While the Nurburgring continues to battle its way through political and financial difficulties, some of the on-track activities are undergoing changes too.
It’s not just the prices that are changing for 2011 (up on last year, but there will be more public days). The good old ‘Ring Taxi is also in for big changes for this year and one of them is the loss of the Queen of the Ring and Top Gear favourite, Sabine Schmitz, as one of the regular drivers. Sabine has been a big draw for the ‘Ring Taxi and has been driving them for several years, but she is no longer a member of the BMW Driving Experiences program and so won’t be available for duty.
While this is a shame, Sabine was just one of a number of drivers who took the BMW M5s out onto the track, so your chances of landing a ride with her were slim. On the plus side you can still sit alongside her as she runs her own passenger ride experience in a Porsche 997 GT3 RS, for the princely sum of 449 euros (about £380).
The other big change is that BMW are ditching the good old E60 M5 and replacing it with the E90 model M3. The smaller M3 should be more fun on the circuit, although rear accommodation might not be as comfortable for passengers as they get bounced around the inside.
