LOR Trackguide Nuerburgring Tiergarten
First Corner (Left-right chicane)
- Entrance speed: approximately 180 mph [290 kph]
- Speed through the corner: approximately 150* mph [242* kph]
- Arrival time at the corner: 7 minutes 44.81 seconds
- Time to negotiate the corner: 2.54 seconds
- Exit time of the corner: 7 minutes 47.35 seconds
(*This speed is reached right at the end of the corner.)
The entrance to this left-right chicane is the important part of it. You can come into the turn very fast as long as you get a good straight exit. If you are off-line coming in you'll have a very hard time slowing down enough for the final turns.
You'll be in top gear going almost flat out as you approach the left hand entrance to the chicane. Line the car up on the right side of the track and then shortly before reaching the Tiergarten sign on the right begin to bring the car in the turn, aiming for a late apex. Remember that very little steering movement is needed through the entire turn. Stay under maximum acceleration and bring the car to the edge of the grass just to the left of the dark racing groove as you hit the apex. You are now almost midway through the turn. Let the car move away from the left and towards the right hand apex. When you reach the halfway point of the turn brake heavily for a moment and downshift one gear. Then get back on the power to help balance the car. The rear will get quite loose here so don't overdo the acceleration. Again, take a late apex at the right hander lining up at the edge of the track as you exit.
Second Corner (Left-right-left chicane)
- Entrance speed: approximately 150 mph [242 kph]
- Speed through the corner: approximately 45 mph [73 kph]
- Arrival time at the corner: 7 minutes 47.89 seconds
- Time to negotiate the corner: 10.41 seconds
- Exit time of the corner: 7 minutes 58.30 seconds
This is the final sequence of corners on the track. Psychologically they can be the toughest, especially if you're on a great lap. You want to push hard, but push too hard and you could hit the barrier, start to think about hitting the barrier and you may back off, wasting valuable time. Try to ignore all this and just get through the turns and onto the pit straight.
You'll be in fourth gear near the right side of the track as you leave the previous turn. Braking starts almost immediately as you need to lose about 100 mph to get through this chicane successfully. As the racing groove darkens brake quite hard and begin to downshift to second gear. Stay near the right side of the track until you are almost on top of the entrance. The rear of the car will be very light after the previous left-right chicane, so as you start to brake be ready in case the rear steps out a little.
The first left hand part of this chicane is slightly faster than the next right hand part. Turn into the corner, aiming for a late apex right next to the armco, and quickly easing all the way off the brakes. As you go past the armco you'll be able to straighten out for a moment. Add some more brakes at this point to slow you down enough to make the following right hander.
After braking for a moment start to turn into the right hander, aiming for a mid apex. Get back on the power enough to balance the car as you get right to the right side of the track. You may run your right side wheels over the grass a little here. This is fine as long as you don't try to accelerate while they are still on the grass. Hold the car against the inside of the turn until the track straightens out in front of you, and then add a little power as you straighten the wheel out.
If you leave the inside edge too soon you run the risk of hitting the armco at the following left hander, or having to slow down too much in order to miss the armco. Aim for what appears to be the end of the armco on the left as your entrance point for the next left hander. The entrance to this turn is quite sharp, but then the turn flattens out. There is a slight bump to the track just past the entrance which you can use to turn the car to the left and away from the outside armco barrier by adding more power. Once you pass the bend in the armco on your left - the part that you used as you entrance point - try to get back to full power as soon as possible. This will help you achieve the slight rotation of the car on the bump of the track, as mentioned above. Back off for a moment as the car rotates and then get back to full power. You don't want the wheels to be spinning here as you'll lose acceleration. So it's better to have a bigger lift and then get the power down smoothly than to power slide out of this turn. Remember a good exit out of here could let you draft an opponent down into turn one, and sliding out of the turn won't let you do this.
Continue under full acceleration as you leave this chicane and gradually bring the car over towards the right side of the track. Take a breather, because now that you have finished your warm-up lap you are ready to have a go at a qualifying lap.
