The Beginning
Car-racing in the Eifel mountains started early, and the idea of a permanent racingtrack soon grew. In 1922 Konrad Adenauer (who after the war became Bundeskanzler/chancellor of West Germany), at the time lord mayor of Köln (Cologne) became enthusiastic about motor sport. When a plan to create a track in Cologne came to nothing, attention was turned to the nearby Eifel region.
Up until 1926 already four Eifelrennen had been run on the roads around Nideggen close to Schleiden. One day, a certain Hans Weidenbrück from Bonn (at the time a hunting leasholder in the Nürburg area) came up with the idea that a perfect racing circuit could be created around Nürburg. In Dr. Otto Creutz, Landrat in the area, he found the perfect builder. Konrad Adenauer contributed money from the local government, as did the city of Koblenz. The German government came up with the rest of the money, and made the building of the Ring a relief program during the depression to provide work for the countless unemployed in the poor Eifel region.
In 1925 the first 60 workers arrived, and for the next two years more then 3000 men worked with shovel and axe. On the 18th of June 1927 their work was complete - Nordschleife 22.81 km, Südschleife 7.45 km, Start- und Zielschleife 2.24 km. Together 28.265 km. Up to 13 bends per kilometer, 174 altogether. Rising and falling. The longest plane straight one km, and with different pavement around the track.
(The picture above is borrowed from the official Nürburgring-site.)
