For these, you’ll need the latest version of QuickTime.
Well, I finally took my car around the Nürburgring.
First video is a quick drive-by clip of my car coming through Wippermann. Right-click + download here. (1.8Mb).
In-car lap:
Right-click, download: here. (82.9Mb)
This was my first lap in the RX-8 with full power, and it’s terrible, absolutely terrible. My later laps were much better, but not filmed.
The whole lap isn’t there because you’re not actually allowed to video from the car, so we had to put the camera + mount up after we started, and before we came back in. My passenger did all this.
A few things to watch out for as I go round (1:25 = 1 minute, 25 seconds into the video):
| 0:10 - Me: "It's so much faster than before...." referring to the fact the car actually works now, after having a new cat put on it after the first one fell to bits. |
| 1:49 - Managed to crunch the gearbox going into 4th! |
| 2:30 - At this point, I'm doing 130mph. The RX-8 can take that little kink at those speeds, but I hesitated and braked slightly. Bad idea! My friend's comment ("Woah, easy tiger!") refers to the back end getting a little skittish and me (and the traction control!) recovering from it. On later laps, I backed off the power slightly just before turning in and powered through that corner - the RX-8 held like a champ. |
| 3:55 - This is a Peugeot 1007. Cool little car, has a sliding door. Very, very underpowered though. BUT... you can't call it a "one double-oh seven" because that's © James Bond. It's a "one-thousand and seven". |
| 4:40 - "We walked round here today..." referring to a walk we'd taken earlier that day while the car was being fixed. That walk round the track is beautiful. |
| 5:05 - "I had to brake that time!" referring to the fact that car was actually going fast enough to have to brake for that corner. Before, I didn't have to. |
| 5:30 - The absolute worst way I could have possibly taken that corner, short of going through it on my roof. Boooo! |
| 7:00 - The Karussell. The world's most famous corner. Seems 50mph is the fastest you can go through there without coming out of the top no matter what car you have. Bumpy enough to make the tranction control go nuts. |
| 8:55 - Jump! |
| 9:10 - This part is a fairly sharp drop. If you're not in a straight line (which is very possible coming out of that previous corner) when you hit it, the combination of the loss in traction and sudden drop makes the car unstable in every way possible - it feels like you're gonna crash, but you can't tell in which direction. However, in a straight line the car is nice and settled by the time you get to the next corner. |
| 9:55 - My friend sending me a text message from home telling me my business is going haywire without me. I didn't read the message until after I finished, of course. |
| 9:55 - Bikes! The only things that overtook me on the whole circuit. Awesome. |