Gotta say, if you like driving - go. All the roads up through the mountains are amazing, the views are incredible, and I only saw three people being taken away in ambulances

To be fair, they were the people who you saw in the carpark and thought yes, you'll be going home in the back of a van. TVR, Civic Type R, 330i. All driven by, ahem, nontrustworthy looking types who looked a little simple.

To be honest the track is as safe as you want it to be - it's the people who go out with no experience and think they're all that, they're the ones who end up being pulled out of a tree. If you're sensible and drive within the abilities of yourself and your car, you'll have a great time as well as absorbing some awesome car p*rn. Within hours I was bored senseless of exotic cars.

Only downside being if you go via certain routes you have to drive through Belgium.

O.

Did you get some speed out it though? How was the coupe in the corners? Did you ever find the limit of how good the coupe is in the corners? I've only driven lambo gallardo and a DB9 on a track so i wonder what the coupe would actually be like.

To be honest, I didn't enjoy the laps in the Coupe as much as I did in the other cars, actually the M3 was the most enjoyable. Reasons being:

- Not enough grip at points - bad tyres, my fault.
- Brake fade - not normally a problem on smaller tracks as you can pull in for a cooldown every few laps, but when you're on a 12-mile lap there's not exactly anywhere to stop, unless you're in a tree or armco.
- The main problem - simply not enough power. The corners is wasn't too bad but then I've had mine lowered by 30mm, so it was pretty stable. It just got annoying on the straights not being able to get on the racing line because you're letting people overtake you. Countless times I could see where I was *meant* to be, but there was someone overtaking dangerously so it wasn't possible.

The M3 had not massively dissimilar handling - it's obviously better but also heavier. It just also had the power to give it some welly down the straights when you needed to. I don't think the Coupe really saw more than about 110mph on the track, but about 135mph on a disconcertingly empty autobahn.

Throw about 7 grand at it for a supercharger, coilovers and some decent brakes and you'll have a whale of a time. Until then, it's still well worth it for a laugh with your mates, just don't expect to be setting any lap records.

O.

I drove past it last week on the way back from Oktoberfest and was sorely tempted to take the car for a quick spin - I went before in my Vectra which was Automatic and wasn't the greatest experience! Still the A61 Autobahn has some nice views and there are several stretches where you can cruise comfortably at 130mph.

I really want to go and take the car for a spin round the ring, how smooth was the road? And how difficult are the corners?

I hear you can't memorise the track unless you go there on a regular basis.

I dunno first hand but I know of someone who took a modded Calibra Turbo to the 'ring and turned the Yokohama's into slicks over the course of the day... Sounds like fun, I'd love to give it a blast

Not to be the party pooper here.

But if you dont mind me asking O...

What were the costs and times?

Petrol to get there?
Ferry?
Petrol once you were there?
How much you use?
Need new tyres?
Price for use of the track...

You get my jist yea?

Hey Callum

No worries, I seem to remember all in all that it probably cost me about £500 in all - that's petrol there, ferry crossings, food, hotels and laps of the track. We also went on a weekend where there was a double tourist-day, so we could drive on the Saturday and the Sunday.

My car needed no new tyres or anything, that's entirely down to how you drive and believe me in a coupe especially you will *not* be throwing it into corners, because if you do you will die

Thing is with the ring, it's absolutely nothing like a UK track. It doesn't have any sharp bends, no tight corners, in my mate's Evo I don't think we went below about 40 even on the tightest of bends and once you know the track there's next to no braking.

You buy tokens when you're there then go up to a barrier and put your token in - barrier goes up and you're on the ring. Don't know how it would be with current exchange rates, but it was about a tenner a lap. In a good car with a bit of experience you could do a lap in around ten minutes, and you wouldn't want to do more than two laps in the coupe before taking a break to let it cool down - it'll completely fry your brakes, especially until you get to know the track.

The karousell is the only bit that's hard on your car - in fact even the racing instructor we took out said he cannot see the appeal at all and I agree - it's a very sharp banked hairpin bend with a purposely rough surface that completely fcuks up all your bushes and suspension if you're in a normal road car. Luckily, you can just go around the top of it instead - doesn't do any wonders for your lap time but then to be honest the lap you start timing yourself is the one where you'll have an off and be taking a trip to the hospital.

It's an enormous track and it's amazing fun, just make sure you've got good tyres, european breakdown cover and a decent hotel to stay in - after a day on the track we were absolutely shattered. Consider it a holiday and budget for it being just that - there really isn't any way to do it on the cheap without making yourself miserable. Save up, prepare your car, go out and have a damn good time!

O.