It has been confirmed that the famed Nurburgring in Germany has been sold to the Capricorn Group, a German company that specializes in parts development and engineering for motorsports, for “over 100 million Euro”, which in non-Monopoly money translates to over $140 million.
So it’s an exotic race track in a faraway mythical land that sold for a lot of money. Why should you care?
You should care because along with hosting several racing events including the German Grand Prix, it’s one of the last race tracks (If not the only race track) that I’m aware of that still allows the general public to drive it for a relatively nominal fee. Also, the Nurburgring has become the unofficial performance benchmark for manufacturers’ performance vehicles, as can be seen by the likes of Ford and Chevy flogging their latest and greatest along “The Green Hell” in search of bragging rights.
While it’s yet to be seen what changes, if any, will be had in regards to public access to the track under Capricorn’s stewardship, I’m personally hoping that it remains open and inexpensive for public use as getting a few laps under my belt is definitely on my bucket list.
Since this is BangShift and we love videos, here’s two, one showing highlights of the 1957 German Grand Prix and the other raw “spy” footage of a Corvette C7 and Camaro Z/28 performing test laps.
Thank the good lord in heaven that US Investment bunch didn’t get their mitts on the ‘ Ring ‘ ! I can just see it now if they had . McDonalds / Burgerbarf / PizzaSlut on every corner . Ten Starburnts or more on every straightaway . T-Shirt shops … all selling the same damn thing for as far as the eye could see . Some ridiculous ‘ Ring ‘ Theme amusement park in the middle . And to hell with racing / testing / Ring Taxis and laps .
Hopefully Capricorn having a bit more respect for the heritage of the place
But err … those GM videos … along with the claimed lap times … have all been proven digitally enhanced and greatly exaggerated * 😉
But the REAL question inquiring minds want to know is ;
Will Sabine the ‘ Ring Queen ‘ get her job back ?
* Fact is … when it comes to every manufactures claims and lap times .. to quote TV character ‘ House ‘
” Everybody Lies ” …. what with no third party verification … lap distances varying between 100 – 440 yards .. CGI enhancement etc etc etc …