Driven Crazy

When learning to drive, it's often safest for all those involved to take those first tentative steps towards auto proficiency on a quiet little stretch of road. There, the inexperienced driver can toddle along at a snail's pace without infuriating the other road users or putting anyone's life at risk.

This was surely the intention of the caring husband who decided to ease his young bride into the driver's seat with a leisurely lesson on a deserted stretch of asphalt.

Unfortunately, while hubby obviously had his beloved's best interests at heart, he hadn't thought the whole thing through. Which is why the inexperienced young lady found herself on one of Germany's fasted race tracks on the Saturday afternoon when it is given over to speeding lunatics.

Wrongly thinking the Nürburgring would be a model of solitude and safety on a weekend when there was no scheduled Formula One, touring car or superbike race, the 31-year-old man inadvertently introduced his nervous spouse to the thrills and spills of high-speed circuit driving.

Wrong time, wrong place, wrong direction

If the fact that they had turned up on the day that private drivers were allowed to take their souped-up BMW's and Mercedes' out on the track wasn't bad enough, the small matter of taking to the ring in the wrong direction only made matters worse.

After avoiding speeding vehicles whizzing towards her at more than 100 kilometers per hour, the driver and her husband were accosted by local police who, after finding that the wife had no license, promptly gave them a ticket.

Assuming the fine, the possibility of a ban and the near-death experience doesn't completely ruin her confidence, the 20-year-old learner will certainly have a tale to tell the driving instructor when she begins official lessons. That is, if she can stop shaking.