End of the world? Nordscheife 24hr

[greenwoo]

I guess most have seem some form of 'end of the world' movie, whether its a Mad Max type thing or a zombie apocalypse ?

If you want to tick 3-4 things of a potential bucket list then i'd suggest a look at the 24Hr at the 'Ring; You'll feel as though you're walking into/around a movie set ( end of the world), you'll def have the chance to see some racing ( whether you do is up to you ), you'll get to party like its 1999 and you'll have tales to tell for years to come.

I had the chance to go a few years back, Murphys Law said that one of our crew couldn't make the Le Mans dates, so on the advice of a pal we decided to plot up at the Ring for their 'sort of version'.

Needless to say i sucked in all the info possible from my pal who'd accompany us and who had been before 'No problem with camping, no they don't book pitches, we'll have tons of choice when we arrive on the Thursday afternoon'.....Did we hell!
A long wheel base sprinter carried the essential supplies, with 2 cars ferrying the group...we rocked up to find a free for all, paid our paltry e20 for camping and were waved in the general direction of a wooded hillside. Oh, and it was cold and wet.
I think the cars managed to circumnavigate the site 2x without finding a suitably large spot for all of us, in the sprinter we didn't fare so well - tip toeing through the mud and narrowly avoiding getting stuck. I learned later that there was a minor mutiny in car 2 where 3 of the 4 were all for sacking it off and driving straight back to Calais, luckily the driver had the Veto.....

Taking liberties we plotted up close to the entrance on what was the only bit of hardstanding ( seems it was for coaches), and our tents, marquee and all the gear were erected double quick before anyone could say 'Achtung vas is das'.....

Now i should have said that this episode was really a 'not how to do it', because we only ticked off 3 things, we kind of missed the racing, well most of it. Back then the race was earlier in the year and it was cold, and i mean cold, to the point of having to wear every bit of clothing i had at night and still being cold.
Minor problems with our little 'camp', well one of the guys was gassed by a coach, he'd slotted his tent alongside it and they fired it up the next morning to juice up the batteries, me? well my tent was sort of wedged against a wooden fence - turned out that it was a door that went into part of a bar/building and a cleaner tried to open the gate and we both had a shock....but in the main we were set and 'doing it large' - or so we thought. We had the usual freezers with our bbq food and for chilling the beers ( didnt need those it was that cold), we had the hi-fi and pc to play the music vids and adult entertainment and a couple of infra red heaters. Sorted!
Nah - we were but amateurs.....as you'll see if you watched the clips below......

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VsU9zaAan4c

Yep those guys n girls know how to set up camp and party ( even if it is Euro Techno ). Seems that my pal was a bit off in his thinking that Thursday would be fine, the serious people rock up the previous weekend, and armed with scaffolding and chainsaws they build observation platforms, cut down trees for fuel and drag along 3 piece suites for a degree of comfort.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcsEQiI1_NU

We found that out, after a little track side wandering the next day and even managed to see some practice/quali, it was kind of ok if you kept moving, it didnt feel THAT cold. We were a tad disappointed to find that the rollercoaster that should propel you alongside the straight at race speed wasn't working, turned out to be a Government swindle or rather a swindle on the government who had pumped more than a few euros into the infrastructure around the main entrance. On the upside it was a cashless experience, you had a card that was topped up ( ok that part cost cash) and then whey hey you would use it on anything from drinks to food.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2hRl00aoKs

We did the usual tourist stuff, steak at Sabine Schmidtts parents restaurant, a few bratwursts and of course we did sample the local brew...do love a Weiss Bier! Come race day it was warm (er) than it had been, and we managed to sit out and watch some classic racing ( for about 15 mins before hypothermia set in).....but then fate smiled, a cheeky little grin in our direction. FA Cup day and it was being shown in our bar ( well we'd spent enough money to have serious shares in it), AND it was one of our groups birthday....happy days. We left there in staggered groups, i definitely ( i told myself) need another beer so off to a Club a few paces away ( told you it has it all there ), whilst I left one of 'ours' dancing the night away on the bar tables.

Somehow ( dark, no torches) we ended up back at base, although someone ( not me) had trailed around about 75% of the campsite looking for us as he'd come in through an exit/entrance that we didnt know existed!

The Gods properly smiled the next morn, the sun came out and bleary eyed we made it out to Adenau and took in some racing ( finally ), before someone suggested that perhaps a beer was in order. That night we were joined by the 2 guys from the coach, turned out that they were Swedes ( Nationality not vegetable ) who had been asked by their boss to pop down to Italy to pick up a brand new coach - and they thought that it'd be rude not to stop off for 3 days at the 'Ring! One was transfixed as we played the vids on the side of the sprinter, especially when Floyd's Live Video of Pulse came on....' Heeee issss hevin a hurdegurdee goot tiime' said his pal.....yeah we didn't talk much with them. Seems like Swedish bus drivers are the only ones in the country who don't learn English!

We stowed our gear carefully the next morning as part of the challenge had been to amass enough Steins to start a bar back in Blighty, and with a less than fond look at the site we exited stage left.
Definitely something to experience again ( well not the cold ) another time!

Unlike LM there's no real craziness on most of the sites and there's no burnouts, or stupidness ( car related ).....the shenanigans goes on trackside, want to bond with your son or get away from the Mrs and nominally watch some racing - its worth a recommend.