The Cost of Chasing a Dream
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by user Alex Holowczak
This article is all about...
Wait until the chorus - I don't know if you have these people (ABBA) in the USA.
Anyway...
That is the Nurburgring in Germany in all it's glory. 14 miles of race track, described as the greatest test of driver skill, and bravery in the world. The current Grand Prix version is at the bottom, essentially, there is a hairpin at T13. And that is 3 miles long - showing the sheer scale of the Nurburgring.
The track is a throwback to a different era. It dates back to a time when things were done differently. The only concern of a racetrack was to make it a challenge to drive, and punish you if you don't (no matter what compromise to safety there was). Whilst this has led to less fatalities, racing has suffered as a result.
With over 100 corners, each different from the last, makes it tough to learn, and a perfect lap is nearly impossible.
The Nordschleife was much more dangerous than the Sudschleife, but in effect, no one really wanted to drive the Sudschleife.
As a Formula One fan, I wondered what it would take to bring Formula One back to the old Nurburgring. It would be an historic day for the sport, should it ever happen.
History
The Nurburgring was built in the Eifel Mountains in Germany in the 1920s. After a few years of racing on public roads, the German government, in the aftermath of World War II, needed to spring back to life with a top class racing circuit.
And so the Nordschleife was created. So was the Sudschleife, which is an area that now makes up the modern track. Initially, the Sudschleife was part of the Ring, but after a few years it was dropped. The Sudschleife was used for Motorcycle races mainly (due to being much safer). Since the 1950s though, it has faded into obscurity, and is now used as a park road.
The Nordschleife continued to host the Eifelrennen, and after a few years, won the German Grand Prix from Avus.
It was also a toll road when not being used for racing, so the public payed for use of the track. This helped to fund the existence of the track.
It was the scene of many great racers of the era, Tazio Nuvolari, Rudolf Caracciola and Bernd Rosemeyer among them. It was a heavy part in German propaganda leading up to the war, as Germany boasted the best racetrack in the world.
After the war, again the German Grand Prix went to the Nurburgring. The track was still considered a great, and apart from one year, was almost exclusively used for Formula One, in the new World Championship that was created in 1950.
However, time was about to catch up with the Nurburgring. It was now considered dangerous for the cars of the era. Deaths were high, and races such as Spa Francorchamps were boycotted in 1968 due to fears over safety.
In 1970, the death of Piers Courage at Zandvoort in the Dutch Grand Prix. The racers announced they would boycott the race, and as a result, the race moved to Hockenheim (which was hardly an improvement - Jim Clark, three times World Champion had died there two years previously!)
As a result, in 1970, huge amounts of money were spent on the track. Armco barriers were put in to give the cars something other than trees to collide into should they crash. The jumps
As the 70s wore on, more and more money was put in to safety. Unfortunately, high costs, and spiralling debt at the track meant that this was becoming an impossible dream. The 1976 German Grand Prix was to be the last at the old Ring, even before it started.
And then, on Lap 2 of the race, this happened (on the track map above, it is the left-hander after Bergwerk):
Niki Lauda survived, and became World Champion in 1977 and 1984 after this accident (he was 1975 Champion too).
But for the bravery of Arturo Mezzario, Guy Edwards, Brett Lunger, and Harald Ertl, Lauda would have perished. The 14 mile track was impossible to marshall safely, as it needed a huge quantity of people to make it safe.
So that was the end of the Ring in Formula One.
A new track was built in 1984, which now shares the German Grand Prix with Hockenheim. The old-Ring can be driven today, for a small fee, anyone with a road legal car or motorcycle and a driving licence (and about 10 Euros!), can drive a lap of the Nurburgring. This helps fund the Grand Prix track.
Deaths
Many drivers perished at the Nurburgring (they were not as lucky as Lauda). Here is the list of drivers killed in the Formula One German Grand Prix at the Nurburgring:
- Onofre Marimon - 1954
- Peter Collins - 1958
- Carol Godin de Beaufort - 1964
- John Taylor - 1966
- Gerhard Mitter - 1969
The Problems
There are several problems with this though (that affect the cost):
- Resurfacing track
- Moving Armco barriers further away from the track
- Cutting down trees to make way for the Armco barriers
- Numbers Needed to Marshall
- The track could be considered "too long"
- If there is a safety car, it could reduce the race by 1/3 of the distance!
- How would a TV company televise all 14 miles?
- Who would want to advertise?
- Fans would be upset at watching 14 (as opposed to 60+ laps! (hence you charge them less, hence it costs more money).
- The people in the villages (that live inside the circuit!) would be unhappy
- The current ring is considered fine for Grand Prix racing
- It may lose the race altogether to Hockenheim
- Dangerous
- A safety car could have to travel 10 miles!
- Even normal circuits are dangerous
In the interests of "chasing the dream", I will now evaluate these problem areas.
Resurfacing the Track
Over
Cutting Down Trees
Add to that that trees need to be cut down, and the Armco barriers moved. A similar project over a mile at Hockenheim cost about £20 million. At Hockenheim, a whole section of forest was cut down, whereas only a few metres of trees need to be cut away in places at the Nurburgring. With moving the Armco barriers, the cost is likely to escalate further, to a whopping £50 million. This brings the total so far to around about £110 million.
Track Length
This has no problem with cost, but it is a safety problem. My solution would be to put more safety cars around the track, but again this would increase costs as the safety cars would need to be "housed" somewhere.
Marshalling
Modern Grand Prix struggle to get enough numbers to marshall a race. Whereas about 30 drivers have died, many more marshalls and cameramen, e.g. have died. The only solution to this is paying the volunteers money, which will increase the cost of hosting a Grand Prix even more.
Television
It would be difficult to place cameras along all 14 miles! (Not to mention expensive). As a result, TV may employ helicopters (which are used now in Grands Prix to be fair), so this should not effect costs at the circuit any more.
Advertising
Why would you advertise on a track where the advertisement will only be seen 14 times! (Compared to 50-70 elsewhere!) The race will only be 190 miles (like other F1 Grand Prix), which comes out at about 14 miles. This problem will be solved by simply advertising in more places around the track.
The Fans
The modern circuit can seat 80,000 people, but there are no Grandstands on the "outer" part of the circuit. Putting them up would be pointless, as there would be very few people to actually see the cars go by! A few Grandstands could be erected at some more famous corners in the outfield, but this would increase costs further, and would bring the running total to about £120 million.
The People Living Inside It!
They can be moved out during the Grand Prix weekend. You may think that a tough request, but it happens elsewhere. The Monaco Grand Prix runs the same system, the roads are cleared for the race, and the inhabitents are moved well out of the way (or given tickets!) As a result, the tradition of watching from the harbour was built. The people of the towns could be given tickets for free to increase the capacity, or be asked to marshall (which would help solve an earlier problem!)
Nothing wrong with the new ring
The FIA says the Nurburgring is fine. But it's not. The new ring will always be sad, as it is a mere shadow of it's predecessor. Some people say that the new confuguration does not deserve to carry the name of Nurburgring. This is a bit harsh, but it certainly holds no candle to the old track.
It could lose the race altogether!
It may well do anyway. When Hockenheim pays off it's debt, it is clearly the better of the two. So the race will move anyway once Hockenheim can afford it, and the Nurburgring will fall into obscurity. This option would make it the Number 1 in Germany no problem.
The revenue
For any race to be on the F1 calendar, there is a yearly bill of £9 million to pay. A track will make this back in sponsorship, advertising, ticket sales, and many other ways. The Nurburgring, after being £125 million in the red, will have £9 million outgoing per year to host the race.
There are ways money could be made:
- Keeping the circuit open for track days, and free riding/driving
- Toll Road
- Hold more races
Public Driving
There is nothing wrong with opening the track on certain days to be tested. It happens now! It would just be maintaining the system.
Toll Road
There are places at various points of the Ring. If they were made open to drivers on the road, the road can be used as a toll road to speed up a journey (a driver would have to go around Nurburg, the toll road would allow him to go through it).
Hold More Races
It would host the German Grand Prix at a cost of £9 million per year, but the cost could be made up in other ways. The new circuit could be used as a club circuit. The track can make its' own races, e.g. keep the current 1000km Nordschleife race. With only a few top notch tracks in Germany, it could hold a few more rounds of the DTM (German Touring Car Championship) to help fund it. The whole DTM movement could help to pay for it. The same can be said for the German Motorcycle equivalent.
In these ways, the track should be able to make £10 million + per year, so it would at least make money. This probably won't help to pay off the £125 million though! So another option is needed.
How can they get the money
I have a few ideas:
- Government Grants
- Lottery Money
- Donations
- Naming Rights
I shall discuss these in turn.
Government Grants
The government could some of the money to them (e.g. £10 million over 15 years), which would be nothing in the eyes of a major economic superpower such as Germany. However, Hockenheim asked for the same thing and got flatley refused. It is unlikely that even for the Nurburgring they would pay, so this is unlikely.
Lottery Money
Euro Millions is played as a European Lottery. If Euro Millions didn't happen for three weeks, and instead gave the money to the Nurburgring, there would be more than enough money to pay for it. This is very unlikely though, as money usually goes to charitable causes, one of which isn't building a race track.
Donations
No one man could afford £125 million. So you would need many people to donate it. Why not Michael Schumacher? As a German (that designed part of the new ring!), perhaps he could put 10% of the cost into it. Elsewhere, unless Bill Gates has a secret interest, this is unlikely.
Naming Rights
A lot of money could be gained from selling the naming rights to what would be the most famous track in the world again. This could get about 10% of what is needed too. However, it wouldn't be right to call it anything else but the Nurburgring. It just wouldn't be right...
Conclusion
It would cost about £125 million to make the Nurburgring F1 raceable. Although I fear that my estimations are conservative. With there being little or no prospect of either being able to pay off the debt, or make money from it once it is in full flight, it is not going to happen in the near future. The smart idea would be to not do F1 for a decade (to save money), and hence pay off the debts it has built up to now. Once in the red by about £50 million, and if it has enough backup from sponsors, government, the FIA etc. only then would it become a vague possibility.
But with the time for all these redevelopments, it would be 2020 before it could grace Formula One again.
So in short, it ain't gonna happen!
But Formula One fans can dream. The old Nurburgring may never see top quality racing again, but we can be thankful that it still exists in its' entirity. Many other circuits from that era no longer exist - the old section at Spa Francorchamps (that caused 1968 to be boycotted), the old section of the Masaryskring (now Brno), the old Brooklands and Chimay. And of course, Hockenheim, and the Nordschleife's little sister, the Sudschleife.
The German Grand Prix could move to Hockenheim when it can afford it, so it could be the end in F1 for the Nurburgring due to Formula One's global expansion (meaning races are moving to "exotic" locations such as Bahrain, Malaysia, and Turkey, and moving away from the traditional European circuits. That may finally put pay to the old ring at the Nordschleife.
