[khan_sultan]

We are now headed towards the 3rd leg of the Jaguar Land Rover Engineering and Drive programme at Nürburgring (Germany). All of us are looking forward to drive the Jaguars on the Autobahn & the famous Ring!

You may read up on Day 1 & 2 here:

Day 1

Day 2

As soon as we step out from the aircraft at Frankfurt, we are pleasantly surprised to see a Jaguar XJ waiting right there for us:


The group is escorted to the VIP section of the Frankfurt airport:


Where we have tea / coffee while our passports go through the immigration formalities:


It's an hour long drive on the Autobahn to our hotel. I, somehow, am allotted the room number shown below


The town of Nürburg is rich in automotive history & culture, with the hotel being no exception. Each room has a plaque of automotive history as its door sign. My room:


I go out for a stroll and can see the automotive flavor everywhere! Two of the many famous cars parked in the hotel:

[khan_sultan]

The next morning, we are supposed to get ready by 0900 hours for the Jaguar test center. I am up a lot earlier and decide to head out of the hotel for a walk. I am greeted by various Jaguar cars standing outside.

The XKR-S, the most powerful Jaguar. 542 BHP & 680 Nm of torque take her from 0-60 mph in 4.2 seconds. Top speed is 299 kph.


The stunning XFR in blue (my personal favorite):


Though the Jaguar XF / XJ are pitted against the E/S Class from Merc, 5/7 Series from BMW & the A6/A8 from Audi, the character that Jaguars ooze is a cut above the Germans. Of course, the Germans are superlatively engineering machines, yet Jaguars touch the emotional chords and are a lot more flamboyant:


Outside of the hotel, I see a huge mall-like structure. I am told that several automotive brands have shops in there to sell merchandise. Well, I don't need a second invitation! The only downer is that the mall opens at 0930 hours, thus the best I can do is window shop.

The Nürburgring driving academy offers professional driver training programs that include self drive options, driving with a pro-driver as co-pilot etc.


The signage at the entrance; a petrol-head's paradise. Where to go is the confusion?!


The brands present at the ring boulevard (as it is popularly called):


The stores sell all kinds of racing gear...t-shirts, shoes, helmets, travel stuff and more. Nearly all shops have cars (eye candy) on display too:












Such is the automotive craze that there is a vending machine to buy memorabilia badges:


Even the advertisements are all about the passion this town has for cars & racing:

[khan_sultan]

The Jaguar Test Center @ Nürburgring:


The cars that we'll be driving on the Autobahn & later, at the 'Ring:


At the assembly room, we have to sign a few declaration forms:


With that out of the way, Frank Klass - the Global Head of Communication at Jaguar - takes us through a session highlighting the importance of the Nürburgring test center to Jaguar. Frank is not your typical PR guy; a petrolhead, he has driven the 24 hour Nürburgring race 10 times. Frank has also tested various Jaguars on the track. He introduces us to the team that will be accompanying us at the Nürburgring track. All of them are ex-Formula 1 / 2 / 3 drivers and will be driving the pace car:


David Pook, the technology specialist at Jaguar, talks about Active Differentials, Powertrains and Adaptive Dynamics:


At one corner of the room, I notice the helmets that we'll be wearing at the track. The excitement is building up:

[khan_sultan]

The presentations done, we are now ready for driving the XJ on German roads. The drive will be 184 kms long, covering country roads, hilly areas, small towns & the Autobahn. 2 people per car with a mid-way switch.

I chose to take this beautiful XJ. The 5.0L Super-Charged V8 SuperSports version with Speed Pack, a speed limiter raised to 280 kph (instead of the standard 250 kph), 503 BHP & 625 Nm of torque. 0-100 kph possible in 4.9 seconds.

The XJ has 3 engine options; 3.0L V6 diesel, 5.0L V8 Petrol N/A & this 5.0L V8 Super-Charged Petrol (exclusive to the XJ-SS). Notice the skirting on the front bumper:


The 20" low profile wheels look ultra sexy. The regular XJ-SS gets 19" alloys instead. See the red brake calipers with Jaguar script? That's also part of the "speed pack":


The inside of the car is quality par excellence, as you would expect of a Mercedes S-Class competitor. The speedo console is black, and there aren't any physical dials or needles in here. The entire display is digitally created, but you'd never know once the engine is running:




The rear seat area. This is the XJ-L version and hence, has extra legroom at the back. India only gets the XJ-L version:


Our route is pre-set in the Sat-Nav. The "Virtual Instrument Cluster" looks like the real one, right?


The route map on laminated paper with way points & the driver change-point clearly marked:

[khan_sultan]

Within a short while, we got addicted to the acoustic growl of the V8 super-charged engine. Press the 'chequered flag' button and the car turns into a Mr Hyde...firmed-up suspension showing the wild side & ready for some fun. At any speed or gear, the slightest nudge on the throttle is enough to shove you back.

At the Autobahns, the XJ can cruise at high speed all day long. It is firmly planted too, and you won't realise how fast you are going until a glance at the speedometer. Must say though, wind noise does filter in through the cabin:


The winding country roads were an absolute blast to drive the XJ on. Approach a corner, drop a gear or two using the paddle shifter, enter the corner and accelerate hard on the way out. The Jag has superb handling and, for a car weighing 1.9 tons, loves to be thrown around corners. The steering is precise and has a lovely weighty feeling to it.

A short video from the country side:

jaguar_germany_countryside.m4v - YouTube

A short video inside a German town:

jaguar_germany_smalltown.m4v - YouTube

The German countryside is really beautiful with vast green fields. We decide to take a break and soak in the surroundings:




That's me with the XJ:


The inbuilt reverse camera helps us with yellow overlay marks to determine our reverse path from the farm track:


Bowler Wilkins audio with 20 speakers. Honestly, I didn't even bother to test the sound system as we only wanted to enjoy the growl of the V8:

[khan_sultan]

As we come back from the drive on public roads, at one corner of the test center was the XJ-Ultimate. This is the latest variant of the XJ series and will be coming to India very soon:

The XJ-Ultimate will be the first Jaguar to use the new 3.0L Petrol V6 Super-Charged engine:


20" Maroa forged alloy wheels with grey, polished finish:


The boss gets two individual tailored seats with power adjustments, recline, lumbar support and a massage function. Basically, a lazyboy . There are acres of legroom at the back:


The powered business table for work. Machined from solid aluminium BTW:


A 15 channel, 20-speaker surround sound system:


Each rear passenger gets an iPad & keyboard, housed and charged in dedicated docks:


The iPad looks über cool:

[khan_sultan]

It's hard to express in words the sheer thrill of driving on the Nürburgring. All I can say is that, driving and just being at this track is a privilege & honor for any auto enthusiast. One can read all there is about Nürburgring on the net, see countless videos on youtube, drive as much on the playstation, yet seeing the track with your eyes and driving here is an unbelievable experience. It's a surreal feeling as you push hard on the 20.8 km Nordschleife (north loop) section of the 'ring.

Few drivers have been able to master the ~150 corners of the Nordschleife, and the 1000 ft elevation difference between the highest and lowest points makes the track extremely challenging, with each corner having some sort of gradient. The track is so big that one can actually witness 3 weather conditions in one lap; sunny & dry, wet & slippery, rain and even snow. Many a famous driver has suffered a serious crash, and the absence of any runoff area makes the situation tricky indeed. One momentary lapse or a little kiss of the grass on your tyres and you are headed toward the crash barrier.

The Nordschleife section of the ring is what we will be driving on (the GP track is not part of this drive). And yes, the complete track is reserved for us. No other car, motorcyclist or slow moving dutch-coach to deal with. I couldn't ask for anything more. Notice the names of the sections on the track below. Most corners have a name, with some of the famous ones being Flugplatz, Bergwerk, Karussell, Wipperman & Brunnchen.


The ex-formula driver will be leading in the pace cars and a group of 3 cars will follow him for 3 laps. After each lap, the first car behind the pace car moves back in line, with the second car moving a position up. We are told to just enjoy the drive, not to worry about lap times and follow the pace car on the racing line. Each vehicle is also given a walkie-talkie so that the pace car driver can communicate with us:


When we'd arrived in the morning, the weather was bright & sunny. The perfect day for the track but, to our disappointment, it starts drizzling as soon as we intend to go out. A light drizzle is the worst possible time to push an unfamiliar, powerful car as the surface becomes super slippery. All of us are assigned a car each. We wear the face masks, strap on the helmets and head on to the track. I'm getting goosebumps already:


We are taken to a vantage point to show us how the track feels, and also understand the complexity of the gradients & corners. These are the pictures I took of the track. Most parts are filled with graffiti, courtesy of some troublemakers:


Notice the gradient at the blind left hand corner (and immediately after this left hander is a sharp right hander with an upward gradient). Imagine some 21 kms of this with ~150 corners. That's what we are talking about here. Also notice how little space one has if you wander off the track. No wonder that the track was nicknamed "The Green Hell" by none other than Jackie Stewart:


Due to the drizzle, the track has become slippery and volunteers like the one shown below man different sections. They use various flags to convey the track condition to drivers. Now that it is sunny again, you can see the volunteer putting the flags back in storage:


The vantage point is popular with spectators. During popular events (like the 24hr race), this area resembles a carnival with people erecting scaffoldings, bringing camper vans and setting up sofa sets to capture the best views.

A sign telling spectators not to go beyond this point, yet it seems that the warning goes unheeded. Sadly, Nürburgring is under threat from poorly executed government plans to develop the area into a theme park. "Save the Ring" campaigns & posters are all over town. To know more about the issues & how one can contribute toward saving the Nürburgring, click here: http://savethering.org/:


Track seen and the magnitude understood, we head on in our cars. I am driving the Jaguar XFR. It's a very emotional moment as you pass the toll ticket station, get on to the track and go full guns blazing. The race car driver is continuously giving instructions on the radio. It takes some time for the feeling to sink in that I am really driving on the ring. Corners come and go and you just keep following the pace car, trying to keep up with him. Yes, he is really pushing. The 500+ horses pumping, the V8 being stretched to the limit and you are on top of the world. You actually feel like a racing God. Upon seeing a straight, I just bury the accelerator and am well over 200 kph. See a corner, downshift, turn in and accelerate out becomes the routine...corner after corner. You kind of set into a rhythm. It is then that the sheer length of the track starts to sink in, the full 21 kms of it. You realize the stresses that the car & the driver go through on the Nürburgring. Just imagine how demanding the 24hr race would be.

I see the famous Karussell corner, a 90 degree left U-turn that wouldn't be out of place in a velodrome. At the speeds I am doing, for a moment my mind does question if I should push the car. I then see the car in front taking the corner and just go ahead to enjoy the turn. See a picture of Karussell here.

The lead car controls the pace and does not let us fall back or even tail gate. Sometimes, the rearmost car would try and fall back to get a more free run, but it is politely instructed to join back. Here are some of the pictures taken by the JLR photographer. I'm still kicking myself for not carrying a GoPro camera along:


We start seeing sections with pouring rain & poor visibility, then there are sections with slight drizzle & good visibility. Such conditions make the track treacherous. You really have to be super alert in these conditions:


Notice the corners and the gradients. By now, we have completed 3 laps of the ring and ~63 kms of driving. Adrenaline is pumping very high and no one is in a mood to go back. We're told that we need to head back BUT if we want, we can come back again in different cars


Some more facts & information about the Nürburgring:

You can drive any road legal vehicle on the track on open days / weekends (called Touristenfahrten). On these days, the road is actually a public-toll road with a 26 Euro ticket per lap. All the road rules apply on such days and overtaking from the right is strictly prohibited. There are speed restrictions also on some stretches. The days on which the track will be open is published well in advance at the official website.

Most manufacturers have dedicated test centers at the Nurburg town and make use of the track to test their cars. Many manufacturers use the Nürburgring timings as the benchmark figure. A compilation of the fastest lap times at the ring is here:
http://www.fastestlaps.com/tracks/nordschleife.html

The Nürburgring website has all the relevant information one would need. If you are in Germany/Europe and can drive down to the ring, don't miss the chance!
http://www.nuerburgring.de/en/startseite.html

Find more about the Nürburgring here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N%C3%BCrburgring

The 24 hour race at Nürburgring takes place in May. Each car needs to have a minimum of 2 drivers & maximum of 4. Further, each driver is allowed to drive for a max of 3 hours non-stop, with a minimum of 2 hours rest in between:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/24_Hours_N%C3%BCrburgring

Google map of the Nürburgring:
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&hl...3&source=embed

[khan_sultan]

Jaguar has two special cars that are used for various tests on the Nürburgring circuit. One of them is a matt grey XJ SS and the other is a blue XKR-S. Both of these are armed with a roll-cage and 4 point seat belts:




The best part about the XJ : It is a 4 seater and has sport seats at the rear. We also notice a yellow "TAXI" sticker on the top left of the windscreen. They say the sticker is there for some fun. On the track, when people see a fast moving "taxi" in their rear view mirror, they end up really surprised:


Frank takes us out for a hot lap on the Nürburgring and it sure was an experience to remember. He knows the lines like the back of his hand, and was super smooth...even in the pouring rain. Despite the 4 point seat belts, we are tossed around the back of the car like tinroofs in a hurricane.

Here is a very small video I managed to shoot on my mobile phone. After a few seconds, I realized it was a futile attempt and gave up. Just sat back and enjoyed the 21 km lap! Notice how wet the track is:

jaguar_xj_taxi_nurburgring.m4v - YouTube

[khan_sultan]

The Nürburgring test center is operational from March to September / October each year. A Jaguar team is stationed here to perform long term reliability & industrial tests on various models. Their new cars are tested here, along with new parts too. It is said that a single km of on-the-edge-driving on the Nürburgring produces more stress on the car than 100 kms of regular road driving:


Behind the shiny glass front is a full-fledged workshop & test area:


Where Jaguar engineers analyze data from the Nürburgring laps:


New tyres look real nice. How some of us would love to work here:

[khan_sultan]

After we are done with the driving, we head to the "Pistenklause Restaurant". This is the most famous meeting joint in Nürburgring and has a unique racing atmosphere. The perfect place to unwind after an exciting day at the track, I guess.

Most race drivers celebrate their Nürburgring victories here. Niki Lauda, Ayrton Senna, Mika Hakkinen, Michael Schumacher and more have left their mark at the restaurant. It is THE place to go to after the races. Local folklore has it that "He who hasn't been here has not been to the Nürburgring!"

Frank regaled us with some great stories of interactions between race drivers, and how everyone has tales to tell. "Oh, I was on that turn and then...", "As I was taking a right at Brunnchen, suddenly.....". Race drivers are basically the same everywhere and discuss the same stuff after a track day

The Pistenklause has some mouth watering delicacies, the most famous being the steak cooked on the hot stone. The place lends itself nicely for an informal atmosphere while the aroma of the food is overpowering:


Here are some pictures of the restaurant. It was dark in there, and the mobile phone didn't capture the full essence. Nevertheless, you should get a gist of it. Every inch of the roof & walls is covered in rich automotive racing history with pictures, scribbles, signatures, memorabilia trophies and badges:










Truly, a special place. I could literally imagine legends of yesteryear sitting there and having animated discussions on all things racing.

[khan_sultan]

So, with 3 days of the JLR driving programme over, it is a Saturday morning and time to head back home. As I look out of my hotel balcony, I see a large number of cars in the parking lot outside. It's an open weekend at the Nürburgring, with the town really coming alive. People drive long distances to be here and go around the track:


Many just camp in their vehicles overnight, tucked away in sleeping bags:


Till the next time...

[GTO]

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to the Int'l Car Scene. Thanks for sharing!

[mohammedismail]

Lucky you, Brilliant thread khan, enjoyed it thoroughly, you must have had great fun driving these cars which probably you cannot put it in words to explain

It's always good to see something new hitting our shores, in this case the XJ-Ultimate. Are those standard wheels which are on the car ? Those wheels are amazing

[gsferrari]

Khan...I cannot believe you didn't think to pack a GoPro or even a Flip camera or something. I had a crappy camera on my first trip to the ring and in-car footage is insanely good fun to watch.

Thanks for sharing and getting my heart-rate and appetite up for another trip back to the 'Ring!

[Locomotive]

sniff.. you have just lived my dream :-) what an experience.

Fantastic to see Team BHP being invited to such events. You guys (the founder members) really deserve it richly. makes me feel proud to be a part of the Team :-)