Trips
The RingBunny
Ecurie Europe
Sabine Schmitz
Odd bits
Jørund Seim
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Due to some fancy timing (read: sleeping in) and a lot of luck, I
was able to tape an interesting fragment from DSF reporting on the
24H on Sunday, 2 June 2002, around 11.30 hours.
Sabine was guest commentator for half an hour. She seemed to really
enjoy it. Just listen to the sound bites: intimate knowledge of the
German language is not mandatory :-) Ten minutes of the broadcast have
been digitized and can be downloaded.
The sound bites are presented in the form of short translations into
English and the original German audi. The sound bites usually contain
more than what I've translated, but I didn't feel like doing a full
transcription and translation. Enjoy!
Oh, better and/or more thorough/complete translations are welcome. If
you really want a decent translation of a particular fragment,
drop me a line,
offer me a passenger lap, and I'll see what I can do :-) Capturing her
understatements and tongue-in-cheek style can be quite hard.
Interview
The first part of the session takes the shape of an interviewer asking
questions of Sabine. The format used below should be self-explanatory.
Q: Why don't you participate in this race?
A: I can't afford it, unfortunately, and I don't have the time because of the Fuchsröhre. |
Wav, 650k |
Q: Everybody likes to come to your place?
A: Of course! |
Wav, 240k |
Q: Why is your place called the Fuchsröhre?
A: I liked the story of the fox that hid in a
drainage pipe during construction of the track. Furthermore, my place
is long and narrow, like the drainage pipe, and things can get
hectic. |
Wav, 320k |
Q: How old were you when you drove the ring for the
first time?
A: First as a baby. My first lap as a driver I was 17
years old, and didn't have a drivers license. I drove my mother's car,
but she didn't know that, naturally. |
Wav, 740k |
Q: Are you the only Ring Taxi driver?
A: Primarily, but on sundays two drivers from BMW
come up to the Ring. |
Wav, 500k |
Q: Some people get out of the Ring Taxi quite white
around the nose.
A: Some get out before the lap is over, saying "Thank
you, I'll walk the rest of the way". Many people don't know the track
and don't know what to expect. |
Wav, 370k |
Q: Will you make a comeback?
A: I hope so. We're developing a package. We're not
sure which car or team yet, but we hope to have something together
next year. |
Wav, 640k |
Q: It's a pity the
Scheid BMW went off at
Hatzenbach.
A: I feel sorry for Johannes and the team. I have
deformed the Scheid BMW myself a number of times. They think of their
car as their baby, and now their baby is broken. |
Wav, 670k |
Q: It's very busy, all hell has broken loose.
A: Yes, that's very nice! It's the way it should be! |
Wav, 390k |
Q: How do the slower cars interact with the quicker
cars?
A: The slow cars have to check their mirrors every
second. I always thanked them. Sometimes I pulled in 4 fingers if
somebody annoyed me. I can't do that in the Ring Taxi. |
Wav, 440k |
Q: Do you follow the Langstreckenmeisterschaft, even
when you don't participate?
A: Yes, I have my horses here, and I ride my horse
along the track and wave, but nobody seems to know me. I'm telling
everybody I'm riding my horse there, so maybe they will recognize me
in the future. |
Wav, 370k |
I only included her comments if I could relate them to a particular
bend. For some reason, the lap starts somewhere in the middle of the
Nordschleife, just before Kesselchen. Sabine's comments appear
chronologically in the table below.
This lap is available for download.
Kesselchen
It's quite bumpy. You don't notice it with 120 HP, but with
240, 250 HP Kesselchen is very nice. |
Wav, 140k |
Mutkurve
That's Mutkurve, where our friend Mola drove off the track
with his bike. |
Wav, 69k |
Klostertal
This is a good Porsche-corner, the Porsches always accelerate
very well out of this turn. |
Wav, 82k |
Karussell
Never enter Karussell when on the brakes! I have gone round
there on the roof, I know what I'm talking about. |
Wav, 150k |
Hohe Acht
That's another difficult corner, you should bring a bit of
courage along. |
Wav, 138k |
Brünnchen
I always do a nice drift here in the Ring Taxi. Meanwhile I
have my own fanclub here. |
Wav, 98k |
Pflanzgarten
Release the brakes when going over the jump. |
Wav, 104k |
Pflanzgarten 3? I think she means here.
Big jump. In the Ring Taxi I take off to a height of about
35cm, people tell me. |
Wav, 194k |
Galgenkopf
Very important: stay late, steer in when the track starts
downhill, full throttle, if it doesn't fit you can use the kerb. Main
thing is to keep the throttle nailed. |
Wav, 272k |
Mercedes arena
I really like this part. I've driven it twice in a GT3
Porsche, it's a difficult section. The Grand Prix track is very easy,
in a cup race you get 20 cars within 1 second, this separates the men
from the boys. |
Wav, 550k |
Transit from GP track to Nordschleife
In the wet it's very entertaining when you go from the GP
track to the Nordschleife: it feels as if you're driving on
soap. |
Wav, 143k |
A bit after the Audi S
This is a bit difficult when braking; you easily miss your
braking point. At least I do. |
Wav, 138k |
Entry of the Nordschleife
It feels good to turn off. I don't have anything against the
GP track, but the fans are all there, and you're back in the middle of
things again. |
Wav, 140k |
Hatzenbach
Again, a late turn in, accelerate, you can drive up onto the
kerbs a bit if you need to. |
Wav, 116k |
Somewhere in Hatzenbach
Here comes a little Mutkurve where all Ring Taxi passengers
bite the upholstery. |
Wav, 69k |
The spot in Hatzenbach where the Scheid BMW came to an
untimely end
Uh oh... |
Wav, 38k |
Hocheichen
Dangerous as hell when wet. |
Wav, 42k |
Flugplatz
The car becomes very light here. You shouldn't overdo it in
the wet, I have experience with that. |
Wav, 90k |
Schwedenkreuz
Brake straight, steer in early, keep to the inside because
there are big fat bumps on the outside that drag you wide into the
meadow. |
Wav, 175k |
Fuchsröhre
Fuchsröhre is normally flat-out. |
Wav, 61k |
Adenauer Forst
Adenauer Forst is a case in itself. I take a different line
here. This is like a driving school line. I think I drive more of a
fighting line here, that allows me to brake later. |
Wav, 143k |
That's all, folks. There were two crashes during this lap, which is
why Sabine didn't get a chance to describe more corners :(
Disclaimer: if you use Sabine's comments or my
translations to choose the line you drive on the Nordschleife (or
anywhere else) and crash, don't blame me. Blame her, if you dare...
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