Sabine Schmitz
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Sabine Schmitz (Sabine Reck while married, born 14 May 1969), is a German former professional motor racing driver for BMW, now known for driving the BMW "Ring taxi" around the Nürburgring race track as well as being a television presenter.
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[edit] Biography
Born to the hotel and restaurant owning Schmitz family, Sabine and her two elder sisters grew up in the Pistenklaus hotel in Nürburg within the Nürburgring.[1]
Sabine trained as Hotelfachfrau and Sommelière - she was the owner until 2003 of a bar-restaurant in Nürburg named the Fuchsröhre (Foxhole) after a track section.
But with occasional drives with the family car on the Nürburgring race track, all three sisters started racing, but only Sabine continued and collected victories. Sabine won in CHC and VLN race events, the VLN endurance racing championship in 1998, and is the first female to win a major 24h race, the 24 Hours Nürburgring, in 1996 and 1997, all with a BMW M3 entered and co-driven by local veterean Johannes Scheid. In 2006 Sabine and Klaus Abbelen drove the #97 Porsche 997 in the Nürburgring VLN endurance racing series, entered by Land Motorsport.
[edit] Nürburgring
Sabine came to mass public attention driving one of the two BMW M5 "Ring taxi" around the 20.8km long race track in an entertaining manner.
According to her own estimates, Sabine has gone around the track 20,000 times, increasing by approximately 1200 per year. Her familiarity with the circuit earned her the nicknames "Queen of the Nürburgring" and "the fastest taxi driver in the world".
Her company, Nürburgring-based Sabine Schmitz Motorsport, offers advanced driver training and a "Ring Taxi" service for passengers.
[edit] Television career
As a result of her popularity as "the fastest taxi driver in the world", Sabine became an occasional motorsport guest commentator, known for her gleefully dry descriptions of driving incidents.
In December 2004, Schmitz gained notoriety in the United Kingdom for showing-up BBC Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson by narrowly missing the time he set driving a Jaguar S-Type Diesel around the Nürburgring whilst driving a Ford Transit. The final time with modifications to the transit van was 10 minutes and 8 seconds. When filming Schmitz on her attempt, the team couldn't keep up to enable filming, so borrowed Jaguar test driver Wolfgang Schubauer to drive the Jaguar S-Type R chase car.[2] In 2005 Sabine nearly matched Clarkson's time (09:59) in a Ford Transit van with a time of 10:08.
Since September 2006, Sabine hosts her own motoring show on German television, "D Motor" on the DMAX TV channel. In each show, Sabine takes on another challenge, for example Sabine in a Ferrari 360 vs. a 1200hp Race Truck or Sabine in a Formula Renault race car vs. a race sidecar.
[edit] Personal life
Previously married, Sabine is a qualified helicopter pilot.
[edit] Quote
- "Never enter Karussell when on the brakes! I have gone round there on the roof, I know what I'm talking about."
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.nurburgring.org.uk/ringers-faq.html
- ^ http://www.bbc.co.uk/topgear/show/production_notes/diesel_at_ring.shtml
[edit] External links
- Sabine Schmitz Motorsport
- 2006 Team Website
- Report on "ring taxi"
- The Fastest Taxi Driver In The World
[edit] Video footage
- Sabine on the Nürburgring followed by a Porsche 996 GT3
- Sabine at the ring, tuned Porsche GT2 vs Caterham CSR260
- Video of Sabine Schmitz and the Nurburgring
- One Lap with Ford Transit (diesel) in 10:08 at TopGear
- Video of Sabine in a 500hp Dodge Viper vs. a 164hp race kart with a Honda CBR 1100 Blackbird engine
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