Photo: Screenshot from YouTube video by Auto Addiction
Driving on the Nürburgring is an experience, but it comes with risks and challenges. While it is a test of a vehicle's brakes, it also puts the driver to the test. Those who behave aggressively during tourist sessions can consider they have failed that test.
What some people do not understand is that going to a track day is not the time to prove that Formula 1 and NASCAR are missing a driver. Everyone wants to enjoy a track day, and you feel the need to take your vehicle to its limit, but everyone else is trying to do the same thing. And if this is your first lap, you should pace yourself and remember that that vehicle needs to remain in one piece after the track day.
So, instead of driving as aggressively as you can, try driving safely while going as quickly as you feel you can still control the vehicle you are operating.
Remember that the entire session will be slowed down if someone runs off the track, and you do not want to get “that look” when you return to the paddock or the track's parking lot. And, if your daily driver is your weapon of choice for that track day, try remembering that before destroying your tires, your brakes, or the car itself.
Moreover, crashing during a Touristenfahrten session will be expensive. For example, if the recovery truck will have to be called on the Nürburgring, the driver will have to pay a fee of EUR 500 (ca. $564), and that is just for the recovery truck.
In the case of a more complicated crash, where the safety car is involved, that also comes at an extra fee, and closing the track because of an event costs EUR 1,350 (ca. $1.525) per hour.
Damaging the Nürburgring's Armco barriers can be incredibly expensive on its own. Each post costs EUR 39 ($44), plus five euros (ca. $5,65) to remove it, while the barrier itself costs EUR 31 (ca. $35) per meter (3.28 ft.) to replace, and 10 euros (ca. $11,30) per meter to remove. Do not forget to buy travel insurance, as getting in a crash that involves an ambulance might leave you with a hefty bill.
As for the vehicles in the video below, most of them are near-miss events, but each could have ended with severe injuries or even fatalities. Be considerate when driving on the track and avoid the kind of behavior that would get you banned in online racing games, not to mention real life. So, just do not behave like the drivers you can see in the video made by Auto Addiction.
Sebastian's love for cars began at a young age. Little did he know that a career would emerge from this passion (and that it would not, sadly, involve being a professional racecar driver). In over fourteen years, he got behind the wheel of several hundred vehicles and in the offices of the most important car publications in his homeland. Full profile
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