The Green Hell, Life at the Nordschleife

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Another German who has embibed plenty of brew staggers over, he is covered with Audi logos including the circles drawn on his forehead.  “Japanese drivers NO GOOD! ” He yells.  My new German friend yells NO NO, we love Americans and Japanese and shoves Mr Audi over where he lands in a heap of empty beer bottles and laughs.

The Nordschleife is a very tricky track, an amazing 17 miles of narrow German road that snakes through the forest, it is 8 times longer than your typical track and winds through and around the old village of Nurburg.  The length makes the track hard enough to memorize but it also has many elevation changes and high speed sections where the cars get airborne.  At night it”s pitch black and driver need powerful lights to see.  It is one scary track hence its nickname The Green Hell.  The 24 hour race is a German institution and a national event.  Fans come from around Europe and even the world to attend the race.  I have never seen so many people together for any event ever.
I assure you this is no Sentra SE-R!
KW Suspension is used on about 30% of the field and nearly all the top cars use KW.  This might sound weird but I noticed that cars with the mandatory KW sticker on the fender took rough sections of the track better than other brands.  Not one set of KW’s have failed at Nordschleife during the 24 hour race to date.  This is amazing because the track is very rough in places and the cars actually get airborne in several places per lap!  KW is Nordschleife Approved.
Germans know how to party.  This pile of beer bottles was created in just a few hours before the wild action at nightfall.

 

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