The Green Hell

---

Affectionately known as the ‘Green Hell’, the circuit was built in the 1920s around the village and medieval castle of Nürburg, itself around 70 km south of Cologne. Originally the track featured four track configurations: the 30km long Gesamtstrecke (“Combined Loop”), which in turn consisted of the 22.810 km Nordschleife (“Northern Loop”), and the 7.747 km Südschleife (“Southern Loop”). It held regular F1 races until Nikki Lauda’s crash in 1976, which prompted a move to the Hockenheimring.

Now currently used as an unofficial test track for big gun manufacturers who regularly use ‘ring times as a benchmark for their performance models, and trying to claim the lap record. In addition to this you can just turn up and pay to go round in your own car, take the scenic bus tour or get a proper lap in the ‘ring taxi (BMW M5 V10) by one of the tame ‘ring-meisters. It is still widely considered the toughest and most demanding purpose-built race track in the world.

If you can’t make the pilgrimage in person, along with thousands of other fans and car clubs, then you simply must go round it virtually using a Playstation or Xbox. Compared to other more commonly used circuits you will quickly see why it got its nickname, so imagine going round flat tack in a 1960s Formula 1 car in the pouring rain, mist and virtually zero visibility. Balls of steel stuff, respect to Jackie Stewart.

http://www.nurburgring.org/

By Phil Clark

This huge test facility belongs to the Volkswagen Group and was deliberately positioned here during the Cold War in a no-fly zone on the East German border, safe from prying eyes trying to view secret prototypes. It boasts 96km of tarmac which includes a large variety of road surfaces and curves on which to thrash the living daylights out of test mules.

Its pièce de resistance though is the unbroken straight, 9 km in length, on which the top speed of pretty much any car may be determined. Though this portion of the track is absolutely flat and leveled, when standing on one side of the straight, the other end cannot be seen due to the curvature of the Earth. As Volkswagen own Bugatti, its seemed fitting that Top Gear should vmax the Veyron here with a recorded run of 407kmh.

By Phil Clark

An unusual but likeable location for a track, Albert Park can be found just outside the Melbourne CBD. Usually the season opener for F1 it gets plenty of attention from media as well as fans alike. For a city circuit though it is unusual in that its road surfaces are smooth and are not subjected to a huge amount of everyday traffic life.

Its pleasant waterside park-like environment is certainly one of its drawcards, as is its relative ease to learn and drive, and at 5.3Km its quite long too. Although hosting other small races from time to time, it only really gets prepared and used once a year for F1, and rumours are that Bernie wants a night time race on the Gold Coast. Strewth, crikey mate!

Visit the Albert Park website.

By Phil Clark