Sabine Schmitz

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name = Sabine Schmitz

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birth_date = birth date and age|1969|5|14|df=yes
birth_place = Adenau, Germany
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Sabine Schmitz ("Sabine Reck" while married, born 14 May 1969 in Adenau), 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.

Biography

Born to the local hotel and restaurant owning Schmitz family, Sabine and her two elder sisters grew up in the "Hotel am Tiergarten" (in the basement of which is the "Pistenklause" restaurant) in Nürburg within the Nürburgring Nordschleife. [ [http://www.nurburgring.org.uk/ringers-faq.html Ben Lovejoy's Ringers FAQ] ]

Sabine trained as "Hotelfachfrau" and Sommelière - until 2003 she was the owner of a bar-restaurant in Nürburg named the "Fuchsröhre" (Foxhole) after a track section.

Following occasional drives with the family car on the Nordschleife, 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 woman 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 veteran Johannes Scheid. In 2006 Sabine and Klaus Abbelen drove the #97 Porsche 997 in the Nürburgring VLN endurance racing series, entered by "Land Motorsport". They finished a strong third in the 24h 2008, beaten only by the factory-backed Manthey-entered winners of 2007 and 2006.

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". She says her favourite parts of the track are Schwedenkreuz and Fuchsrohre. [http://www.ausringers.com/2008/01/31/sabine-schmitz-talks-to-ausringers.html AUSringers.com] "Sabine Schmitz interview" Retrieved 2008-01-31.]

Claudia Hürtgen is her main rival, winning the championship in 2006, and scoring pole and victory in the third VLN race of 2008, with a BMW Z4.

Her company, Nürburgring-based Sabine Schmitz Motorsport, offers advanced driver training and a "Ring Taxi" service for passengers.

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. Since September 2006, Sabine has co-hosted a 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.

In December 2004, Schmitz gained recognition in the United Kingdom after appearing in the BBC television show "Top Gear" with presenter Jeremy Clarkson. On her only attempt, using the same car, she beat his best lap time of 9 minutes 59 seconds in a Jaguar S-Type diesel by 47 seconds (Season 5, Episode 5), having castigated his best lap with the comment "I tell you something, I do that lap time in a van".

Thus, in her second appearance on "Top Gear", she actually drove a Ford Transit van in an attempt to beat Clarkson's time set in the Jaguar S-Type diesel. Her final time with a slightly stripped (hub caps, spare tyre and toolkit removed and a Dodge Viper driving in front to create 'clean air') Transit van was 10 minutes and 8 seconds (Season 6, Episode 7). When trying to film Schmitz, the team couldn't keep up so they used Jaguar test driver Wolfgang Schubauer to drive the Jaguar S-Type R chase car [ [http://www.bbc.co.uk/topgear/show/production_notes/diesel_at_ring.shtml BBC - Top Gear - Production notes - Jaguar S-type diesel at the ring] ] .

Her third appearance was at the 2005 Top Gear Awards to collect the award for 'Best German' (Season 7, Episode 6).

In 2007, she appeared in Clarkson's "Supercar Showdown" DVD where she raced an Audi R8 against The Stig in a Porsche 911 GT3.

She also appeared in the sixth episode of the 11th series of "Top Gear", in a competition between the German show she appears on with the British Top Gear. In the double decker car race she beat Jeremy Clarkson and his co-driver, a one armed sound recordist.

Personal life

Previously married, Sabine is a qualified helicopter pilot Fact|date=July 2008 and is proficient at horseback riding.

Race results

*24 Hours Nürburgring: Overall winner in 1996 and 1997 (BMW), third in 2008 (Porsche)

Quotes

*"Never enter Karussell when on the brakes! I have gone round there on the roof, I know what I'm talking about."
*"Fear disturbs your concentration."

References

External links

* [http://www.sabine-schmitz-motorsport.de Sabine Schmitz Motorsport]
* [http://ring-taxi.bmw-motorsport.com/03-12EC4237B901EE12EEDFD82D23EA615E/ring-taxi/en/aktuell/index.html BMW Ring Taxi review by Ian Bevis]
* [http://www.land-motorsport.de/drivers/2006/index_97.php 2006 Team website]
* [http://www.nurburgring.org.uk/taxi.html Report on "Ring-Taxi"]
* [http://www.jwhubbers.nl/ring/sabine/index.php The Fastest Taxi Driver In The World]
* [http://ring-taxi.bmw-motorsport.com/ring-taxi/en/index.html BMW Ring-Taxi]

Video footage

* [http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4663069452162988713 Sabine on the Nürburgring followed by a Porsche 996 GT3] Google video
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D69pNk5MGYk&NR Sabine at the ring, tuned Porsche GT2 vs Caterham CSR260] Youtube video, German
* [http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8883608109876930111&q=nurburgring+bmw&hl=en Nordschleife Tours - Nürburgring] Google video, English, Sabine Schmitz at 10:02,20:00
* [http://www.topgear.com/content/timetoburn/sections/videos/18/broadband.html One Lap with Ford Transit (diesel) in 10:08 at TopGear] TopGear video requires RealPlayer
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rPpoK3A8aE Dmotor challenge: Sabine in a 500hp Dodge Viper vs. a 164hp race kart with a Honda CBR 1100 Blackbird engine] Youtube video, German