Caterham Car Club Backstage Tour at the Nürburgring

TL;DR Nürburgring part III

Participation to that event was not really planned, and truth be told we were not formally invited 😅

This meeting was the "Season Opener" organised by Caterham Car Club (of Germany) with Caterham Nürburgring (aka Caterham Deutschland). The club itself is an independent organisation acting as the national branch of the Caterham & Lotus Seven Club. Their philosophy is to welcome all like-minded friends of the Caterham Seven.

Their Facebook Group has a huge international following with close to 13 000 members. It is a really nice, polite and open space to discuss anything Caterham; and part of the few groups I'm still a member of, the others being the niche Caterham Suzuki Owners and Lotus7_BW.

So there I was just two days before the event seeing the announcement from Caterham Nürburgring and subsequent share on the group. It was clearly stated that it was an exclusive event for members of the club.

The day would consist in meeting at Caterham Nürburgring at 11:00 for a coffee and visit of the showroom followed by a backstage visit of the GP circuit generously offered by the garage; and finally a last drink at the opening of a photo expo at a local hotel.

Undefeated I tried my chance and contacted Andreas, in charge of the group (and club) to see if there would be some extra room for two neighbours from just across the border. Being pretty sure he didn't get my messages, I wrote my question publicly under the post. I still got not answer but he decided to "friend" me. - I took that as a yes.

That's how we left Liège just before 9:00 that Saturday in direction of Germany, driving in the most picturesque scenery the Belgian Fagnes/Eifel and German Eifel can offer. I gave the wheel to the misses just before the border (about halfway to Nürburgring). We reached the designated parking lot just across the visitor centre with just enough time to say hello to everyone, look at the other Caterham and have a quick chat with Andreas who confirmed we were most welcome and that there would be room for us to visit the circuit too. There were also a few members I already met when I joined their monthly meetup near Aachen in July last year.

We spent the best part of two hours at the "Brand Store", which is the official name of the new showroom strategically located at the visitor centre -hazard has it that it was inaugurated on the week-end I got my car-. There, we had a look at the cars on display, of which two 485 Final Edition in Green : one S3 chassis and one CSR (which is an SV). Kurt Hoffmann welcomed us and gave us a speech about all the news around the dealership and the brand in general. As it was in German, a language I never really learned, I got about half of what was discussed, but context helped a lot. At some point he gave me the floor to present myself and explain what brought us there, all good fun. My "Too Fast to Race" t-shirt made an impression too, with a drawing of LE60-CAT on it.

After a lunch break that went right over our heads (retrospectively, it seems like we did need some kind of clear hint that it was lunch time...), the backstage visit began.

We first moved across the bridge over the start/finish straight and rejoined the press room, which is quite large with rows and rows of tables, screens hanging from the ceiling, and an interview desk similar to the ones you see for sports press conferences.

The area was described around a large map of the two circuits, and accessed the panorama on the roof. The view from there is incredible. With the circuit of course, but the landscape and the terrain itself is quite the sight. A great time for some group picture.

On the way down we stopped at the podium, where we watched motorcycles passing by; some with passengers, a surprising sight.  

Next stop was the video monitoring room, where over 30 large screens on a wall and ceiling display real time feeds from anywhere 70 to 80 cameras all around the 2 circuits. Both the GP track and the Nordschleife are covered. All is recorded and can be used as evidence for police investigation after an accident (to prove things like taking over from the right-hand side...). The room features two rows of control desks and is on par with the smaller modern rocket launch control rooms -Firefly Aerospace comes to mind-.

Down to the garages along the pit lane, with their modular grid walls, of course very similar to the ones at Spa-Francorchamps where we were just 2 weeks prior. Then the pit lane itself and a stop at the wall along the start/finish straight.

We concluded the visit around the medical centre, passed by the medical helicopter that was departing, and walked back to the other side of the visitor centre through the tunnel.

Really hungry at that point, we queued for some currywurst and radler beer; a real treat - and missed the final drink at the Lindner hotel. We walked there after our afternoon lunch, the drink nearly over but the ambiance of the smoking room was a nice background for the photographs by Ivan Toscanelli.

While queuing for lunch, I took the opportunity of subscribing as an actual member of the Caterham Car Club - having in hand a print copy of the January issue of their quarterly magazine, which is actually fully bilingual german/english really brought the idea home. So I'm now an official member of a club.

Before departing, we did chat a bit walking back to the parking lot, then around the cars, where my 170 with its engine management, turbo and exhaust upgrades plus the custom wheels did really interest a fellow 170 owner.

I took the wheel at 15:40 and we were back home two hours later, the trip is 115 km. 

The event is already covered in the news section of the Caterham Nürburgring website. Thanks again for the organisation and your welcome.