second afternoon we’re flying over the first crest at over 220 km/h and just tapping the brakes before peeling into the blind left, then braking hard for Aremberg. (Learning the convoluted German names of all the corners is nearly as difficult as the driving.) Before dinner, we string together a few complete laps. Despite my ham-fisted driving, the Nordschleife has a beautiful flow to it. Get it right — find the groove — and each corner leads perfectly into the next. Get it wrong, miss the groove, and it’s hard to get back into rhythm. “It takes 100 laps just to know where you’re going,” Sanchez warns at our first dinner together. Adding to the already immense challenge, he explains, is that the Nordschleife changes from year to year, as sections get repaved and curbs replaced. Frank van Meel, head of BMW’s M division, has a deep affection for the place. “I have held multiple roles in chassis development and engineering during my career and have been lucky enough to do quite a few laps on the Nordschleife over many years,” he wrote in an e-mail. “At first, there’s no denying how intimidating it is, especially when surrounded by other drivers who are more familiar with the track. It’s a difficult track to master and it
takes a lot of laps. However, as you start to memorize the layout and get faster and faster, driving the Nordschleife becomes more thrilling, exciting, and certainly more fun.” His words ring true on day two, when we get up and do it all over again. Not that I was anywhere near memorizing every bit of the track, but — thanks to Sanchez and some teenage years spent playing too many video games — I had a fuzzy mental map of the circuit. I knew which turns were coming up, braking and turning when Sanchez did in front. Our whole group was noticeably faster, braking harder, getting on the throttle sooner; we were all more comfortable and clearly having more fun as well. But as the speed increases, so does the danger. The narrowness of the track becomes more apparent, heightening the sense of speed. After Bergwerk, there’s a long, fast uphill section that skilled drivers can take almost flat out. The corners are mostly blind; you can’t see the exit until you’re already committed. Through Mutkurve and Klostertal it’s a leap of faith — trusting the car will stick and that there’ll be enough road. (Mutkurve translates as “Courage Curve” for a reason.)
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