe, if you know anywhere cheaper for the RS29s, I'm all ears

no chance. but i think it's a relative. the RS29 last for a long while, so how "expensive" are they in reality?

PS I was quite happy with the PAGID Blue, the yellow felt a little bit to agressive with my brake setup.

[northloop]

I used to run Pagid yellows on the Subaru, bought them at a reasonable price from a guy called stockcar on Scoobynet. Not sure if his username reflects a web site or not.

Performance friction are very good in the life dept too. I think you need the PF97's from memory.

[Simon13]

From my trips to the ring i've found my Mintex 1155's last around 40 laps. Does this seem about right?

My advice would be to treat the place with respect and remember where you are if you get carried away. It's more fun if you drive at 80-90% first off until you get more comfortable with the place. I still do this now as i find i have more fun playing with lines and braking points, than being on the ragged edge of my ability and the cars

Andy you smoked every lap you did with me last trip about 5 laps iirc!

[tomstickland]

The ring is no harder on a car than a decent A road plus motorway intersections.

Driven as you would drive a normal public road in the UK, say 60 mph maximum, no heavy braking, acceleration or cornering, avoiding bumps where possible, that's probably true. You could drive round like that, I suppose; 15-20 minutes of gorgeous scenery punctuated every few seconds by something howling past at up to three times your speed.
But most of us don't drive over there to enjoy the scenery (though it is lovely), we go to have fun, to explore our cars' abilities, to do things that just aren't safe on a British A-road.
BMW estimate that 'spirited' 'Ring lapping causes wear at twenty times the rate of normal road driving. Do this for long enough and things wear out or break.

Well, it depends on how you drive normally. I was taking just under 11 minutes to make it round and didn't feel that I was treating the car any more harshly than a decent A road. Not as bad as B roads with potholes, nasty cambers etc give the car more grief. The car does need to be in reasonable condition to start with - anything on its way out will suffer, but it's nowhere near as bad as people seem to make out. It's very smooth on the ring apart from the Karousel.

The amount of braking needed is pretty low, just carry reasonable speed into the corners and scrub it off with the tyres.

I did some basic servicing, drove the 700 miles or whatever to the ring, did 20 laps over 3 days, then drove 700 miles home. The ring taxi is an exception. It's driven very hard every time and a major manufacturer would not like a failure in such a flagship. It's an unforgiving place, so you can't drive to that limit on your first 50 laps or whatever. You have to know the track properly before committing. On Youtube there's a video of three UK cars (something like an E30, a modded 106GTi and something else) doing a 9 minute lap and I asked them what it took and they said "knowing the track, you need about 100 laps to reach this sort of pace".

Anyway, agree or disagree, I've going back in a few months time and I'm confident of my opinion.