Nürburgring

Nürburgring – tickets for the Green Hell

The Nürburgring lies in the Eifel hills of Rhineland-Palatinate, wrapped around the village of Nürburg and its castle ruin, and holds up to 150,000 spectators. It is really two circuits in one place, and anyone buying tickets should know the difference.

The Nordschleife: 20.832 kilometres

Opened in 1927, laid through the forest with no regard for symmetry: the Nordschleife follows the ground over crests, dips and blind corners across a distance no modern circuit comes near. Jackie Stewart gave it the name that stuck in the 1960s — the Green Hell.

Formula One raced here until 1976. That year Niki Lauda crashed heavily and his Ferrari caught fire; afterwards the circuit could no longer be made safe for Formula One. It is still driven today — in competition, and on Touristenfahrten, the public sessions anyone may enter in their own car or on their own motorcycle.

The Grand Prix circuit: 5.148 kilometres

A modern course was built at the start-finish area in 1984, with run-off, permanent grandstands and a pit complex. The major race weekends happen here. For the 24 Hours both circuits are joined into a single lap of roughly 25 kilometres — the configuration the Ring is famous for.

What runs here

The 24 Hours in early summer is the biggest event of the year and one of the best-known endurance races in the world — tens of thousands camp in the woods along the track for it. Alongside it come the Nürburgring Endurance Series, the DTM, ADAC GT Masters, the Superbike World Championship and the AvD Oldtimer Grand Prix.

Formula One: the most recent race was the Eifel Grand Prix in 2020, and no German round has appeared on the calendar since. The talks about a return are currently being led by Hockenheim. The Nürburgring is holding back: its own events calendar is full, and a Formula One date without a long-term perspective does not pay for itself.

Rock am Ring

Since 1985 the Nürburgring has also been a festival site. Rock am Ring ranks among the largest music festivals in Europe and brings around 80,000 visitors into the Eifel across three days in early summer. After a spell at nearby Mendig in 2015 and 2016 it has been back at the Ring since 2017.

For a visitor that means the Ring is fully booked on several weekends a year, and not only for motorsport. If you want a hotel in the Eifel, plan early.

Getting there, and what is around

The Eifel is rural, and that shapes the trip. Cologne is around 70 kilometres away, Bonn around 60, Koblenz about 60. The nearest sizeable airport is Cologne/Bonn.

Without a car the journey is hard work — public transport into the Eifel is thin, and the circuit itself is some 25 kilometres around. For a race weekend a hire car is effectively required.

At the track itself the ring°boulevard holds restaurants and exhibition space. The established places nearby — Adenau at the foot of the Nordschleife and Nürburg Castle above the circuit — are reachable on foot or within a few minutes' drive.