A lap at the old Nürburgring Südschleife
A photo tour around the forgotten part of the old Nürburgring, the Südschleife. By Herman Liesemeijer.
Here a map from the original lay out of the entire Nürburgring. The red part is the Südschleife.
Unless the fact that this part has been reconstructed dramatically, the Start/Finish is still on the same place. This area formed the so caled Start- und Zielschleife (Start/Finish Loop) and was localized between the North and the South Loop.
About here was the entry to the Südschleife.
The beginning of the Bränkekopf section. This part is now the public road from the village of Nürburg to Müllenbach.
They have rounded the corners at this part to make it safer for traffic.
We pass the camping site "Camping am Nürburgring".
Opposite to the entrance of the camping site are the remains of an old telephone post from the marshalls.
Where you see the right hand corner in the road was the old Bocksberg Corner. Compare to the current corner it was more a kink. The public road leaves here the traject of the Südschleife...
To stay on the Südschleife you have to take the parallel road which brings you to this commercial area. This was the short straight after the Bocksberg Corner.
Originally enough, they called this street the Südschleife.
Today this is a dead end. The turning point is exact on the site of the old Müllenbach Corner.
The Müllenbach Corner was the Southern angle of the track where the drivers turned right to the North.
Here the track continued...
Do you see the space between the trees? That's where the Südschleife was.
After a detour we arrive at an authentic part of the Südschleife...
This part is not used for anything today, so it is in a neglected state.
From here the old Südschleife is used as an entry to the parking lot from the current Grand Prix Circuit.
The Rassrück section is still in a good condition.
At the end of the fast Rassrück section they had to brake very hard for the slow entry to the Scharfer Kopf section.
When the're no events the road is closed.
Here ends the authentic part of the Südschleife. The next part is public road.
This road is following the long left hand corner of the Scharfer Kopf section.
About here was the so called Stichstraße.
Here the Südschleife connected to the Start- und Zielschleife. In the old day's there was a tunnel too on this site. But compare to the current situation, the drivers drove underneath the publick road.
This is the backside of the small pit c.q. grandstand on the most Southern point of the Nordschleife. On this site was the a small loop leading to the Start/Finish straght which was used if the Nordschleife was not used. Because of it's concrete surface it was named the "Beton Kehre" (Concrete Turn).
© Text en pictures: Herman Liesemeijer
