Money better spent than on the Nurburgring?

My friend and I are planning a big trip next year to go to see formula 1 at spa in August 2018. It will be a big late celebration for my 40th and we were thinking about going to do the Nurburgring.

Renting a car specifically at the Nurburgring seems like its going to be like 500 euros for a few laps. Is there a better way to go about this? Is there a must see/do more GRM motorsport experience I should be planning for?

Should I just pony up the cash and do the Nordschleife? http://www.rsrnurburg.com/ Was one of the places I looked at http://www.rent4ring.de/en/ was another

If the money included the rent-a-racer part, that sounds about right price wise.

I took a Mercedes A200 rental last year.

If you take a rental car be careful, there are spotters for the rental car companies and you will get slapped with a fine and maybe banned from renting through them.

I learned that after the fact, and no one called me yet so I guess I am in the clear

Slippery wrote: If you take a rental car be careful, there are spotters for the rental car companies and you will get slapped with a fine and maybe banned from renting through them.

When I went last year, I rented from Rent4Ring for this exact reason. The Suzuki Swift I was in was way more car than I could use... because I don't know the track and didn't want to risk wadding the car up.

I was in it for around your 500 Euro figure for 3 laps. Expensive, but I'll never forget it.

I have this exact same request in potentially 3 weeks - thank you for asking :)

considering I cannot attend Central UP rally I can now spend that money on renting a SLS GT for 600EU for 6 laps? count me in.

Jaynen wrote: My friend and I are planning a big trip next year to go to see formula 1 at spa in August 2018. It will be a big late celebration for my 40th and we were thinking about going to do the Nurburgring. Renting a car specifically at the Nurburgring seems like its going to be like 500 euros for a few laps. Is there a better way to go about this? Is there a must see/do more GRM motorsport experience I should be planning for? Should I just pony up the cash and do the Nordschleife? http://www.rsrnurburg.com/ Was one of the places I looked at http://www.rent4ring.de/en/ was another

DOOOOO EEEEET!

You will not regret a dime spent. Rent from one of the many race shops around the track. Get a Suzuki Swift or a GTI or something benign, sporty and small. Do lots of sim time before hand. It's a magnificent experience that you'll never forget, and not just for the driving. The people are incredible, the local towns are amazing, and the whole thing is just super cool. Go on a weekday when crowds are lighter. Time it right and you may be able to do days at Spa and/or Hockenheim on the same trip.

The dollar won't be this strong against the Euro forever. Do it while you can.

Rent4ring was better priced and had the swift. Is there anyone else people have had a good experience with?

In terms of the dollar vs euro does that mean we should consider booking things way prior to august?

I've rented the Renault Clio RS from rentracecar.de twice now. My codriver and I split a 12 lap all-in package (919 euro). We just would trade off. This way we both got 12 laps on the ring (6 driving) for $500 + 1 tank of gas.

Absolutely worth it. The RRC people were great to deal with, the car was set up properly and so the only thing to do was focus on the track! One other thing, the 12 lap package gets you the car all day, so you can do a few laps to get used to it, take a break at the cafe, do a few more laps, go get some lunch then finish up early afternoon before it gets too busy, so you can just enjoy the "car show" that is the entry area.

If you're looking to run a laptimer, I've had great luck with RaceChrono on my phone and a Ram mount.

Here's a video of me driving that car on a 9:17 BtG run. My best time in that car is a 9:05, but I didn't get it on video :(

I rented from Rent4Ring for three years and was very happy. Their swift was enough to keep up with an STI, and their damage limit is pretty low.

I'd be a little careful about "booking all the things" this far out for August... since TF dates can change. Generally it's advisable to set aside a few days... especially in the middle of the week... you can frequently get as many laps in a 2 hour weekday evening session as an 8 hour weekend one.

I've heard Rent4Ring is a little less responsive via email lately... but are pretty active on FB... and their English is very good if call in (what I recommend).

Whatever you do, try and set aside some time for their free safety briefing... there isn't one at the tack.

I'd also recommend checking out Dale's "noob's guide to a lap 2017" on youtube

WonkoTheSane wrote: I've rented the Renault Clio RS from rentracecar.de twice now. My codriver and I split a 12 lap all-in package (919 euro). We just would trade off. This way we both got 12 laps on the ring (6 driving) for $500 + 1 tank of gas. Absolutely worth it. The RRC people were great to deal with, the car was set up properly and so the only thing to do was focus on the track! One other thing, the 12 lap package gets you the car all day, so you can do a few laps to get used to it, take a break at the cafe, do a few more laps, go get some lunch then finish up early afternoon before it gets too busy, so you can just enjoy the "car show" that is the entry area. If you're looking to run a laptimer, I've had great luck with RaceChrono on my phone and a Ram mount. Here's a video of me driving that car on a 9:17 BtG run. My best time in that car is a 9:05, but I didn't get it on video :(

Great info thanks! There would likely be 3 of us does that screw up this idea?

I think I did six laps for not dissimilar money in 2011? I used rent4ring and used a nicely prepped Swift. It was awesome. I absolutely consider it money well spent, and would do it again in a heartbeat.

Ah, I found my report; it was $621.33 for six laps in July 2011.

It's a looong track. I don't know that I'd have wanted to do more than six laps my first day out.

Jaynen wrote: Great info thanks! There would likely be 3 of us does that screw up this idea?

I don't think so.. They seemed perfectly open to having two drivers, I can't see having 3 as being a problem. Their english is great, so an email will sort it out quick.

Just note that their cars all have roll bars installed, so there's only two seats. The 3rd person can easily kill a 10 minute lap while walking around the parking lot, though :)

Another happy Rent4Ring customer- drove the higher-level manual Swift around the track 4 times and had the time of my life. Split the cost with my passengers, I paid half and they split the rest proportional to the time they rode and not a single one of us thought it was money wasted. That day will likely always be one of the days I'd answer with if asked about the best days of my life. I hope to sometime make it back there, only this time with SWMBO in the passenger seat (would LOOOOVE to take the rebuild/modified DMC with me and run it around the track for S&Gs, but I'd have to win the lottery to afford shipping it over and getting it registered to drive there).

Definitely agree on getting some sim time in beforehand- I did a LOT of runs around the track in as close of a car as I could get in Forza and it helped, but realize that it's WAY different in the actual car on the track mostly because it's REALLY hard to tell inclines in the sim and how they're affecting your speed.

When I was at Rent4Ring, there was another group of 3 guys all sharing a car. I'm not sure if they all went out in the car at the same time though.

The guys there speak great English, in fact the main guy I dealt with was English, so a phone call would be pretty easy.

Ashyukun wrote: Another happy Rent4Ring customer- drove the higher-level manual Swift around the track 4 times and had the time of my life. Split the cost with my passengers, I paid half and they split the rest proportional to the time they rode and not a single one of us thought it was money wasted. That day will likely always be one of the days I'd answer with if asked about the best days of my life. I hope to sometime make it back there, only this time with SWMBO in the passenger seat (would LOOOOVE to take the rebuild/modified DMC with me and run it around the track for S&Gs, but I'd have to win the lottery to afford shipping it over and getting it registered to drive there). Definitely agree on getting some sim time in beforehand- I did a LOT of runs around the track in as close of a car as I could get in Forza and it helped, but realize that it's WAY different in the actual car on the track mostly because it's REALLY hard to tell inclines in the sim and how they're affecting your speed.

I've got a pretty serious wheel setup with iracing and the track on there. And iracing is much more challenging than Forza. Iracing has a Kia and a Jetta race car which could probably be used for practice

I did a comparison and figured the most fun and control I could do is a 3 pedal M235i via RSR, I'll be there in about a week. super excited!!!

The ring is awesome and is worth that money imo.
I'd go for it.