As a racing driver what it would be like to drive the most daunting and challenging circuit in the world, where each corner flows into the next like a roller coaster ride at Disneyworld, the elevation and directional changes throw you around the car like a rag doll and the steering wheel is used more to brace yourself than to steer the car?

We are of course talking about the greatest track of all time, the 24 km Nurburgring Nordschleife. Now imagine what racecar you would like to tame around this most fabulous circuit? There can be no other, it is in every schoolboy's dream and that of course is a Ferrari. Nothing else remotely compares to the sound of a 355 Challenge on full chat in sixth, whether you are driving this projectile or an onlooker in awe of this fabulous sight, it is simply fantastic. No wonder in Germany they call their racing drivers 'Pilots'.

A few months ago Robin Ward of the successful Ferrari preparation company Damax began to realise his dream, he evaluated the challenge and started to put into action, a plan to race his 355 Challenge at the Ring in one of the long distance races. It's a competitive and well-supported championship with over 150 cars on the grid! The car was put into the class SP6 and was to fight for class honours against such cars as full factory spec BMW M3`s.

But the idea of this trip across the water was to ultimately prepare for an assault on the 2003 championship and therefore a cautious approach was required with no heroics. Robin wanted a second driver who was quick and reliable with knowledge of the Ring and this came in the form of Mike Rimmer, a well-respected driver in many motorsport disciplines and with a wealth of experience at the Ring.

The build up to the race started on the Thursday afternoon when Robin familiarised himself with the circuit by taking the Ferrari around on an open day, albeit on road tyres. This however proved to be vital as he reported back to the mechanics that the rear of the car was very unstable over the bumps at around 130mph. This was quickly diagnosed as a faulty rear damper and both were consequently changed and the car put to bed for the night. Friday came and we put up camp in the paddock in preparation for the afternoon testing. Robin and Mike both took to the track with no problems reported and both pronounced themselves happy with the car, so on to scrutineering and noise test.

The scrutineer was happy apart from the fact there were no headlights fitted, and this he deemed to be the worst sin possible and how dare we turn up without them. Being British of course and coupled with the fact that it was a day time race, we of course deemed it not necessary to have them and at £1600 each why take the risk of letting the Armco claim them, they were left back in the UK.

We managed to scrounge some Cibie Oscars and bodged them into the headlamp openings This satisfied the scrutineer although he insisted we remove the covers to prove they were bright enough, obviously unlike himself. This Ferrari 355 headlamp modification is now available from Damax racing......

Saturday morning came and the format was qualifying in the morning and racing in the afternoon.The car and both drivers behaved themselves and so all that was required was a spanner check, bleed the brakes and a wash and we were ready to go racing.

It was decided that Mike would start the three and a half hour race and settle into a rhythm, gaining pace as he went but staying out of trouble The conditions were a little tricky as it started to drizzle but not enough to warrant changing on to wets. It was all going smoothly when Mike arrived back at the pits after his 40 minute stint and it was discovered that a rear wheel bearing wasn't as good as it could have been, it had to be changed. The car was fuelled and while Robin strapped himself into the car and was briefed by Mike, the mechanics set to work. 18 minutes later they wheeled the car back into the pit lane and it was Robin's turn to do battle.

Although a chance at class honours had vanished it was important to get the track time and gather data. As the race progressed the lap times came down as expected to under the 10 minute mark which is what Robin wanted to achieve, this was considered by all to be the initial bench mark for this outing. There was another driver change and refuelling at the two and a half hour point and Mike cruised to a very commendable and respectable finish, 107th out of 148, not bad as the car spent 18 minutes in the garage being repaired.

During the evening celebrations it emerged that Robin now had another dream, and that was to bring two Ferraris to the Ring. Modifications to the cars have already been drawn up to ensure greater reliability and enhanced performance for next years program, which is to compete in the whole series and maybe the 24 hour race. So if you have the dream, the balls, the experience and the budget you may want to give Robin a ring. Remember to book early to avoid disappointment, you can't get any more excitement than this with your trousers on!

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