Après trois ans d'activité, j'aiAfter three years of activity, I have decided to close this site, to stop promoting the Nordschleife.
"- Err why ?"
Because it used to show the Ring in a too optimistic way , already a little wrong originally due to some excess of enthusiasm, but utterly false by now, in 2003.
"And ... why ?"
Because too many people now drive or ride on this circuit, which has reached its saturation point. And if I say "too many people", I mean "some people too many" ( see farther).
Unsafe by nature, it has become awfully dangerous today. For with a now too important trafic, the accidents rate increases exponentially.
Here are the advices we may give in 2003 :
Don't go to the Ring if you are unexperimented in track matters. Example seen during 2003 Ring trips : two car crashes with beginner drivers ( less than three laps and probably not much elsewhere considering such a result ) : two deaths twice.
Don't go to the Ring if you wish to drive on a track, because "it's safer than on a road" : totally wrong at the Ring !!
Don't go to the Ring if you don't want to drive or ride on a normal track and you prefer the road-like aspect of the Nordschleife. It's a track above all !!
Don't go to the Ring if you are looking for a gentleman driver atmosphere, because on track, it's often a war instead.
Don't go to the Ring if you are looking for freedom : it is no longer the case. Today, marshalls are inspect everything, controllers are riding bikes among traffic, the Police is here at the slighest problem, and last but not least, spectators and other users are inclined to denounce you at any moment , registration number included.
Don't go to the Ring if you are not a "pure" pistonhead. If you come only to show off, to slouch on the track and tell wonderful stories afterwards : then I will kill you :-)))
Don't go to the Ring if you have some trouble with you ego.
Don't go to the Ring unless you understood clearly that your car or bike may become very soon a wreck, but also that a serious or fatal accident might happen to you (even on cars )
Don't believe numerous Ring sites too easily : enthusiasm is rather selective and memorize only the bright side. Moreover, the Nordschleife is extremely photogenic and videogenic, unic errr... unique , one can be very eager to talk about it. I did too.
Don't go to the Ring to make videos : it's forbidden since September 2002.
Don't go to the Ring if you loathe traffic jams. There are some , to enter the track, to leave it, and on parkings permanently.
Don't go to the Ring if you own a Mercedes. I don't like Mercedes.
Don't forget that the Ring is quite in fashion : some who had nothing to do there paid for that : several fatalities per week-end this year, not exclusively real Ringers.
Compulsory reading if you intend driving or riding on the Nordschleife : the Safety leaflet by Ben Lovejoy and the Ringers mailing list.
Contact : Olivier Jacquet
Site first release : 13th July 2000
Site closure : 13th October 2003