If you have been following the debacle in the Eiffel, here are some pictures and a first hand report from one of our intrepid tracktard reporters, Guillaume, Who was in Nürburg recently. While it is the off season, the picture he paints is not pretty.
The infamous Nürburgring business center was deserted, the 30 m. wide "Ring Kino" entertaining not a soul. The racing apparel shops and the BMW showroom had no customers . The famous "formula 1 experience" roller coaster had its speed cut from 180 km/h to 70 km/h because either bad engineering or shoddy construction was causing the building to crack at the higher speed.
Consider that the project, realized by a private company with public funds from an already economically distressed part of Germany is reportedly to close to a half billion Euro in debt. Enthusiasts, those who have kept the 'ring alive paying their 20+ euros per lap and buying countless gallons of gasoline and beer (not to mention steak on stones) at the local establishments would have been ecstatic just to have a larger parking lot with better bathrooms....
Thanks to Guillome Soete for the pictures and the report, more images after the jump... you can practically hear the wind blowing and wolves howling at a distance!
Really is a sad sight, thanks again for showing everybody.
ReplyDeleteThe enthusiasts really have to take over the place again, but the main question is how...
Glad I got to go there a few years back before all of this nonsense. It is truly sad to see this happen. I truly hope the situation turns around and I very much hope to put some of my dollars to work there as soon as possible!
ReplyDeletesimple, bulldoze the wasted space and add solar panels
ReplyDeleteI've never had the pleasure of visiting the hallowed circuit, and honestly had no idea such public-private chicanery was afoot. What a disaster. You literally can hear the wind...
ReplyDeleteAny further information on the actual financing/ownership/recourse-liability that this project's thousands of pages of legal largess no doubt entail? Hopefully there is no IR Swap component!
@NSK - I believe the issue is that the people who have built these entertainment complexes, and who are now in huge debt, ALSO 'own' the 'ring. Because they have no money, the track is being neglected and the ring could, potentially shut down. We've seen it again and again in history...great tracks, venues, and historic landmarks lost due to complacency. The Save The Ring folks are just making sure this doesn't happen.
ReplyDeleteRecession? Anyone?
ReplyDeleteSo, i would like to see some evidence that the GP track owner also owns the Nordschliefe... but i think that's the case...
Appart from that, i think these things are easy to go. In europe, in every league of racing we've seen less and less participants. We all blame the recession but i also think (young) people are all just not very interested in spending a lot of money for 'just some fun on a track'. All the people here, from save the ring and in all the clubs/tracks around the world are there to stay. They care for racing and sometimes only live to drive and race. It's hard to find that passion in young people...
I don't have proof of anything .... but it is all a concern and until there's something to show everything is ok then I see no downside to raising the awareness etc.
ReplyDeleteAdmittedly someone into conspiracy theories might suggest this is the owners raising awareness to increase the numbers?
I doubt that and wish the campain all the best.
The people who built the the useless crap around the circuit forgot two simple bussiness rules:
ReplyDelete1) Baby steps - do the simple basic and abvious first.
2) Never believe your own propaganda.
The local gouverment is as guilty as the people it gave a field day to.
My 2 cents: while there is no way to "save the ring" is it so bad to wish for the time when the whole enterprise was not designed to milk people out of every possible euro? Case in point the Nurburgring card.... Why do I have to hand over a preset amount of cash in order to buy lunch?
ReplyDeleteThe direct result of the mentality of greed is that prices have gone up tremendously and anything not officially sanctioned by the ring company, has been squashed. Ask anyone banned for helping friends out...illegal instruction, really?
If nobody spends any money there (that includes tourist drivers) then the companies will go bankrupt, the government will be forced to close everything and eventually the track and land will have to be sold in small chunks. Maybe then the Nordschleife can be taken care of my a company who looks after the interests of its customers.
ReplyDeleteI used to hold a season ticket but I avoid going on tourist drives now as I dont want any part of this nonsense - its a shame but it's the only way to hit them where it really hurts. The voters in the area will be the ones who can make the change happen and that wil only happen if the government continue to make a huge loss (which anyone can see is happening already). So speed up the process by not driving there - just visit the guest houses, drink and eat in the town and drive the regular roads around the area.
And RSR is not even allowed there anymore...
ReplyDeleteAre you serious, they banned Ron???
ReplyDeleteDoesn't sound like good news for rsr: http://forums.seloc.org/viewthread.php?tid=289155
ReplyDeleteYeah the judges decision came those last days. They started with not renewing the contracts with RSR, then they didn't let his cars in anymore, now the judges confirmed that they have the right to forbid acces of RSR to the ring and in fact banned him completely. The obvious reason, according to the german newspapers is that the new managers of the nürburgring want to start something similar and are scared by the local companies runing those kind of businesses. You can check it up here(it's in german): http://eveline-lemke.de/meine-themen/nuerburgring/?no_cache=1&expand=329343&displayNon=1&cHash=8771b14f374b804ad1d9329264f85530.
ReplyDeleteThey are really destroying germanys most famous attraction. Anyway, happy new year to all the motorsport enthousiasts from germany
Wow, that M3 is still there on that pedastal? i visited over the summer and i took a photo of it. therre it is covered in snow lol they built wayyyy to much for the amount of visitors the ring gets in a year.
ReplyDeleteThere is no proof the ring is in any danger or there has been any issues with the NS at all. This is just scare-mongering by local businesses who are angry that the new owners are taking trade.
ReplyDeleteThe whole new park is a big f-up, and never had any demand, just a stupid business plan.
Worst that will happen is that German govt as biggest lender will step in and return the circuit to the original owner i.e. themselves. No way it will ever close, it's the one bit that makes money and the sole reason most people visit the area.
If they put the ring laps up then it may make it quieter on TF weekends which is a good thing, as it's too busy now with idiots that cannot drive and crash, making closures all day.