My Nürburgring 8
 

For these, you'll need the latest version of QuickTime.

Well, I finally took my car around the Nürburgring.

https://www.rx8club.com/attachment.p...chmentid=60248

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 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 (see this thread).

1:49 - Managed to crunch the gearbox going into 4th! :o

2:30 - At this point, I'm doing 130mph. The 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 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.

My god.. what I would give to have that opportunity. Thanks for the videos! I'll have to live my dreams through your clips. :)

What lap times did you turn?

I haven't watched it yet, but you rock man! Keep on posting your videos!!

That lap was about 10:40.

My other (better) laps were a lot closer to 10 minutes. I've no idea if that's actually good or not, but I'm assuming not seeing as 1) I'm not a race car driver and 2) I don't know the circuit that well!

From another forum thread:

Nurburgring times:
7:36 -- 162.631 km/h - Porsche Carrera GT
7:39 -- 161.575 km/h -- Koenigsegg CCR
7:40 --- 161.217 km/h -- Porsche GT3 RS
7:42 --- 160.519 km/h -- Mosler MT900S Photon
7:42.9 - 160.207 km/h -- Corvette Z06, 500 PS/1319
7:43 --- 160.173 km/h -- Porsche 996 GT3 RS
7:43.5 - 160,000 km/h -- Lamborghini Murcielago
7:44 --- 159.828 km/h -- Pagani Zonda C12 S
7:45 -- 159.484 km/h -- McLaren F1
7:46 --- 159.142 km/h -- Porsche 996 GT2

I would think the 8 is capable of a mid-high 8 minute laptime.

On Top Gear a woman did a sub 10:30 lap in a diesel van there. Sabene (most likely spelled wrong) was her name. Here, in the US, you'll have to download it.

she also took the diesel jag around the track in under 10 minutes.

Very cool footage. A great addition to my RX-8 media library, thanks for sharing.

what do i need to download to get this to work, it says i dont have the right decompresser
thanks

Like he said in the first line of his post, you need the latest version of quicktime to view.

I'm very jealous. I would love to drive around Nurburgring (many times!). One question for you: since the closest i've been to Nurburgring is GT4, I gotta ask is the track as bumpy as the game portrays it to be?

Very nice man. Super jealous here! I can only dream or take my "digital rx-8" around Nürburgring on GT4... Let the business tend to itself, do another lap instead!!! ha-ha... Thanks for the video!!

Your lap is the dog's bollocks. I'm glad someone could live the dream. :D

That was no ordinary van, and she is an amazing driver. Also, the host of top gear took that same jag around the ring in just over 10min.

for reference Sabin Schmits (sp) took a 4 cyl diesel Ford Transit van around the track in JUST over 10 mins (10:08) She had done it in 10:22 stock, then they taped up all the seems and dumped all the weight they could (seats, jack, spare, wipers, ect) and had a viper clear the traffic infront and use it as a slip stream.

So at 10 mins your running the same time in your car as the "queen of the ring" in a diesel van. Of course she has 'the gift' and she has done 15,000+ laps in her life.


Jeremy Clarkson (a reporter that is at best an average driver) took a diesel jag around in 9:59 sec. I think sabine took the same car around in around 9 min.

I think the 8, driven at 100% for the whole lap would be around upper 8 min (8::30-8:50)

Pretty good though, even shaving 30 secs off is a great upgrade. Keep at it, and your very lucky to get to drive to the course and run it.

Thanks for all your good words! The 8 may be capable of a 8:30-8:50 lap time, but I'm sure not! Don't mind though - I had an awesome time. The lap time doesn't really bother me that much!

Yes, if not more so. In the video, about 2:50 in - I'm accellerating down that hill through those sweeping bends, but notice as I get to the dip at the last left-hander I ease off and come away from the racing line. The inside of that corner is so bumpy I refuse to drive over it!

I ungraded my version of quicktime and it still won't play. Friggen Apple! Quicktimes have nice picture quality but cross-platform viability leaves a lot to be desired.

Try this. Works for me.

Get the full version and stick with their packaged player (Media Player Classic), I really like it. Also, let it uninstall whatever it needs to.


Sweet footage man. I'm determined to make it out there one day!

nice driving

very nice! I wish I could drive there. Good work/post

dang...envy..pure envy..and when I saw the top gear episode with sabin in there I fell in love instantly...sigh... :D

When I was in Germany earlier this year, I rented a 190 Kompressor and drove on the Ring. It was my first time, but I had prepared by a solid week of playing GT4. The game is very accurate with respect to the track, although I would say it is not as bumpy as it is portrayed in GT4. Thanks to having memorized the track, my first lap was pretty fast. When I came back up to the queue on the straight, my tires were smoking!!!

Later I got into a battle with a Volvo S40. He had power on me, but I was taking better lines than him. I went off the track once at low speeds when I was overtaking a guy and he didn't yield the line to me. I just drove through the grass and back on, no real drama.

I got passed by some Gimbala 911's that were so insanely fast I couldn't believe it. I was probably going about 110 and they were probably close to 170. The bikes passed me on the straights, but I got them back in the corners, especially the Karosels.

The track and the whole experience were absolutely amazing; if you are a fan of the Ring, you HAVE to drive it if you are anywhere near Bonn / Koln.

Thanks for sharing that was an awsome vid!

Nice video and driving. We're all jealous of you. (At least I am) How fast did you top out at on the last straight?

Very nice stripe on your 8 by the way

thankx for the video .... NICE .. that was good driving .........