[ParisTNDude]

Originally Posted by PeeBee

You do know that there are Europeans that go through the process of importing a car from the States, and driving it over here, no? As far as I'm aware the Cmaaro was only introduced here a few months ago, and isn't available for delivery yet... The Mustang has been around for some years, and can be seen a bit more frequent already.

To me, the fact that the SS did a pretty decent time on the Ring was one of the deciding factors. I'll tell you why: you can drive the 'Ring on as much games as you want, as long as you haven't driven the real thing, you'll never understand the magic/beauty/challenge from it, and seeing a 'Ring time, as irrelevant it may be to some people, there is a degree as to how good the car handles that is revealed with it.

The fact that most manufacturers are having their development centers there now is simply because they have so much different variables there that they will find nowhere in one place. Where other than on the Ring do you find off/on camber corners, downhill/uphill, grippy/slippery tarmac, decompressing/compressing corners, and varying weather conditioins, all in one place? I perfectly understand why any manufacturer goes there... It's just like the Stelvio pass many maufacturers use to test the braking, but in a bit more "controlled" environment. And with controlled I mean the possibility to go "flat out", unlike on the public roads of mountain passes like the Stelvio I just mentioned.

True, not many of "us" mere mortals will have the change to replicate the 'Ring time, because you simply for one can not drive the full length of the track on a public day: you have to get in halfway the Dottinger Höhe (the almost 3 mile long straight), so you lose the fastest part of the track to drive the car flat out. And the fact that there are other vehicles (bikes, buses, name it, it's there without a doubt) driving around, you'll struggle in getting a "free" lap (unless you go on a snowy Tuesday somewhere half of December, like me LOL).

I love it...here's a man who knows the "ring". I drove about 18-20 laps at different times and it IS amazing. Trust me, the average American driver, regardless of what he drives, can easily be passed by a race prepared 4 cylinder Fiat UNO, all those who have had that happen, raise their hands. My time in a heavily modded C5 Vette was 10:10 minutes....airborn twice during each lap....lol!