Nürburgring facing closure

turbo_man · 08-01-2011, 10:49 PM

Nürburgring facing closure
One of the world's oldest and most famous race tracks, the Nürburgring, is facing closure unless hundreds of millions of Euros of debt are repaid

Is the world-famous Nürburgring facing closure? According to European reports, the 21km Nürburgring race track, which is regularly used by car and motorcycle companies to test prototypes of their upcoming models and many weekend warrirors, is facing closure due to outstanding debts.

The legendary Nürburgring originally opened in 1927, and was nicknamed the 'Green Hell' by famous F1 driver Jackie Stewart, but the decision to upgrade the motorsports complex in 2007, with a rollercoaster theme park, hotel and other facilities, seems to have backfired.

The capital used to fund the project was supposed to be from private investment but the Government ended up fitting the bill, and with the GFC taking its toll on European coffers, the EU wants its almost €400 ($523) million back. The theme park is alleged to be unpopular.

There is a possibility that the motorsports complex could be shut down or its facilities pared back in the future if an alternative is not found, and for the time being maintenance is expected to drop and while entry prices rise.

Arguably Germany's -- if not the world's -- most famous racetrack, more and more car manufacturers used their 'Ring lap times to spruik their high performance products over the past half decade, a practice that may soon come to an end.

On certain days the public can pay a nominal fee to do one lap around the Nürburgring on their motorcycle or in their car, but if the issue isn't resolved in the mid-term future, the only way the public will be able to experience the Green Hell will be on the Playstation and Xbox.

There is currently a groundswell of public support to keep the Nürburgring open to the public, via Gopetition.com and several Facebook pages have also emerged.

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Published : Saturday, 8 January 2011

http://www.carsales.com.au/news/2011...-closure-23142

not good...

buggo · 08-01-2011, 11:54 PM

Man that's not good news to hear.
I love racing on it in games and when I'm older I've always dreamt of doing a lap for real.
Be sad if it's shut down because of a roler coaster

XRFutura · 09-01-2011, 12:55 AM

The car manufactures will not let it close, seeing that every car maker tests there and recently as two years ago aston martin setup there own testing workshop at the site for their prototype vehicles.

pottery beige · 09-01-2011, 08:24 AM

there is alot of really really rich dudes in this world that wont let this happen.....

Spitfire 6.2 · 09-01-2011, 08:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pottery beige

there is alot of really really rich dudes in this world that wont let this happen.....

Agreed, someone will bail them out for a nice big slice of that pie.

GTP-814 · 09-01-2011, 09:33 AM

I was lucky enough to drive around it in 1990 in a diesel camper...gee i was slow. It was a great track & I hope that it remains open. On a funny note, when you purchase entry you get (got back then) two laps. By the time I did one lap & got back which took for ever, then said that I had another lap to go, but as my camper was soo slow they would have had to send out a search party at the end of the day....

chevypower · 09-01-2011, 09:34 AM

I may be a little naive here, but can't they add a theme park (or some other attraction to bring in more money) without tearing down the track?

Jason[98.EL] · 09-01-2011, 10:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chevypower

I may be a little naive here, but can't they add a theme park (or some other attraction to bring in more money) without tearing down the track?

they already have one

Quote:

Originally Posted by turbo_man

The legendary Nürburgring originally opened in 1927, and was nicknamed the 'Green Hell' by famous F1 driver Jackie Stewart, but the decision to upgrade the motorsports complex in 2007, with a rollercoaster theme park, hotel and other facilities, seems to have backfired.

The capital used to fund the project was supposed to be from private investment but the Government ended up fitting the bill, and with the GFC taking its toll on European coffers, the EU wants its almost €400 ($523) million back. The theme park is alleged to be unpopular.

here is the web site as well

jpd80 · 09-01-2011, 10:50 AM

So sad that the famous track is now imperiled by a theme park constructed to support it financially.
Makes you think that the GFC stuffed everything but maybe the business plan wasn't sound enough.

Ben73 · 09-01-2011, 11:11 AM

I would like to drive it one day. Hope it stays open.

EDManual · 09-01-2011, 11:36 AM

i will be doing some lapping there in July! Hope its still open!! Its a dream of mine....

**Full Noise** · 09-01-2011, 12:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by turbo_man

The capital used to fund the project was supposed to be from private investment but the Government ended up fitting the bill, and with the GFC taking its toll on European coffers, the EU wants its almost €400 ($523) million back. The theme park is alleged to be unpopular.

If they really need to raise 400 million euro, why don’t they just put up a few speed cameras? This will improve traffic flow, prevent ALL DEATHS on the track and provide a great income for the government. I can’t believe that they haven’t thought of it before.

Oh, hang on, this is Germany. Sorry about that. They don’t actually believe in all of that wipe off 5 crap. Dang, and I thought I had a good idea.