Probably the greatest race track of all time, the Nordschleife hosted it’s last F1 race in 1976 as it had become way too long and dangerous to sustain the speeds of modern F1 cars.
But in 2007, BMW-Sauber decided to take modern F1 machinery on the ‘Green Hell’ once more. Nick Heidfeld drove the F1.06 for three laps with super-hard demonstration tyres, short gear ratios and a seriously high ride height in order to cope with the bumps. He also had to keep slowing down for photo opportunities, so it’s by no means a flat-out lap, but it’s still awesome to watch.
The fastest-ever lap of the Nordschleife was a 6:11.3 set by Stefan Bellof in a Porsche 956 in 1983. Heidfeld could easily have beaten it were it not for the restrictions, and that’s in a car that’s several seconds a lap slower than the 2018 F1 cars. Another team needs to give this a go at some point…
