At the Edge in Nurburgring

NURBURGRING, GERMANY—In the competitive world of motorsports, there is a good driver, a well-engineered performance car and the oils and lubricants that can enhance chances of a podium finish.

There is also a tested partnership that keeps on raising the bar for the rest.

To flaunt this special relationship, Castrol and BMW brought an international group of VIPs and journalists to the hallowed grounds of Nurburgring in Germany recently for a real-life experience on driving around the toughest and most demanding racing circuit in the world recently.

The mere mention of Nordschleife in Nurburgring may scare the wits out of the most daring drivers but this chance visit had all the elements of a trip beyond imagination.

For this exclusive testing, BMW sent a full fleet of the priciest and fastest cars available bearing the blue and white roundels to a famous town time and again roused from its lazy sleep by the roars of high-speed engines being pushed to the limit.

CHAMPION driver Andy Prialux with (from left) Mars Sota, Jun Francia, Maricar Parco and Ariel de Jesus.

The select group simply marvelled at the sight of a parking lot packed with M3s and all the latest in the BMW fleet from the 1, 3, 5, 6, 7, X and Z Series. Being allowed to drive these powerful machines around “The Ring” turned them into wide-eyed, animated adults like kids given their first trip to Disneyland.

“To have access to the Nordschleife with such a selection of BMWs to choose from is one of the ultimate motorsport experiences around,” said Sean Rahaley, Castrol Edge global brand manager.

Rightly so.

But it was also BMW’s desire for the visitors to take the approach to driving to the next level. So why not send two of its winningest drivers, Andy Priaulux and Dirk Muller, to join their visitors in a once-in-a-lifetime drive around the Nordschleife Circuit?

MADAME President is racing! Maricar Parco gets her helmet on.

The presence of Prialux, a Briton who won three consecutive World Touring Car Championship titles from 2005 to 2007 and also emerged victorious in the 2005 edition of the gruelling 24-Race at Nurburgring, and Dirk Muller, a German whose list of conquests include the 1998 Porsche Carrera Cup, the 2004 Nurburgring race and a horde of GT races in Europe and the US, got everybody star struck. And inspired, of course.

While Dirk, who counts Michael Schumacher as his best friend, was giving everyone a hell of a “taxi ride” around the circuit used for race like the German Grand Prix, Prialux made it all look so effortless at the twists and turns with his superb drifting skills and excellent maneuvers while providing useful driving tips.

CASTROL dealer Paulo Duay just about to drive the M3.

The whole Castrol Edge Nurburgring Experience idea was to give everybody a better understanding of Castrol’s strongest oil yet at work with BMW in the most demanding races.

“For events like the Nürburgring Experience, the importance of this level of testing becomes clear. The standard engine speed for a BMW M3 on a lap of the Nürburgring is 7100rpm, with a peak engine speed of 8,400rpm,” explained Simon Gurney, senior development technologist of Castrol.

GERMAN driver Dirk Muller with Ariel de Jesus and the star of the fleet, the BMW M3 Coupe (E92).

The piston speed inside the engine, he said, will be around 20m/s (approx 60mph). On average the engine will fire 240,000 times per lap, amounting to 39,000,000 in a single Nürburgring 24-hour race and Gurney believes it is critical that drivers are able to rely on the highest level of performance being delivered on demand.

Technical aspects such as these may never be fully understood by people not used to such a unique motoring experience, relying on the little knowledge they have on Nurburgring obtained from playstations, iPads or Gran Turismo games.

This one was the real deal.

NOTES….Castrol country sales director Mars Sota, Castrol country marketing manager Ariel de Jesus, Asian Carmakers Corp. president Maricar Parco and aftersales director Jun Francia served as gracious hosts to Castrol dealer Paulo Duay and three motoring editors.. the whirlwind trip brought them to such interesting places as the BMW Welt and Museum and Hofbrauhaus in Munich, the Pistenklause in Nurburgring and the Hohenblick in Muhlhausen en route to Frankfurt.

(Next: More on Castrol and BMW’s motorsports tieup)

VISITORS gather at the pit lane for a demo by the BMW drivers.

WITH the proper gears (except for the shoes), Pinoys wait for their turn to join Muller in a ride that went as fast as 240 kph.