As many of you will know there have been some silly things happening at the world famous Nurburgring in the recent past – new management with strange ideas, going bankrupt and then the number one travesty; SPEED LIMITS!
Well, last week there was an outbreak of sensibility and the (sensible) management told the world all the details of the seven planned modifications to the Nürburgring Nordschleife that will ensure the track keeps it’s FIA license AND gets rid of those terrible speed-limits.
It seems that six of the changes are spectator safety focused and just one is on the driver’s side of the catch fencing.
With thanks to www.bridgetogantry.com I am reproducing a map showing the alterations that should bring back the power and awe that all drivers experience when you are pedal to the metal here.
The changes are translated directly from German so please accept my apologies if it is not quite right, but you get the idea! (Please remember; Left/Right is taken from the drivers point of view).
- From Döttinger Höhe to Antoniusbuche is the stretch of road better known as Gantry to Bridge. Right in the middle is the Nürburgring car park. On the left side of the track is the main public road, the B258. They will build 700 meters of additional FIA safety fencing to protect the traffic.
- At Hocheichen there is talk about putting another spectator fence behind the FIA fence, parallel with the dirt road. Not much space here to create a buffer zone, but it’s not exactly a great spectator spot anyway because of the limited space.
- The most controversial point of the whole operation for us drivers. They’re going to smooth the bumps at Quiddelbacher Höhe. Sure we’ll see less air, but the Nordschleife you drive today is already a lot different to the 70s, 60s and 50s. No jump at Brünnchen, no jumps on Döttinger Höhe. I think we’ve got to live with this one, considering what happened in VLN1.
- The ‘exclusion zone’ on the right-side of Schwedenkreuz will be made more permanent with some proper fencing. I’m guessing the extra FIA fence will go on the left side.
- The campsite at Metzgesfeld is currently only behind some occasional FIA fences. This will upgrade it to two layers.
- There’s very little catch fencing on the right side of the track here (only a layer of guardrail and a big drop), but I wasn’t aware of any significant gaps at all on the left. I think they will be plugging a hole behind the marshal point.
- New FIA fencing at Stefan Bellof S. This has to be on the left hand side (where there’s a deliberate gap) OR on the right (which currently only has a guardrail and a huge drop to the forest path below.
Roger Grimshaw – NMA Tutor.
Source: (German) Nuerburgring.de Press Release here.
Source: www.bridgetogantry.com
