Nurburgring and Spa trip with some vids

[MrPT]

Fantastic stuff, thanks for sharing.

[craig3.2]

I was there from Friday to Tuesday, but you’d have to keep your eyes open for an understeering, squealing, dirty Alfa 147 diesel

Only managed 20 laps due to closures and increasingly irritating rotational noises from the old girl, but she made it all the way back home on Tuesday afternoon and sat at 130mph on the autobahn for a good while.

There are lots of downsides to using the Alfa over the M, but one upside is that I only needed 2 tanks of diesel for the entire trip vs the 2 tanks a day my pal was chomping through in his petrol Leon. Another is that my pads & tyres last 40,000 miles, and it’s as ‘quick’ in the dry or the hail/rain (which you may have missed).

Almost took out a dick in a UK-registered white Lambo, who decided to slow down to 50mph into Schwedenkreuz, and stay on the left. The Alfa is no supercar, but I was still showing 125mph. He then decided to indicate left and block the racing line for everything else that was up my chuff. He then decided he wanted to undertake through Brunchen and made me almost understeer into the cars passing me on the left. His excuse, when the marshals grabbed him exiting the track, was that his passenger was feeling ill and so he slowed down.

Why did you not take the M Coupe,thought it was back on the road?

[mmm-five]

Why did you not take the M Coupe,thought it was back on the road?

Z4 is alive & well, although still on standard seats & brakes, but that wouldn't have stopped me.

The main reasons for taking the Alfa:

1. It was Karfreitag (also known as banger-racing weekend)
2. The weather forecast for the week before was for snow (week before was important as I go straight to the Ring after a week working in London, not from home in Liverpool)
3. Forecast was for rain for the Ring weekend
4. The Alfa is slow, but fun in a different way

Exhibit 1
(sorry, not taken the GoPro this time, so this comes from stitching a few 3 minute dash cam clips together that didn't get automatically overwritten)

[TomK]

Thanks for the kind comments guys, great to share the experience and hopefully prompt a few others to do the same.
Well well worth the effort, I'll remember it for a long time
I've watched the video of Dave driving my car at Spa and whilst he didn't get any clear laps it was obvious that the car could go a lot faster than the high 2:56 I managed. I would think it possible to get to a low 2:50 or perhaps even below. So much time was lost for me chickening out and braking into eau rouge, the time cost all the way up the kemmel must be significant. Poor commitment through Stavelot also cost a huge amount on the way to Blanchimont.
Here's Dave chasing down the 650s, extremely slippery, nice driving as usual mate

[Mr Tidy]

Z4 is alive & well, although still on standard seats & brakes, but that wouldn't have stopped me.

The main reasons for taking the Alfa:
It was Karfreitag (also known as banger-racing weekend)
The weather forecast for the week before was for snow (week before was important as I go straight to the Ring after a week working in London, not from home in Liverpool)
Forecast was for rain for the Ring weekend
The Alfa is slow, but fun in a different way

Looked like loads of fun, but for me the commentary was the best bit!

But watching all these videos is making me want to book a trip - please stop it!

[Mikey_Boy]

Great to meet both TomK and FishyDave at Spa last week..!

Spa is challenging in the dry - in the wet, it's mildly terrifying.... Tuesday was much wetter than Monday - M Track mode really helped on both days, with my Z not missing a beat either - a really good track companion and the OEM CSLs being another good addition.

Planning a Spa / Nurburgring double header off the back of this next year...

[mmm-five]

Looked like loads of fun, but for me the commentary was the best bit!

Sorry, I can get a bit vocal when I'm in the shitbox, mainly as it takes so long to get back up to cruising speed.

But watching all these videos is making me want to book a trip - please stop it!

I keep thinking of renting a car, but it seems expensive (obviously not as expensive as binning your own car and taking out £m of other cars).

e.g. a Suzuki Swift is about €700 for 8 laps (possibly in as little as 2 hours), assuming you take the excess insurance to bring the excess down to €3k from €6k.

[Mr Tidy]

Sorry, I can get a bit vocal when I'm in the shitbox, mainly as it takes so long to get back up to cruising speed.
Mr Tidy wrote: ↑Mon Apr 09, 2018 09:25 pm

Don't be - that was the best bit! It's so frustrating when you've got limited grunt and people get in the way.


I keep thinking of renting a car, but it seems expensive (obviously not as expensive as binning your own car and taking out £m of other cars).

e.g. a Suzuki Swift is about €700 for 8 laps (possibly in as little as 2 hours), assuming you take the excess insurance to bring the excess down to €3k from €6k.

I think if I ever did go I'd try a rental first - but I can see where that might lead!

[InterlagosZ4MR]

Just about to get my wheel alignment done - what set up are you running? CSL geo? I have B12 kit too so any advice on ideal geometry would be great. Front pins are out already when I had the kit fitted which makes a difference to turn in.

[TomK]

Just about to get my wheel alignment done - what set up are you running? CSL geo? I have B12 kit too so any advice on ideal geometry would be great. Front pins are out already when I had the kit fitted which makes a difference to turn in.

It's a long way from 'csl' settings tbh. I wouldn't really want to give any advice on it as it is such a personal thing, you might hate how mine drives. These cars are extremely sensitive to small changes I have found is probably the best advice I can give.

[brillomaster]

got a spa/nurburgring trip booked for end of September. Well looking forward to it, hoping its dry!

I'll probably take the z4 for a couple of laps round nurburgring, but might think twice if its very wet.

And then trackday at Spa the day after - never been there before, looks like my kinda track - ie fast! I can take the kink on the back straight at Bedford pretty quick, wondering if eau rouge is a similar experience? but anyways, Spa is definite bucket list track, so really looking forward to it!

[R60BBA]

A short film of my trip to Germany.

The Z4 Coupe is very capable car bar its sh*tty brakes.

Enjoy: https://youtu.be/y0ymv8jOC0Y

[Argenta]

Great film, nice editing!

[Argenta]

Thanks for the kind comments guys, great to share the experience and hopefully prompt a few others to do the same.
Well well worth the effort, I'll remember it for a long time
I've watched the video of Dave driving my car at Spa and whilst he didn't get any clear laps it was obvious that the car could go a lot faster than the high 2:56 I managed. I would think it possible to get to a low 2:50 or perhaps even below. So much time was lost for me chickening out and braking into eau rouge, the time cost all the way up the kemmel must be significant. Poor commitment through Stavelot also cost a huge amount on the way to Blanchimont.
Here's Dave chasing down the 650s, extremely slippery, nice driving as usual mate

Wow! Apex’s are not your thing then?
I feel in this thread I’d like to add a clip of a car I had prior to my Z4MC, a Fiat. (Wish I still had that but the garage burned down)

[TomK]

Wow! Apex’s are not your thing then?

Not with those track conditions, definitely not!
That 650s in the dry was so much faster than us, but he was taking the dry lines in the wet and dave using his years of racing experience knew not to do that, hence driving right by them.
I've been properly schooled before by dave in the wet both at brands Hatch and Silverstone where I was barely able to keep up with his e30 320i with all of 125bhp in my M, exactly because I was trying to hit apexes!