Last year marked the 100th anniversary of the laying of the foundation stone for the construction of the Nürburgring in the structurally weak Eifel region south of Cologne in western Germany. The plan was to create a new source of income for this area, which was one of the poorest in the country. The Nürburgring was to serve both as a race track and as a test track for the growing German automotive industry.
Divided into two sections, the Nürburgring was created with the „Südschleife“ and the „Nordschleife“, which at 22.8 kilometres was the significantly longer section and still exists today in a more contemporary form and is still used for car racing, not least for the prestigious 24-hour race.
The layout of the start-finish straight, which led to the south curve and led to the Südschleife“, with the subsequent back straight to the north curve and „Nordschleife“, did not offer enough space for a spacious facility with pits for the racing cars.
For this reason, the square paddock was built outside the race track. The racing cars entered the narrow pit lane through a tunnel, where there was a small pit complex with just enough space for the essentials.
The 4,400 square metre paddock, which at the time had 70 lockable garages, 58 for racing cars and 12 for motorcycles, was truly spacious for its time. Today, the ‘historic paddock’ is considered the oldest preserved pit facility in the form of a ‘quadrangle’ in the world.
When safety concerns about the Nordschleife grew in the early 1970s and finally came to a head in 1976 with the last German Grand Prix, in which Niki Lauda had a near-fatal accident in the Bergwerk section, the end of the Nürburgring in its former form was inevitable.
In 1982, the foundation stone was laid for the new Grand Prix circuit, which claimed the old start-finish loop and the „Südschleife“ as its victims. Of course, a new paddock with a modern pit complex was also built, which is more than eight times larger than the ‘old’ paddock.
As a result, the ‘old’ paddock fell more and more into oblivion and was left to decay. It was not until 2010 that work began on systematically restoring the paddock from the ground up, dismantling the pits and installing lamps modelled on the originals. Old posters and boards with quotes from famous racing drivers were hung in the garages themselves.
Finally, in 2011, the now officially named ‘Historic Paddock’ was reopened as part of the ‘Nürburgring Revival’. The individual garages were given nameplates bearing the names of the best racing drivers in the entire history of the Nürburgring. From Rudolf Carraciola to Ayrton Senna, from Hermann Lang to Niki Lauda, from Juan Manuel Fangio to Jim Clark and Jackie Stewart to Hans Hermann – the who’s who of racing history.
Today, the ‘Historic Paddock’ serves as a meeting place for various historic motorsport events and mostly houses pre-war racing cars from Bugatti, Alfa Romeo, Talbot and many more.
For me, it is always a place where history comes alive. When I am there, I feel transported back in time, at least to the 1976 Grand Prix, the first car race I was able to experience live on site. At that time, there was still a kind of open gallery above the tunnel to the track from which you could watch the racing cars from above as they drove or were pushed onto the track. Unfortunately, this no longer exists today, but walking through the tunnel to the Grand Prix track is a journey from the past into the future.
At least a part of the Nürburgring has been preserved in its original form, although much of what has been built there in recent years is unfortunately not that beautiful. But the experience of the ‘historic paddock’ makes up for all that. It’s something you have to experience and feel for yourself.
