First ever Ariel Nomad at the Nürburgring?
One of our stops on the MudNomad Grand Tour had to be the Nürburgring. The cars, the speed, the atmosphere is like nowhere else.
Arts experience:
I love being there. Not just for the track but for the feeling of being surrounded only by like minded people. They just GET YOU. They understand your geekiness, they will get equally excited about your new tyres or the toaster that burns the shape of Nurburgring in your bread.
I have a great respect for the Ring. Like the one one has for the sea. It attracts me and scares me in an equal amount. I want to drive it fast but I also want to be able to get home afterwards and that’s the difficult balance to find.
Over the years I’ve driven the ring in the BMW 540, Z3M and the Corvette. Every one of them was different but I knew that doing it in a Nomad will be even more interesting.
Ruta was pretty afraid and when Ruta is afraid - that’s a big deal. In our relationship I’m the sensible one, she’s the risk taker. The only time that the roles reverse is when it comes to driving but I still often wonder how is she ok being a passenger on some of the roads we’ve driven. She says she trusts me and I would never abuse it.
We got to the ring pretty late after usual not being able to find correct car park when all signs and sat nav take you to the actual race track - one day I’ll learn. It was closed when we got there, somebody crashed and they had to remove the car. That was meant to be the story for the rest of the day.
For those of you who have never been to ring and plan your first trip - plan to give yourself maximum possible time to spend there. Aim for Sat early morning if you can if you have to be back on Sun. Very often track is closed for a long time due to accidents, weather can also ruin your travel plans. Earlier this year we drove there all the way in the Corvette just to be able to complete one lap in the car and two Ring Taxi ones before it started pouring with rain. And you don’t want to start your Nurburgring adventure in the rain! That’s why we also never go there during the week unless we’re in the area - too much risk of not being able to drive at all if the track is only open for few hours.
We chatted to some nice people, as always Nomad attracted a lot of attention. We filmed a bit in the carpark, plenty of interesting cars there. One guy drove a KTM X-Bow all the way from Spain and next to that Nomad looked VERY much like a Grand Tourer!
And then the track reopened and it was time for the lap. Since the car was already cold after standing for a while we went for a quick warm up drive - people normally don’t think about it but I strongly believe in warming myself up for a fast drive too. Not just the engine and the tyres. To put myself in the right mindframe of DRIVING FAST.
The laps are pretty expensive at 30 euro per lap but in my opinion it’s much better value for money than most of the trackdays in the UK. Silverstone or Brands Hatch are never below £200 and I’d much rather do 6-7 laps of the Ring.
When we got to the gate my heart sank - the guy who checks the cars said that removable steering wheels are not allowed!!! But he will let me do one lap as an exception...The only German not following “ordnung muss sein” mantra! smile
Nothing really prepares you for the attack on your senses that driving a Nomad on the Ring does. It’s normally loud but being surrounded and overtaken by many other very loud cars is something else. We didn’t bring helmets since there was no space for them at all so that magnified the experience. The car danced around corners and moved a lot under braking and acceleration but that’s what I like about driving it.
The lines I took were wrong most of the time, so time would have been crap, but it was more important for me to stay out of trouble and not slide into a wall or another car. Nomad is normally VERY tail happy and being on all terrain tyres doesn’t help while driving on the track. I glanced at Ruta few times and saw her squeezing the frame tightly. She was scared but enjoying it.
The Carousel is always our favourite section of the track. Nomad’s direct steering with no power assistance made it very twitchy and difficult to hold onto the line there but I made it. It was fun.
We finished the lap, got overtaken a lot but managed to overtake few. Another thing has been taken off my bucket list - I drove Ariel Nomad, MY Ariel Nomad on the Nurburgring. Hell yeah!
Music: Jeff Kaale and Bonus Points - Venice Beach
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