Gallery: a wild and wonderful Nürburgring trackday paddock

"If you go down to the woods today," says a popular nursery rhyme, "you’re sure of a big surprise". Something that’s almost certain if the woods in question are in a particular area of Germany’s Eifel national park.

Not because it regularly hosts teddy bear picnics, but becuase that’s where you’ll find the Nürburgring. And if there’s a trackday taking place, there’ll be all manner of treats – surprises, in fact – to pore over.

The images above are all from the paddock of a Destination Nürburgring trackday. This isn’t like the tourist laps of YouTube infamy, where anyone can spear their old mk3 Golf clumsily into the gravel. It’s a limited-space day (100 or so cars) with a fully closed track and ‘Ring experience encouraged.

There’s typically a pricey, exotic paddock of cars too. Naturally there are a lot of Porsche 911s and BMW M cars, but there are also plenty of obscurities: a Dodge Viper, a Ferrari F12, a race-spec Radical… all pretty senior stuff for a track as notorious as the Nürburgring.

Which would you most like to tackle the Green Hell in? Scroll the images above and take your pick…

Images: Mark Riccioni