The GT-R soon attracts a knowledgeable crowd in the public parking area. (Autocar photo) » More Photos

The snow is short-lived and around lunchtime the track is open for play. There are loads of Brits here, chancing the Eifel region’s notoriously fickle weather for some Easter excitement. The GT-R is without question the star attraction in the parking lot and immediately we’re surrounded by eager enthusiasts, a few of whom know who Schoysman is and deliver a barrage of Skyline questions. There’s a blue R34 in the car park that I’m pretty sure is an ex-press car because it has a distinctive ‘T** GTR’ license plate that all the press cars had. It’s even in the same metallic blue.

I once made the moronic mistake of jumping into the passenger seat of a 911 driven by a person whom I had never met. He seemed moderately handy, but moderately isn’t enough around here. Sitting next to Schoysman is a different matter, though, and judging by the look of the track surface, it’s much safer than being behind the wheel myself. In all his laps here Schoysman has never spun or left the road. He has been tipped into spins during his regular appearances in races on the Nordschliefe, but never during his day job.

With Dirk doing the driving, I can start working out what all of the GT-R’s buttons do. There are three on the center of the dashboard below the info screen that determine the setup of the car’s three electronic powertrain systems. Far left we have differential control, which is not relevant here unless it really snows; center we have damping control and on the right is stability and traction control, which will be extremely relevant when it’s my turn.

This is not the first time that I have had the pleasure of Mr. Schoysman’s chauffeuring skills, but it is the most dramatic. There is barely any grip and our man is having to make large and frequent corrections to keep the Nissan on track, some at quite big speeds.