Ford C-Max

Willkommen

Arrived to Frankfurt, Germany around 8:30am.  Immediately rushed to the rental car company (sixt). And immediately got disappointed, because I reserved a BMW 1 series hatchback but I'm told there wasn't any available (then what's the point of reservation?). I asked for a 3 series, but that wasn't available either. So I decided to get a small car, but they didn't have many options. They suggested the C-max, which, I remember from Top Gear to be a small car. I was very tired and hungry, so I accepted so I could get going.  10 minutes later, I was looking at my rental. My memory betrayed me... It's small, yes, but not a car... It's a small minivan, hence why I could only manage 119mph (downhill btw) with my foot buried to the carpet. Schnell! Schnell!  But it gets about 30mpg (if I behave), and that's good since the gas is $8.5/gallon.  Anyways it is awesome that one can rent a manual gearbox car here.  Although the pedals in the C-Max are not designed heel and toe in mind, predictably.

Driving on the autobahn is also an experience to have.  Not only there are derestricted stretches where you can go as fast as the traffic safely allows, but also views are amazing, and it is such a pleasure to drive with people who obey the traffic rules, and respect each other.  No one drives slowly on the left lane. No one tailgates you. No one passes you on your right. If, due to a road work, the left lane is ending, people don't try to drive till the lane closure to cut you off, they just move to the middle lane right after seeing the lane closure sign. Lastly, no one holds the steering wheel like an orangutan. Oh, almost forgot. I over took a police officer at 119mph, legally.  Different feeling!

Lost

The gps in my rental was in German.  Now, I do not know German.  I tried to change the language, but no such menu was available in the infotainment system. It wasn't a huge deal, after few minutes, I figured out how to use it. But then, gps couldn't find the address I was trying to go.   I thought maybe I was missing some German characters (like ü, "beta") in the address I have.  I found a Sixt representative, and he was helpful.  First of all, he set the language to English.  But weirdly, it can only be done using the car computer in the dashboard through the steering wheel mounted control stalk... Weird. Anyhow, he couldn't find the address either, so he put something close by.  Now, the funny thing is, I was intended to go to Nurburg (or Nürburg with correct German alphabet). But the area is also called Nurberg.  And somehow I remembered this as Nuremberg. And amongs all the possible directions and distances, Nuremberg is at the opposite direction with similar distance (200km vs 185km). So after about 2 hours, I got suspicious.  Especially seeing Munich and Berlin signs were very awkward.  Eventually, I thought of using the "point of interest" feature of the gps, and get everything sorted out. I should've thought this before of course, but being tired (10 hours of sleep in 2 days) got the best of me. But at the end, I got to drive more on the amazing autobahn, so nothing much to complain there!

Finally

As I drove close to my destination I got more and more excited.  Seeing the first road sign for Nurbergring was a moment of joy (and relief).  After few miles on B roads, I made it!  As you approach to the legendary track, you see museums and test centers of European car compnies.  Seeing the BMW M test building was an especially special moment for me, since I have owned two M cars in the past.

Eventually I found my hotel, and settled in.  I spent the night thinking about tomorrow, and watching YouTube videos of Nordschleife laps...