Ravi – Day 1 could have been considered a failure, as we didn’t get where we were supposed to. But no! The Rally is about (admittedly, incredibly comfortable) adaptation and we certainly adapted! At some point on this trip, that will mean camping up somewhere but we decided that could wait till another day! We needed our beauty sleep, because today we were taking on the Nürburgring. But I’ll get to that in a mo! We went to sleep in Brugge, and appeared to wake up in the late ’80s…our hotel was definitely a little dated! But the sleep was good and the food was good, so we got through our continental breakfast and got into the car for Day 2.

I’ve never been to Germany (or Belgium) so I didn’t know what to expect. But the first thing to say is that both countries appear to be very green – loads of trees lining the motorways, and in Germany the trees turn into huge forests. Germany also has really good roads. I suppose it has to, since everyone hurtles along at over 100 mph – the speed unlimited Autobahns hold a special place in the hearts of drivers, but being in it in a Micra with the accelerating power of a shopping trolley was a pretty hairy experience! Should I take this overtake? I know I’ve got a mile of clear space behind me but I think that Mercedes might crash into the back of me while I’m trying to get past this lorry. To their credit, the Germans didn’t have road rage. To their discredit, they didn’t even look towards our car or smile at us. Bad Germans…

Approaching the Nürburgring the roads got smaller and hillier and, bizarrely, there seemed to be a huge number of trucks coming in the other direction. Were we in the right place?! Suddenly, the trucks were replaced by super cars and we knew we were nearly there! We passed a massive (and packed) camp site on the final approach before turning off to the offices of RSR Nürburg. These guys say they will give you a supercharged car and instruction to make the most out of your time at the ‘ring. What they don’t say is that they first scare the living hell out of you with the most frightening safety video I’ve ever seen! We went into the briefing room, excited but a tad apprehensive. Harvey has done this track hundreds of times on Gran Turismo 5 and knows every corner well. The first thing the safety briefer says? “This is nothing like the game”

Jonathan, our cheery Kiwi safety briefer, then went on to tell us about the history of the track and some vital stats (80% of corners are blind, 300m elevation change over the course) and kept the session fresh by mixing in video clips of horrendous crashes – flips, spins and write-offs galore! Once we’d all gone white in the face, he finished off by insisting we should try and have fun out there. Thanks, Jonathan!

We headed out with our instructor for the day, Erik, and a Renault Clio Cup – a sporty version of the car that 18 year olds love to start on [Ben: That’s a massively unfounded statement… ]. With Harvey behind the wheel, we set off on 12 miles of glorious German road. The Nürburgring is a public toll road where you can rock up, pay your €28 and take your lap on the track, and while we were going around on the instructed lap we were taken over by Alfas, BMWs, Porsches…basically everything! We don’t have any pics or videos from the track as they forbid filming – apparently it encourages racing behaviour!

Once Erik had taken us round once, he left us to it – one lap each, quick as you like. Ben (a.k.a Captain Slow) went first and immediately concluded “Good God, it’s a bit quicker than my Clio”! He took the track well, being brave through corners and accelerating hard out of them. He did so well, in fact, that I was feeling a little queasy in the back. After Ben, it was me, and as soon as I got on the track all the apprehension dropped away. I loved it! I took a good line through a few corners (the ones I could remember from the previous two laps) and only got confused once where a sharp left-hander appeared out of nowhere. No issue for me, but the guys started the nervous laughter nonetheless. Finally, it was Harvey, unleashed this time. And he flew! Ben and I held on for dear life as he thrashed the Clio around the track with fury. Hard acceleration, quick braking and sharp turning meant this was a tighter lap than mine or Ben’s and (we presume) a much quicker one as well. As he rolled into the pit lane at the end, we all had a mixture of kid-at-Christmas and adrenaline-fuelled fear on our faces, but it was obvious that this was an awesome idea and that we would definitely be coming back! For me, the hard thing was concentrating on so much. Cornering on the right line in the right gear and at the right speed is hard enough, but add to that the other cars on the track and trying to work out what they are doing, and it’s exhausting!

We popped back up to the office and got some pictures with the guys, before Jonathan stuck a massive RSR Nürburg decal on the car in half the time any of us could (the man has a natural flair for decals!) We said out goodbyes and headed out very slowly and carefully towards Frankfurt (where we we feasted on Turkish kebabs) and the end of Day 2