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What the hell!
Tail Out and Airborne
Clicking the steering-wheel-mounted paddles of the seven-speed SMG gearbox, Schmitz's driving is textbook-precise and accurate. Every input is smooth and unrushed. The same can't be said for our reactions to the racetrack and the speeds we're traveling.
At roughly 12.9 miles long and with more than 70 corners, the Nordschleife winds up and down, through hills and forests, and around the Nürburg castle that looms over the 80-year-old track. Sturdy Armco barriers line the entire circuit. Forget about runoff room. There isn't any.
Major corners are marked with signposts and, like a regular highway, there are mileage markers. Kilometer posts 10, 11 and 12 flash past at Bergwerk, Kesselchen, the famous banked Karussell hairpin, and we're still barely halfway into our lap. Despite all the signs and markers, for a Nürburgring newcomer every corner seems to flow directly into the very next one. Our heads bob left and right as the G-forces build. Suddenly, Schmitz kicks the M5's tail out at more than 60 mph.
The 9.5-inch-wide rear tires howl in protest, while the view of the track moves from the windshield to the front passenger side window. Easily catching the lurid slide, a devious smile appears on Schmitz's face. "It's to warm the tires," she says, at once cool and totally unconvincing. We do our best to act unfazed and are equally unpersuasive.
An Unforgettable Fare
Barely 10 minutes after the toll gate first swung up, Schmitz eases off the gas pedal. Our lap is at an end and the next fare is already waiting back in the pits. We're queasy, exhilarated and awestruck — driving the Ring is one thing, but seeing it tamed by an expert puts the experience on an entirely higher level.
Schmitz had told us that "after the Nürburgring, every other track seems boring." Stumbling out of the M5, we weren't about to argue. It won't take you to the airport or train station, but you'll never regret hailing the Ring-Taxi.
Full Article, More Pics and Video:
BMW M5 Ring-Taxi -- Inside Line
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