The above is pretty accurate. My take on it was that it is not as tight as I expected - it's like a Birtish A-road (or a New Zealand main road if you know that better) in terms of both track width and severity of corners (with a couple of notable exceptions). It has quite a large elevation change; I believe something like 800m between low and high points over the 22km or so length. The surface is quite good if not modenrn race-track smooth and it's surprisingly easy on brakes and tyres considering what it is. Those last two points may be subject to change if the driver knows it well and is fast - I'm not, but then you want to know about it from a novice standpoint.
It gets very slippery when it is wet and as personally I don't enjoy driving quickly in the wet at any time I found that especially scary. There is a huge amount of track to learn and quite a lot of technical sections to master which is what makes it so addictive, but also so dangerous. It's quite a long lap and I'm sure some people lose concentration before the end. Also scary is the mix of vehicles with not only bikes being driven by experienced and novice riders so with a vast speed differential, but the same thing in cars at the same time, plus the odd coach-load of tourists thrown in for fun, people who think they are Fangio and/or have an awesome car so they can go fast first time out, people who do have an awesome car and a pertified first time out ("Captain Slow" was a 993 GT2 the first day I was there) etc.
What spoils the fun is track closure (pretty much followed rain like clockwork when I was there, though it can happen in the dry) and having to watch the rear view mirror almost as much as the track ahead and sometimes having to be off-line to allow a bike, GT3 RS or a dedicated Ring tool Mk2 Golf GTI to pass. Hitting anything would obviously spoil your trip pretty badly on a more serious level.
Cost wise I'll assume you'd tack it on to a trip to the UK that I think you said you're making? I don't know where you'll cross to the continent, but the 'Ring is about 450-500km from Calais ferry port so you have fuel for that. B&B accommodation (sharing) was about 50 Euros each per night in Sabine's guest house (not her Mum's as it was full, but we went to her Mum's for breakfast). Laps are roughly 10 Euros each, but get cheaper if you buy more at once, plus they are 23km worth of high fuel consumption. That's it unless you break down or hit something. Recovery is 170 Euros I believe and you pay for any barrier you hit at 350 Euros a section (or maybe £350) plus any stoppage cause by your off at something like 1,500 Euros per hour.
If you want to do it in a hire car read the relevant section on Ben Lovejoy's site above - lots of hire companies don't like their cars on the 'Ring for some reason... You can also book a ride in the M5 'Ring Taxi for about £80 and you can hire track prepped cars or training courses like the 75 Experience (in Alfa 75s).
You'd enjoy it, but it's not worth a special trip from Sydney.
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