Nurburgring Explorer Project

 Pictures and information about the Nurburgring Explorer project.

The Transport

The trusty old Citroen Xsara Hdi towcar never missed a beat throughout the travelling.

Nobody truly knows how many times it bounced around the famous Nordschleife.

The comfy well used suspension was softer than an old Rolls Royce.

Sony's noise cancelling mp3 player kept the long journeys nice and quiet.

A fun video of the old girl in action. A Jetta 16v caught up with us uphill, then...

The Indispensable Equipment

Tripod: Velbon PHD-31Q (high quality, small and light)

D-SLR Camera: Nikon D80. Standard Lens (a good solid camera)

Camcorders: Sony DCR PC8e and DCR TRV 22 (the PC8 stopped working, project finished with TRV 22)

Camera Bag: Lowepro Slingshot 100AW (really useful design)

Tripod Bag: Mum manufactured using an old jacket, perfect for climbing with.

The Accomodation

The Gasthaus Tannengrun (Gunther, Judit and Katalin) provided me with a home from home.

The village of Nachtsheim was very friendly and kept me upbeat when I was tired.

The Fence

It was a race to stay ahead of the construction workers who installed the catch fences.

Every spectator area now has at least two handy holes for your photo's and videos.

The Nurburgring is still an amazing place to watch the action.

Bren's expert motorcycle skills complemented the not so knowledgeable driving.

The Seven

It was lucky this was the final lap of the weekend before heading back home.

The car felt strange and wouldn't turn in properly. It needed driving on the rear around right hand bends.

Everything looked O.K but a perfect hairline crack was discovered on the wishbone (Thanks Dad).

You can see it's disconnected on the video. Always try to make frequent inspections on your vehicle.

It might have been a scruffy old racing car but was great fun to drive around the Nordschleife.

The Nurburgring Explorer Diet

Hmmmm!!!  Very healthy me thinks not.

return to the visual circuit guide

Many thanks to:

Jody Langeveld:

Thankyou for all your help bro, we worked and played hard.

Ian Bevis:

Your a bloody good mate who provided some great help while I built the website.

Gasthaus Tannengrun (Gunther, Judit and Katalin):

You provided me with more than a home from home. If I hadnt have discovered your place I dont think I'd have finished the job.

Bren from Sliders Guesthouse:

I was still a bit of a novice (22 laps young) so it was good to have a real pro behind me. We got some great footage.

Michaela Scheffner:

It was nice to always have a friendly face to have a chat with.

Mark Davis:

You were the perfect boss who understood I was tired from working and travelling hard.

The words:

The Nurburgring Nordschleife is a place respected by a huge amount of motorsport fans.

Lots of people love to produce interesting work about this huge and fascinating racetrack.

Writers write, bloggers blog, photographers click and circuit guides are on hand.  YouTube is full video while T.V shows and computer games feature the famous circuit.

I’ve digested all the forms of Nurburgring information but have always wanted to see a detailed circuit video.  Even in the Grand Prix era the entire circuit wasn't fully filmed.

Onboard laps are good but they flatten the circuits undulations removing the drama.  How many first timers have stood in the Brunnchen car park amazed at the true steepness?

Many years ago, brother Darren and I jumped in my Caterham and went to Germany.  A good friend Ian Bevis met with us to enjoy the brilliant Nurburgring “Old Timers” weekend

In 2006 I was in Germany working on website idea of my own and noticed an excavator clearing a path through the trees.  It’s driver stopped and we chatted as the traffic flew by.

He said there was to be lots of high fencing erected around the circuit.  Leaning on a barrier with a full view of the action gave the circuit a historic 1970’s feel.  One of the oldest race tracks in the world would soon have a modern health and safety veneer.

The high fences would make future filming very difficult.  It seemed a shame to alter the tracks nostalgic feel so I decided to document the circuit before the fencing went up.

My full time job was changed to the weekend shift leaving the week free to film the track. The summer and autumn of 2006 was a blur of working, travelling, filming and drinking.

I initially flew to Germany with my filming gear crammed in the overhead storage.  Frankfurt thoroughly searched me everytime. Airport staff have a job to do but it was very annoying.

Travelling by car was easier and cost effective.  The regime was work 12 hrs Friday and Saturday then 13 hrs on Sunday.  After work it was a dash for the midnight ferry to France.

My old Citroen Xsara HDi was an excellent travelling tool, economically speeding through the night to Germany.  After a week's filming I’d return to England to start the hectic routine all over again.

Filming required discretion as I kind of knew you weren't supposed be behind the barriers. Getting to the armco could mean climbing slippery inclines through spiky plants.

I only filmed in the dry because wet weather meant slow traffic.  Luckily the weekdays are when Nurburgring test drivers develop the latest prototypes.

Test sessions provided speed and drama but were less busy so patience was a virtue. Tourist session traffic is slower but far busier and trackday and tuition days returned a good mix of footage.

Taking the photographs was difficult because the track is always open for events and test sessions.  In between 6.00am and 8.00pm there was no guarantee of an empty track.

This left two time slots of opportunity.  At 5.30am I was ready for the first light of day then in the evening I’d wait until 8.15pm before taking photos while the sun went down.

As darkness fell the barriers knocked loudly as they cooled.  The forest came alive at night so I’d bravely return to the car in the middle of the race track. The rain always dictated the pace of work.

Winter approached and daylight became a luxury.  I stopped travelling and began sorting the video for editing.  The 95 hour working weeks had prevented me from archiving all the footage properly.

Hundreds of shots had to sorted in order then the right vehicle in each shot needed choosing.  A good while later I was ready to edit a full lap.  Problems arose once the rough edit was completed.

All of the shots combined created a video that was too lengthy.  I tried two edits but didn't have enough footage.  More shots were needed in 2007 so focus turned to the photos.

I’d created panoramas of sunny views with standard lenses before so assumed this job would be easy.  Photos shot in low scattered light on a twisty track with big gradients were more difficult to work with.

Each image was time consuming because of the software auto features.  The photostitch button kept producing scrap images so I had to manually work on each image to create something acceptable.

Spring 2007 arrived and I was back on normal shifts so time in Germany was limited.  My brother Jody travelled with me to help collect enough footage for two films.  A few trips later the shots were complete.

2008 - 2011: The dark ages.

Work began on nurburgringexplorer.com using the archived tourist images.  I wanted to make use of the videos which were sitting on a hard drive and YouTube looked like a viable option for a video guide.

The ingredients were all there but needed altering slightly.  The panoramic images were animated into a HD video with lots of intricate detail.

I’m satisfied because the project had a tiny production budget.  It’s a detailed online experience for all nationalities to enjoy and shows the spirit of the Nurburgring in ways never before seen.

Hopefully it’ll inspire more visitors to the Nordschleife.  It’s a unique place with many great events and races to enjoy, not forgetting the Formula 1 GP circuit.

The region has lots of good businesses providing services for all needs.  The Nurburgring is a great place to enjoy a memorable holiday.

Start making plans for a trip as soon as possible.