Nürburgring future

GermanF1

Race Winner
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I did a few laps of the Nordschleife in a V8 Westfield about 10 years ago, one of the best experiences of my life.
Fingers crossed it will survive. £13 million to save it isn't that much. I'm sure someone will step in and make an investment.
 
I had a go on the old Nordschleife circuit on one of the racing games on the Xbox 360 and it was not absolute beast of a circuit to master nearly 15miles long

Not great news for Germany that the Nurburgring cannot hold the race next year it looks like ...
I don't see any other circuits in Germany want to hold it ... I think Hockenheim will seriously struggle and maybe able to twist Bernie's arm that there are a lot of German drivers currently so not having a German GP is not on

So I do not see how Bernie will say no given Vettel's status
 
...if Bernie's demands wouldn't be too high.

ROFL

Seriously, this is terrible news. By all accounts the people who set up the amusement park didn't know what they were doing, and there's no real reason why the local taxpayer should be expected to pay the bill for their folly.

I'm sure there is a profitable business in the Nurburgring with track days and commercial testing on the Nordschleife and so on, but it's hard to imagine a new investor getting involved while Bernie's vertiginous fees escalator is in place.
 
It seems like every few months there is a new story about one of the old circuits going bust/pulling out of F1.

The exorbitant fees to host a GP appear to be the main reason but that hasn't stopped those fees rising almost exponentially.

Until governments stop propping up races, nothing will change.
When it reaches the point that the calendar starts heading towards single figure GPs, then and only then will something be done about it.

Until that time, Ecclestone will milk the circuit owners for as much as he can.
 
It isn't necessarily on topic for this thread, but there seem to be a ready stream of governments around the world willing to do exactly that.

This leaves Ecclestone with the moral high ground - if the teams want to keep the traditional races, they'll have to accept a calendar that goes beyond 20 events.
 
Absolutely terrible news, the Nurgburgring is my favourite German track and i was looking forward to next season's event :(.

You can't really blame Bernie for wanting more money from places when other places are just waving money at him to host a GP. But i'd like to see a cap put in place that see's traditional circuits such as the Nurgburgring, Silverstone, Monaco, Monza and Spa remain on the calendar every year or other in the Nurgburgrings case.
 
Bring back the Sudschleife! A complete shame the theme park folly was allowed to happen. I'm sure money could be made, the museum was great. I recall visiting in march 1997, looking at all the merchandise, and asking the lady behind the counter why there was no Damon Hill stuff!! I do hope something can be done, otherwise there will be a huge hole appearing in motor sport history.
 
When people reach a certain age reality seems to escape them, Bernie doesn't appear to be an exception to this rule. The reality in this case is a certain global recession. You can be sure of one thing, he won't be feeling the pinch too severely, circuit owners certainly are. :(
 
Galahad

I would hardly refer to Bernie's position as being the "moral highground". His bargaining position is, indeed, strong, but I see nothing "moral" about it, unless greed=morality.
 
siffert_fan - it allows him to claim that the teams' refusal to accept more races is the reason that circuits like the 'Ring have to go; perhaps moral high ground wasn't quite the right phrase, though. It allows him to avoid blame, or the majority of it.
 
i was listening to F1 nation podcast, which is quite a good listen & they had an interview with Michael Schmidt & he said that he was talking to the owners over the weekend & they said that they are very serious about revamping the Nordschleife so F1 cars can go around it. but not every year they are talking about it almost a world cup/olympic way that it would only be on the calendar every 3 or 4 years & to a point they talked to Hermann Tilke (as they said on podcast dont worry nothing to do with layout, just a quote) but he reckons it would cost $100 million to do. which sounds alot but when you think it cost $400m to build COTA then $100m for a Nordschleife then would be a bargain. it would be iconic race to have that would bring viewers & huge kudos

but the problem is. you would have to use the pitlane theyve used for this weekend & then use a shortened version of GP Circuit before joining it & then would be a 14 lap race. because of the 25km length. the barrier are so close like monaco so any crash is safety car at least. & its going to be like le mans but twice as many le mans 24 hrs need. but the owners believe that its no more dangerous than monaco
 
It would ruin the essence of the Nordschleife.

Maybe they should rebuild the Sudschleife instead?

I have driven round the Green Hell, it was incredible, despite the head gasket giving up shortly afterwards, but any upgrade will inevitably lead to the chance to do it again being priced out of the market, and they have tried these gimmicks before, with the really successful roller coaster. I think it is a bad idea.
 
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