Oliver White
It has been 31 years since the last time a Formula One car graced the hallowed tarmac at the Nordschleife track at Nurburgring in Germany. But on Saturday 28th April, Nick Heidfeld lapped the historic circuit in his BMW F1.07, making history and having a bit of fun. The 20.8km circuit was famed as being incredible dangerous, cutting through the trees and challenging driver’s to the absolute limit. However, Nick was purely doing this as a PR stunt, and to also provide some entertainment for 45,000 people who lined the track.
Aside from using a harder compund of tyres, and raising the car up a tad to cope with the surfaces undulations, nothing else was changed from Nick’s race spec. BMW. Heidfeld’s fastest lap was on his second when he crossed the line at 8m34s. The Nurburgring is open for non-professional motorists during the year, and provided you pay a small fee, you may drive your Ford Mondeo* around the haunting circuit.
This drive was simply incredible. I thought it would be great to drive on the Nordschleife before I started out. But it was even better than I had expected. This racing track is the best in the world. I’d really like to have emptied the tank. It was a very special moment when I left the grand prix circuit in the direction of the Nordschleife. I was really shaken up at the Bergwerk section and on the Döttinger Höhe. I’ll never forget today as long as I live. Another particularly special experience has now joined the many fantastic childhood memories and racing successes. Nick Heidfeld.
Naturally, the high point was Nick’s drive with the F1.06. We had implored him to be careful. The day was a homage to the fans and to this unique circuit in the world of racing. Mario Theissen.
Below are some photos from the event.
*Or insert your make of car.
I’m sorry but that’s quite a poor time. A new M3 can do it faster…
Still, nice to see an F1 car on the circuit.
Yeah, it is poor lap time. I think it was the British journalist Jeremy Clarkson (with very little racing experience) who lapped the track in about 10 minutes in a Jaguar S-Type, and one-off Top Gear reporter Sabine Schmitz lapped the track in just over 10 minutes in Ford Transit van.
Still, I believe BMW told Heidfeld to take it easy, as the old circuit surface undulates a fair bit, which isn’t too good for a Formula One car.
I lapped the Ring at 7m18s in an Audi R8 :-):-)
I haven’t even lapped it on my computer yet…
On every lap Heidfeld was required to slow for a camera car to take pictures. Persons present at the event independently timed sections of his various laps and combined his unimpeded portions into a hypothetical “dream lap” which was more like 6m10s.
No official acknowledgement of this was made out of respect for the late Stefan Bellof’s record of 6:11.13