It's the morning after the Nürburgring 24 Hours, the amazing racing marathon on the old, twisting Nordschleife where 220 cars race day and night. We're at Brunchen, everyone's favorite corner for race-watching, and it's rather like wandering downstairs after a party to be greeted by a living room full of empty beer cans and rearranged sofa cushions, except here we're parked up among, well, empty beer kegs and completely displaced sofas.
The cars that raced here are probably still ticking with heat and smelling of oil as they're being loaded onto trailers for the long trip back to garages scattered across Europe, but here we have their street-legal counterparts. Yes, the 2009 Aston Martin V12 Vantage, 2009 Audi R8 5.2 FSI, 2009 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 and 2009 Porsche 911 GT3 are for those of us who haven't raced at the Nürburgring 24 Hours, but who dream of doing so.
These are cars for people who place a premium on the driving experience, those who sometimes take the long way home from work. These are the cars for drivers who don't mind a slightly firmer ride, especially if it means they can be sure of hitting that drain cover on the long left-hander on the exit of the roundabout that's three miles from home.
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