Grüne Hölle Musuem und Ring

For quite some time I have been meaning to come back to the ‘Ring! Once you come here… you always want to come back again and again. It is not just the race track that draws you here… it is what is in the air here in the Eifel. You can feel the car fever in the air around the Ring/Eifel area.

The fist time I came here was way back in 1993. A lot has changed since then. And not all for the better. The Ring attractions have gotten much, much bigger and more expensive. It is still a MUST SEE for any car nut, but I miss the old ‘Ring I remember. I miss the old Opa who took your 5 DM for one lap of the ‘Ring. It was so informal. You had to be in the know to find the entrance to the North Loop. There was not that many hotels or restaurants back then. The old ‘Ring museum had no high tech exhibits. It was just a medium sized building stuffed full of 60 cars and a few hundred motorcycles. You could smell the gas and oil dripping from the cars onto the oil catch pans (much like Hockenheim’s museum of today). It just had such an old school flavor to it.

The new ‘Ring Werk Museum is great. Don’t get me wrong… I just miss the old ‘Ring Museum. The current Museum is one of those Mega Museums. The building is huge. There is an Arcade shopping Mall with nothing but car stores inside. Selling car models, car clothes and even car brands and used cars! Heck, they even built the worlds fastest (200 kph!) roller coaster than screams thru the Arcade & Musuem (although that has not opened yet) and then shoots up over the first turn of the Grand Prix F1 track.

I went to the ‘Ring last Monday/Tuesday. I wanted to go during the week, bc I knew I’d have a higher chance of seeing some uber rare prototype testing on the Ring. The Ring opens to the public after work hours 5pm. During normal work hours (8am to 5pm) the various car makers use the Ring to test their latest prototypes. Anyone can go along the tracks fence and have a look. A lot of the car makers test garages are strategically located to the track entrance or access points to the Ring. I always like to go watch from the Pflanzgarten turn just off of the B-412. It is only a few kms from the Museum.

Also a cool place to visit… dare I say a MUST SEE is the tiny no name Tanksteller (gas station) just down the street from the Ring Museum/Dorit Hotel. It is near the “Doettinger Hoehe” turn near the main drag straights. This little gas station is a model car paradise!!! They had some many rare small models and T-shirts and even a toaster that toasts your fav bread with a ‘Ring logo on it! My favorite thing I saw on this trip! :”)

I went to the Ring Werk (museum) first… But I was too early! I got there at 9am and realized I needed to wait another hour. Lol SO…. I ended up walking around the entire Erlebnis Welt. I really was blown away how comerical the Ring has gotten. Its nice, but it is very different from the Ring I knew and loved. Its more like a Disneyland for car junkies. There were sooo many high end car boutiques and venders in there. And It looks like during special events the mega huge jumbo-tron tv would really be cool to watch. There is also an indoor karting bahn in the Musuem building! One sure sign of tourism was when I was in Adenua ad I drove by a Rewe grocery store and then had a huge sign saying they are open EVERY day until 22:00! It is very rare a German store is open past 18:00 or maybe 20:00 IF it is a big metro area. Never saw that before in a small dorf/villag