Got my M5 out on the Nürburgring today!

[B-1Pilot]

I'm still on my ED, had my break-in friday, and got to get 3 laps on the 'ring today!

Quite a few wrecks and the track was closed for about 2 hours.
My hot lap, Bridge to Gantry was 9:37, which I think was not bad for a rookie... very impressed by the decreased body roll and steering with the CP... though I never got to track the '13 M5, I believe the CP does quite a bit to alleviate prior issues.

There were obviously a shit-ton of cars of all makes and models.. McLarens, Atoms, Lambos, tons of BMWs, tons of Porsches, tons of heavily modded stuff, but I was the only M5 I saw today.

Couple of quick attachments and links, more to follow in the future when I have more time to edit/upload.

Happy to be here and survived my laps with car in perfect shape:


photog captured pic:


quick iphone vid from my guests:

onboard GoPro of a Clio wrecking in front of me around Sprunhugel, and then the last couple clicks of the lap... had to slow a bit, and make sure I didnt run over any of his car bits... I'll admit it unnerved me a bit, so I let the GT3 by (who had followed me for sometime without passing). Had my father-in-law onboard so we took it easy a bit until the last few turns... still had a 10:00 lap (audio is very muted since I didnt have the open back for the gopro and it had to be inside since I lost the nut in the alps for my outside mount):

[FLOMACKS]

Very cool

[Spinny02]

Thanks for sharing looks great!!! =) Cant wait about three weeks until i follow in your tracks!

[h4nh]

nice! comp package looks like it's on h&r springs haha

[stealth.pilot]

Interesting. With all that traffic and crashes, it must take nerves of steel to drive this track.

That photo of you on the corner looks professional. Do they have a bunch of photographers at the ring? How does it work - do they take photos and then you buy them?

[Bokke]

Very nice!! My M3 is SSII its a great color!!!

[M54ccibo]

EPIC!!! Love the pics.

[B-1Pilot]

Originally Posted by stealth.pilot

Interesting. With all that traffic and crashes, it must take nerves of steel to drive this track.

That photo of you on the corner looks professional. Do they have a bunch of photographers at the ring? How does it work - do they take photos and then you buy them?

Yes, exactly... there were literally about 1000 sightseers around the 20km track at various positions... of these there are quite a few pro picture takers who then post tons of pics for sale... $10.00 for someone to take that pic of my car was well worth it IMO.

http://www.ringportal.nl/en/photography


here's another of mine, the look on my wife's face compared to mine is priceless:


and another
http://www.sbfotos.de/Nordschleife/T...259_large.html

as I search and find more, I will post more... along with some of the more interesting pics ive found.

[crazy08]

Originally Posted by stealth.pilot

Interesting. With all that traffic and crashes, it must take nerves of steel to drive this track.

It's just like any other road. Need to pay attention to your surroundings. You'll have idiots as well as pros around you.
Be aware of your, and your car's, abilities. There is no shame in getting passed.
I've been in laps with ridiculous traffic and been lucky on laps where I've encountered maybe 2 cars. The latter, of course, are the most fun.

[Jay-K]

look great!

[GOLFFRR]

ok now that is pretty cool!

[darkrabbit]

Very cool! I just missed you We were here Sept 10 for the 2.5 hour run on Tuesday.

9:36 is a good time, IMO. Anything under 10 is considered good I think. We had a bit of a cold day and it was somewhat wet. I only managed sub-11 but I was quite happy it didn't rain much. My wife didn't want to go much faster either, lol. She had never been on a track before, even as a passenger, and the Nurburgring is one helluva way to lose your track virginity

With respect to anyone thinking of driving the 'ring for the first time, if you've been on a track before, and have a brain , you should have no issue with the 'ring. It's an amazing track with an incredible layout and yes, it is quite dangerous when driven at speed, but it's not the 'track of death' unless you're driving at the 90% mark. IMHO I am pretty sure it's do-able by anyone with a little experience on track, or none at all if you take it easy. Just keep right. What the 'ring DOES do is punish mistakes SEVERELY. If you don't know what's coming next, and I mean KNOW, just don't cook it. Common sense really. My first lap I got caught completely off guard by a very sharp corner which was NOT like it was in Forza, lol. I almost went over the turtles but I had enough grip left to keep it on track because I wasn't even at 70% of the limit (intentionally, so I still had enough grip left in case I forgot something). If I had been going faster I would have gone over the grass. I thought I knew what was coming but it is a LOT tighter than you think. On that same lap, an E36 went into the armco in the second km.

The other thing I noticed with the M5 on the 'ring is you may be going a LOT faster than you think. Coming from an E46 M3, this car picks up speed so incredibly fast that you could be entering a corner 40+kph faster than you were the last lap and may try and brake at the same point, which may not end well. Mind your entry speed. In a few corners the tires were screaming and I didn't understand why until I looked at the HUD and saw myself going about 40-60kph more than I thought. Through one set of esses I got up to about 210kph on exit and I am really glad I looked at my HUD before I entered the next corner as I had to brake hard. You really need to watch your foot.

Another thing I learned is how broke I would be if I lived in Germany. I would be at that track every weekend. What an incredible place. I couldn't get enough of it.

-J

[kiwistu]

Awesome! These cars a made for it and just love it!

[Bimmer6]

Originally Posted by B-1 Pilot

I'm still on my ED, had my break-in friday, and got to get 3 laps on the 'ring today!

Quite a few wrecks and the track was closed for about 2 hours.
My hot lap, Bridge to Gantry was 9:37, which I think was not bad for a rookie... very impressed by the decreased body roll and steering with the CP... though I never got to track the '13 M5, I believe the CP does quite a bit to alleviate prior issues.

There were obviously a shit-ton of cars of all makes and models.. McLarens, Atoms, Lambos, tons of BMWs, tons of Porsches, tons of heavily modded stuff, but I was the only M5 I saw today.

Couple of quick attachments and links, more to follow in the future when I have more time to edit/upload.

Happy to be here and survived my laps with car in perfect shape:


photog captured pic:


quick iphone vid from my guests:
[u2b]http://youtu.be/DED_tjxPwpM[/u2b]http://youtu.be/DED_tjxPwpM

onboard GoPro of a Clio wrecking in front of me around Sprunhugel, and then the last couple clicks of the lap... had to slow a bit, and make sure I didnt run over any of his car bits... I'll admit it unnerved me a bit, so I let the GT3 by (who had followed me for sometime without passing). Had my father-in-law onboard so we took it easy a bit until the last few turns... still had a 10:00 lap (audio is very muted since I didnt have the open back for the gopro and it had to be inside since I lost the nut in the alps for my outside mount):
[u2b]http://youtu.be/sHPhuM07-yY[/u2b]http://youtu.be/sHPhuM07-yY

Very nice trip! Thanks for your service!!

[B-1Pilot]

thanks for all the nice comments... finally back stateside wading through tons of digital media while I wait for redelivery... here's another cool pro pic:

[Spinny02]

Thats a great shoot!

[Neil McRae]

car looks awesome with the wheels and the LEDs.

[MJones3]

That looks awesome! Love the picture of you and your wife.