European GP

[Jordan]

:sleepgo:  I thought it was rather uneventful myself, especially with Michael winning.  But, I do like the Nurburgring circuit.

 

[Phil]

It was ok until Ralf got his stop-go. The circuit is a nice one but no where near as good as the old 14 mile, 174-turn Nurburgring. I have it on Grand Prix Legends and it took me 30 mins to do a lap!

 

[Jordan]

 WOW!  That is one long track.  How long is the new version?

 

[Talentless]

2.831 miles, I think.

The old ring is actually longer than 14 miles. Long thing.

 

[Phil]

Click on the link to see a track map of the old Nurbergring. Just to put it into perspective, the new track is on the same map.

http://www.silhouet.com/motorsport/tracks/nurb.g

 

[Jordan]

Wow, that's huge.  Why'd they cut it down so small?  Safety reasons?

An F1 race over that distance would be awesome...  :frown:

 

[Phil]

They stopped racing there because Niki Lauda crashed heavily there in the 70's (1974 I think ?) and was only saved when a couple of drivers stopped and dragged him from his burning wreckage so they decided it was too dangerous to race on it.

They never did many laps because it is so big. They couldn't have done more than 15-20.

 

[Jordan]

Oh, I see.  But, it looks like they could change that area of the track and make it safer/create an alternate route.

It would make such a challenging track, not only with the amount of corners, but if you needed to pit somewhere along the way...  

 

[Phil]

No they couldn't because most of it is public roads and you need massive run of areas for F1 cars these days.

 

[Jordan]

No wonder it was so cool...  Public roads make the best race tracks!  

 

[Phil]

They still hold some track days on the old circuit where you can take your road car along and give it a good thrashing.

 

[Jordan]

 Man, that would rock.  So many exotic car owners just leave them sitting in the garage, though...  

 

[Phil]

It most cases yes but I think a lot of Caterham owners take there cars over and thrash them because of the superior power to weight ratio. I think a Caterham may still hold the lap record for a road car around the old Nurbergring.

 

[Jordan]

Wow, a Caterham holds the record?!  That's awesome.  They sure look fun to drive though.

 

[Phil]

I wouldn't want to rake one out in the wet.

Also, Autosport reported this week that the Nurbergring gp track is to change again.

 

[Jordan]

Change again?  Longer or shorter?

 

[Phil]

It will be a bit longer (560 metres). The first turn will double back on itself and then return to the existing track before the current turn 3.

 

[Jordan]

Hmmm, well that sounds pretty cool.  Not too dramatic of a change.

 

[Talentless]

1837+ ft

 

[Phil]

It should mean that there will be a lot of first corner drama though.

 

[Jordan]

Yes, probably so.

Hey, did you get my message, Talentless?

 

[Talentless]

Replied

 

[Jordan]

Yeah, I've got it.