The Nürburgring.
If you've spent any time reading about cars,
you've probably heard the term.
What is it?
It's a merciless 13-mile track
with terrifying twists, turns, and dips,
and arguably the most dangerous race course in the world.
But it's become a sort of holy destination for drivers,
professional and amateur, who make the pilgrimage
to the small town of Nürburg, Germany.
Since its construction in 1927,
the ring has tragically claimed the lives
of just under 70 motorsport heroes.
Legendary Formula One driver Jackie Stewart
famously crowned the track the "Green Hell,"
a nickname it holds to this day.
But just what makes the Nürburgring so brutal?
The Nürburgring is actually composed
of two different courses,
but it's the site's northern loop, or Nordschleife,
that most associate with the track.
As the world's longest racetrack,
the Nordschleife remains the ultimate test of skill
amongst professional drivers competing in extreme races,
like the 24 Hours of Nürburgring endurance race.
A closer look at the track reveals three things
that make it such a challenge,
even for the most skilled drivers:
the steep elevation changes,
blind corners, and the lack of runoff areas.
Let's start with the elevation changes.
For an idea of just how severe the Nürburgring's are,
the total difference in altitude
from the track's highest point
to its lowest is a jaw-dropping 985 feet.
And it doesn't occur gradually, either.
The shifts in elevation are abrupt and spontaneous,
providing plenty of challenges
for those who don't know the track thoroughly,
and even those who do.
One of the best examples of this happens fairly early
in the track, at a section known as Fox Hole.
This section features five sweeping corners
that can be taken at full speed!
But it's at the last corner,
when the track goes into a steep downhill descent
then immediately elevates,
that you feel more g-forces than you've ever felt.
To better understand what driving through it is like,
we caught up with someone who circles the Ring
over 1,000 times every year.
Misha Charoudin is a race-car driver,
course instructor, and YouTuber
who knows every inch of the track like the back of his hand.
He's even managed to guide a driver around it
while completely blindfolded!
Misha Charoudin: You have Fox Hole.
It's a very, very downhill descent followed
by instant climb.
And what a lot of people do, they think,
like, "Oh, let me see what the top speed of my car is
because I'm going downhill now."
And then they brake at the lowest point.
The issue here is the weight transfer.
When you brake at the complete bottom,
you have the weight transfer ready
because the car will change direction
from going downhill to uphill,
and when you apply the brakes on that,
you will most likely end up in the barrier.
Narrator: But it's near the Ring's end
that drivers face one of the most daunting
sections of racetrack in the world
when it comes to elevation change.
Located 10.5 miles into the track
is a section called Pflanzgarten.
Known for its number of career-ending accidents,
there is zero room for error
on this series of jumps and turns
where drivers will find it nearly impossible
not to go airborne.
Misha: So, you actually, literally, your car will jump
three times over, I would say, a period of one minute.
Your car will be airborne one time straight
before the braking zone,
one time you will go a bit sideways maybe even
in the air as well, and one time you will be going
over 120 mph over a slight bump while changing direction.
So, when you have a mistake there it will usually end up
in a very, very...let's say track closure.
People will have to close the track,
how bad of an accident it's going to be.
Narrator: But it isn't simply jumps and drops
that cause so many accidents on the Nürburgring.
On a 13-mile track made up
of around 170 different tight corners,
about 90% of them are blind.
The Ring's infamous turn they call Kallenhard,
about five miles into the track, is the perfect example
of just how blind these corners can be.
Misha: It's difficult because it's very blind
and it gets very tight.
It has a very, very, very late apex,
and people just don't expect that.
Because they think, well, the turn should be over now.
No, it gets tighter, tighter, tighter, and it's very blind.
And you see a lot of accidents happen there.
So you have to stay very slow, very much on the outside,
slow feet, fast hands, and get it right.
And this is something that people really mess up.
So this is, I would say in terms of the blind corner,
Kallenhard is definitely one of the most challenging ones.
Narrator: It's also the lack of sufficient runoff areas
that separates the Nürburgring from the rest
of the world's professional racetracks.
While most courses feature plenty of zones for
out-of-control vehicles to safely depart from the track,
less than a handful of corners at the Nürburgring
have what could even be considered runoff areas.
For the majority of the course,
drivers will find that there is less than a meter
separating the track from the barriers.
This means that even the slightest mistakes can result
in cars smashing into the walls.
But as intimidating a track like the Green Hell can be,
Misha has a few simple words of advice
for those everyday drivers looking
to tackle the Ring for the very first time.
Misha: I always say, you cannot impress here anyone
after 93 years of history,
but you can make everybody laugh.
So make sure to be the person that does not make us laugh
after ending up on YouTube for some bad crash video.