Driving My M6 on the Nurburgring

[RONAN]

I picked up my M6 on Euro delivery recently, and the magazine Autoweek asked me to write a blog about it, and alos my 200mph run on the autobahn....(whic I videotaped ..tapes being edited now).

If you want to read the blog, here is the link....http://www.autoweek.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060619/BLOG07/60616012/0/WEBLOG

the second and tird parts of the blog can be accessed at the bottom of part 1...

[AussieZ3]

Mate, that was a fantastic read. I thoroughly enjoyed that.
Thank you.
Ps Glad you are enjoying the car in all its capabilities.:thumbup:

[lil' poppa]

Excellent write-up. Glad to hear about your insurance coverage.

[RONAN]

Car is now fully repaired,like new and being flatbedded to Munich for shipment. Dont regret a second of it and will probably buy a track car and keep it there...

I mounted two cams in the car for the 200mph run and am having the video professionally edited and will post. One cam is on the instrument panel and the other on the road, with a second M6 ahead of me...

[F1Crazy]

Loved the blog :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup: Post the vids and more pics ASAP ;)

[holmesmd]

What an intense piece that you wrote!! Thanks a lot!! I felt like I was there with you during your experience! I have the Black M6 as you do and I can only imagine what a week at the Ring will feel like. I am determined to experience this as well. I would have to arrange to get my car there or use one that is already there. It would be the experience of a life time!! It sounds like you really need to be a bad ass driver to even be on the course that is littered with driving legends and professional drivers:yikes: I will definitely need much practice prior to my trip. Next time will you consider using ceramic pads? It sounds like the stock brakes just were not designed quite sturdy enough to take the insane pounding that your laps subjected them to. Much has been written about the M6's failure to achieve the sub-8min Ring time that some other super cars have. Was your experience consistent with this? It sounded to me like you and other pro. drivers thought that the car was fast as hell on the course!! Comment on the disconnect if you would and thanks again for an amazing article:thumbup:
holmesmd

[RONAN]

What an intense piece that you wrote!! Thanks a lot!! I felt like I was there with you during your experience! I have the Black M6 as you do and I can only imagine what a week at the Ring will feel like. I am determined to experience this as well. I would have to arrange to get my car there or use one that is already there. It would be the experience of a life time!! It sounds like you really need to be a bad ass driver to even be on the course that is littered with driving legends and professional drivers:yikes: I will definitely need much practice prior to my trip. Next time will you consider using ceramic pads? It sounds like the stock brakes just were not designed quite sturdy enough to take the insane pounding that your laps subjected them to. Much has been written about the M6's failure to achieve the sub-8min Ring time that some other super cars have. Was your experience consistent with this? It sounded to me like you and other pro. drivers thought that the car was fast as hell on the course!! Comment on the disconnect if you would and thanks again for an amazing article:thumbup:
holmesmd


You do not need ceramics..Sabine told me they use harder pads on the RIng taxi and they work fine..I will try to find out which ones. A coupe f the pro drivers told me they could get sub-8 with the M6 for sure..esp the unlimited version with the upgraded HP that I had.

I just spent the weekend at the Canadian GP and had a couple of hours with Hans-Joachim Stuck, the greatest Ring driver, and he is going to come round with me next time. If I am lucky I will get him to drive the car and show me how its really done.
Car is fine by the way and fully repaired.
I would do it again in a heartbeat.

[RONAN]

By the way I am certainly not an pro driver:)...just a moderately enthusiastic amateur. Stuck did say to me that if you can drive the RIng you can drive anywhere..it is the toughest in the world.

[TJS///M3]

Great reads! :thumbup:

I'm wondering though.. you said you had offers from other drivers to go around with them.. did you get a chance to ride in their cars? ie. the Carrera GT, the Ferrari, etc.?

I'm wondering what the difference in feel was to the M6.

Also, it is surprising to me that bikes and cars run so closely together. I would think that running the 'Ring on a bike has to be freaking nuts, and probably constitutes a near-death experience.

[RONAN]

Great reads! :thumbup:

I'm wondering though.. you said you had offers from other drivers to go around with them.. did you get a chance to ride in their cars? ie. the Carrera GT, the Ferrari, etc.?

I'm wondering what the difference in feel was to the M6.

Also, it is surprising to me that bikes and cars run so closely together. I would think that running the 'Ring on a bike has to be freaking nuts, and probably constitutes a near-death experience.


Its more than a near death sperience for many. The probem is that any leaves, oil, or debris on the track is deadly...two were killed when I was there.

I ran the track in a Porsche GT3RS with race tires...and it ws just amazingly tight. It also had full race ceramic breaks, roll cage and was fully ligthened. Also a full race 1 series:)..and a ordinary diesel 320D....

Basically the Ferraris were never fast but I think it was worried drivers..I passed lots of 430s.
The M6 is very predictable in the ring . I used l5 with the M dynamic minimal setting and the hardest suspension. L6 was used by one fo the professional and it is really hard on you rneck:)...
The mistake I made was nothing to do with the car, and I was not really travellnig all the fast..just forgot a turn.Easier to do than you think.

I spent some time over the weekend at the Canadian GP with Hans Joachim Stuck,surely the greatest Ring driver of all, ansd he felt that the ideal Ring car is the M3 CSL with semi slick tires...he is going to take me out next year and shoe me how to do it right.

The M6 was faster than ost oft he cars out there, the notable exceptions being some of the Porsches which are really fast, and...(humiliatingly) a Mini. A buddy of mine was driving the M6 and he was normally unbeatable..(took a DTM Mercedes no problem) when a Mini came up bahind us..he let him go as we figured we would nail him on the quicjk stretach at Kesselchen. He disappeared so fast that when we hit the straight he had already exited to the parkig lot...
It was faster than any Porsche,Ferrari, or BMW out there that day. No idea what he had done to it..

[holmesmd]

Right on RONAN! What did you mean "upgraded HP"? I presume you were driving the 507bhp, unlimited M6 correct? The reason I asked the brake question is that Stuka has bashed the brake mechanics of the M6. He is the only one I have encountered that holds that opinion. I do not drive the Ring or a track on a daily basis so my question to him was, who cares:dunno: I think the brakes are awsome for even routinely insane stops. I still don't get why everyone like to compare this car to the GT3. They are such different animals! It is nice to know that an M6 is as fast or faster on the straights. I enjoy your posts! Take care.:thumbup:

PS I also think that the M6 could easily do sub 8 min Ring times. Just because no one has done it yet does not mean that it will not eventually be achieved.:drive:

[RONAN]

My car was producing about 535hp after I was finished with the Harge delimiting and they said to expect a crisper throttle response. It is very difficult to compare as I was still running in the car when I got the work done.

However, I got the break of a lifetime at the weekend. I was at the Canadian GP and spent a lot of time with Hans Stuck who is a two-time Le Mans 24 hours winner and one of the greatest Nurgurgring drivers ever. Next year, I am going to meet him at the Ring ad we are going to go round together for a while...probably in an M3CSL.
This will be the experience of a lifetime. He is an incredibly nice guy.

I will post a few pics later..

By the way, in my view the brakes are more than adequate for road use, and in reality very,very few M6s are going to be tracked...this is a sort of theoretical discusson for most people.

[RONAN]

Herer is a shot of Hans I took at the Montreal Gp Sunday....