GENESIS
The nurburgring was born in 1927. At this time, Germany had to build a modern tool in order to develop and improve its technology for cars and bikes.. Although there were very few permanent tracks back then, Germany was nevertheless at the end of the queue among the others main countries : France had montlhéry, Italy Monza, and Great Britain Brooklands.
So german automobile-clubs, gathered into the ADAC, launched this colossal project. They were supported by the german governement that saw an opportunity to provide work to the poor population of the Eifel. Much work indeed, when you see where the Ring was built...
The construction began in April 1925 and it ended 2 years later. At some place, the track followed roughly existing trails (between Hatzenbach and Adenauer Forst), whereas elsewhere it was built in the middle of nothing. But if a normal road should have avoided the relief, here, engineers cope with it in a rather direct way : steep climbs or descents were not a problem for a track designed for testing vehicles. On the 18th and 19 th of June 1927 took place the first races, at a national level, followed soon the same year by twoGerman Grand Prix : bikes first, then cars.
THE ORIGINAL THING (..)
The track was then made of two parts :
- the nothern loop, our famous Nordschleife, clearly the most complex and the longest with its 22.8 km
-the southern loop, the Sudschleife, shorter with only 7.7 km , less impressive and probably of less interest than his big sister.
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The nurburgring, as it was untill 1967, and, except for some details, untill 1983
Dotted line : the Sudschleife
Generally, major events were held on the NS, while the sudshcleife often received races of a lower level, along with bikes races. But there were many exceptions to this : bikes went on the Nothern loop , and F1 knew the Southern loop too. Sometimes, during the first years, the two were linked to form a 28 km monster. The pits zone connected the two circuit , but it's considered a part of the Nordschleife.
Sometimes when a race was occuring on the Nordschleife, drivers were allowed to take the Sudschleife for warm up laps which was much shorter than to complete a normal lap on the nothern loop.
MAIN FACTS
In 1928, the financial situation of the circuit was alarming. Nurburgring Gmbh company, who is still in charge of the track today, was created. Back then, it was own mainly by German state. Let's note that even back then, the incomes of the Ring came from races, but at a significant level too by the rental to manufacturers and... public use.
In 1945, US tanks, even if there were quite useful at that time, had the bad idea to roll on the track, slaughtering the macadam.... One funny detail : at the end of WW2, France was controlling the Eifel area, and decided to organise a Grand Prix on the Ring. It launched the repairs, but the need for a race was lost in political games and the first post-war races were finally german
In fact, there is very few information remaining about Nurburgring history during this long period. There are numerous articles about races and their results, but the life of the track itself is rather unknown.
We just note that in 1967 was built the Hohenrain chicane, just at the beginning of the pits straight line ( today it's the first chicane you meet during a public lap). There are some rumours about modifications of the Karussell in 1963, but details lack. More generally we can say that the vegetation was quite different : the forest at Quiddelbacher Hohe didn't exist, which is hard to believe today. On the opposite, there was a thick one at Brunnchen, vanished now to let a huge room to spectators. The track was narrower too, the macadam more coarse. No security equipment , only thick hedges or bunches. Some humps were tougher...
This first version of the Nurburgring, considered as quite safe back in 1927, was the prey of a growing hostility in the 60's, as performances and speed increased. In 1970, F1 drivers refused to race on it, and the German GP moved to Hockenheim.
Formula one had then buried the original Ring....
