Following the recent announcement that Michael Schumacher will be taking a Mercedes W01 around the Nürburgring, and the speculation about a potential laptime if he is allowed to push, I took the liberty of firing up rFactor with my trusty Logitech G27 and I took a 2011-spec GP2 car to the old Ring. I remember I used to be absolutely amazing with this car in online races, picking up a win in Hockenheim after almost doing the same at Road America before spectacularly crashing out from a Vettel-style lead. So I thought this would be the perfect car to try this out. It would be by no means my first go around the Ring, in fact I know the circuit quite well.
I didn’t get a video of it this time, but the fastest lap I did was a 5:54.081. The last sector was absolutely exhilarating, going through most of there in excess of 150mph with a slightly slippy rear end was just a joy. And I couldn’t believe the speeds through the two flat-out sections from Hoheneichen to Aremberg and from Bergwerk to Klostertal (just before Karussell). Twice during the lap I could see and feel the front end lifting off the ground going over a crest.
Naturally, of course, I made a few mistakes with the car on the edge of grip. The crashes were high-speed, and what that told me was that the Nürburgring is absolutely unsafe for modern GP2 cars, let alone the more powerful Formula 1 cars.
Discuss!