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GSM Performance Customer Car Colouring Book Edition 1
Nürburgring Public Sessions: Everything You Need to Know About Seats, Safety, and Regulations
Nürburgring preparation guide
Plenty of our customers are getting their cars ready for Touristenfahrten, the public driving sessions on the Nürburgring Nordschleife. Before you book the ferry, it is worth knowing that the Ring runs these sessions under its own driving regulations, and some of the equipment that makes sense on a track day at home will get your car turned away.
We sell bucket seats, harnesses, roll cages and helmets, and not all of them suit a public session. This guide covers the equipment points that affect your seats and safety gear, what the Nürburgring's regulations say about them, and how to set a car up so it is both safer and welcome on the Nordschleife.
- Touristenfahrten are public sessions run under the Nürburgring's own driving regulations
- Bucket seats with head wings are excluded, for the driver and the passenger
- HANS devices are excluded
- Roll cages must be padded; unpadded cages are excluded
- Non-standard removable steering wheels are excluded
- The rules are updated, so read the current version before you travel
The Nordschleife in public sessions
The Nordschleife is one of the most demanding circuits in the world, with fast straights, tight corners and big changes in elevation, and in Touristenfahrten anyone with a suitable road car can drive it. The important difference from a UK track day is that the sessions are treated like a public toll road. Cars must be road legal, and the Nürburgring publishes its own driving regulations, the Fahrordnung, which set out what is and is not allowed.
Those regulations cover much more than equipment, from how you drive to what the car must be like. We are a seat and safety equipment shop, so this guide sticks to the parts that affect what we sell. For everything else, read the full driving regulations on the Nürburgring’s website before you travel, because they are revised from time to time.
Bucket seats: no head wings
The Nürburgring’s regulations exclude cars with winged seats, the bucket seats with wrap-around head supports, whether it is the driver’s or the passenger’s seat. The wings limit what you can see to the side, which matters in public sessions with traffic of every speed around you.
That still leaves a lot of choice. A bucket seat without head wings, or a good reclining sport seat, gives you far more support than a standard seat. Seats like the Cobra Nogaro, the Sparco R100 and the Corbeau RRB have no wings, so they suit a car that will do both the Ring and a UK track day. If you already have an FIA seat with head supports for competition, it is not a seat for Touristenfahrten.
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Harnesses
The equipment exclusions in the regulations do not list harnesses, but that does not make every harness setup a good idea. A harness only works when it is anchored at the right points and used with a seat built for it, and a harness in a car without a cage raises its own questions about shoulder strap angles and what happens in a rollover.
Garreth’s advice is to set the car up for how it will actually be used. If you want a harness, use it with a suitable seat and proper anchor points, and keep a way to wear the standard belt if you share the car. Our guide to running a harness without a roll cage covers the trade-offs in detail. For the rules that apply on the day, check the current regulations or ask the Nürburgring.
Helmets and HANS devices
The regulations exclude HANS devices, the head and neck supports used in racing, because they restrict head movement and so what the driver can see. If you run a HANS in competition, leave it at home for Touristenfahrten.
The car regulations do not ask for a helmet. Many regulars wear one anyway, particularly in a car with a roll cage, where a head can come into contact with the tubing. If you choose to wear one, make sure it fits properly and that you can still see well to the sides.
Roll cages: pad them
Roll cages are allowed, but an unpadded cage is excluded. Any tubing near the heads of the driver and passenger needs padding, so plan it in if your car has a cage, even a rear half cage.
The regulations do not list door bars separately. Anything that makes it hard to get in or out of the car is worth thinking about carefully for public sessions, though, so if your cage has door bars, check with the Nürburgring before you travel.
Steering wheels
One item people often forget: the regulations exclude converted or non-standard removable steering wheels. A quick release boss and a motorsport wheel are common on track cars, so if yours has one, it needs to go back to a standard setup for Touristenfahrten.
Getting the car ready
A car that suits the Ring’s public sessions is really a well sorted road car: seats without head wings that hold you properly, belts or harnesses fitted correctly, any cage padded, and the car in good mechanical order. That setup is also a very good one for UK track days.
- Check your seats have no head wings, driver and passenger
- Leave the HANS at home
- Pad any cage tubing near the occupants
- Refit a standard steering wheel if you run a removable one
- Read the current Nürburgring regulations before you travel
If you are choosing seats for a Ring trip, send us the car and your height and waist, and we will suggest seats without wings that suit both.
Can I use bucket seats at the Nürburgring?
Bucket seats without head wings are fine, but seats with wrap-around head supports are excluded for both the driver and the passenger.
Is a HANS device allowed in Touristenfahrten?
No. The regulations exclude HANS devices.
Can I drive the Nordschleife with a roll cage?
Yes, but the cage must be padded; an unpadded cage is excluded.
Do I need a helmet for Touristenfahrten in a car?
The car regulations do not require one, though many drivers wear one, especially with a cage.
Where do I find the current rules?
The Nürburgring publishes its driving regulations on its website, and they are updated, so check before you travel.
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