OPH Newsletter March 2013
The Nurburgring Germany – Disneyland for petrol heads !!!
The Nurburgring, Germany
The Nurburgring in Germany is by far the largest, longest, most difficult and dangerous race track in the world. At over 22 km long or 13 miles in the queens measurements, it was christened “the green hell” by sir Jackie Stuart the famous F1 driver and ex world champion. He gave it this name because of the difficult and at the time extremely dangerous (due to lack of safety precautions in F1 at that time) ribbons of Tarmac which swept and turned up and down through the Eiffel mountains.
Porsche Boxter
Last year we decided to pay a visit to the famous circuit and have a little fun in what we in OPH regard as one of the greatest Porsches of all time – the 986 boxster!
I’m sure many of you watch top gear on BBC 1; if you do you’re sure to remember the famous episode with Jeremy Clarkson trying to complete a lap in a diesel Jaguar in under ten minutes which nearly every new arrival to the nurburgring tries to have a go at.
Our goal was to drive from Dublin to the nurburgring so we could do some fun laps and get then back in one piece so we didn’t bother with a stop watch for this trip!
Test driving the 991
We got down nice and early and spent a large part of the day lapping the track with no issues whatsoever from our boxster. By the afternoon we had plenty of excitement and decided to wander around the car park and admire the machinery.
We met a good friend of ours, Theo, who runs a hire car business specifically for driving the the Nurburgring. He had just taken delivery of the new 991 model Porsche 911 to add to his fleet of over 40 high performance hire cars. We felt it would be rude not to go for a drive to sample the machinery (this was purely for market research of course!!! ).
Cars in storage
Virtual Racing
After thoroughly and extensively carrying out our market research we then called into Theo at his premises. All I can say is the machinery on offer to rent was superb with selections from a Volkswagen Sirocco up to a Porsche 911 GT3 and the list of cars in storage with him from his regular visitors was just simply eye watering!!! After saying our goodbyes to Theo we then went on to the new museum and Nurburgring shopping mall where we decided to try and set some virtual lap records.
Dinner at Pinochio's
Restaurant Track View
The next day (Sunday) we went down to the track and relaxed over our breakfast in the themed coffee shop/restaurant while waiting for the track to dry and took turns lapping while the others drank coffee and watched the action from the comfort of a couch. We finished off the day with no issue whatsoever and made the return trip in comfort in our fantastic boxster which never gave the slightest problem all weekend, considering we drove 700 miles non stop lapped over 25 laps of the circuit (over 325 track miles) and then drove the 700 miles home with no issues really does say a lot about Porsche engineering!
The trip was a complete success and gave all of us a fantastic experience. I hope you enjoyed our story about the Nurburgring and please feel free to contact Connaire or James at info@oph.ie at any stage for further information about joining us on future trips or for with help in planning your own!
Take away the hassle of your NCT by availing of our Annual Service combined with NCT offer from €199-€449, Porsche model/service interval dependent.
National Car Test
Porsche Service
Book your car for a service and/or NCT test in the month of April or May and OPH will have it NCT tested while it’s in for it’s service. Yes you read that correctly!
Simply call or email us before close of business on Friday 5th April 2013 to book in for your service or NCT in the month of April OR May 2013 and we will book the NCT test on your behalf for a date that is available with the NCT center and suits your schedule.
How does it work?
Once you book with OPH we will confirm a number of dates that may suit you and arrange on your behalf the NCT test for one of those dates. We then collect your Porsche prior to the test and carry out the pre NCT test and /or service (if required). Then we bring the car to the test center for you in order that it may be tested.
Once this is completed we will then promptly return your car washed and cleaned, safe in the knowledge it is in perfect mechanical health and has a valid NCT certificate. This offer includes all parts, labour, NCT test charge, vat,wash and clean,collection and delivery from your home or workplace. To book or for any other queries feel free to call or email Connaire or James
Call us on 01 8853821
Email us at info@oph.ie