The Nürburgring, beautifully layed out in the Eifel mountains in Germany, was in reality made up out of two different tracks, the Nordschleife and the Südschleife (the North- and Southtrail) linked together by a third, the Start- und Zielschleife. Today only the Nordschleife remains, the Süd- and Start/Ziel giving way to the new track built in 1982-83.

Combining the 22.8 km of the Nordschleife with the 7.4 km of Südschleife and the 2.2 km of the Start-und-Ziel gave a total lap of 28.3 km. This was used for Grand Prix for the first three years, but from 1931 only the Nordschleife was used.

The Nordschleife. At over 22 km, a crueling lap with more than 170 bends. A difference in altitude of 300 meters, and at places an angle of inclination up to 11 %.

Once described by Jackie Stewart like this:
'The Nürburgring was bad enough at just over 14 miles to a lap, it was leaping and jumping, taking off and flying a long way some 13 times per lap. You went to the 'Ring' with a car stacked up with bump rubbers to stop it grinding itself to nothing by bottoming out.'