When was nurburgring built

Centered on Nurburg village, overlooked by the ruins of an old 12th century castle, the race track was the brainchild of the local district administrator, Otto Creutz, who wanted to find ways to improve the impoverished and remote Eifel region.

He established a silver fox farm and a wood processing plant, but these achieved little. Then he heard that there was a possibility that the German government might be willing to fund an automobile test track to help the industry grow. With the support of the Mayor of Cologne—Konrad Adenauer the future Chancellor of Germany —Creutz convinced officials that the hills around Adenau were the perfect place.

It would employ thousands of workers at a time when work was needed and it would generate revenues from the visitors who would visit to see racing cars on such a grand circuit. He was right on both counts. It took two years to build, employing 2, workers, and the first big race in saw , fans turn up to watch.

The Nordschleife North Loop was Where the two tracks met there was the paddock, the pits, a magnificent wooden grandstand and even a place to stay—the Sporthotel. If you pay a few Euros you can tour the old circuit and marvel at the place. You can see the Flugplatz where the cars flew. You can then run along a ridge to the long curling Aremberg and under a bridge dropping through a fast downhill to Fuchsrohre The Foxhole , bottoming out before the sweep uphill again to Adenauer Forst, and on to Kallenhard before the track sweeps downhill again into the valley and over Adenau Bridge.

In , the first modification of the new circuit took place, when a link road just to the south of the Kurzanbindung created the Mullenbachschleife, named after the nearby town. It was used for only testing and smaller club events only, due to the lack of pits and paddock facilities.

A new, tighter, Veedol chicane was installed ahead of the race, though the original also remained in use for motorcycle racing and during the VLN and 24 Hour races. This included a restaurant and car park and provides access to the Nordschleife on tourist days, via ticket barriers, meaning a complete lap at full speed is not now possible on such occasions. Drivers interested in lap times often time themselves from the first bridge after the barriers to the last gantry before the exit aka Bridge-to-Gantry or BTG time but this practice is not encouraged and likely to a reprimand from police in the event of a collision not to mention likely invalidation of insurance.

You have been warned! Then, in , the most significant changes were made since the creation of the GP circuit, with the addition of the Mercedes Arena, almost inevitably designed by Hermann Tilke. The following year, the F1 chicane was revised, to a Z-shaped configuration suggested by Michael Schumacher and paid for thanks to the German star donating his time for free at a special spectator day.

It was not a popular change among his F1 compatriots. While no further changes have been made to the track, saw the completion of a controversial scheme to incorporate a leisure park and shopping centre into the facilities behind the main grandstand. Visitor numbers at the complex have been far below those projected, with the huge complex often resembling a ghost town. A high-speed roller coaster stands forlornly as a symbol of all that has gone wrong at the circuit, having never taken a paying passenger after health and safety concerns following two crashes in testing forced its closure soon after completion.

Inevitably, visitors were more interested in motorsport and the track beyond then high-end boutiques and, in February , the contract was cancelled and the government took control. By the end of , the government declared the circuit bankruptcy and the administrators put up the for sale signs in Three bidders were in the running but in March the German-based Capricorn Group was announced as the winner in a joint million euro bid with motorsport firm Getspeed.

Formal change in ownership was not expected to complete until January and was set to include the boulevard, hotels, Grand Prix track, the physical land and the Nordschleife. Capricorn pledged to make a 25 million euro investment once it assumed ownership, announcing it would continue to host racing, tourist days and operation of the hotel.

On track, there was a tragic beginning to season with the death of a spectator at the Flugplatz section of the Nordschliefe during the first VLN race.

One spectator was succumbed to their injuries a short time later and a number of others were injured. For , several upgrades were made to the track with Quiddelbacher Hohe and Flugplatz resurfaced with the objective to level out the racing surface. Revised spectator zones were also put in place at various sections of the track in a bid to repeat similar tragedies in future. The unusual season brought the unexpected return of Formula One to the track, when it was added to the calendar to host the Eifel Grand Prix in October, with ticketed attendance of up to 20, fans.

The race itself saw Lewis Hamilton take victory from second on the grid. With the win, he equalled Michael Schumacher's record for most Grand Prix wins. Recommended routes are:. Public transport is not generally to be recommended, as it will usually involved a combination of several train and bus rides. Use the Deutsche Bahn travel website to plan your route, but be prepared for it to take much longer than driving direct. Car rental is relatively inexpensive in Germany but beware - most standard car rental agreements preclude using the vehicle to lap the Nordschliefe and with GPS tracking, it is not difficult for the companies to find out.

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