The Porsche GT3 RS with its wildly painted orange wheels was not going to let me past, despite my flashing headlights of protest. Why should he? I was in a mild-mannered Carrera S, devoid of any go fast wings or air ducts. I resigned myself to trying to gain momentum over him before we entered the Flugplatz, where the wider bit of road would provide a much safer passing zone and keep me from joining the purple Peugeot 206 we had just passed at Hatzenbach in the Armco barriers. I needn’t wait so long, as in my mirror, four “angel-eye” rings glared at me from the nefarious BMW M5 ‘Ring Taxi. I put on my right-turn signal, let her pass, and then squeezed the accelerator in order to whip past the Orange Swedish Porker. Let the games begin, for I was on my 100th lap, and it was time for a joust with Sabine Schmitz in our Deutsche Chariots of Terror.
Dale Lomas of RSR Nurburg explained the 100 Lap Barrier this way, “When you reach Lap 100, you now know where you are going fairly well, but you are now twice as dangerous. Proceed with caution.” Bruce Hartyup, an English Nurburgring Marshall told me before I set off, “when you finally realize, ‘hey, I really think I know this course’, that’s when you need to back off, and slow down.” Nigel Pinder, from Yorkshire told me, “smooth, slow, and steady means fast, planted, and fun.”
All of these lessons were kept in the back of my head as I sat one car length behind the White, Red, and Blue M5. With the GT3 behind me, I decided to let the M5 get away, as chasing down Sabine for bragging rights might end badly, as in Chrysler build quality badly.
Tap brakes brake before the crest; constant radius right turn before the left into Schwedenkruez; now left; accelerate hard; aim wide; gentle left turn before Aremberg; stay left; wait; wait; brake HARD!; downshift; downshift; turn in….. NOW!
The mental checklist accumulated from numerous training rides in numerous British VW Golfs snapped off quickly as the 911 tires started to squeal in protest. Yet Sabine remained firmly within my reach. Am I actually staying right behind the legendary driver of Speed Bee fame? After all you don’t just pass Sabine Schmitz, you take Sabine Schmitz out to lunch, you wine and dine her, you give her an oil massage then she gives you punch in the face if you’re lucky!”
No matter, the Foxhole was coming up! Flat out… keep going flat out… the car will have the grip, all you have to do is keep a grip on your fear, or the steering wheel, or actually, both. I rocketed up to 240km/h (or so), absorded the myriad of bumps all over the place, and guided the car into the valley.
When you finally take the Fuchsröhre at full speed, and DON’T brake at the bottom, you pull G’s only felt on roller coasters, or wayward AWACS jets. At this point, the car puts so much down force into the wheels, you have more grip at this point than really anywhere on the course. I had so much grip, I was able to keep Sabine firmly in my sights.
Now you start braking in anticipation of the dreaded Adenauer Forst.
I remember trying to coach an American friend of mine through this particular section of the track in his recently purchased BMW M3. I stressed to him the importance of going slowly. Really slow. Painfully slow, until he knew how to enter the turn, and not kill himself, the car, or the grass. Despite my warnings, and passenger seat instruction, my words of “Brake, BRAKE!” turned into “Schenller, SCHNELLER!”
Instead of a slow, steady approach to the corner that gets nearly every beginner, we catapulted over the lip of the curb like a $60,000, two-ton Homecoming Float of ridiculousness spewing grass clumps at the gathered spectators like candy on Halloween. Guiding the (hopefully) uninjured M3 back on to the course, I instructed my nature destroying compatriot to smile, wave at the crowds, and hopefully find the clip on YouTube later that night.
Through Breidscheid, Ex-Muhle, and Kallenhard, Sabine and I kept the pace. Alfa’s, Scooby’s, and even a GT2 leaped out of our way on our path to Valhalla. She braked before Pflanzgarten I, in order to keep the massive sedan under control. I showed no such restraint, launching my car over the crest and getting all four wheels airborne in a pure display of “Screw YOU” to the Nissan GT-R behind me.
Was I really keeping up with Sabine? Have I passed my 100 Lap Barrier with flying colors? Should I now prance around the parking lot like that guy with the Ferrari, perfectly highlighted hair, and idiot wife 20 years younger than him?
Actually no. Stashing my Super Beetle close to the Ring Taxi stand, I walked over to Sabine to ask for a picture, and maybe some advice. Her advice, “I didn’t go as fast as normal, because I didn’t want you to try to keep up and crash into the barrier.”
Go figure.
“… I decided to let the M5 get away, as chasing down Sabine for bragging rights might end badly, as in Chrysler build quality badly.”
Ba-zing.
Awesome article.
“…might end badly, as in Chrysler build quality badly.”
You crack me up.
Jack Baruth, eat your heart out!
100 laps at the Ring, and duking it out with Sabine?
You sir, are the man!
So, Mike, any chance you’ll be in the U.S. in early October?
Nice. Great imagery to start the morning. Thanks…
Wait, you did all this heroic Sabine-chasing in a Super Beetle?
Great story; thanks for sharing
Mike, all you need to do now is convince Lutz to drag his Cadi over to Germany for a showdown with you!
Wunderbar.
–chuck
She is confident and more importantly has nothing to prove. Sabine would gain nothing short term or long term from driving at limit just to show you that she can out run you on a course which she has raced in a professional capacity. I known at least one pro that doesn’t drive more than 7/10ths on track unless he is being paid to do just that.
Self discipline and self control are not always easy demonstrate on track. Sensing the limit, knowing where it is at and staying a certain margin within the circle of traction is a skill. Being able to do so safely on a daily basis at the ring isn’t something I’d look down on.
Great article. Very well written and love the ending. Kudos!
I don’t have many things on any sort of ‘bucket list’ (too much focus on young kids right now), but this is on it.
;’)
Ms Sabine “10:08 in a transit van” Schmitt…
I thought she was the one who made Jeremy look foolish on Top Gear. Thanks for confirming Mr. Weaver.
Good article. Wish I was you at that moment.
Can you convince Sabine to drive against Lutz? She could beat him driving a pickup.
Twotone
Mike – I loved it. A great story well told.
Mike – Amazing story.
Do us all a favor and try not to end up in a giant fire ball at the ring. You are going to kill yourself one of these times…
Great ending! The whole write-up was exciting. And mega bonus points for “as in Chrysler build quality badly“
Ich liebe dich Sabine.
Excellent article! This is the kind of gripping, interesting story that’s largely missing from the buff books.
I thought her surname is Schmitz, no?
@ talkstoanimals,
It is Schmitz… thats what I get for reading Wikipedia too much. Thanks for the point out!
And this is what it looks like, thru Sabine’s windscreen…
…the guys come to race her from miles around, but she’ll give ’em a length and she’ll shut ’em down…
In this case, there’s no shame to be had…
Great story, told perfectly
Awesome story, priceless advice. I LOL’d at “Chrysler build quality badly” as well.
@twotone: EXACTLY what I thought when I started reading this!!!
Great story, Mike!! SS is a cool chick.
So Sabine, in what appears to be a Golf / GTI III beat Mike in a 911 S?
I agree there’s no shame in that, but I just want to know if the pictures are accurate.
@ Yuppie,
No Sabine was in her BMW M5 ‘Ring Taxi, however, the only photos taken by the photographers I have that are decent are some of the ones you see. The Golf was driven by my friend Nigel, who was doing some lead-trail training with me.
And he still outruns me in a 1984 Golf Mk II.
That’s awesome. You got a serious burn from the master of the ring herself. I’m sure you enjoyed it. That’s a good ninja technique… who would try to pass her, thinking, “oh she’s just going slowly so I won’t kill myself.”
Classic Sabine… i slowed down so you wont hurt yourself HAHA… great story Mike, your Nurburgring stories always manage to put a smile on my face….
Beautiful…
LOL at your friend in the M3… full speed through Adenaur? Insane. Lucky he didn’t take you to that great Schnitzel stand in the sky with him.
Mike…awesome article! It’s a much different world here in Okinawa where the Okinawa Expressway has a speed limit of 80kph and speed cameras.
The Nurburgring is a far cry from the days of screaming down I-40 in a Jaguar XF Supercharged or your Boxster S!
Great article Mike. There is one big advantage Sabine and the other ring taxi guys have over someone like you. They are getting paid to drive someone elses car, which is set up for racing. You on the other hand are driving your own car which is a road car – a really quick one, but still a road car – on road tyres. I was over there a few weeks ago and you took me for a lap around the ring. When I brought a helmet along you said something like – You won’t need that, it’s my road car, I can’t afford to crash it.
Thanks Mike for taking me around that lap, and to anyone out there who is thinking of having a go at the ring, the guys that Mike mentioned RSRNurburg, are the ones to talk to.
For anyone that is interested I also wrote an article on what it’s like to go to Nurburgring for the first time – http://www.ffcc.com.au/Pages/ring.html
@notapreppie: Actually, I broke the ten-minute BTG mark on my fifth lap of the ‘Ring, in an SLK200 automatic.
I can easily run at Sabine’s customer pace (about 9:30 BTG by most accounts) in a 163-horsepower car, and my 12th lap was a 9:15.
On the other hand, if you put both me and Ms. Schmitz in identical Ring Taxis, sans passengers, and placed a hundred grand at the finish line, I would expect her to cross at least ten seconds ahead, maybe fifteen. I’d need Captain Mike’s hundred laps to stay within visual of her at full chat.
@ Kirby,
Glad you shared your write-up! And it was a blast to take you around the ‘Ring. As I see it, an empty seat in a 911 at the Nurburgring is a travesty. Its something that should be shared whenever possible.
So any TTAC reader, if you are at the ‘Ring, look for a (usually dirty) silver Porsche 911 (997) Carrera S with German BIT plates. I will be more than happy to take you on a free lap of the ‘Ring. No promises on meeting Sabine though….
wow cool…
Mike Solowiow
…an empty seat in a 911 …
The other day I visited the Stadtpark-Revival in
Hamburg (Germany) and what I saw on the track was a
quite high riding rally Porsche 911 with four people in it.
Interesting article. GREAT ending.
DEZ
My next trip to Germany will have the Taxi as part of the tour. I’d be curious to compare it to a few Viper rides I’ve taken on race courses.
Frau Schmidt is clearly a great ambassador for BMW. I can only imagine the yahoo factor she has to fend off at warp speeds on a daily basis. Not only that, but yahoos from the entire planet !
Great read!
Awesome! What an adventure!!!
Humble pie should always be on the menu at racetracks. Glad to hear that you are heeding good advice at the 100 lap barrier. Even on a simple race track, 100 laps is nothing unless you are a professional racer.
And for the record: Sabine is smokin hot.