The Nürburgring was built as a public works project in the 1920s to bring employment to the economically depressed Eifel region in western Germany. The original Nordschliefe loop of the circuit twisted, climbed, plunged and wound through 14.17 miles (22.8km) of mountainous terrain. Hundreds of thousands of spectators would travel to the area to watch the racing. When the circuit wasn’t being used for racing or testing by manufactures, the public could purchase a ticket and complete a lap. In the course of a lap it wouldn’t be unusual to overtake a tourist bus while being passed by a motorcyclist with a Porsche coming up with headlights flashing.

The following are photos from a lap taken in the summer of 1972. There is a turn-off for access to the village Nürburg from the public roadway that goes under the track. A left run then takes you to the track entrance by the start of the pit lane. There is an attendant there who accepts your Deutsche Marks 7 fee, returns a little receipt. You drive through the pit lane and enter the track a bit before the SüdKehre (South Curve).

The SüdKehre starts with a left turn and then goes through a long 180-degree right turn.

The straight runs parallel to the start/finish area. The teams would hang their pit boards out the back of the pits for the drivers to read on this straight.

Next is the NordKehre (North Curve), which is made up of two ninety degree right turns. The ruins of the twelfth century Schloss Nürburg overlook this section. On the short straight bit connecting the two turns is the connector loop that goes back to the start/finish straight. During practice sessions drivers would exit the pits go through the SüdKehre and the first section of the NordKehre then take the connector loop back to the start/finish straight. This allowed the drivers to start a flying lap without having to complete a full 14.17 miles (22.8km) lap.

As the track exits the NordKehre the road descends and starts to twist as it heads off into the forest. Driving a road car you’re braking as you go through this section. The Formula 1 cars will accelerate through this section as they start a full lap.

Hatzenbach to Hocheichen

The roadway goes downhill as it leaves Hocheichen. The cars become very light and some go airborne as they crest the slight rise at Qüiddelbacher Hohe.

There is a short straight to where you can recover from Qüiddelbacher Hohe, then it’s a right turn at Flugplatz and on to a slight left turn at Schwedenkreuz.

Exiting Schwedenkreuz leads to the sharp right Aremberg corner. The track passes under a bridge leaving Aremberg as it heads to Fuchsröhre.

Fuchsrohre is followed by Adenauer Forst where the track plunges downhill through a series of turns.

 

If you’ve managed to stay on the track through Adenauer Forst you can catch your breath through Metzgesfeld before doing it all again as you enter Kallenhardt.

Kallenhardt leads to Wehrseifen

After Wehrseifen it’s downhill over the public road leading to the village of Breidscheid at Exmühle.

After Exmühle it’s into Bergwerk. Leaving Bergwerk you pass the 11km mark and you’re almost half-way through the lap.

Then through the countryside to Kesselchen and a long run to a tight right hand corner. The exit of the corner leads to a steep climb up to the Karussell.

A couple of twist on the uphill section and your dumped into the Karussell.

It’s critical to get the exit from the Karussell right to maintain your speed leading to Hohe Acht.

The up and down twist and turns continue trough Wippermann, Eschbach and Brünnchen

Leaving Brünnchen it’s through the forest to a slight left kink and steep downhill at Pflanzgarten. The exit of the kink is critical because the road drops away and your airborne. As soon as the car lands it’s into a left turn and onto Schwalbenschwanz.

Schwalbenschwanz is another backed turn, although not as steeply as the Karussell.

A couple more turns and the road finally gets to the longest straight on the Nordschliefe.

Being the Nürburgring the road might be straight, but that doesn’t mean flat. The hedge-lined roadway goes up and down as it approaches the bridge at Antoniusbrücke.

After passing under the bridge its through Tiergarten and Hohenrain.

After Hohenrain there’s a left-right-left turn that leads to the start/finish line straight.

The pit entry is on the right and the Sport Hotel the left as you cross the start/finish line.

In 1972 Jacky Ickx won the German Grand Prix completing the fourteen lap race in 1 hour 42 minutes 12.3 seconds. His average speed was 116.626mph. Ickx also recorded the fastest race lap in 7 minutes 13.6 seconds.