by Unknown
‘From the drivers’ point of view the circuit has taken some relearning, not so much because the corners have changed but because reference points used over the years have disappeared. All are agreed that it is safer now and the wider runoffs and other safety provisions are a psychological help in going faster. And the circuit is certainly a lot faster: in the first race on the revised circuit, May’s F2 event, Ronnie Peterson set a time of 7 mins 57.1 secs, over seven seconds quicker than the previous F2 record, while Jacky Ickx set a new outright circuit record during the 1000 Kms sportscar race with a Ferrari 312P at 7 mins 40.8 secs, 110.62 mph. This broke his previous record, set on the way to victory in 1969 with the Brabham BT26, of 7 mins 43.8 secs. Since the 1000 Kms only small further changes have been made, including the installation of some high, sloping curves.
'It would be wrong to think that the Nurburgring is now an easy circuit. It is not. It is still very hard on both car and driver and, for example, though the spectacular high jumps have gone, GP cars still leave the ground in five places. It is one circuit that quickly shows up basic deficiencies in cars and sorts out the men drivers from the boys.'
Today, Jacky Ickx concurs: «On the old Ring there were not only 175 corners or so, but also 17 jumps (which I counted in 1967) and honestly, mistakes were not allowed, because you were immediately in a meadow, in a forest or in a ditch and that could have a dramatic result. When they changed the Ring in 1970, cutting down all those trees, putting in the Armco and adding runoff areas everywhere, it did not lose any of its original challenge. Perhaps, instead of having 17 jumps we had 12 or 14, but it was still a thrill. All the modifications made it totally different, but still very challenging. It was the most difficult and demanding race course and winning there really meant something.»
And so the Nurburgring was reprieved, but not for long. The alterations to the circuit meant that the cars were going faster than ever and the 1975 German GP was won by Carlos Reutemann (Brabham-Ford) at an average speed of 117.7 mph/189.5 kph, with fastest lap going to Clay Regazzoni (Ferrari) at 119.8 mph/192.8 kph. In third place was Niki Lauda, who had won pole position in his Ferrari with a sensational lap in 6 mins 58.6 secs, the first time anyone had officially broken the seven minute barrier, although in a private Ferrari test session the previous year he had unofficially recorded 6’ 58.2”. In view of what was to come, it is deeply ironic that the man who finally brought Grand Prix racing at the Nurburgring to an end should hold the record for the fastest-ever lap of the Nordschleife.
Young Lauda had made his debut at the Ring in 1972, driving a March-Ford. Не would never win the German GP at the Ring and would never become a Ringmeister, but his name is forever entwined with that of the circuit as the man who put the Last nail in its coffin - after very nearly finishing up in a coffin himself.
Shortly before the 1976 German GP, the baby-faced Lauda gave a lengthy interview to Autosport’s Pete Lyons and the principal subject of conversation was the Nurburgring. Lyons began by pointing out that the forthcoming German GP had very nearly been moved from the Ring (as in 1970) because many drivers did not want to race there. However, a three-to-two majority of the five drivers on the Safety Committee saved the location, but for that year only. ‘For next year”, wrote Lyons, ‘they are all adamant that the forbidding 14.19-mile mountain circuit, already massively rebuilt only a few years ago, must receive further alteration, perhaps even shortening, or they definitely will not go.’
Niki Lauda lost no time in condemning the circuit. ‘My personal opinion is that the Nurburgring is too dangerous to drive on nowadays. Because, if I go to Paul Ricard or any other permanent circuit and something breaks on my car, the wing falls off, the suspension fails, I have a 70/30 per cent chance that I will be all right or I will be dead. Because of the circumstances of the circuit... If I make a mistake and I kill myself, then tough shit. (At the) Nurburgring, if you have any failure on the car, hundred percent death.
‘I look at other circuits, where the safety facilities provide a much easier, a much safer driving, and I compare to the Nurburgring with 260 kph jumping - only God saves you. So therefore I think it is too dangerous. I was against the Nurburgring because I think it should be like any other circuit, up to the standards. Why do they do the work if the Nurburgring doesn’t?... The best thing is to shorten the place. Leave in as many jumps as you want, leave in as many hairy places as you want, but just make the guardrail to be back 30 metres. So if really something happens, you don’t go like Hailwood straight in (Mike Hailwood’s career was ended when he crashed his McLaren into the Armco at Pflanzgarten in 1974)... need run-off. All I want is to have, the more dangerous it is, the wider I need run-off area.’
Lauda’s command of English was none too secure, but his fears were all too clear and it was deeply ironic, therefore, that he should crash heavily on lap two of the German GP a couple of weeks later. The race had begun with everybody on rain tyres except for Jochen Mass. He had noticed the rain clouds dispersing and elected to start with his McLaren on slicks, with the result that he had a lead of 29 seconds at the end of the opening lap.
Most of the other runners, including Lauda in his Ferrari, then stopped to change to slick tyres. Halfway round the next lap, on a flat-out left-hander that leads to the right-hander at Bergwerk, Lauda inexplicably lost control and crashed, being struck by the Hesketh-Fords of Guy Edwards and Harald Ertl and the Surtees-Ford of Brett Lunger. The Ferrari was ablaze, but those drivers and Arturo Merzario braved the flames and pulled Lauda free. He was taken to hospital in a critical condition, suffering from burns to his head, several broken ribs and severely damaged lungs, due to the inhalation of toxic fumes from the fire. It was feared that Lauda would die or that, even were he lucky enough to survive, his racing career would be over. Happily he made an astonishing recovery and was back racing again at the Italian GP six weeks later. However, the fact that he was the World Champion and had crashed and so nearly been killed at the circuit he had so recently criticised for its dangers meant that the Nurburgring was doomed as the home of the German Grand Prix.
In his race report Pete Lyons noted that, ‘The point about the Nurburgring which is missed by many of its critics is that for some people it represents every romantic justification for the endeavour they call motor racing. Yes, it’s too long to be easily managed; sure, much of the safety apparatus is sub-standard; granted, its kind of challenge is increasingly outside the mainstream of modern short-circuit racing. The fact remains that hundreds of thousands of people go there every year and further hundreds of thousands wish they could. They sleep on rain-sodden ground and endure grey rainy mornings and they line the 14 miles of fencing on both sides and face the track and pay attention... The Ring is a special place. It is a place that holds our imagination and which, rightly or wrongly, we believe offers the greatest test of those we hold to be heroes. The Ring is a place where we can watch and truly understand that we could not do this thing ourselves.’
Two weeks later, Maurice Hamilton posed the question, ‘Has the fate of the Nurburgring as a Grand Prix circuit finally been sealed?’ During the Grand Prix weekend, he had been driven round the circuit by three-times winner Jackie Stewart in a BMW 628CSi and had been completely gob-smacked, as he recalled in Autosport:
‘I had studied maps of the Ring many times, but once we had passed Aremberg I was lost. I was amazed at Stewart’s computerlike spewing out of gearchanges, speeds, lines and landmarks. The one overriding feature which left me speechless was the number of occasions on which Stewart announced that the Fl cars were in fifth or flat in fourth. And not on the straights, either. Places like the Foxhole, for example. That just blew my mind. “This is taken flat in fifth at about 175 mph... Flat,” emphasized Stewart. He had obviously seen my dazed expression. I mean, it is a series of fast downhill sweeps disappearing into the pines. It was frightening. And then there was the descent to Adenau Bridge. “This is what I regard as the most difficult part of the Nurburgring.” Once again, it w
as fast, sweeping downhill curves - with adverse camber in places this time! “It is all fifth gear again.” I was getting accustomed to hearing that. Not accepting it, you understand, just getting used to hearing it. There is no doubt that had it been anyone else talking I would have thought that they were mistaken, simply confusing the corners... It began to dawn on me just what this place was all about. It was beyond my wildest dreams. It was magnificent - a driver’s circuit. No way should they stop Grand Prix racing here.’
Back in the Elf hospitality unit, Hamilton asked Stewart how he felt about this possibly being the last German Grand Prix at the Ring. ‘For once Stewart did not seem to have a ready answer. “I don’t know really. I have mixed emotions. It is a unique circuit. I can go to as many Grands Prix as I want, but I came here this weekend because it is possibly the last time we shall see the Ring used for the Grand Prix. It is very sad. While it is a tremendous challenge, there is no doubt that it is very dangerous in places.” Stewart went on to reflect on his three victories in 1968, 1971 and 1973. “I look back on my wins as being technically satisfying. It was a great achievement to bring a car in first. It’s strange, but I used to sit by the fire during the winter months and fantasize about my drive the previous August. I got tremendous satisfaction from it. But, I’ll tell you this, once the beginning of August came round again and I left home for the Nurburgring, I seriously wondered if I would ever see home again. When I arrived, I was scared. I did as few laps as I possibly had to. And each time I returned to the pits, the relief was enormous. I literally thanked God.’”
In the end, of course, that was the last German Grand Prix to be held at the Nurburgring and it was a shame that the GP never got to celebrate its 50th anniversary there, as it should have done in 1977. Instead, in March that year Niki Lauda and John Watson inspected the circuit on behalf of all the GP drivers and, as Autosport reported, ‘You will not be surprised to learn that they did not find the track to be suitable for this year’s German Grand Prix.’
Curiously, the circuit now deemed too dangerous for Fl cars was still acceptable for F2 machines, which raced there intermittently for the next six years. In the last F2 race before the circuit was shortened in 1983 (to make way for the new one), both the winning speed and the fastest lap were faster than those of the 1976 Grand Prix cars! And nobody, apparently, raised an eyebrow... For 1977 the German Grand Prix was moved to Hockenheim, where it stayed until the new, 4.5km Nurburgring was ready for it in 1985. The circuit was officially opened in May, 1984 and on that occasion the organisers did the right thing and invited Dr Otto Creutz’s widow, Hedwig, to the event, as her daughter, Gisela, recalls:
“My mother was 88 years old, but in top condition. We were given seats in the Press stand and it was bitterly cold. After the opening ceremony there was a party in the hotel beneath the grandstand. We were invited, but nobody paid any attention to my mother, so I sought out the organiser and told him that she was the widow of Dr Creutz, who had built the Nurburgring and that during the opening ceremony in 1927 she had driven several Ministers around the start and finish area. He was very embarrassed and when I introduced him to my mother she embarrassed him further by reminding him that her husband had built the old 28-km Nurburgring in two years -virtually by hand - and it had taken the same time to build this little 5-km circuit!”
I covered the opening for Autosport. The magnificent old grandstand and Sport Hotel (to be demolished in 1988) stood proudly overlooking the brand new pits, with their VIP lounges above and there was a host of great names present from the circuit’s glorious past, including Manfred von Brauchitsch, Hermann Lang, Juan Manuel Fangio, Stirling Moss, Phil Hill and John Surtees. They were not overly impressed, as I reported:
‘Anyone with fond memories of the old, 22km circuit who might be hoping that that the new circuit would retain some of the real Ring’s characteristics had better stay at home. The new one is a brilliantly executed, ultra-modern racing plant which, when it has had time to settle down and smooth over the rough edges, will doubtless provide a maximum of 150,000 people with some excellent racing in comfort and safety.
‘But in the view of one racing driver at least, it is “incredibly dull and completely lacking in surprises!” Today’s racing drivers may feel that with the speeds their cars are going they have their hands quite full enough without having to look out for surprises, but the words are those of one of the greatest of all Ringmeisters - Stirling Moss. “It’s a wonderful facility,” he went on, “but all the corners are of constant radius, there are none of the marvellous swoops and climbs that were such a feature of the old circuit and while I’m sure it’s as safe as houses, I found it very boring.”’
It is all too easy to criticise from the journalist’s chair, rather than the driver’s seat, but I found it almost beyond belief that such a bland and boring circuit could have been built in the shadow of the awe-inspiring and heart-stopping original.
One would have thought that the designers of the new Ring would have been inspired by the old and would have incorporated some of its challenges into their plans, with the benefit of modern safety measures, but not a bit of it. They went out of their way to avoid giving drivers any kind of challenge or sense of achievement. The new circuit was utterly devoid of any of the greatness of the Nordschleife and and those responsible set a pygmy beside a giant. At a stroke the term Ringmeister was made redundant.
But the deed was done and the German GP moved to the new Nurburgring in 1985. Happily, the 1000 Kms sports car race remained on the Nordschleife until 1983 but, following the accidents that year to Stefan Bellof and Walter Brun, it was
moved to the new circuit in 1984 and reduced to a six-hour event. As I write, twenty years on, no major international Championship events are held on the Nordschleife but there is still a great deal of activity, including 24-hour races for touring and sports cars. The circuit is also frequently used by car and tyre manufacturers, for it is still a wonderful testing ground, as was Dr Creutz’ intention back in 1925. And when it is not in use for racing or testing it is open to the public, as ever. However, the great days are long gone, never to return, and we shall never hail another driver as King of the Nurburgring.
WHAT’S IN A NAME ?
The Nurburgring has more than 30 named features, some more famous than others. Following the circuit clockwise after the South and North Turns here are the names, translations and explanations, compiled by Ben Lovejoy of www.nurburgring.org.uk with some corrections and additions by Bernd Schneider.
Hatzenbach (Hatzen Brook): a small brook unning to the left of the track.
Hocheichen (Great Oaks): some large oak trees had to be cut down here in order to build this section of the circuit.
Quiddelbacher Hohe (Quiddelbach Height): the highest point of the village of Quiddelbach.
Flugplatz (Flying Place): gliders used to be launched from this hill, but many feel that the literal translation is the perfect description of the feeling you get when you ‘take off’ on this part of the circuit.
Schwedenkreuz (Swedish Cross): a stone cross dating back to 1638, said to be a memorial to Hans Friedrich Datenberg, Mayor of Kelberg and tax collector for Adenau, believed to have been killed by some deserters from the Swedish army. The cross fell down and broke about a century ago and the surviving parts are now held together with iron clamps.
Aremberg (Arem Mountain): Named after the nearby village and volcanic hill.
Fuchsrohre (Foxhole): Apparently a frightened fox dived into a drainpipe during the construction of this section and so the workers named it Fuchsrohre.
Adenauer-Forst (Adenau Forest): speaks for itself.
Metzgesfeld (Metzges field): the point where the circuit crosses a field so named for reasons unknown, but an 1860 map apparently calls it Mertgendsfeld, so it may be a corruption of ‘a field belonging to someone called Mertgend’.
Kallenhard (Kallen Forest): in old German ‘-hard’ means mountain forest, a wooded rang
e of hills.
Wehrseifen (Defence Valley): Wehr means defence or protection. The local militia, the ‘Burgerwehr’ used to practice in the small valley at Wehrseifen Bridge.
Breidscheid (a wide forest clearing): The bend closest to the town, which is the lowest point on the circuit, ‘-scheid’ means a forest that has been cleared for settlers.
Ex-Muhle (Water Mill): named after the water mill which still exists, behind the ARAL petrol station situated just before Adenau Bridge as you leave the town. Ex- is from the French Aix which,
in turn, is from the Latin Aquis, meaning waters.
Originally it was planned to build the start/finish area at this point, which is conveniently close
to Adenau, but the mill owner refused to sell the
necessary land. The mill itself closed in the midfifties.