WSB - Nurburgring

Thursday June 12th... Finish work at 1.30pm and meet up with Peter for a long weekend in Germany: World Superbikes at the Nurburgring. An easy ride down to Dover, stopping en-route at Birchanger (next to Stansted Airport) services off the M11 for a coffee.

We arrived with plenty of time to spare before loading onto the ferry. The people looking after us on the dockside were very helpful - letting us know what was happening, and when we'd be loaded. Well done Norfolk Line (or the port authority, whoever they worked for).

Onto the ferry and here are a few pictures as we sailed away with the sun setting behind us.

The hotel at Ho-he Acht. Well, not actually at Ho-he Acht, but just down the road, as Ho-he Acht is actually the highest point in the Eifel mountains. We found it by a circuitous route, having taken a turning too early as we passed the Nurburgring Racetrack and ended up in Adenau where no-one seems to have heard of this hotel.

The hotel is the Berghotel and I can recommend it as a good budget offering.

This is the view from the front of the hotel

Juan Manuel Fangio - well, a statue of him


A great plaque on the wall, in the shape of the Nordschleiffe, with the names of many famous racers.
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And finally ... I just had to add a sticker (or two) to the bike

Classic bike track day at Cadwell

A couple of weeks ago I spotted that there was to a a "Classic Bike track day" at Cadwell, and decided that, if I didn't have anything else to do, it would be a pleasant way to spend a day.

The ride up was uneventful, I took my time and, particularly in Lincolnshire where they're clearly taking a firm view against bikes with a view to speeding (full page advert in RiDE magazine and signage indicating that they're using "Stealth" against bikes (I assume they mean sneaky cameras, although they may have an AWAC radar aircraft for I know)). There was one mobile police camera on the A17 - I spotted it while making a series of overtakes; strictly IAM, of course, @ 60mph.

Having arrived at Cadwell, instead of heading straight for te carpark, I turned right at the entrance and rode anti-clockwise around the perimeter track, in the opposite direction to the track riders. Stopping at Chris Curve, then Park, then a long haul on the bumpy track up to Charlies. There were bikes of the fities right through to the late eighties, each in their own group. Velocettes, BSA's, Tritons, all the way up to a couple of RC30's. Some were obvious classic racers, some you'd see on a normal track-day, and a few road bikes that I would never expect to see on track (how about a CX500!).

Entry to Park Bend


An old BSA heading down Park straight


This guy was a bit quick: and smooth.



En-masse around Charlies 2. The track was drying and the angle of lean they got on some of the older bikes was impressing


Some bikes from the day.


This poor little Velocette. I don't know what capacity it was, but the guy was thrashing the nuts off it.






And this BSA ... check out the exhaust and the state of the tyres




I don't recall seeingt this on the track, but it was good to see one close-up


Again, I don't recall this on track. possibly because of its condition (didn't stop other riders on equally good machinery, mind!)

This is a Sanglas. No - never heard of it before. Apparently made in Spain. It's a single cylinder bike and I thought it really quite nice.

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