The famous Nürburgring GP Circuit, as part of the 2019 AvD Oldtimer Grand Prix in Germany, was the venue for the second overseas round of the Ferrari Club Racing series in association with our friends at Ferrari Club Deutschland. From an original list of six cars, four of our UK drivers represented “Team GB (Ferrari)”

The Oldtimer festival has been running since 1974 and is now of a size similar to a Goodwood Revival or Silverstone Classic type of event, and of similar stature with regards to the cars and drivers there. If you haven’t been before it is definitely one for the calendar. Everything from GT40s and 1980s Formula 1 cars were racing, as well as events from the Masters series, all run on the GP circuit.

A fantastic turnout of cars ranging from 360 to 488 Challenge cars attended with guest appearances from 458GTE and 430 GT2 cars. In all a total field in excess of 30 cars.

A full day of practice was available on the Thursday for the newbies to drive the track. This was followed by qualifying on Friday and races on Saturday and Sunday morning, meaning lots of track time for everyone.

“Team GB” was transported and looked after by RNR in the familiar grey truck and consisted of four drivers for the event, Richard Fenny’s 360, two 430s (Myles Poulton and Chris Compton-Goddard) and the 458 of Nigel Jenkins.

Qualifying on the Friday saw strong performances from all. The severity of penalties given out by the diligent staff at the Nürburgring came as a small shock after qualifying however. On track Chris Compton Goddard qualified 2^st in class in the 430 followed by Myles Poulton 3^rd in class. Nigel Jenkins was the quickest 458 and Richard Fenny achieved fourth in class in the 360. A pit lane penalty for C. C-G and Poulton meant some cash fines and a two place grid penalty for Poulton, Jenkins beating an initial penalty for overtaking on a yellow flag to keep his grid position.

Race 1

The Ferraris were the first race of the day on the Saturday and a glorious array of Ferrari Challenge tipo’s from all eras lined up. After a clean start and a small bottleneck in turn one all of our drives were holding position and fighting well. C. C-G was leading his class for most of the race. Poulton fought up to third in class and fastest lapping 430 until a fuel surge issue and a DNF. C. C-G who was quick all weekend managed a podium second in Class 4. Richard Fenny achieved a third in class and a podium. Jenkins was the quickest 458 but had quicker 488s in his class all weekend, an issue which was discussed to be potentially changed in future meetings.

Race 2

On the Sunday and with the threat of rain there was another clean race. Myles Poulton had another DNF with a car issues. Richard Fenny achieved another podium third against some very quick 360s. C. C-G produced a 2^nd in group against a very quick Maserati 4200 GT car. Although there were some incidents and a few scrapes and spins, I am delighted to report that the UK team came away with undamaged cars and with the exception of a few pit lane penalties, clean records !

All agreed that the venue, grid sizes and stature of the event were fantastic and very much hope that a repeat performance, potentially with a bigger UK team next year, is in the offing.

Nigel Jenkins adds: My experience of the weekend was a good one, with particular reference to the organisation and scale of this event – we were made very welcome and nothing was too much trouble for the event managers. Certainly the German club is well funded by the broader Ferrari Club membership and so we were given a large fully branded area to display and work on our cars and first class private catering.

In respect of the racing, this is a world class track and facility, so nothing to complain about there. It was great fun and I would definitely go again (assuming they give us a 458 class).