Nurburgring Nordschleife
From GTPlanet Game Guides
The Nurburgring (alternative spelling: Nuerburgring), known as simply "the Ring" by enthusiasts, is the name of a famous road racing circuit for autos or motorcycles in Germany, of which there are several configurations.
Only the shorter, modern 1980s version called GP-Strecke (Seen Below) is nowadays used by major and international racing events. However, the older, much longer version of the Ring called the Nordschleife (North Circuit), built in the 1920s around the village and medieval castle of Nürburg in the Eifel mountains, is still in use; nicknamed The Green Hell by Jackie Stewart, it is widely considered the toughest and most demanding purpose-built race track in the world.
Several touring car series are still competing on the Nordschleife, using either only the simple 20.8 km version with its separate small pit lane, or a combined 24.4km long track that uses a part of the modern F1 track plus its huge pit facilities. Entry level of competition is a regularity test (GLP) for road legal cars. Two racing series (CHC and VLN) compete on 15 Saturdays each year, for several hours.
The annual highlight is the 24 Hours Nürburgring weekend, held usually in mid-June, featuring 220 cars (from small 100hp cars to 700hp Turbo Porsche or 500hp factory race cars of BMW, Opel, Audi), over 700 drivers (amateurs and professionals) and up to 220 000 spectators.
