Fans of French clutter, look away now. What you’re going to see now may cause emotional distress. Yes, after this accident on Sunday, there’s one less 205 GTi on the road. Sad times indeed.
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For my none-European, none-car-nerd readers, let me explain something. The 205 GTi is a legendary car for many reasons, not all of them good:
- Incredibly responsive handling
- Great power to weight ratio from its peppy 8-valve motor
- Snappy lift-off oversteer from its unforgiving torsion-beam rear axle
And what happens in the video below is more to do with the latter point than the first two…
Oh yeah, he really just did that. He overtook on the wrong side, way too quick, then he finally over compensated and put it nose-first into the guardrail.
I reached out to the driver of the camera car above, and asked him what happened:
Some more about what happened – the BMW in front of us had been driving pretty poorly, missing the line and braking in weird spots (e.g. in the video in the Bellof Esses), so I kept my distance, especially given the slightly wet condition of the track. The right hander into Schwalbenschwanz is not a good place to pass at all, so when the blue Peugeot appeared in my mirrors, I decided not to yield the line before the turn, for everyone’s safety (I had made poor experiences at that place including another clueless driver pushing me off the track and almost into the guardrail).
Young kids in the Peugeot decided to do the right side pass instead! Tail broke loose. Failed to correct what could have been a not too hard save (we assume he lifted after tail came loose). “J” and I grabbed the yellow flag to warn other cars, “J” took the lead in a quick run upstream on the trackside to flag. After Streckensicherung had secured the place, I tried to explain to the Peugeot drivers that right side passes are a no go, but they seemed to choose to not understand.
OVERTAKING RULES ON THE NÜRBURGRING:
Passing rules on the Nürburgring during Touristenfahrten are very simple, but lets do a quick run down anyway!
- Touristenfahrten/Public Driving: Overtaking is only on the LEFT, slower traffic moves to the RIGHT. Use your indicators/blinkers to show the direction you’re moving!
- Trackdays: Rules vary between different organisers and companies. Many still use “only on the left” rules, while others allow both sides. Ask in the briefing!
- Racing: Overtaking allowed both sides, it’s recommended in both RCN and VLN to show your indicator in the direction you’re moving, regardless of whether you’re the slower or faster car.
