FAQ = Frequently Asked Questions
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In an effort to give myself an easier life, I will be answering all the questions that people send me here. If you have a question, you can ask in the comments below.
I call this my RING-FAQ. Enjoy!
Coming soon:
- Where can I rent a car? (Or can I drive my airport rental on the Nürburgring Nordschleife?)
- Tickets! Where do I buy them? How much do they cost?
- What are the rules? Can I drive my own car?
When is the Nürburgring open to drive?
The only 100% official source of opening times is nuerburgring.de, but I do copy these into English on my own page here: Nürburgring Opening Times.
Here are some more pro BTG tips:
- The Nürburgring is *normally* open from April to October, most weekday nights and most Sundays. But you should ALWAYS check the dates for your visit.
- If the dates you’re looking for aren’t visible online at nuerburgring.de, then there’s NOTHING I can do to help you. Common sense and meticulous research of confirmed events might allow you to guess when the Nordschleife will be open. But you’re just guessing.
- Dates are normally released for the first half of the year sometime between December and March preceding. The second half of the year (July to November) will often come 1-3 months after that! This sucks for people who like to plan holidays many months ahead, but it’s not going to change.
- Off-season lapping of the Nordschleife is often possible, but depends entirely on the prevailing weather conditions. If it’s been snowing all month, the staff will not be able to respond to a sudden Sunday-morning thaw. By contrast, if the weather has been good all month you might expect to drive, but find frost or fog spoiling your chances. Any driving of the Nordschleife between November and April should be treated as an unexpected bonus!
When is the track busy? When is it best to drive?
Finding that perfect weekend is less of a science and more of an art. But here are some guidelines. It’s all common sense.
- The more full days of public driving that are grouped together, the busier it will be. For example Easter, or 3-4 day weekends in May and October. You wouldn’t drive 1500km from Norway to drive one full day in a whole week, but hundreds will drive for four full days of advertised opening.
- Some big events will pull in lots of guys who want to drive (Oldtimer GP, VLN races, etc…) whereas other events will fill up all the hotels, make the area very busy, but not many of them will want to drive the track (Truck GP, Running/Sporting events, Superbike races)
- Midweek sessions are quieter off-season and towards the middle of the weekend. For example a Wednesday in April might be deserted, but a Friday night in August will be crazy busy.
- The weather is very hard to predict. Fog and rain can ruin any day at any time of the year. The latest I’ve seen snow disrupt the track is late May and the earliest was early October.
If you’re planning a big trip, travelling a long way, just to drive the Nordschleife, never rely on a single date. Instead plan on staying here for 2-3 days of advertised opening to minimise disruption.