peppernick
Active Member
It had been a wet, wet and very wet weekend ......... typical April weather at the Rhineland region where the Nurburgring nestles.
Saturday was the 24hr Nurburgring VLN Championships. Ironically, the weather was perfect. Dry and cool, with plenty of grip. First time I saw proper track prepped cars go round the Nordschleife in flesh, and in pretty close proximity. The speed these cars went round corners was astonishing, let alone the unbearably loud exhausts especially when you're less than 30 feet away.
Late finishing of the race means track closed for the rest of the afternoon
Sunday started off dry, and the emergence of the usual car park poseurs which seem to take preference towards a certain Italian brand name .....
Soon after, the heaven opened and it chucked down continually for the rest of the day. Still, I managed to beat my own record for doing 22 laps in one day
I thought the wet track was a good opportunity for me to take things slowly with a new car I was unfamiliar with, and to concentrate on the lines around the Nordschleife.
The CLK, driven in auto around the Ring, was absolutely useless
Going into corners in the wrong gear and with the gearbox kicking down mid or exiting corners was downright dangerous 
Absolutely no control whatsover. The 3.5L engine doesn't have a lot of power lower down the rev range, in fact frustratingly weak the lesser side of 4000RPM. Coming back after my first lap I thought to myself, 'this car is pretty sh*t!'
Determined not to give up so quickly (although the temptation was there as a perfect excuse to change cars). I spent the rest of the day exploring the CLK in 'manual' mode. The 7-G tronic gearbox locks up the torque converter in full manual mode and gearchanges are very quick and crisp.
Much better! ..... Keep the revs between 4000 - 6500 RPM all the time and the engine pulled quite well. Averaging 10 miles to the gallon, I managed to burn 100 litres of fuel on Sunday. I must say, after this weekend, I would much prefer to paddleshift around the Ring than change gears conventionally with a gearstick and clutch.
The chassis was surprisingly nimble and turning in was very good. Plenty of mechanical grip given the soft suspension setting (despite the use of H&R springs). As such, clipping and riding on kerbs to get the lines as right as possible was surprisingly easy. The ESP hadn't been intrusive. That was another worry there. It came on when it should and let me play around a fair bit until my talent ran out.
All in all, the CLK didn't disappoint despite the initial impression. I spent the whole day learning my new car and in the end, pretty satisfied with it. However, more power is definitely needed and as such, I am now officially on the look out for a replacement CLK55 before my next trip
But the best thing about the CLK ......... the drive there and back. Absolutely brilliant! Totally effortless. Cruising at 120MPH on the autobahn is what Mercedes are built for. What a machine!
And the weekend was not complete without a few head turners at the Nurburgring.
And the dark humour petrolheads have an appetite for .....
Great weekend, great company. We'll do it again in July!
.
Saturday was the 24hr Nurburgring VLN Championships. Ironically, the weather was perfect. Dry and cool, with plenty of grip. First time I saw proper track prepped cars go round the Nordschleife in flesh, and in pretty close proximity. The speed these cars went round corners was astonishing, let alone the unbearably loud exhausts especially when you're less than 30 feet away.
Late finishing of the race means track closed for the rest of the afternoon
Sunday started off dry, and the emergence of the usual car park poseurs which seem to take preference towards a certain Italian brand name .....
Soon after, the heaven opened and it chucked down continually for the rest of the day. Still, I managed to beat my own record for doing 22 laps in one day
I thought the wet track was a good opportunity for me to take things slowly with a new car I was unfamiliar with, and to concentrate on the lines around the Nordschleife.The CLK, driven in auto around the Ring, was absolutely useless
Going into corners in the wrong gear and with the gearbox kicking down mid or exiting corners was downright dangerous Absolutely no control whatsover. The 3.5L engine doesn't have a lot of power lower down the rev range, in fact frustratingly weak the lesser side of 4000RPM. Coming back after my first lap I thought to myself, 'this car is pretty sh*t!' Determined not to give up so quickly (although the temptation was there as a perfect excuse to change cars). I spent the rest of the day exploring the CLK in 'manual' mode. The 7-G tronic gearbox locks up the torque converter in full manual mode and gearchanges are very quick and crisp.
Much better! ..... Keep the revs between 4000 - 6500 RPM all the time and the engine pulled quite well. Averaging 10 miles to the gallon, I managed to burn 100 litres of fuel on Sunday. I must say, after this weekend, I would much prefer to paddleshift around the Ring than change gears conventionally with a gearstick and clutch.
The chassis was surprisingly nimble and turning in was very good. Plenty of mechanical grip given the soft suspension setting (despite the use of H&R springs). As such, clipping and riding on kerbs to get the lines as right as possible was surprisingly easy. The ESP hadn't been intrusive. That was another worry there. It came on when it should and let me play around a fair bit until my talent ran out.
All in all, the CLK didn't disappoint despite the initial impression. I spent the whole day learning my new car and in the end, pretty satisfied with it. However, more power is definitely needed and as such, I am now officially on the look out for a replacement CLK55 before my next trip
But the best thing about the CLK ......... the drive there and back. Absolutely brilliant! Totally effortless. Cruising at 120MPH on the autobahn is what Mercedes are built for. What a machine!
And the weekend was not complete without a few head turners at the Nurburgring.
And the dark humour petrolheads have an appetite for .....
Great weekend, great company. We'll do it again in July!
.
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........ The 350 is reassuringly adequate for everyday use but it's when I go to outings like these, I find the initial concerns with fuel cost, insurance premium and mantainence completely overwhelmed by the fact that the 350 has a 100BHP less.
