Nürburgring - The Green Hell on Earth

The Green Hell - Nürburgring

The track which has witnessed 100 years of history, started to establish its foundation from 1920 in the town of Nurberg, Germany. The north loop is approximately 22 km long, with around 154 turns and it has more than 1000 feet of elevation change from its lowest to highest point. Former F1 racing driver Jackie Stewart nicknamed this track as "The Green Hell".

He used to say this about the Nürburgring:

"When I left home for the German Grand Prix I always used to pause at the end of the driveway and take a long look back. I was never sure I'd come home again."

The Nürburgring is known as the most dangerous track in the world. It was made to take and test the vehicle to its extreme condition. These days the track is lot safer but, back in the days it was something more than dangerous, it was made by craving the woods of the Eiffel mountains, every corners with extreme bends and slopes, trees blocking the view ahead of turn and it was like a real Green Hell on earth.

The most challenging hairpin bends

The track was used for many races. In 1927, it was the host of its first race and it was the race of motorcycles. After that Nurburgring hosted many races until the World War II put the racing at the halt and almost destroyed the track. But after the World War II, the good time just came back and it hosted the Formula one race. Many drivers earned the name, winning on this track. But until 1969, five F1 drivers died on Nurburgring, which made it the most deadliest road on F1. Day after day, formula one cars were getting better and better in technology but they were also becoming more faster and it was becoming more and more dangerous.

But it was an end for the formula one on Nürburgring in 1976, when the most horrible incident occurred with Austrian F1 driver, Niki Lauda. Even he was the fastest driver on the Nurburgring at that time, he still urged other drivers to boycott the race due to worst track condition because of heavy rain and lack of marshals to take care of the whole track. But still majority of drivers voted against him and the race went ahead. Due to rain, some portion of track was wet and some left dry. This situation was making this danger track more dangerous. During second lap, Niki's Ferrari thrown out of the track and hit the embankment and suddenly caught fire. Niki was trapped inside the wreckage directly exposed to the flames. Fellow drivers grabbed him out of the wreckage. Later he fell into a coma and came back on track after 2 weeks but it was the fight of life and death for him. And this incident was an end of F1 races on Nurburgring till day.

Niki's Car in Fumes after Fatal Crash

Still, since that day, some small and big modifications are constantly taking place to make it more safer but still it is the most challenging and thrilling track in the world. Nürburgring is still used to arrange different races on the weekends.

Let me introduce to the amazing fact that you can take your road legal car or motorcycle or bus or car with trailer on this race track!!! YES....since the day this track was built it is always open for public to use it with their road legal vehicles unless a race taking place. This track has huge attraction for tourists because of its history and the challenge it offers.

Bumpy and Ricocheting Stretches

Nürburgring is also in a huge demand by sports car manufacturer. It's like a benchmark for them to test their cars and make a lap time record. They compete their cars with other brand's cars based on lap time they made on Nürburgring. If the car has made it on this hell, it can survive anywhere.

Overcast Clouds On Nürburgring

Nürburgring is also known for its unpredictable sudden changing weather. In 1976, Niki Lauda's fatal accident was also the result of poor weather condition. During the life span of more than 100 years, the track has been sold many times to save itself from bankruptcy.

Nürburgring is an impeccable piece of history in Motor sport world and its still gonna stand there for years and years to give us that immense and most thrilled adrenaline motoring experience.