Nurburgring help

[KISS_ME]

I’m heading over the Europe next month and just occurred to me i have no idea what I’m doing. So hoping to get some help from the community on how to reach the Nurburgring from Amsterdam.

So based on my Google search, Cologne is the closest metropolitan city to the Nurburgring. So my plan is to take the train from Amsterdam to Cologne and hang out in Cologne for a day. Is this the proper website to go to for train tickets? http://www.raileurope-world.com/. Price for one way ticket is 80 euro but doesn't look like they have return tickets to Amsterdam from Cologne??? WTF???

Second part is something I’m confused about. How do I get to the Nurburgring? Is there a local train? If so can I go from Cologne to Nurburgring then nurburgring to Frankfurt in the evenings? Any suggestions on time if I where to make this a day trip?

Last part is something I’m hoping to get some input from someone whose tried it. Im looking at taking part in something at the park. Maybe giving the below a shot: http://www.nuerburgring.de/en/angebote/driving-experiences/formel-trainings/formula-racing-starter.html

Is there anything else people can recommend like how to rent a car from somewhere close and taking a zip around?
Thanks in advance

[gamman]

From amsterdam, rent a car.

look up lovejoy nurburing. website is english, all kinds of brits and just like beyond, all kinds of reasonable info.

its a 2-3 hour drive from frankfurt. may even be a bus/tourbus of somekind. Its out in the boonies. yes you can rent a car. they are freaking expensive.My audi turbo diesel rental got like 8L /100km (memory foggy, years ago) doing average 225kph on the way there if I recall correctly. it was over 100 euros a day. Its halfway b/n frankfurt and Cologne. The ring is a town the size of ...sheppard. TINY. ok, its maybe bigger, but it seems spread out.

[Phuqu]

Originally posted by gamman

its a 2-3 hour drive from frankfurt.

You are doing it wrong.

It's maybe an hour. An hour and a bit.

http://www.nuerburgring.de/en/ueberuns/infos-service/anfahrt.html


Insert gratuitous Nurburgring souvenir here.


http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/gg95/DanDanLongDan/1999%20Dodge%20Viper%20ACR/DSC02225.jpg

[UndrgroundRider]

Be aware that most rental companies do not allow you to drive the nurburgring (even though it's technically a public road). You should definitely familiarize yourself with the track before you go. As well you will need to learn the etiquette regarding passing, signals, etc.

There are lots of companies that will rent you various sports cars and exotics to race on the track. That would be my recommendation. Most of them also offer a few laps with an instructor.

As for rail tickets in Germany I've always used: http://www.bahn.com/i/view/GBR/en/index.shtml That's the official website for Deutch Bahn, so I assume it will be the cheapest. If you're going to do lots of rail travel it might make sense to look into the Euro passes, that might be more economical.

I do love the train system in Europe, especially in Germany, but I think it's a pain in the ass to get to the nurburgring by train. It's actually as "out in the boonies" as you can get for Europe. If I recall it involves a transfer to a bus for the last leg. When I went we had a rental and the ride was very enjoyable. This allowed us to visit some other notable routes around germany.

[msommers]

There is no train service out to The Ring. So you can either rent a car, hitch a ride with someone or take the bus to/from Koblenz (which has a train station and where you catch the bus). I should mention that I'm not 100% that the bus service is available when there isn't a race at the ring. Do check this out.

https://maps.google.ca/maps?saddr=N%C3%BCrburgring,+N%C3%BCrburgring+Boulevard+1,+53520+N%C3%BCrburg,+Germany&daddr=Koblenz,+Germany&hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=50.405017,7.281189&spn=0.462146,1.344452&sll=50.33053,6.942098&sspn=0.028929,0.084028&geocode=FUgGAAMdyPppAClZxRCQNq2_RzGaWMpzG8LbgA%3BFdluAAMdE9BzACmdfSN2V3u-RzFgs9oQ1dQiBA&oq=Koblen&mra=ls&t=m&z=10

[Canmorite]

http://www.nuerburgring.de/en/angebote/driving-experiences/co-pilot-fahrten/bmw-ring-taxi.html

Definitely worth checking out if you're there.

[dingmah]

When I went back in July, I drove my rental car to the ring, and rented a Scirocco from Rent Race Car (http://www.rentracecar.de/english/prices/index.html).
Their office is right at the tourist drive entrance to the ring, which is located here (http://goo.gl/maps/FVif1).

Driving to the ring is almost as much fun as the ring itself.... Blasting down the autobahn at 200km/h+ with packs of BMWs & Audis are experiences I'll never forget.
At those speeds, the ring is about 1 hour from Frankfurt, because it's 3 lane all the way.

[dj_patm]

My dad crashed at the ring in a Audi TT he rented from one of the places at the ring. Luckily it wasn't his fault so I believe he didn't get dinged for the damage of the barrier he hit, but he did get a nice $7000 ding on his visa for the car.

Also, someone died in an unrelated accident while he was there and apparently fatalities aren't all that rare at the ring.

Just an fyi ;)

[KISS_ME]

Thanks everyone for the help.

I took your advice and rented a car. Good god it's expensive to rent a car in Germany. 66 Euro/day but that's for an Audi A4.

Booked a return ticket with bahn.com, simple as shit once I found what site to use. Thanks underground!!!

Luck of the draw I'll be there on May 1st, which is actually labour day for Germany. I've been told the ring will be packed with people?? Should I book online for my events on the ring or should I just do it when I'm there? I just don't know what to really expect so I'm really leaning towards doing it there but at the same time I don't want to get boned having all the events filled up.

And lastly, damn it's not cheap to rip around the ring in a rental. Track prep cars like a suzuki swift (plenty enough for my skill level) is 100 euro/lap. I'm tempted to just fork out 250 euro for the ring taxi or a bit more for the Austin Martin co-pilot ride. Good choice??

Thanks again

[whiskas]

I've also driven the ring, be very very very very very careful, there is very little runoff room on the track, if you go off, you will hit something. And in may it'll still be slightly chilly, so make sure you go easy on your first run because your tires will be cold.

[msommers]

I wish I could have done the ring taxi while I was there. I tried to say longer than the weekend and it was booked so far in advance I couldn't get anything. Actually it didn't even appear it was going on still when I was there but would get notifications all the time to book something, which was months and months in advance. The co-driver sounds awesome imo.

Are you able to drive a couple laps on your own and then do a ring taxi/co-driver? I'd personally go for that. I'm not sure if you're able to do the entire ring on your own but at 100e/lap, that's worth it.

[KISS_ME]

Originally posted by msommers
I wish I could have done the ring taxi while I was there. I tried to say longer than the weekend and it was booked so far in advance I couldn't get anything. Actually it didn't even appear it was going on still when I was there but would get notifications all the time to book something, which was months and months in advance. The co-driver sounds awesome imo.

Are you able to drive a couple laps on your own and then do a ring taxi/co-driver? I'd personally go for that. I'm not sure if you're able to do the entire ring on your own but at 100e/lap, that's worth it.

WOW! I just took a peak at the website for ring taxi tickets, sold out till June or something. I guess that only leaves the Austin Martin co-pilot ride as my only option. Wonder what the difference between the two are.