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“Hell” comes in GREEN too!
Nuerburgring
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The world known Nordschleife “North Loop” of the legendary Nuerburgring is Mecca
for driving and high performance auto enthusiast. Construction began on April 27, 1945
and was completed for the first race which was held on June 19, 1927. The first race
was won by Rudolph Caracciola with a Mercedes Benz as the track weapon. The Holy
Grail of accomplishment is to complete one lap in less than 8 minutes.
Nuerburgring was the first permanent racing circuit in Germany. With the support of
the ADAC(Similar to AAA) and the Mayor of Cologne which became the Chancellor of
West Germany, Konrad Adenauer and Dr. Otto Cruz convinced the government to invest
in this track. Benefits of a dedicated test track and investments in Bonn, which was an
economically depressed region were needed. The German government granted 14.1
million Reichsmarks for the track. DR. Creuz submitted the idea in April 1925. Within 180
days, the President of the Rheinland province laid the first foundation stone for
Nuerburgring.
Nuerburgring was designed to be a world class race track and testing facility. This
track is now the most challenging track in the world. The track is actually two tacks in
one. The course stretches 17.5 miles with 172 bends(84 right and 88 left). The entire
track is 6.7 meters wide except for the start and finish section. This portion is 20 meters
wide. The Suedschleife(South Loop) is 4.8 miles long and was originally planned for
testing and club racing. The Nordschleife(North Loop) stretches 14.2 miles and was
intended to be showcase of German talent and engineering superiority. Both tracks
share the same start and finish sections. This portion of the track could house 25,000
spectators. Four years later, the worlds first electronic score board was installed. In the
60’s, it became apparent the track was not built for Formula One (High power/Low
weight) cars due to the lack of real barriers. Just about every twist in this track was
designed to test and challenge the best of the best. The track overlooks four towns. The
entire circuit can be viewed from the ruins of Castle Nuerburg, a twelfth-century fortress.
The track has several points of achievement that will always stay with the track but
two of the most significant we will discuss. The first is from Bernd Rosemeyer. Bernd
began his career are a motorcycle racer. For the 1936 Eifel race he arrived with a car
which produced 520 hp and a victory on his mind. He began the race from the third row.
During the race, rain began to fall then it became fog. Everyone slowed down except
Rosemeyer. As a very frequent Nuerburgring motorcycle racer, he had memorized the
track. He finally worn the race with a 2 minute lead and earned the name of Nebelmeister
“The master of the fog”.
The second well known point in history of the track came in 1976, when Nicki Lauda
petitioned for a boycott of the German Grand Prix due to his fiery crash in 1975. He still
wears the marks to prove it. Rumors are the rear suspension of his Ferrari failed on lap
2 when the car had a full tank of fuel! The rescue team had to cover 13 miles of the track
to reach his car which almost cost him his life. One lap one, Nicki Lauda set a record. He
was the fist person to lap the track in less than seven minutes(6:58:6 to be exact).
Formula One Days were over at the Nordschleife.
Other significant achievements:
First sub 10 minute lap Bernd Rosemeyer 1935 Grand Prix
First sub 9 minute lap Jack Brabham 1958
First sub 9 minute lap Phil Hill 1961
First sub 8 minute lap Jacky Lckx 1969
Today the track can be enjoyed by everyone. On specified days, anyone can put a
car on the track. The course can also be enjoyed behind the joystick of a Playstation if
the journey is too far. For the real thing, 56 euro can earn you a 4 lap ticket. Then you
can enjoy the world known course also known as “Green Hell”. Once you have endured
this track you will understand why it’s so popular.
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