It’s time for my annual Nurburgring trip, last year I was in my modified Porsche Cayman S, this year I took my Tesla Model 3.
As usual, for posterity I’ll do a report that will be here for when I look back in time and see what I got up to at that time of my life, good or bad! If it doesn’t bore you too much, feel free to take a gander, let me know your thoughts on the trip, your own experience of it or the car!
At the bottom of the thread I will add a hyperlink to last year’s trip for additional homework for you.
I should say, I’m no diehard EV enthusiast. I’m a realist with these cars, having always worked on and modified my own ICE cars, something I am limited in doing with this Tesla, at least when it comes to the powertrain.
It drives me nuts when I hear Tesla owners talk like nothing is out there is better. I don't mean that as a disparaging remark against other owners, there are plenty I’ve met that are awesome, but the pool of people wanting to modify or track, or even pull it out of just commuting is probably significantly lower than that of the kind of car/model I have chosen previously. Forum’s being the exception, this is a more kindred zone.
The car has some definite positives, as well as considerable negatives that I’ll report on throughout the write up.
So this year there was supposed to be more of us, it was still a bit last minute in planning though and number diminished considerably, the Ring’s notoriety probably assisted in this too for some friends that this would have been their first time.
The reputation of the Ring is that it can smash your bank account into the red in seconds, should you crash and take out the Armco/write your car off on a toll road that’s effectively a racetrack, therefore not covered under standard insurance. This is true, but if you treat it more as a fast A road, checking your mirrors often and not giving it the full send as if you were on race circuit with run off’s, you’ll be fine.
Last year I had to prep the car extensively for such a trip, I went over the Porsche with a fine tooth comb, servicing and lubricating, repairing or replacing parts and still I worried. This year I topped up the screenwash, checked the tyres and loaded my luggage.
As with last year, mid-day booking means no queues and a nice leisurely drive up. I left my house with a full charge and stopped 20 mins from the Eurotunnel to top up the batteries to about 80 percent. We decided to make use of just the Tesla Supercharger network on this trip as there are plenty on the route, the car works it all out and you can easily see the kw/unit price before you get there. It was the first time I’ve done a long trip in the Tesla and I was dreading the charging to be honest but I’ll get to that.
I had to book an ‘EV’ slot on the Eurotunnel, this put it in the large class of vehicle which cost slightly more I noticed but also meant I had lots more room, it was really narrow last year in the Cayman.
This year we decided to break the journey up on the way there by stopping over in Lille, France. This is only about an hour from Calais and meant we got agood terrible night’s sleep in a cheap motel.
Next day we headed to Spa race circuit in Belgium, nice early start...
I've never been there before but was interesting to see it, it’s a really fast circuit but had good run offs.
Given its high speed, I doubt the Tesla would be that at home, it loses puff over the faster stuff over 100mph.
A special mention goes to the weather there, it was sunny then 10 minutes later we had a snowy blizzard and then 20 minutes later sun again!
From Spa, it was about 2.5 hours to the Nurburgring, Germany. Really nice roads all the way there, particularly as you get closer to the Ring and start to go through the Rhineland’s, beautiful sweeping bends, hardly any cars and nice smooth tarmac.
Another charge needed on the way, each time it means about a 20-35 min wait whilst the Tesla charges itself up.
I don’t usually have it but I paid for a month’s subscription to have connectivity (£10) and meant I could watch Netflix documentaries on the infotainment if there wasn’t a café nearby.
Arriving too late to head to the track, we booked into our accommodation. This time we went with an AirBnB over a hotel. Glad we did, it was awesome to have your own space, cooking facilities and own parking - far cheaper way of doing it too.
Last year I desperately wanted to go to Ringwerk, the Ring museum. This year Covid meant it would be open, however not whilst I was here! Typical. The electric Go Karts were open again though and just as fun. We also went to the nearby city of Bonn.
As with last year, we planned a mid week Ring trip, this meant Track time is evenings only for Tourist driving with the days reserved for Manufacturer's whom I imagine are paying through the nose for the privilege. New M5 being tested...
There is a path that runs all the way around the track, getting to most inhospitable parts.
if you go from Brunnchen corner, you can follow it round to the old hill climb section... damn steep to climb up too!
The evening sessions suited us perfectly as even in these small windows you can get plenty of laps in, more than I would want to put the car through anyway.
Anyway, I’ll compress the next bit. We had 3 evening sessions before we went home, this time of year means it’s open for a few hours before it gets dark. It’s mostly domestic drivers there at that time of year. The benefit of going at this time of year is that it’s quiet. Less risk from being barrelled into by an overly keen/sh*t driver.
Still busy enough to have some fun but means you can actually get a decent line through the corners without it seeming like you’re on the M25 at rush hour.
For me, owning the Tesla is a bit of an experiment. I didn’t get it for the eco credentials, I got it because it’s quick, its tech heavy and something totally different from my norm.
My mate also bought a similar car to me at near enough the same time. I have a Long Range with the acceleration boost, he has the Performance. I’m sure people argue unti they are blue in the face, but for us there really is nothing in it performance wise when it comes to acceleration or braking on track. The only difference we saw in the 1200 mile journey was that I got better range given my smaller 18” wheels.
Both of us use Michelin Pilot 4’s, the Performance gets slightly bigger discs at the front, both 4 pot Brembo but with a different caliper design and his P has a single pot rear Brembo calipers (same size rear discs as me) – after two hards laps, neither showed any fade which was good.
Again, usually I’d return to the carpark after every lap and check over the car. In this, it meant just tyre checks, seeing how blue the brakes got and then going back out. No warning messages, nothing unusual, to be honest it was quite uneventful!
Maybe it was in my head but I did kind of feel a bit of a leper there, it’s probably a poor comparison but when I took my Cayman last year I had so many people come over and chat to me about the car, this year no one! Haha. We got left alone unless I initiated it which was kind of odd. Maybe they thought I was an IT consultant that had got lost on my way to a meeting.
Biggest thing missing though had to be engine/exhaust note. Last year I had a flat 6 with no silencers- this year nothing! It also meant that I often caught the Ring photographers at unawares as they couldn’t hear it coming so I didn’t get so many photos’s to peruse in the evenings!
Acceleration in this car is known as its party piece with good reason... the car monsters the uphill sections and out of corners it just goes. Not having gears also means you have to think about the entry speed more, regen is no replacement for engine braking on track.
I will say though that you do feel the extra weight from the batteries - it hides it well with a LCG but you kind of feel like you’re in a fast SUV, you get a little wallow that you have to let settle on corners- even on Eibach’s.
For those interested, it cost me £168 to do about 1200 miles. Last year it was about £350 I reckon in petrol, prices were at an all-time high though then, it was over 2 euros a litre last year. I do think that’s good though, about 45p a kw… cost me about £15 a charge. 11 charges in total over the trip, 3 to get there, 3 to get home and 5 at the Nurburgring.
Giving it the beans on track means you’ll lose about 20 percent charge per lap. For fast charge we usually went back up to 80 percent before every evening session.
There are 4 Superchargers opposite Ringwerk, this is about 10 minutes from the actual North Loop and was about 5 minutes from our accommodation. Really easy, never any issues with waiting as we only saw one other Tesla the whole time we were there.
Some nice cars in the carpark under Ringwerk, you can hire these or be driven in them if you have deep pockets.
Thanks for reading.
----------
Last year's trip
----------
As usual, for posterity I’ll do a report that will be here for when I look back in time and see what I got up to at that time of my life, good or bad! If it doesn’t bore you too much, feel free to take a gander, let me know your thoughts on the trip, your own experience of it or the car!
At the bottom of the thread I will add a hyperlink to last year’s trip for additional homework for you.
I should say, I’m no diehard EV enthusiast. I’m a realist with these cars, having always worked on and modified my own ICE cars, something I am limited in doing with this Tesla, at least when it comes to the powertrain.
It drives me nuts when I hear Tesla owners talk like nothing is out there is better. I don't mean that as a disparaging remark against other owners, there are plenty I’ve met that are awesome, but the pool of people wanting to modify or track, or even pull it out of just commuting is probably significantly lower than that of the kind of car/model I have chosen previously. Forum’s being the exception, this is a more kindred zone.
The car has some definite positives, as well as considerable negatives that I’ll report on throughout the write up.
So this year there was supposed to be more of us, it was still a bit last minute in planning though and number diminished considerably, the Ring’s notoriety probably assisted in this too for some friends that this would have been their first time.
The reputation of the Ring is that it can smash your bank account into the red in seconds, should you crash and take out the Armco/write your car off on a toll road that’s effectively a racetrack, therefore not covered under standard insurance. This is true, but if you treat it more as a fast A road, checking your mirrors often and not giving it the full send as if you were on race circuit with run off’s, you’ll be fine.
Last year I had to prep the car extensively for such a trip, I went over the Porsche with a fine tooth comb, servicing and lubricating, repairing or replacing parts and still I worried. This year I topped up the screenwash, checked the tyres and loaded my luggage.
As with last year, mid-day booking means no queues and a nice leisurely drive up. I left my house with a full charge and stopped 20 mins from the Eurotunnel to top up the batteries to about 80 percent. We decided to make use of just the Tesla Supercharger network on this trip as there are plenty on the route, the car works it all out and you can easily see the kw/unit price before you get there. It was the first time I’ve done a long trip in the Tesla and I was dreading the charging to be honest but I’ll get to that.
I had to book an ‘EV’ slot on the Eurotunnel, this put it in the large class of vehicle which cost slightly more I noticed but also meant I had lots more room, it was really narrow last year in the Cayman.
This year we decided to break the journey up on the way there by stopping over in Lille, France. This is only about an hour from Calais and meant we got a
Next day we headed to Spa race circuit in Belgium, nice early start...
I've never been there before but was interesting to see it, it’s a really fast circuit but had good run offs.
Given its high speed, I doubt the Tesla would be that at home, it loses puff over the faster stuff over 100mph.
A special mention goes to the weather there, it was sunny then 10 minutes later we had a snowy blizzard and then 20 minutes later sun again!
From Spa, it was about 2.5 hours to the Nurburgring, Germany. Really nice roads all the way there, particularly as you get closer to the Ring and start to go through the Rhineland’s, beautiful sweeping bends, hardly any cars and nice smooth tarmac.
Another charge needed on the way, each time it means about a 20-35 min wait whilst the Tesla charges itself up.
I don’t usually have it but I paid for a month’s subscription to have connectivity (£10) and meant I could watch Netflix documentaries on the infotainment if there wasn’t a café nearby.
Arriving too late to head to the track, we booked into our accommodation. This time we went with an AirBnB over a hotel. Glad we did, it was awesome to have your own space, cooking facilities and own parking - far cheaper way of doing it too.
Last year I desperately wanted to go to Ringwerk, the Ring museum. This year Covid meant it would be open, however not whilst I was here! Typical. The electric Go Karts were open again though and just as fun. We also went to the nearby city of Bonn.
As with last year, we planned a mid week Ring trip, this meant Track time is evenings only for Tourist driving with the days reserved for Manufacturer's whom I imagine are paying through the nose for the privilege. New M5 being tested...
There is a path that runs all the way around the track, getting to most inhospitable parts.
if you go from Brunnchen corner, you can follow it round to the old hill climb section... damn steep to climb up too!
The evening sessions suited us perfectly as even in these small windows you can get plenty of laps in, more than I would want to put the car through anyway.
Anyway, I’ll compress the next bit. We had 3 evening sessions before we went home, this time of year means it’s open for a few hours before it gets dark. It’s mostly domestic drivers there at that time of year. The benefit of going at this time of year is that it’s quiet. Less risk from being barrelled into by an overly keen/sh*t driver.
Still busy enough to have some fun but means you can actually get a decent line through the corners without it seeming like you’re on the M25 at rush hour.
For me, owning the Tesla is a bit of an experiment. I didn’t get it for the eco credentials, I got it because it’s quick, its tech heavy and something totally different from my norm.
My mate also bought a similar car to me at near enough the same time. I have a Long Range with the acceleration boost, he has the Performance. I’m sure people argue unti they are blue in the face, but for us there really is nothing in it performance wise when it comes to acceleration or braking on track. The only difference we saw in the 1200 mile journey was that I got better range given my smaller 18” wheels.
Both of us use Michelin Pilot 4’s, the Performance gets slightly bigger discs at the front, both 4 pot Brembo but with a different caliper design and his P has a single pot rear Brembo calipers (same size rear discs as me) – after two hards laps, neither showed any fade which was good.
Again, usually I’d return to the carpark after every lap and check over the car. In this, it meant just tyre checks, seeing how blue the brakes got and then going back out. No warning messages, nothing unusual, to be honest it was quite uneventful!
Maybe it was in my head but I did kind of feel a bit of a leper there, it’s probably a poor comparison but when I took my Cayman last year I had so many people come over and chat to me about the car, this year no one! Haha. We got left alone unless I initiated it which was kind of odd. Maybe they thought I was an IT consultant that had got lost on my way to a meeting.
Biggest thing missing though had to be engine/exhaust note. Last year I had a flat 6 with no silencers- this year nothing! It also meant that I often caught the Ring photographers at unawares as they couldn’t hear it coming so I didn’t get so many photos’s to peruse in the evenings!
Acceleration in this car is known as its party piece with good reason... the car monsters the uphill sections and out of corners it just goes. Not having gears also means you have to think about the entry speed more, regen is no replacement for engine braking on track.
I will say though that you do feel the extra weight from the batteries - it hides it well with a LCG but you kind of feel like you’re in a fast SUV, you get a little wallow that you have to let settle on corners- even on Eibach’s.
For those interested, it cost me £168 to do about 1200 miles. Last year it was about £350 I reckon in petrol, prices were at an all-time high though then, it was over 2 euros a litre last year. I do think that’s good though, about 45p a kw… cost me about £15 a charge. 11 charges in total over the trip, 3 to get there, 3 to get home and 5 at the Nurburgring.
Giving it the beans on track means you’ll lose about 20 percent charge per lap. For fast charge we usually went back up to 80 percent before every evening session.
There are 4 Superchargers opposite Ringwerk, this is about 10 minutes from the actual North Loop and was about 5 minutes from our accommodation. Really easy, never any issues with waiting as we only saw one other Tesla the whole time we were there.
Some nice cars in the carpark under Ringwerk, you can hire these or be driven in them if you have deep pockets.
Thanks for reading.
----------
Last year's trip
----------
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