Kings of the Nurburgring. Chris Nixon

ISBN: 0851840701 Price - around £40

One can categorise this book as a heavyweight tome, quite literally, it weighs in at over two kg and at 11" square it is not the sort of book to casually pick up at the airport to slip into a pocket to read during the flight. The size and shape may be inconvenient but the result has presence and one can only admire the choice of topic. Like all good ideas it is simple and one thinks, 'why has this not been done before?'

You can call it 'Der Nurburgring', 'Der Nurburg-Ring', 'Der Nurburg Ring' or 'Nurburgring’, it is simply the Worlds longest, most charismatic closed circuit. The concept of this book is simple, give the circuit's history and then describe the careers of those drivers who excelled when driving the ultimate challenge. On the latter point, the writer of this review believes that any race driver's C.V. is incomplete if they have not experienced the Ring in a lightweight chassis with a racing pedigree. A Caterham Superlight or Radical would do the job nicely. The circuit was modernised in the early 1960s but this is a relative term, the challenge is still there, the modifications enable mere mortals to drive a bit faster and stay on the track slightly longer. Certain sections of the track used to run between high hedges, it must have been like driving through Hampton Court maze. Now there is minimal run off and Armco.

Der Nurburg-Ring owes its existence to Dr Otto Creutz, Landrat (Head of administration) for Adenau, He probably had some assistance from Konrad Adenauer (who became Chancellor of Germany after WW2). Earlier races in the area had been on public roads and like all such races had run into problems with the local population, who, even in the 1920s objected to the disruption to their life and the death of their livestock. The good Dr Creutz proposed to circumvent these problems by building a closed circuit that bypassed the local villages. Where he differed from others was that he thought really big. Whereas Konrad Adenauer had proposed building a 4km circuit near Cologne, Creutz was thinking of 15km in the Eifel Mountains. Ultimately, they built the circuit longer, the long course was 17.39 miles, composed of a 'medium' length course of 13.6 miles and a 'small' circuit of 5.6 miles. This remains the layout. The original Sudschleife circuit being represented by the current F1 track but the Nordschleife section lives on and can be experienced by Joe Public by paying ten Marks at the kiosk.

The 28.3km circuit was built in just two years but showed that escalating cost, from 1.8 to 7 million Marks, could occur in the Germany of the 1920s. One presumes that these figures are correct as the country was suffering from hyperinflation at the time. To build the circuit Dr Creutz had to meet environmental protestors, and persuade local and national government to part with funds. Construction was justified as work creation in a time of depression, and the project was seen as a race track, a test track for car manufacturers, and a tourist attraction; it sounds both modern and familiar. By being unique and a well executed, the circuit succeeded in meeting all its objectives. Events proved that Dr Creutz's claims were fully justified. The first race meeting, know as the Eifelrennen took place in June 1927, Rudi Caracciola won the sports car class in a Mercedes, a combination that was to keep appearing at the top of the results up to WW2.

There is a modern myth that the Nurburgring was built by the Nazi party. This is untrue, the circuit was well established before they came to power. Once in power they persecuted Creutz and imprisoned him. However, they recognised the importance of his creation and the German GP became a Nazi propaganda exercise, Creutz was written out of history until after the Second World War. It is pleasing to note that Tazio Nuvolari (1935) and Richard Seaman (1938) managed to puncture these displays of Teutonic racism. In 1935 the organisers believed their own propaganda to the extent that only provided the German national anthem, in anticipation of victory by Mercedes or Auto Union. An Alfa Romeo won and its driver, Tazio Nuvolari was up to the challenge, he provided a record of the Italian anthem for the prize giving!

Printed on quality glazed paper, a book of this type is to a certain extent dependant on its art work. The photographs are universally fascinating, encapsulating several eras. Clarity is variable, several seem to be taken from cine film. The content of many would send modern health and safety inspectors reaching for the valium. An interesting feature of the posters is the contrast between the granite faced drivers envisaged by Teutonic artists and the baby faced Caracciola and the suave Rosemeyer who were doing the majority of the winning in the Nazi era. Both of these drivers had an entertaining life outside the cockpit and would have kept modern tabloid editors in business. Bernd Rosemeyer, the only driver to really master the C type Auto Union, married a record breaking aviator. It was generally thought that Rosemeyer once faked an engine failure so he could land on the gliding field at Quiddelbacher Hohe in his borrowed biplane. The biplane was man-handled round the circuit so he could take off in front of the main grandstand the following day, he had just set fastest lap in the C type Auto Union. Publicity stunts don't come much better.

Chris Nixon restricts his attention to the German GP, Eifelrennen (a race for GP cars), the 1000km sports car race and the 500km sports car race. Saloon cars still race at the Ring but the Nicki Lauda's burning Ferrari bought GP's to a halt in 1976, a year short of the circuit’s 50th anniversary and the final 1000km race on the Nordschleife was in 1983. This means that the number of kings of the Nurburgring are finite, at least according to the parameters that Chris Nixon has set himself. The format inevitably leads to repetition as the successful drivers career's overlap and the 'kings' race each other. The problem of repetition is probably least in the 1950s where careers of Alberto Ascari, Juan Fangio and Stirling Moss tended to be in sequence and greatest in the 1960s when Graham Hill, John Surtees, Jim Clark and Jackie Stewart could be in the same race.

While the quality of the entry in the GP races is more or less guaranteed, that of the 1000km race is more suspect, this does not mean that the Ring is not always a challenge but that on occasions it may have been possible to succeed at a relatively sedate pace; I offer the following. In 1962 Jim Clark lead the first two hours of the 1000km in a Lotus 23 powered by 100bhp Ford (it may have been an early twin cam or a Formula Ford style pushrod, reports vary). While Clark's skill on a damp track is unquestioned, there is no way he would have persuaded it to go faster on the long climb out of Adenau Bridge or on the 3km long straight. Inevitably the Lotus retired but it was still in the lead after two hours of racing. Retirement was the fate of most UK entries at the Ring in the 1950s and early 1960s. The honourable exception was the Aston Martin DBR1 which had a hat trick of wins and was still competing with some success in 1962, when it was rumoured to be borrowed from the Montague Motor Museum! Most UK cars were just too fragile for the Ring; they bent and broke suspension and/or chassis, some arrived with a suspension setup that made them nearly undriveable. The Ring probably justified its existence by contributing to the bullet-proof reputation of German high performance cars.

But one of my favourite stories that questions the quality of the 1000km field occurred in 1961 and is not in this book. Maserati were bankrupt, trading but in administration. Against the odds they had produced a competitive customer sports car from their available obsolescent components, this was the Typo 61 Maserati 'Birdcage' with its unique chassis. A fast talking American, 'Lucky' Casner had concocted a shakily financed outfit called Camoradi. They raced the Tipo 61, it had potential but inexperience caused Camoradi to make a mess of their sports car campaign. However, they had won the 1000km in 1960 with a Birdcage driven by Stirling Moss & Dan Gurney. More poor results caused the failure of Camoradi in early 1961. At the instigation of their 1960 tyre supplier they took their one remaining Birdcage to the Ring for some publicity shots just before the 1961 1000km race. The German race organisers requested an entry and agreed to pay for the entry, fuel and a set of tyres as Camoradi were literally broke. Masten Gregory (a third string GP driver at the end of his career) and Casner (basically a club driver) were the nominated drivers. The car was not race prepared, the 'team' had no spares not even a duplicate set of wheels and they were racing the works Porsche and Ferrari teams. In the latter stages of the race, with the Maserati leading, Casner was seen trying to beg replacement tyres from the other teams in pit lane, he failed but the tyres lasted, just, and they won. Shortly after the Birdcage finished, a tyre let go in Parc Ferme! Members of the MRC may identify with some elements in this story!

As you may gather, I rate this volume highly, there should be few complaints if one finds its way into your Xmas pillow case (it won’t fit into even Xmas sized stockings)!

Patrick Huston

Postscript: Assistant ed did a lap of the Ring in 1993. My companion, a very old friend, laughed for most of the lap, and when we had finished asked "If you drive like that, why are you so rubbish in a single seater?". She is no longer a friend. It was, I guess, a typical run. We did 128mph in the (PriceWaterhouse) GTi, and saw one brand new white Porker totalled against the Armco. Patrick is, of course, too modest to relate his own exploits at the Ring in the ultimate trackday car, his Multisports. Maybe another day. TC

The cover of the mighty tome, which is currently quite difficult to order. Seen second hand for $350.

The 1927 race.

The superb (and suave) Rosemeyer, with the Bucker biplane at the Ring, and a prototype Beetle.

Unmistakably Moss in the Camoradi Birdcage, 1960

Classic photo at Flugplatz of Jackie Oliver in a Lotus 49

Guy Edwards, Harald Ertl, Brett Lunger and Arturo Merzario fetched Lauda from the burning Ferrari. Bravery of a high order.

Assistant ed at Nurburgring, 1993. More a 2 of clubs than a King.