After a good sleep I went for breakfast which was included with my room. It wasn't the buffet I wanted and comprised of several types of cheese and some miniature sized bread. Oh well, its free for a reason I guess.
My plan today was to head to the Nurburgring Nordschlife circuit, the 20k track that you can take your road car on. I'd already checked the T&Cs of my rental agreement and I wasn't allowed to take my hire car on but I was planing to watch and maybe bribe someone to jump in the back of their car.
I took the scenic route there which comprised of some gorgeous roads although I was wary of the Spezialkrafte nearer to the circuit. Upon arriving I parked up where I could get a quick getaway like Clark Griswald taught me. I walked over to the entrance and security stopped me. Luckily he spoke better English than people from Dudley so he was able to explain that a club had rented the circuit today and they didn't want spectators. Hmm plan thwarted.
I had a plan B though. Luckily I'd done my homework and as the circuit is so long there are loads of places you get view from near to some towns. I had a list of these with directions so off I went.
I only got a little bit lost before finding a good spot. I climbed up a bank that looked over the circuit just as a marshal put out a red flag which basically meant someone had stuffed it and the racing was over until it was sorted. No wonder they didn't want spectators.
I took the opportunity to find a better spot and after about 30mins the action was back on so I spent an hour or so watching people try to drive their Porsches fast on the damp narrow track.
In the afternoon I decided to head to the proper Grand Prix circuit to see the event I'd actually come to Germany for. I had no idea which of the 40 (I kid you not) car park to use, so I opted randomly for B1. All of the signs were in German so I found an entrance that wasn't busy and scanned my ticket and went in.
I was in the paddock (the bit behind the pits where all the teams and their trucks / hospitality are). Result. Practice for the WEC cars had just started and I walked around the backs of the garages and was able to see the telemetry on their screens and all the goings on.
I was desperate for the loo at this stage so I found some toilets which were also used by the crew which meant that after I'd sorted myself out, instead of turning right to go back to the paddock, I could turn left and go to the pit lane. During a live session.
I didn't want to push my luck at this point as I'm pretty confident that I shouldn't be here, however, how often do you get the opportunity, right? One of the LMP2 cars came in for a stop about 3 meters from me and the team jumped into action so I managed to get some good video footage that I'll share afterwards.
I went back into the paddock and practice finished so I hung around seeing if I could catch anyone famous. Cue Lotterer, Alan McNish and Patrick Dempsey (McDreamy from Greys Anatomy). Being a Hollywood star he was swamped and ended up getting pushed out of the way, how rude.
I then saw Anthony Davidson so as he was stopping for selfies I exchanged a few words with him, he's a good chap and was happy to spend time with the fans which was nice.
All star'd out I headed for the rand stands to watch the other cars and spent the rest of the afternoon there. Just before leaving I though it wouldn't be right to not race anything myself so I went on a Le Mans simulator and then tried my hand around the karting track.
The karts were electric and restricted, so not the best and the indoor circuit was unusually high grip so nearly all of the lap was flat out which is a bit boring. Still, karting is always fun, and I got to take out the Germans (pretty sure it was Vettel in car 4) ;)
Back to base afterwards for a huge steak and some beer. It'll be a similar day again tomorrow, so an early night is due.
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