F1 came
back on the Nordschleife as soon as the end of 1971. The sudschleife, though
not modified, was still used for warm up laps and minor races.
If you read french, here
is what Gerard Combrac wrote in Sport Auto in his 1971 German GP article :
Click
to enlarge.
Ring
map is rather personnal :-)
In 1976, Nicky Lauda's
famous accident occured during the German GP. Again, the Ring was shown as
something too dangerous by modern standard. Yet this crash would have taken
place everywhere else, considering it was in a quite harmless curve, not a
typical Ring trap ( the fast left hander just before Bergwerk).
Photos of the crash by
Jean Paul Charon, in Sport Auto :
_____
_____
Click
to enlarge.
The F1
won't come back on the Nordschleife. And surprising as it may be, we can say
that it saved the Ring. Because during the next years, F1 strongly contributed
to destroy or emasculate some legendary tracks. And finally replace them by
modern circuits, non existent in terms of sport but opportunately designed
for TV. Some projects for a shortened Nothern loop existed in the seventies.
They were luckily abandonned then.
Born more
than 40 years ago, the Nurburgring had now to fight to come back in the foreground.
So German did things in a big way.
Actually,
in 1971, the Nordschleife is brand new again !! They literaly rebuild the
entire track, except for the Sudschleife, which remained unchanged. It is
important to understand they totally destroyed the old circuit, and laid a
new mordern macadam.
Don't
panic, they didn't modify the track too much !! The aim was to make the Ring
safer... without edulcorate it. So it will be wider, some humps will be flatened,
and some off track room will be found here and there.
Of course,
considering this huge renovation work, one can not affirm that the post 71
circuit is equivalent to the former one. Only those who knew the two versions
are allowed to have an opinion.
But when
people drive or ride along the actual monster, most of them think it is enough
...
PICTURES OF 1971
And now,
let's see what it looked like : again Lennart
Jarmyr is our precious witness : he saw and took photos of both versions
of the Ring : before and after 1971 rebuild. He even drove on the former thing,
very few people can say so today !!
We have
watched his 1969 photos, so now here are July 1971 pics !!!
_____
_____
