The Nürburgring Nordschleife is a motor racing circuit in Germany. Its over long old section dating from 1927, was truncated in 1982 as international championships had started to boycott the track after 1976. The adjacent modern Nürburgring Grand Prix track was opened in 1984. The two tracks can host events independently, or they can be combined, e.g. for the 24 Hours Nürburgring. As a result, lap times have been set in racing events on numerous Nordschleife track variants ranging from less than the shortest to the current maximum of nearly .

An even longer approx. combined track that included the Südschleife was seldom used for major races since the 1930s. This shorter southern circuit was not modernized in the 1970s and was sacrificed for the 1980s construction of the modern track, as were the old pit facilities, the Südkehre (southern turn) and the straight behind the pits which were used in an original Nordschleife lap.

1927-1939 Original track

The track was inaugurated in 1927 with the Eifelrennen events for bikes and cars, taking place on the combined Nordschleife and Südschleife, with a length of . On the unfamiliar track, the best motorcyclists achieved an average race speed of about . The best driver was Rudolf Caracciola in the big Mercedes S, at an average of . In the three German Grand Prix that were contested there in the late 1920s, 18 laps resp. distance had to be covered. The cars of the time managed that in just under five hours, with an average of just over , with lap times not under 15 minutes. The Eifelrennen events soon moved to the much shorter Südschleife.

After the 1930 German GP (and again the 1933 round) had been cancelled due to the great depression, major racing resumed with the 1931 German Grand Prix which from now on took place only on the Nordschleife. Its track length of remained unchanged until 1966. The track surface was altered and improved, with the ditch inside the Karussell being altered to a concrete banking as drivers like Caracciola used to put their inside wheels in there for extra grip. Also, the Nürburgring in the Eifel mountains became notorious for frequent bad weather, and due to its length with lap times of 10 minutes, conditions could change significantly in the meantime. Probably due to this, it took four years between Nuvolari beating the 11 minutes barrier in 1932, and Rosemeyer breaking the 10 minutes in the 1936 GP after several pilots came close in practice.

The speeds rose from in 1937, at the peak of the unlimited capacity era with 600 hp Silver Arrows like the Mercedes-Benz W125. From 1938 on, rules limited the capacity to 3 litres supercharged, but 480 hp and better handling equalized the disadvantage. Smaller Voiturettes with 1500cc were favored by the Non-Germans, and Mercedes had already built their W165 which proved able to win in this class, too. The new rules were expected to take effect in 1941, but the war changed the rules even more drastically.

Date Time km/h Car Driver Event Notes 19 July 1931 11:48.0 Bugatti T51 Achille Varzi 1931 German Grand Prix Fastest lap 29 May 1932 11:42.8 116.81 Alfa Romeo Monza Rudolf Caracciola 1932 Eifelrennen Fastest lap (wet race?) 17 July 1932 10:49.4 126.45 Alfa Romeo Tipo B/P3 Tazio Nuvolari 1932 German Grand Prix Fastest lap 28 May 1933 113.4 Alfa Romeo Monza Tazio Nuvolari 1933 Eifelrennen Average wet race speed 28 May 1934 122.5 Mercedes-Benz W25 Manfred von Brauchitsch 1934 Eifelrennen Average race speed (wet race?) 15 July 1934 10:43.8 Auto Union Type A Hans Stuck 1934 German Grand Prix Fastest lap 14 June 1935 10:45.0 Mercedes-Benz W25 Manfred von Brauchitsch 1935 Eifelrennen Quickest in practice day 1 16 June 1935 11:03.4 Mercedes-Benz W25 Rudolf Caracciola 1935 Eifelrennen Fastest wet race lap 28 July 1935 10:32.0 Mercedes-Benz W25 Manfred von Brauchitsch 1935 German Grand Prix Fastest lap, partially wet 14 June 1936 11:25.0 119.88 Auto Union Type C Bernd Rosemeyer 1936 Eifelrennen Fastest lap in fog and rain 25 July 1936 10:03.0 Mercedes-Benz W25K Rudolf Caracciola 1936 German Grand Prix Quickest in practice Practice times: Caracciola 10:03, von Brauchitsch 10:05, Rosemeyer 10:07 Lang 10:09 26 July 1936 9:56.3 137.71 Auto Union Type C Bernd Rosemeyer 1936 German Grand Prix Fastest lap Fastest lap: Rosemeyer (Auto Union) 9:53.4 on lap 2 12 June 1937 9:57.0 137.55 Auto Union Type C Bernd Rosemeyer 1937 Eifelrennen Pole 13 June 1937 9:58.8 137.13 Auto Union Type C Bernd Rosemeyer 1937 Eifelrennen Fastest lap 24 July 1937 9:46.2 140.08 Auto Union Type C Bernd Rosemeyer 1937 German Grand Prix Pole 25 July 1937 9:53.4 138.4 Auto Union Type C Bernd Rosemeyer 1937 German Grand Prix Fastest lap 23 July 1938 9:48.3 139.6 Mercedes-Benz W154 Manfred von Brauchitsch 1938 German Grand Prix Pole 24 July 1938 10:09.1 134.82 Mercedes-Benz W154 Richard Seaman 1938 German Grand Prix Fastest lap 20 May 1939 9:54.0 138.24 Mercedes-Benz W154 Hermann Lang 1939 Eifelrennen Pole 21 May 1939 9:52.2 138.66 Mercedes-Benz W154 Hermann Lang 1939 Eifelrennen Fastest lap 22 July 1939 9:43.1 140.8 Mercedes-Benz W154 Hermann Lang 1939 German Grand Prix Pole 23 July 1939 10:24.2 131.6 Mercedes-Benz W154 Rudolf Caracciola 1939 German Grand Prix Fastest lap, wet race

1951-1966 Classic Green Hell The war and subsequent ill-treatment had damaged the track and the facilities. After 20 years, the track was now lined with tall hedges and trees, and thus was later baptized Green Hell. Smaller races resumed in the late forties, but Germans and Germany remained excluded from major sports events until 1951. The pre-war voiturette rule set for supercharged 1500cc engines (or 4500cc normal) had basically been made the Formula One in the 1940s.

In 1951, major international racing returned to the Ring, but even though the Alfas had also about 400 hp, they failed to eclipse the pre-war records set by Lang, who raced again for Mercedes in 1952 and 1954. Two rule changes brought less powerful machinery, and the Le Mans disaster in 1955 led to the cancellation of many GPs in that year, including the German. By 1956, the old records were finally beaten. Single seater open wheel Grand Prix cars soon came close to 9 minutes and 150 km/h. Also, sports car events emerged in the 1950s, as did touring car racing in the 1960s. The Ring saw two more years without F1 races, as Berlin's AVUS had been chosen for 1959, and in 1960, the German Grand Prix was run on the Südschleife to F2 rules which would become F1 rules in 1961. After three years of progress, including a revival of the mid-engine layout pioneered by Auto Union, the 9 minutes barrier was easily beaten despite small 1500cc engines with less than 200 hp, similar to the power of cars three decades earlier.

Date Time km/h Car Driver Event Notes 28 July 1951 9:55.8 137.9 Ferrari 375 Alberto Ascari 1951 German Grand Prix Pole 29 July 1951 9:55.8 137.9 Alfa Romeo 158/159 Alfetta Juan Manuel Fangio 1951 German Grand Prix Fastest lap 3 August 1952 10:26.3 131.5 Mercedes-Benz W194 Spyder Hermann Lang 1952 German Grand Prix sport car race Fastest lap 3 August 1952 10:05.1 135.7 Ferrari 500 Alberto Ascari 1952 German Grand Prix (Formula 2 cars) Fastest lap 2 August 1953 9:56.0 137.8 Ferrari 500 Alberto Ascari 1953 German Grand Prix (Formula 2 cars) Fastest lap 30 August 1953 10:23.0 131.75 Lancia D24 Robert Manzon 1953 1000 km Nürburgring Pole & fastest lap 21 July 1954 9:50.1 Mercedes-Benz W196 Juan Manuel Fangio 1954 German Grand Prix Pole 1 August 1954 9:55.1 138.9 Mercedes-Benz W196 Karl Kling 1954 German Grand Prix Fastest lap 28 May 1955 10:00.1 Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR Juan Manuel Fangio 1955 Eifelrennen Pole 29 May 1955 10:10.8 134.8 Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR Stirling Moss 1955 Eifelrennen Fastest lap 27 May 1956 10:05.3 135.662 Ferrari 860 Monza Juan Manuel Fangio 1956 1000 km Nürburgring Fastest lap 5 August 1956 9:41.6 141.2 Ferrari D50 Juan Manuel Fangio 1956 German Grand Prix Fastest lap 4 August 1957 9:17.4 147.3 Maserati 250F Juan Manuel Fangio 1957 German Grand Prix Fastest lap 3 August 1958 9:09.2 149.5 Vanwall Stirling Moss 1958 German Grand Prix Fastest lap 6 June 1959 9:37.4 Ferrari 250 TR 59 Tony Brooks/Jean Behra 1959 1000 km Nürburgring Pole 6 June 1959 9:40.5 Porsche 718 RSK 1.6 Wolfgang von Trips 1959 1000 km Nürburgring 2nd in qualifying After qualifying the 1600cc car 2nd, Trips raced the 1500cc car, and in lap 13 suffered a broken rim. He changes the wheel at Galgenkopf - Födisch, R.Louis: Graf Berghe von Trips, eine deutsche Rennfahrerkarriere, Heel-Verlag, 1996,, S. 58 7 June 1959 9:32.0 143.559 Aston Martin DBR1 Stirling Moss 1959 1000 km Nürburgring Fastest lap 21 May 1960 9:43.6 Porsche 718 RS 60 Jo Bonnier/Olivier Gendebien 1960 1000 km Nürburgring Pole 22 May 1960 9:37.0 142.315 Maserati Tipo 61 Stirling Moss 1960 1000 km Nürburgring Fastest lap 27 May 1961 9:33.7 Ferrari 246 SP Wolfgang von Trips 1961 1000 km Nürburgring Pole Hill puts car #4 of Ginther/Gendebien on pole, but races in #3 with Hill until that car fails in lap 25. Trips is then put on the other car, too. - Födisch, R.Louis: Graf Berghe von Trips, eine deutsche Rennfahrerkarriere, Heel-Verlag, 1996,, S. 93 28 May 1961 9:15.8 147.744 Ferrari 246 SP Phil Hill 1961 1000 km Nürburgring Fastest lap 5 August 1961 8:55.2 Ferrari 156 Phil Hill 1961 German Grand Prix Pole Trips car fails in Friday practice, does not want to use Hill's, is too tall for Ginther's, and Mairesse has problems, too. In extra free session on Saturday morning, Trips does a sub-9min lap, but in the afternoon, more trouble means 9:05.2 and 5th on grid. - Födisch, R.Louis: Graf Berghe von Trips, eine deutsche Rennfahrerkarriere, Heel-Verlag, 1996,, S. 101-103 6 August 1961 8:57.8 Ferrari 156 Phil Hill 1961 German Grand Prix Fastest lap Trips first in race under 9minTrips has a bad start behind Brabham, catches up, sets new record at 9:08.1 in lap 6, 9:04.3 150.8km/h in lap 7, then Moss 9:02.8, Trips 9:01.1 in lap 9 and 8:59.9 in lap 10 while 2nd, but Hill is 3rd and does 8:57.8 in same lap before falling back. Trips does not try to catch Moss, protects his lead over Hill. Track gets wet. - Födisch, R.Louis: Graf Berghe von Trips, eine deutsche Rennfahrerkarriere, Heel-Verlag, 1996,, S. 101-108 4 August 1962 8:47.2 Porsche 804 Dan Gurney 1962 German Grand Prix Pole 5 August 1962 10:12.2 134.1 BRM P57 Graham Hill 1962 German Grand Prix Fastest lap, wet race 4 August 1963 8:47.0 155.8 Ferrari 156 John Surtees 1963 German Grand Prix Fastest lap 2 August 1964 8:39.0 158.2 Ferrari 158 John Surtees 1964 German Grand Prix Fastest lap 1 August 1965 8:24.1 162.9 Lotus 33-Climax 1.5Archived copy Jim Clark 1965 German Grand Prix Fastest lap 5 June 1966 8:37.0 158.8 Ferrari 330 P3 John Surtees 1966 1000 km Nürburgring Fastest lap 6 August 1966 8:16.5 Lotus 33-Climax 2.0Archived copy Jim Clark 1966 German Grand Prix Pole 7 August 1966 8:49.0 155.2 Cooper T81 Maserati John Surtees 1966 German Grand Prix Fastest lap, wet race

1967-1970 Chicane added The Hohenrain chicane (and 25 meters extra, now ) was added in early 1967 to lower entrance speed to the Start/Finish straight and the pitlane. Lap times were affected only initially, as technical progress, especially aerodynamic aids, made the cars significantly faster in the years to follow.