Our first trip to Germany on the bikes (June, 1999) took us to the Nurburgring for three days of “Besser Farharn mit BMW.” This was a three day course put on by BMW which taught the participants how to drive the Ring. It was interesting and we had a lot of fun but we were a bit disappointed because we expected to receive some instruction about riding and this information was not forthcoming.

The village of Nurburg is relatively small and is totally dependent on the activities of the ring, but has some lovely hotels and restaurants. It sits just below the old castle on the hill (right).

We were assigned to Group 11, which consisted of three Americans, 10 Irish and two Brits, plus our instructor Chris who was also from Britain, and Willie his assistant from Switzerland. Most were riding R1100GS’s. There were a new R1100S, and R1100RS and RT, a K100, three K1200RS’s but no air heads.

The first two days were spent riding the tack in small sections spending about an hour and a half on each section. The Ring is a bit over 13 miles in length. By the time we got back to the section we had started I think most of us had forgotten what the first section we did was like!

The Ring is a very dangerous course; a new track has been constructed adjacent to the Ring which hosts all racing today. There are no races at the Ring anymore, only training sessions and open access to the public. To underscore how dangerous the course is the group in front of us (there were three groups of motorcycles, one of motorcycles with sidecars, one of Ecomobiles and 8 groups of cars) had a fatality while working on what is considered by many to be the most technical section of the track. The picture below left is Verna practicing. After we concluded the learning bits we were turned loose to ride the track. The first two times around we were escorted in two groups following either Chris or Willie. After that it was free time to ride. Here’s Jim is the staging area awaiting his chance to get on the Ring.

We enjoyed the experience but would have liked it more had there been time devoted to bike handling techniques as is done in the Class and other riding schools in the U.S.

We did find that the machine has a propensity for under steer. Jim was exiting a downhill 90 degree right turn when the bike drifted across the track onto the rumble strips. With only three feet of dirt between the rumble strips and a 12 foot high chain link fence which marked the boundary of the course it was quite an experience.

If you find typographical errors or have any other problems when looking at the site please contact the Webmaster describing the problem and the page involved.