Tag Archives: F1

The Nürburgring Is For Sale

The Nurburgring is reportedly for sale in the region of £120m.

The Nurburgring is home to the German Formula 1, alternating with Hockenheim, which also has reported to running at a loss from hosting the F1. As noted by the German Tourist Board on my recent trip; “The track costs 17,000 euros per day to hire on non-race days, however Hockenheim must pay 20m euros to hold the F1, which breaks even selling 100k tickets averaging 200 euros.” 125 years of the car

The Ring will also be well known to the audience of Top Gear and often quoted as the testing ground for most performance auto makers with the Nordschleife times providing great marketing power much is the ongoing battle of Porsche 911 Turbo vs Nissan GTR.

Sabine Schmitz has become a national hero and has been providing driver tuition and the Ring Taxi with the BMW M series and Porsche track prepped 911 models. Ring Taxi

Compared to a location such as Goodwood, an investor should be able to see there is scope for improvements. Goodwood hosts the Moving Motorshow, Festival of Speed, horse racing, golf courses, corporate events, hotels, restaurants, yearly memberships and so on.

There are rumours of the pool of bidders having shrunk to 20% so there must be some hidden issues but as a name and grounds the Nurburgring offers a lot of potential.

German Grand Prix Road Trip

With a team of 14 we left London in an 11 plate Mercedes E250 Estate on 19’s and air ride (very comfortable for 4 x 6ft+ 14st+ portly squires), 03 Audi A4 3.0 Covertible (not so comfy for 4), MK1 TT 225 (very comfy for 2), big Citroen (carrying 2) and a very masculine looking Mini Cooper S (also carrying 2).

Convoy

On Route

Helicopters

Driving in convoy and catching a 16:20 train to Calais on Friday 22nd July, via the Channel Tunnel, we stopped off in the Novotel Centrum in Bruges, Saturday in Koblenz (Hotel Haus Morjan on the river) and over to Nurburg Sunday am for the F1.

Koblenz

Even after the overhaul of Silverstone, a few of the guys commented on how organised everything was including nearly no traffic into or out of Nurburg. Map at the top outlines the Nurburgring and park zone B area 5 and 5a were excellent and free.

The days time was spent between the Info Centre, (where you have to buy cards to put money on before you can purchase food/drink – a bit annoying), gawping at the Porsche, Aston Martin, BMW M Power, Ferrari etc stands and then sitting in Tier 6 and later sneaking into 4.

Hamilton Wins German F1

German F1 Nurburgring

Can’t believe how close you can sit to the track and everyone needed ear plugs. Awesome race to be at and so much suspence with Hamilton storming into the lead in the first corner (why can’t Webber ever start well?), constant battle for 1st place with Hamilton re-overtaking Webber after he broke too late. Webber and Alonso pushed Hamilton back into 3rd and with some good strategy and tyre choices by Mclaren, Hamilton took the chequered flag with only a few laps to go, incredible! Not so much luck for Button with hydraulic issues and Vettel was off the pace. This is a fantastic venue for the F1 and we did see a ‘Save the Nurburgring Brigade’, so hope it’s not the last. Ears are still bleeding but left the F1 at 17:00 and made a 21:20 train – took 7 hours from Silverstone to Guildford I hear.

Motorsport Events To Attend

Having recently updated the 2011 Motorsport calendar, it looks to be an eventful year on the way!

I will be attending Le Mans on the weekend of the 11th June with a team of 7 from the UK in a Motor Home.

This year is 125 Years of The Car in Germany. The German F1 will take place at Nurburg and should be an excellent spectators day – looking forward to our 14 person team road trip from London – Brugge – Koblenz – Nurburg and back powered by Merc S, BMW M3, Audi TT RS/Porsche Cayman, Mini Cooper S and maybe a DB9 and Citroen 2 CV..

As soon as the weather picks up, there is also the SLS AMG track experience to attend at MB World!

Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG

F1 2010

The team that I suspect will receive the most press world wide leading up to the first race is Mercedes GP – http://www.mercedes-gp.com

Not only do they have Ross Brawn, they also have Michael Schumacher, albeit now 41, he is reported to be in better shape than ever for this year. He is not back just to have a seat again, Schumacher’s only concern will be the world championship! Partnered with Nico Rosberg, it is officially England vs Germany according to the papers. Have they forgotten Ferrari still exist?

Mercedes GP F1 Car

End of Season Grand Prix Event 2009

Powered by Mercedes-Benz Live, the Brooklands brand experience center hosted the End of Season Grand Prix Event on Sunday 8th November 2009. Highlights included brushing shoulders with Lewis Hamilton, David Coulthard, Mika Hakkinen, Heikki Kovalainen and Ross Brawn plus some familiar faces on the presenter front. For those who haven’t heard an F1 car before and even those that have, the sound was phenomenal being just feet away from the track. F1 cars included Mclaren Mercedes with Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen show boating with donuts, burn outs, drifting on the wet circle by Lewis and general crowd pleasing. The Brawn F1 cars made an appearance on the track but no Button present, however Hamilton did note he wouldn’t mind having him as a team mate at Mclaren next year. The Mercedes DTM car weighing in at just over a ton with 500 bhp was a fire spitting monster! The sound made the F1 pace car seem like an SL350 in comparison. A fantastic day out and all free to the public if they made their registrations on the Mercedes-Benz World website within four days of the event being announced.

Mercedes-Benz Touring Car

F1 Pace Car

Mercedes-Benz-World

Mercedes-Benz-300SL

Silver Arrows

Ross Brawn Gullwing

Mercedes-Benz 300SL Collection

Mclaren F1 Brooklands

David Coulthard

Mika Hakkinen

McLaren F1 Brooklands

Lewis Hamilton Interview

Mercedes-Benz SL65 AMG Black Series

Mercedes-Benz SL65 SLR Stirling Moss

Heikki Kovalainen Interview

Mercedes-Benz SLR 722

Mercedes Gullwing

Brabus Bullit

Brawn F1