{"id":51877,"date":"2012-07-23T10:00:39","date_gmt":"2012-07-23T14:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thedetroitbureau.com\/?p=51877"},"modified":"2012-07-23T10:00:39","modified_gmt":"2012-07-23T14:00:39","slug":"germanys-legendary-nurburgring-may-close","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/2012\/07\/germanys-legendary-nurburgring-may-close\/","title":{"rendered":"Germany\u2019s Legendary Nurburgring May Close"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A pair of camouflaged Cadillacs undergoing testing on the Nurburgring's brutal Nordschliefe.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Short of Indy\u2019s brickyard perhaps no race track in the world is as well-known as the German Nurburgring. But the challenging course could soon see its last race.<\/p>\n

Dating back to the 1920s, the long and challenging circuit has been regularly used for a variety of motor sports events, such as Formula One but has become increasingly familiar to even non-racing fans because it has become the track of choice for testing by manufacturers such as Porsche, Ford and Cadillac \u2013 something they frequently note in commercials.<\/p>\n

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Your Automotive Source!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But the track\u2019s management warns it is rapidly running out of cash and with the German government rejecting a requested $16 million bailout, the \u2018Ring, as it\u2019s frequently called, may be forced into insolvency.\u00a0 A rescue is still possible, however, and Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone, not a many known for having a charitable side, is offering to \u201cdo everything\u201d he can to help the track survive.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will do everything that is commercially feasible,\u201d the 81-year-old Ecclestone told the German weekly Auto Bild, suggesting that his F1 organization would \u201cbear all costs\u201d for the 2013 race though the quid-pro-quo is that it would \u201calso claim all revenues.\u201d<\/p>\n

The question is whether Ecclestone\u2019s offer is too little and would come too late.<\/p>\n

The Nurburgring dates back to the mid-1920s as European racing began to move from the streets to more permanent tracks. Located about 40 miles south of Cologne, the track was built in the Eiffel mountains near the medieval castle of Nurburg.\u00a0 More accurately, the tracks, as there were originally four of them, though the layouts have changed repeatedly over the decades.<\/p>\n

It has been claimed that only Phil Hill, the first American to win the F1 world championship, ever was able to fully memorize the 100s of turns on the old Formula One circuit \u2013 which his rival, Scottish champion Jackie Stewart nicknamed \u201cGreen Hell.\u201d<\/p>\n

Today, there are two main circuits, the GP-Strecke, used for F1 and other major races, but a shortened version of the North Loop, or Nordschliefe, is still actively used for smaller races, testing and public events.\u00a0 The Nurburgring allows motorists to pay a small fee and run the long track in just about anything they drive up in.<\/p>\n

But the \u2018Ring has gained a unique persona as a test track where all manner of new vehicles are put through their paces, such as the new Cadillac ATS \u2013 the maker referring to the German track as one of its \u201ckey testing grounds.\u201d\u00a0 Manufacturers as diverse as Porsche and Nissan routinely promote the lap times of vehicles like the 2012 911 and the 300Z.<\/p>\n

Track managers began to dig their own hole, a few years back, when they attempted to turn the Nurburgring into something of a theme park, adding a shopping mall and rides like a roller coaster, among other things, which haven\u2019t generated the anticipated revenues.<\/p>\n

European news reports suggest Nurburgring GmbH now owes its banks more than $400 million.<\/p>\n

The track is seeking help and had hoped for a $16 million German bailout \u2013 which was recently vetoed by the European Union.\u00a0 Alternative loan options are under study and a decision is expected by month\u2019s end.<\/p>\n

But without someone stepping in to bail the operation out, Kurt Beck, the governor of the local German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, warns there is a “high probability of insolvency at the end of the month due to a lack of liquidity.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Short of Indy\u2019s brickyard perhaps no race track in the world is as well-known as the German Nurburgring — which is host to Formula One and all manner of makers, such as Porsche and Cadillac, who routinely test their latest products there. But barring a last-minute rescue, the challenging course could soon see its last race. Will F1’s Bernie Ecclestone prove that white knight? More from TheDetroitBureau.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":51878,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"make":[],"post-state":[],"category_old":[151],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51877"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51877"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51877\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51878"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51877"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51877"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51877"},{"taxonomy":"make","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/make?post=51877"},{"taxonomy":"post-state","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post-state?post=51877"},{"taxonomy":"category_old","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/category_old?post=51877"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}