June 12, 2002. Copyright, 2002, Graphic News. All rights reserved

Remembering the old NŸrburgring
By Elisabeth Ribbans

LONDON, June 12, Graphic News:  Racing drivers and commentators talk of the modern NŸrburgring as if it were almost a crime against sport; as if the most soulless of BC city architects had concreted over the Roman Colliseum to make way for a childrenÕs play area. ÒThereÕs little to recommend this race, apart from the scenery of the Eifel mountains,Ó lamented Heinz-Harald Frentzen to the BBC. ÒThe track is bland, with little atmosphere, there are few overtaking opportunities, and the weather is miserable.Ó

Like a Sunday driver deluded into thinking heÕs Stirling Moss, todayÕs 5.14km (3.2 mile) circuit just canÕt compete with the legend of a track that came before. Never mind that the fabled ÒNordschleifeÓ was a pine-fringed deathtrap (it claimed the life of, among others, BritainÕs Peter Collins), it was the majesty of its setting, the might of its rolling terrain and finally, at 22.8km (14.2 miles) long, its sheer girth that made this venue the prized arena for motorsportÕs earliest gladiators.

Built as part of a mass-employment project in the mid-1920s, the first Grand Prix was held on the Nordschleife (North Loop) 75 years ago in July 1927. The race ran for 18 laps, covering an exhausting 500km (310 miles), and was won by Otto Merz in a Mercedes-Benz that averaged 102km/h (63mph).

Intended as a grandiose stage for German auto engineering, the NŸrburgring, northwest of Koblenz, originally comprised three sections: the large north loop, a 7.45km (4.6-mile) south loop, and a high-altitude start-and-finish section that linked the two. Over the course of its total 28.265km (17.5 miles), it fell from 620m (2,034ft) above sea-level at the grid to 320m (1,050ft) at the Breidscheid. Along the way, drivers met 172 corners that featured, as one historian puts it, Òevery conceivable combination of radius, camber and gradient.Ó

From 1931, ÒonlyÓ the northern Nordschleife was used for Grand Prix racing. It remained a fixture on the motor racing calendar until 1976, when Niki Lauda Ð having earlier warned that the track had passed its race-by date Ð suffered an horrific accident that saw him and his Ferrari engulfed in flames. The Austrian champion almost died. The old NŸrburgring did. The safety-first track that re-opened in the Eifel mountains in 1984 runs over only a small part of the epic Nordschleife. But the stories live on.

ÒRingmeistersÓ whose names will be forever linked with the old circuit include Tazio Nuvolari, who stunned the 1935 crowd Ð whose numbers included one Adolf Hitler Ð by snatching victory on a day pre-ordained for German glory. The Italian national anthem could not be found for the awarding of the laurels.

Three-times winner Bernd Rosemeyer won the epithet ÒNebelmeisterÓ after winning the 1936 Grand Prix in thick fog. And the 136.9km/h (85mph) lap record he set the following year would stand until 1956, when Argentine Juan Manuel Fangio guided his Ferrari round at 140.48km/h (87.3mph). Fangio won again the following year, in what is regarded as one of the greatest drives in F1 history, saying afterwards: ÒI did things IÕve never done before, and I donÕt ever want to drive like that again.Ó It was his last full season. Victory fell the next year to British star, Stirling Moss, in the last win of his career. A decade later, Jackie Stewart tore through atrocious conditions to conquer the circuit he called Òthe Green HellÓ. Fans may look back wistfully on events at the old Nordschleife, but Stewart, recalling his warm-up on that victorious day, said: ÒI never did a lap of the NŸrburgring that I didnÕt have to. I found that out fairly early in my career. I defy anyone to say they really liked it.Ó
/ENDS

Sources: FIA, Official NŸrburgring website, OppositeLock, Robert Blinkhorn