Roland's organized, methodical instruction and his ability to adjust his speed to the capabilities of our group is something I've never seen anywhere, at any driving school. Each trip through each section, we learn more and more about this track. But one thing becomes clear right away: the Nordschleife isn't a racetrack. No, it's a country road with no oncoming traffic. There are so many turns (seventy-three) over such a long distance (thirteen miles) that you simply can't remember all of them the way you can on a shorter, ten-turn road course. More important, the combination of insane elevation changes, blind corners, and limited runoff means you can't use the whole road - at least not at first. You need to slowly creep up your speed as you learn what's on the other side of that crest; how hitting the big bump in the middle of the track will affect your car's handling, or whether there's a big wet patch in the middle of the next corner. Corner workers and first-aid stations? Nope, not here. Runoff is usually a fence or a tree. Yikes.
Once we complete each section, Roland takes us for progressively faster lead-follow laps. And don't think for a second that we're restricted by his speed - he is always watching behind him and if we get closer, he pulls away. Roland is driving a DTM-prepared CLK63 AMG, and there are plenty of times the back of his car gets loose trying to get away from the pack of SL63 AMGs behind him. We turn consistent nine-minute, fifteen-second laps with Roland leading.
At the end of the final day, once the weather clears, timing equipment is put into our cars, and we're allowed to go out on our own for unsupervised runs. A few corners into my first run, I wish Roland was there to guide me. Is this that second-gear left, or the fourth-gear left that looks just like it? Ugh.
I don't know how anyone can safely learn the Nordschleife without doing it the way the AMG Driver's Academy did - step by step. My fastest lap was right at the nine-minute mark - around forty-five seconds slower than the car's capability. But the heart rate monitor that Mercedes placed on me confirms what I'm feeling - the car may not have been at its limit, but I'm definitely at mine. My heart's 180 beats per minute is the cardiac equivalent of the 6.2-liter V-8 spinning at its 7200-rpm redline. ...next page >>