Learning to Drive Fast Around the Nürburgring, CliffsNotes Edition

Motor Trend

6 days ago

They say it takes a long time to learn your way around the Nürburgring Nordschleife. I just spent two days and 36 laps following in the wheeltracks of Porsche test driver Timo Kluck as he guided me around the Green Hell. I learned an awful lot from a driver who knows every inch of this legendary track, but it was a bit hard to take notes while behind the wheel of a snarling Porsche 911 GT3. Here's what I remember of the expert's guide to turning a solid 11.9-mile bridge-to-gantry lap.
Angus MacKenzie drove a Porsche 911 GT3 for 36 laps on the Nürburgring Nordschleife. Guided by Porsche test driver Timo Kluck, he learned the intricacies of the track, focusing on gear shifts, braking points, and cornering techniques to master the challenging circuit.
This summary was generated by AI using content from this MotorTrend article. Read Next Bridge to Hocheichen
Roll away from the start, fourth gear through the compression at Tiergarten, then fifth. Brake late into the left on the entry of the right-left chicane at the Hyundai N-Kurve and back to second gear. Quick upshift to third, then back to second and brake for the 90-degree right that leads onto the short straight with the pit area used for Nordschleife record attempts off to the right. Get on the power early, grab third. Brake on the hump before Sabine-Schmitz-Kurve and shift back to second; otherwise it's hard to get the car into this left-hander as the road falls away steeply. The fourth-gear braking zone into the Veedol-Schikane is very rough. It's quick into the first part, a left-hander, but that can suck you into the right-hander that tightens slightly on exit and has a hungry wall looming on the left. Dab the brakes on the entry to the tight right-left chicane that follows, and quickly again mid-chicane before the left. Accelerate, then make a late entry into the right at Hocheichen, which falls away steeply over a blind crest into a left-hander. An important corner, this: Get it wrong, and speed will be compromised all the way up to the Flugplatz. Hocheichen to Adenauer-Forst
Big bumps on the bridge between Hocheichen and Quiddelbacher-Höhe. Brush the brakes at the top of the hump at the Flugplatz to load the front axle and help get the car turned into the fast multiapex right-hand sweeper. Flat, fifth then sixth gear, through the gentle sweeps to the fast left-hand sweeper at Schwedenkreuz. Brake on the big hump before the corner, back to fifth gear, and accelerate smoothly, making sure not to unsettle the car over the almost invisible lump where the curb on the left starts. Corner exit is also slightly off camber, so hug the curbing most of the way through and keep midtrack on the exit for the run to the looping downhill right at Aremberg. Back to third, stay midtrack. Plunge down through the forest to the Fuchsröhre. Fifth gear at the compression, keep midtrack on the exit of the second of the uphill left-hand sweeps, ready for the sharp third-gear right into the Adenauer-Forst complex. The steep climb helps braking. Immediately through the right, brake hard in a straight line, back to second for the tight left-hander, and pick third on the exit of the right immediately after. Adenauer-Forst to Ex-Mühle
Very bumpy on entry to the quick left-hander at Metzgesfeld. Stay left, brake in a straight line, grab fourth, and turn in. Then brake, back to third and through the uphill left-right chicane. Stay on the power over the crest to the looping downhill right at Kallenhard. Fourth gear on the exit, and ease the car around the downhill sweeps, then third for the right-hand kink that leads into the second-gear, tight double-apex left at Wehrseifen, the slowest corner on the track. Brake hard in a straight line at the first apex, then turn midtrack to clip the second. Short shift into third immediately past the second apex, and power through the right-hander immediately after and down to Ex-Mühle, the lowest point on the Nordschleife. Third gear. Watch the wall on the outside of the down-up double-apex left that leads into a 90-degree sharp uphill right-hander that can be slippery on the exit. Ex-Mühle to Klostertal
Fifth gear through the fast left-hand kink where Niki Lauda had his fiery Ferrari crash in the 1975 German Grand Prix, then hard on the brakes and back to third for the Bergwerk right-hander. Wait for the late apex, and go to power early. Another key corner: Good exit speed means good momentum up the climb to Klostertal, 430 feet higher up the valley. Kesselchen, the fast left halfway between, is flat in fifth gear, though the corner entry looks narrow. The track kinks right on the entry to the uphill left-hander at Klostertal. Thread it in sixth, then on the brakes and back to fifth, then fourth. Hard on the power up the hill until just before the crest, then brush the brakes to get weight on the front axle for the fast right after it. It's a late-entry turn-in, but there's a bump right on the entry that moves the car sideways, so leave some margin to the left. Klostertal to Brünnchen
Second gear through the tight right at Steilstrecke, then third and fourth on the short straight to the Karussell. Back to second on the drop into the steep banking, and ride the bumps. Short shift to third on the exit to stabilize the rear end as the car jumps out of the banking at corner exit. At Hohe Acht, the highest point of the Nordschleife, is a top-of-the-hill, late-entry right-hander. Third and fourth gear through the sweeps through Hedwigshöhe and Wippermann and into Eschbach, the entry to which is a right over a blind crest, where the track pinches inward on the left into the downhill left-hander. Then comes the right-straight-right at Brünnchen, a.k.a. YouTube corner, as there's a large spectator area right next to the track. Brünnchen to Gantry
Turn in early for the left-hander at the top of the short climb out of Brünnchen to ensure enough real estate to smoothly clip the apex of the fast right-hander on the top of the blind crest. Flat through the gentle left-hand sweep, and brake in a straight line before the fifth-gear crest at the Pflanzgarten to steady the car, then brake again in a straight line in the compression, grab fourth, and turn in. The double right-hander goes uphill into a gentle left over a blind crest. Be ready for the car to go light and squirm over the crest, and make sure the suspension is loaded in the compression before the fast right. Straightline the Stefan-Bellof-S in fifth, with maybe a quick upshift to sixth. Brake and back to fourth for the right-hander that leads up to Schwalbenschwanz. Third and an early apex that will help maintain speed for run up to the mini Karussell on the exit of the Schwalbenschwanz complex. Second gear, turn in early, and take advantage of the easy transition from the flat section of the track. Short shift to third on the exit to calm the wheelspin. Then fourth and into the rising, double-apex Galgenkopf corner, another of the key corners on the Nordschleife. Getting it right means more speed onto the straight. There's the gantry. Lap done.