90 Years of Nürburgring

STAGES ............................................. 16 MILESTONES ...................................... 18 NEWS IN THE WEST: EARLY HISTORY AND OPENING ................. 24 FROM THE SOUTH SIDE OF THE SLOPE: OPENING OF THE NEW RACETRACK . 34 KEY RACES ........................................ 36 PRAGUE IMPRESSIONS: 1927 GERMAN GRAND PRIX ................ 38 LIKE ARROWS SHOT FROM A BOW: 1934 EIFEL RACE ................ 42 BITTER LAURELS: 1937 GERMAN GRAND PRIX ..................... 50 RETURN OF THE SILVER ARROWS: 1954 GERMAN GRAND PRIX ........ 58 SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST: 1957 1,000-KILOMETRE RACE ............ 64 HAIL THE KING: 1957 GERMAN GRAND PRIX ...................... 66 STROKE OF GENIUS: 1961 EUROPEAN GRAND PRIX ................. 68 GALA IN THE WETLANDS: 1968 GERMAN GRAND PRIX ............... 70 BITTER ENDING: 1976 GERMAN GRAND PRIX ...................... 74 THE DUEL: 1980 GERMAN MOTORCYCLE GRAND PRIX ................ 78 MICHAEL TURNER POETRY IN MOTION ............................. 80 CHAMPIONS ....................................... 88 A GERMAN ICON: BERND ROSEMEYER ............................ 90 WoUNDED HERO: RUDOLF CARACCIOLA .......................... 94 ALL-TIME GREAT: JUAN MANUEL FANGIO ......................... 98 MONUMENT OF HIMSELF: SIR STIRLING MOSS .................... 102 MAN OF MANY HATS: JOHN SURTEES ........................... 108 THE KILTED EVANGELIST: SIR JACKIE STEWART ................... 114 MASTER IN THE RAIN: JACKY ICKX ............................. 122 ONCE BURNT, TWICE CAUTIOUS. OR NOT? NIKI LAUDA ............... 126 RELUCTANT ’riNgMasTER: TONI MANG .......................... 130 4 MEMORIES ........................................ 134 KURT AHRENS ............................................. 136 RUDI ALTIG ................................................ 140 DEREK BELL ............................................... 142 RAINER BRAUN ............................................ 144 TONY BROOKS ............................................. 146 DAVID COULTHARD .......................................... 150 HELMUT DÄHNE ............................................ 152 CHRISTIAN DANNER ......................................... 156 MAX DEUBEL .............................................. 158 DIVINA GALICA ............................................ 162 HANS HERRMANN .......................................... 164 JOHNNY HERBERT .......................................... 168 HANS HEYER .............................................. 170 JACKY ICKX ............................................... 174 NIKI LAUDA ............................................... 176 HARTMUT LEHBRINK ........................................ 178 KLAUS LUDWIG ............................................ 184 TONI MANG ............................................... 188 JOCHEN MASS ............................................. 192 BERND MAYLÄNDER ......................................... 196 MOKO ................................................... 198 MAX MOSLEY .............................................. 200 SIR STIRLING MOSS ......................................... 202 JOCHEN NEERPASCH ........................................ 204 WALTER RÖHRL ............................................ 206 SIR JACKIE STEWART ........................................ 210 MARTIN STRETTON .......................................... 214 JOHN SURTEES ............................................. 216 MICHAEL TURNER ........................................... 220 EWY BARONIN von KORFF-ROSQVIST ........................... 222 SIR FRANK WILLIAMS ....................................... 226 TotO WOLFF ............................................... 228 SPÄTLESE ......................................... 230 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT, CREDITS ................................ 240 5 Elbow room: Seconds after the start of the 2009 German Grand Prix, Rubens Barrichello in the Brawn Mercedes takes polesitter and eventual winner Mark Webber (Red Bull) by surprise. Lewis Hamilton uses his KERS system for one of his famous lightning starts, this time from the third row. Sebastian Vettel in the second Red Bull lurks behind Barrichello and scores second at his home race. 12 MORE THAN JUST A ROAD Sometimes names transcend into something bigger. They leave traces of emotion in the slipstream of their essence – love and passion, aversion and hatred, perhaps even fear and pity, as venerated in the ancient Greek dramas. 14 » Nordschleife« and »Nürburgring« evoke such emotions, but nothing it is forever a challenge, the ultimate test of courage, quite compares to the portent of the »Green Hell«, coined by three- an adventure playground. And it is precisely this that time World Champion Jackie Stewart. Looked at rhetorically, it is a makes it so alluring. paradox with rather blurry contours. »Green« can mean many things. The verdant surroundings of the Eifel region during the motor racing Alas, after 1976, the »Green Hell« lost its most important season, the way in which the leafy foliage is perceived as it flies past clientele. Niki Lauda’s fire accident is merely a symbol, at breakneck speed. Or perhaps a hint of chill – not uncommon in albeit a dramatic one. The dogs still bark while the this part of the country even in August. Grand Prix circus moves on to new high-tech pastures. After the opening of the modern Grand Prix circuit in »Hell«, however, leaves no doubt. Since its inception, the ’Ring has 1984, it resides in the Eifel again willingly – despite the always demanded sacrifices. These casualties were well-known faces in appearance of sun-trapped spots like Abu Dhabi with its the racing scene; like the Prague banker and gentleman driver Vinzenz Arabian Nights tale, with a balmy starry night sky above Junek (1928), the young Argentinian Onofre Marimón (1954), the dutch the mystically illuminated Yas Island on the shores of Earl and amateur racer Carel Godin de Beaufort (1964), British drivers the Persian Gulf. Nowhere in the world is there a starker Peter Collins (1958) and John Taylor (1966) after only his fourth Grand contrast to the Eifel course – a sentiment also shared by Prix, Germany’s Gerhard Mitter in 1969 in a Formula 2 car, and the Jackie Stewart – no trace of »hell« let alone »green«. well-known Swiss Sportscar pro Herbert (»Stumpen-Herbie«) Müller (1981). Or on the same April day in 1961 during a motor bike race on And in attempting to bring the Nürburgring into line the Südschleife: Englishman Dickie Dale and Alfred Wohlgemuth with modernity, devastating mistakes have been made. from Heidelburg, seated in the sidecar alongside Helmut Fath, with Like so many things that seemed sacrosanct, Germany’s whom he won the World Championship the previous year. showcase racetrack has also fallen into disrepute. And then there are the lesser-known victims, as well as the many Still, the legend lives on. nameless, who were driven by demons out of the cage of strictly regulated road traffic into an environment where they were simply not up to the task. The Nürburgring was always the Belle et Bête, Beauty and Beast. How should one handle such a perilous beauty? With admiration, of course, and a cer- tain controlled frenzy, but also with respect, behind which barely concealed trepidation sometimes hides. The ’Ring separates the wheat from the chaff, 15 SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST: 1957 1,000-KILOMETRE RACE The ADAC 1,000-kilometre race on May 26, 1957, ends with a double blast under sunny skies and icy wind. The winner is a lanky young Briton with a university degree in dentistry, driving a stable vehicle that handles well but is not particularly fast. »David triumphs over the Goliaths,« reports a gaggle of correspondents with a tendency toward pithy blanket statements. ot quite. Already during practice, 25-year-old Tony Brooks, supported the depths of the Spider. Ugolini, however, is not prepa- N in the race by Noёl Cunningham-Reid – 2 years his senior and com- red to stand down two of the best drivers in the world. pletely unknown in Germany – is only 5 seconds slower in his Aston In position 12, an entire 20 minutes behind the leading Martin DBR1/2 than the obvious favourites Stirling Moss and Juan Tony Brooks, is the privately-run Maserati 300S of the Manuel Fangio in their Maserati 450S, a roaring yet temperamental Spanish/British duo Francesco Godia and Horace Gould. beast with 8 cylinders and 400 horsepower. This second-hand car with a colourful past and plenty of At 9am, as the 66 drivers sprint to their cars Le Mans-style, onlookers patina now faces an unexpected tour de force. At Ugolini’s fully expect Moss to put in one of his famed lightning starts. But Brooks behest, Fangio and Moss step on it. At the wheel of the old immediately grabs the lead, while the Maserati’s starter motor is all Modena battleship, the wiry Briton is only two seconds noise and no action. Moss’s charge through almost the entire field per lap slower than the 450S. Repeating his performance costs him a great deal of time. To the delight of the 120,000 fans at of the first laps, he again picks off one opponent after the track, he puts in an astonishing display of perfection to emerge the other and is running in sixth when he hands the at the front of the pack in lap 8, promptly leaving the rest in his car off to Fangio for the final stint. Again in great form dust – and in lap 10 (of 44) fails to return. At the entrance to Schwal- this season, the Argentinean doesn’t mess around and benschwanz, the red machine has lost a wheel, skidded wildly and promptly chases down the second Aston Martin

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