XtraPix: Ring Fling - First Look

Nestled in the Eifel Mountains of Southern Germany is the most spectacular, challenging and dangerous race circuit I've ever ridden, the Nurburgring Nordschleife. I put in nearly 50 laps on the Ring aboard a borrowed Ducati 1098 this past July; the full story can be found in the upcoming issue of Cycle World.

Completing a 13-mile, 75-turn lap of the Ring at speed took 8 minutes plus the time required to exit at the completion of each lap and re-enter through a trackside toll plaza—yep, just about any motorized vehicle can run the Ring. Disneyland for gearheads. This meant freelance photographer Melanie Koch, a local resident of Adenau located near the Ring, had rather lengthy waits between each photo pass I made. Rather than read a good book or chat with friends on her mobile, Melanie spent much of the downtime shooting pics to illustrate the variety of vehicles one encounters during “Tourist Sessions,” in which the track is open to the public.

I stayed in Adenau at the Blaue Ecke Hotel (www.blaueecke.de), a very nice place that's owned in part by Swedish moto-journalist Gerry Nordstrom. Gerry knows the track like the back of his hand and was happy to lead me for a couple laps before cutting me loose.The final two days of my stay offered an opportunity to put in a few laps with Jurgen Fuchs, a former Grand Prix racer and instructor at Motorrad Action Team Trainings—riding schools held on the Ring. While use of onboard video cameras has been banned during tourist traffic, I was allowed to film a lap behind Fuchs during the Action Team lunch break. Action!