Hi guys, we found the Yokies to be bloody good all round - they are a brilliant tyre wet or dry.
It's actually my brother's Mini but I pitched in with a good proportion of the readies to develop it because he'd helped me out in plenty of ways, he had kids & school fees to pay & it was fun to share the track day experience.
He's returned to NZ so I've had to move on to a Porsche 944 Turbo which I'm developng for next summer.
In it's current spec the Mini is at the point where the suspension is so stiff & well tied down that the tyres are the limiting factor. The brakes are limited by the tyres & because there is virtually no body roll it'll slide rather than roll & pitch.
I can't recommend the 'Ring enough. It's unlike any other track - very fast (you'll spend a lot of time in a 200+ bhp Mini in the 90 - 110 mph range) & there's virtually no run-off. It's the opposite of Bedford where you can take your car to the limit, take liberties & can make a consequence-free mistake. On a summer's weekend on any given lap you'll see 3-5 crashed cars & a couple of bikes down. Not all nasty crashes - but crumpled cars nonetheless. As long as you don't go crazy & build your pace gradually you'll be fine.
We really enjoyed the cameradierie of doing the trip with the lads from Circuit Days - good down to earth northern lads always up for a laugh, a bevy & a tall story.
The ultimate 'Ring website is Ben Lovejoy's site at:
www.nurburgring.org.uk
Ben came on our trip - the "Nurburgring 700."
Be warned it is truely addictive - you will remortgage your house, sell your wife & daughters & send your son down the mines to feed your habit!
It's much harder to drive a relatively low-powered car quickly there than a supercar. In the Mini you do have to carry as much speed as possible through the apex - in a supercar some of the lesser drivers are quite cautious in the corners & give it a bit of "point & squirt" on the straighter bits.
Then you'll see the local lads in stripped & caged Mark II Golfs absolutely wasting 911 turbos & Ferraris because they know the huge track (20 km & 72 corners!) so well they can keep it flat when everyone else is backing off!
One of the other lads, Adam, was there in an Evo 8 FQ 300 chipped to 360 bhp & the video below shows some of his laps plus some footage of us in the Mini (me driving this time) as he caught up with us:
