Ok, I’ve had the same „issue“ when I took a good friend there for his first time. He is a pretty good driver, but had zero experience on the Ring. He did a few things right:
1.) he understood my advice about Touristenfahrten: „it’s a warzone out there, and you’re not a soldier yet“. If you have no idea about the track - and you won’t until you’ve spent at least 2 full days training - you will be just a dangerous obstacle to most of the other participants. And people don’t have much patience with obstacles. Having your gf watch her mirror is NOT a strategy!
2.) he rented a car there. Special insurance, cage, suspension, tyres etc are set up for the ring. Know that wear-and-tear on your street car is calculated ~10 to 20x of usual street wear. Tires, brakes, rotors, suspension, everything suffers once you get going. Do you really want to do that to your baby?
3.) he hired an instructor from that rental company for day one / the first few laps. That‘s the safest, fastest, and most efficient way to learn the track. He was even fortunate that on his scheduled instructor day, it was pouring raining. Which meant he had the track pretty much for himself, speeds were much lower, and he learned the rain line immediately. All together, that gave him the precise amount of respect(!), and also confidence for the upcoming laps on his own.
4.) After the first 5-10 laps, he started to not be afraid anymore. We then did 2 full days with Hyundai two days later, on a closed course, segmented, in small groups of 5 cars, lead-follow the instructor. That‘s when your aha-moment kicks in.
In my opinion, this is the only way Nordschleife should be tackled. Expensive, yes. Efficient, absolutely. Safe, yes. Not getting on anybody‘s nerves, for sure. Enjoy your vacay in Slovenia with an unharmed car!
