by Unknown
A gust of wind catches us and only a quick jerk of the driver’s wrist saves us from being blown off the road as we come to the Wippermann turn, one of the highest points of the course. Down we tear again, taking completely blind turns on which a single mistake, a single failure of the driver to remember the precise nature of the bend would send us crashing, for the last time on earth, among the tree-trunks, or shooting rocketlike into space.
But here we are at last coming down to the great straight, the fastest part of the course. The supercharger whine has reached so high a pitch that our ears can barely stand it. One hundred, 120 - 130 miles an hour! There are two bridges under the course, each of them as “blind” as many a road bridge. We brace ourselves for the bump. We leave the seat and hang on for dear life. Up the hill we shoot, catching a glimpse of a sea of faces on either side of the road. Then under the concrete bridge at Antoniusbuche and the roof of the grandstand heaves in sight.
«Well, what do you think of the course?»
«Unbelievable!»'
That breathless account of a lap of the Nurburg-Ring appeared in The Motor’s report of the 1931 German Grand Prix. In the fashion of the day the report was anonymous, but it was the work of Sports Editor Humphrey Symons who, writing as Grande Vitesse, compiled the magazine’s regular sporting column, ‘On Road and Track’. That year marked the first time that either The Motor or The Autocar reported the race at first hand, having previously resorted to a few paragraphs from the wire services.
However, The Motor had already told its readers about the Nurburg-Ring in February, 1926, with a one-and-a-half-page article, which began: ‘A huge new permanent course on which motor races may be run is now in progress of construction near Adenau in Western Germany, some little distance south of Cologne. Measuring 17.4 miles round, with many corners and numerous severe gradients, it presents not only a most interesting course over which long distance road races can be run, but also a testing road available all the year round on which manufacturers can try their cars to the utmost without any interference from public authorities or other traffic’
The article gave full details of the circuit, but said nothing of the man who made it happen, Dr Otto Creutz, who was the Landrat (Head of Administration) of Landkreis Adenau. However, also involved in the project was Franz Xaver Weber, owner of Cafe Weber in Adenau, who later wrote this detailed account of how the Nurburg-Ring came into being: ‘After World War One, from 1924 to 1926 the ADAC (Allgemeiner Deutscher Automobil Club) organised the Eifel races on the roads through the towns of Nideggen, Vlaten, Schmidt and back to Nideggen, Day One for motorcycles, Day Two for touring cars and Day Three for racing cars. There was great enthusiasm from the spectators but, unfortunately, there were many accidents, some fatal.
Hans Weidenbruck from Bonn, who had the hunting rights in Nurburg, invited Hans Pauly, the Mayor of Nurburg, and me to visit the race in Nideggen, where the roads were closed to the farmers and their cattle. This proved difficult because the cattle were used to crossing the roads from one field to another. We walked round the circuit on roads that were very dusty and bumpy. Later, we talked about their inadequacy and the problems of racing through the villages where the farmers were forced to stay on their farms and could not move around. Clearly, such a race was impossible for the future, so Weidenbruck said, “If you can move the race from Nideggen to Nurburg that will be fine, because the Nurburg area is beautiful and the race deserves to be seen by a greater number of people.”
We were all delighted by this idea and it was agreed that Weidenbruck should put the plan to the ADAC in Cologne and that we should form an automobile club in Adenau. The plan was made public and I invited people to join the Adenau Automobile Club. The Head of Administration for the Landkreis Adenau was Landrat Dr Otto Creutz. He was invited to the first meeting of the Club because the roads would have to be prepared and repaired before and after the race. This would cost between 30,000 and 50,000 Marks which should be paid by Kreis Adenau (the local district) and the Government. For that reason it was felt that the Landrat should become the Chairman of the Club and he agreed.
On July 10, 1925 there was a test run on the roads from Breidscheid to Dottingen, Virneburg, Boos, Kelberg and back to Breidscheid. Local businessmen put up the prizes. Later, the head of the ADAC came to talk with us about the racetrack in Adenau and he was not optimistic. In 1922 the Lord Mayor of Cologne, Dr Konrad Adenauer (who was to become Chancellor of Germany after World War Two) had wanted to build a 4-km racetrack in Cologne, but the plan could not be carried out due to inflation. Later, the Munstereifel district offered some land, but refused to pay for the track. Apart from that, the Government did not want to give any money to the project, nor did the ADAC, so the plan fell through.
However, Weidenbruck had talked to the officials in Cologne with such enthusiasm that they came to Nurburg and climbed up the famous tower to have a look at the area. There was much gesticulating as they looked around and then we all went to the Eifeler Hof hotel in Adenau where we discussed how the racetrack should be used, how it should be laid out and which of the existing forest roads should be incorporated. All this had to be agreed by the local government in Koblenz. It was clear that no farmers or cattle should be allowed on the racetrack and that after each race the roads should be repaired by the Kreis (District Council).
Weidenbruck came up with a number of variations of roads on which to hold the race and even the local politicians proposed various plans to Dr Creutz as to how the roads could be built and maintained at low cost, but Dr Creutz was not happy with any of them, saying forcibly, “I don’t want my cattle to be run over. As Landrat I am here in the first place for the farmers and in the second place for the motorists.”
With these words the discussion seemed to be finished and nobody dared argue with Dr Creutz. The officials from Cologne were deeply depressed, as the same thing had happened there and in Munstereifel and they had expected the same again in Adenau. There followed a long pause. Weidenbruck and others didn’t say a word, because Dr Creutz’s feelings were absolutely correct. Eventually, Dr Creutz broke the silence and everyone listened very carefully.
He now suggested a racetrack the like of which nobody had even dreamed of until then. He spoke of a completely new track, running around the hills of Nurburg, going over and under existing roads, so that no farmer should be inconvenienced and no cattle should have their grazing disturbed. Also, no farmer and no vehicles were to be allowed on the racetrack, which would be completely separate from the existing roads.
Herr Weidenbruck and the officials from the ADAC were astonished and thought he was joking, but when Dr Creutz repeated his ideas and enlarged upon them they became very excited and the Sports President, Herr Schleh, said,
“Herr Landrat, this is the best racetrack we could wish for, but who is going to pay for it?”
Dr Creutz replied, “Leave that to me, I will arrange it.”
With that the meeting finished and everybody went away with mixed feelings: Dr Creutz’s plan was exciting, but after the failure of the plans for Cologne and Munstereifel nobody believed his would work. Nevertheless, Herr Altenberg, the building engineer from the ADAC, later had a meeting with Dr Creutz to develop a financial plan for a 12 to 15km racetrack. They came up with a cost of 1.8 million Marks, the financing to be arranged by Dr Creutz.
However, after World War One Germany had high inflation and the following years were bad for everyone. There was no Government support for the unemployed, who were helped by local governments without having made any contribution themselves, and everyone was looking for a big building project.
So, in the middle of 1925, when the financial index was at its lowest ever, Dr Creutz took his project to the Welfare Ministry in Berlin and was greeted with open arms, for it offered many workers the chance to earn money. However, the officials were a bit skeptical about the cost of 1.8 million Marks and only after long discussion was it agreed to give the project the go-ahead. This was just as
well, for by this time Dr Creutz had already spent 600,000 Marks on the layout of the racetrack and digging up the stone material for it.
Now that the track had been officially approved a new estimate of 3.5 million Marks was produced. The officials in Koblenz were not surprised at this because experience told them that with all big projects the estimate always increases.
Also, there would be many rainy days when people could not work, but would have to be paid just the same. Many people applied for work in Adenau and the surrounding areas and many came in their Sunday clothes without ever having seen a shovel or a pickaxe. The money eventually came through and the layout of the track was then increased from the original 15 km to 22 and a new estimate of more than 5 million Marks was given to the Government. The District Committee was very angry with Dr Creutz about this and spent weeks deciding if it should give the 5.5 million or stick with the original 3.5 million, but they knew that if they did that the project would probably not be completed and nobody wanted to take responsibility for that.
Then began a critical time. A new estimate of 7 million Marks was produced and the Government’s patience was at an end. Most people in industry had not given much thought to the racetrack as they did not believe that it would be completed. There was much debate in the Reichstag in Berlin and the state and the Reich sent representatives to Adenau to check that the racetrack really would cost 7 million Marks and that it could be completed for that sum.
Three months before the finalising of the project, the Chairman of the representatives of German industry agreed to send cars to the Nurburg-Ring for testing. With the motor industry on board, Dr Creutz felt that a great weight had been lifted from his shoulders. Now that the project was finalised the financial responsibility was taken out of his hands. Major Alex Dohmer, Vice President of the Kolner Automobil Club and a good friend of Dr Creutz, was recommended by the Automobilclub von Deutschland as his successor, to smooth out the final details.’
So much for the politics of planning: the circuit was described in more detail by The Motor in 1926: ‘The largest motor racecourse in the world, the Nurburg-Ring will have a continuous length of 17.39 miles and will pass over or under all public roads, footpaths, etc, while all streams will be suitably bridged. The width of the track will measure at least 26 ft, with an extra allowance on each side, so that the total breadth will be about 30 ft at the minimum. Every 200 yards round the course recesses will be constructed in which cars that have broken down in the course of a race may be placed out of the way.
‘The plans for the course have been elaborated so as to allow the use of three courses differing in size as well as in degrees of difficulty they present. The large course has a length, as we have already stated, of 17.39 miles, the medium course, which is a part of the larger one, about 13.6 miles and the smaller, which is situated on the other side of the straight portion where the grandstands will be erected, has a lap distance of about 5.6 miles.
‘The starting and finishing straights are side by side, so that in the course of a long-distance race spectators will see competitors pass twice on every lap. The neighbourhood of the starting and finishing place comprises a territory of about 9,000 square metres and can be reached easily by special roads from all directions. On this ground, near a magnificent beech forest and entirely enclosed, there will be two covered grandstands, with seating accommodation respectively for 5,000 and 10,000 persons.
‘The administration of the Adenau district is making all arrangements for the conveyance and accommodation of the large number of spectators that is expected to attend races on the new track. The principal streets and roads in the town are being widened and special roads are being built for the passage of traffic to and from the track. The railway station will be enlarged and sidings arranged for the accommodation of special trains, which may even be carried to a railway station inside the grounds of the track, which may be built next year. The Hotel Eifeler-Hof at Adenau has been completely rebuilt, and is said to provide excellent accommodation.’
In the event, of the two covered grandstands only one was built, seating 2,500 people. And the railway line was never extended to within the circuit. Dr Creutz’s plans were stunningly ambitious, for his idea was not just to build a race course for the Adenau Club, but one that would represent Germany on an international scale. Initially, the project was known as ‘Die Erste Deutsche Gebirgs-, Renn- und Prufungsstrecke im Kreis Adenau’, or ‘Germany’s first Mountain, Race and Test Track’, but Dr Creutz realised that this was far too clumsy for public use and organised a competition to find a new name for the circuit. The winner was Dr Kruse, formerly Chief Administrator of Bad Godesberg, whose entry was ‘Der Nurburg-Ring’, after the ruins of a castle - Nurburg - which had been built in the village of Nurburg by Count Theodore von Are und Hochstaden in 1167. The ruin dominates the area; from its height of 2210 feet a wonderful view of the whole region of the Eifel Hills is obtained and, in good weather, it is possible to see the twin spires of Cologne Cathedral, some 40 miles to the north.
The drawings were ready by the end of April and on the 27th of that month 60 men began work on the survey for the Sudschleife area, marking the true birthday of the Nurburg-Ring. Early in May the contract was signed between Kreis Adenau and the ADAC in which the Kreis agreed to build the circuit and the ADAC guaranteed to run three or four races there every year. At the same time the ADAC made contact with the Kolner Automobil Club, which had links with the Automobilclub von Deutschland with the result that, to this day, the AvD and the ADAC share the racing calendar: the German Grand Prix being organised by the AvD and all other events by the ADAC.
In June the engineering office of Gustav Eichler of Ravensburg was commissioned to build the circuit. Herr Eichler was a gifted construction engineer who would turn Dr Creutz’s ideas into reality. In 1952, at the time of the Nurburg-Ring’s 25th anniversary, he wrote about the birth of the circuit in the Automobilclub von Deutschland’s magazine, Automobil Revue.
He recalled that there were many people involved in the making of the Nurburg-Ring but, just as it took a man with the courage of Christopher Columbus to discover America, it took a man with the vision, energy and forceful personality of Dr Otto Creutz to build the circuit. At the time the Adenau area was poverty-stricken and Dr Creutz realised that the construction work would bring money to the area. The circuit would continue to do so once built, in its capacity as a race and test track that could not be bettered anywhere in the world.
'I was asked to prepare the plans for the circuit,' wrote Herr Eichler. 'I had never been to the Eifel before, but I had built mountain roads in the Black Forest and in Switzerland. This new task was something very special and I studied the maps of the area very carefully and made innumerable cross-country walks. I became well acquainted with the Eifel hills and fell in love with them. 'I gathered together a team of supervisors and we were all very excited about what was clearly going to be a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
We found that the Eifel countryside was so beautiful that we almost spent more time there than we did in our offices. The idea for the racetrack was to incorporate all the best aspects of European
roads with steep climbs and drops and fast and slow corners, following the natural contours of the countryside with no compromises made for safety or to make things easier for the drivers. (After the Nurburg-Ring had been completed, a group of university professors told us that if the Government had known exactly what we were planning, they would never have given us permission.)
'Also, the weather conditions in the Eifel district varied so considerably, with extremes of heat and cold, with rain and snow and sunshine, that it would be an excellent venue for testing the vehicles of the German motor industry.'
Construction work began on July 1st, 1925 but there was considerable opposition from nature lovers, who thought that the environment and the landscape would be damaged and that the wildlife would be frightened. Dr Creutz decided to invite the protesters to a meeting a
t the top of the Nurburg. This took place on July 10, when an open forum was attended by 110 objectors from the surrounding areas and Dr Brandt, the official from Koblenz (who was in favour of the circuit) listened to all the complaints and rejected them.
The land for the racetrack was bought from the owners and, in some cases, purchased compulsorily, particularly in Herschbroich (the village near Adenau Bridge), and Wimbach and at Wehrseifen and Breidscheid. Originally, the plan was to locate the start and finish area at the lowest point of the circuit, Ex-Tal, near Adenau, but the owner of the mill that is Ex-Muhle refused to sell for a long time. For this reason the area was moved to the highest point of the track, at Nurburg, by the castle, because it was very flat, with plenty of room for the pits, grandstands and car parks.
Dr Creutz celebrated the official birthday of the Nurburg-Ring on 27th September, when Dr Fuchs, President of the Rhineland Province, laid the foundation stone of the start and finish area.
Late in October a model of the new circuit was displayed at the Berlin Motor Show and three days after that the name was officially registered as Der Nurburg-Ring.
In April, 1926 Dr Creutz launched a monthly magazine of that name devoted to all motor sport. It was also a tourist guide to the area. (In common with the circuit, over the next few years the name of the magazine and race programmes was variously Der Nurburgring, Der Nurburg-Ring or Der Nurburg Ring. In 1952 it became simply, Nurburgring).
During the next two years some 2,500 men worked on the circuit, many of them living in specially constructed barracks at Quiddelbacher Hohe, Breidscheid, Nurburg and Hohe Acht. The Nurburg-Ring comprised no fewer than 172 corners - 88 left handers and 84 right-handers – and rose from 1017 ft/310 m above sea level at Breidscheid to 2020 ft/616 m at the start and finish area. The larger circuit, die Nordschleife, was 22.8 km/14.2 miles in length and the smaller Sudschleife, 7.8 km/4.8 miles.