Norisring

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Norisring is a race track in Nuremberg, on the former Nazi party rally grounds (in german: "Reichsparteitagsgelände") site of the NSDAP party conventions. As the city's German name Nürnberg would lead to confusion with the already famous Nürburgring, the old name Noris was chosen for the simple track which is nowadays approx. 2300m long.

Since May 18, 1947, motorracing events around the remaining 360 meters long grand stand (Zeppelinhaupttribüne or simply Steintribüne) are held on streets that are otherwise used for public traffic. Different configurations were used in the early years, including figure-8 layouts. Nowadays, the start-finish straight in front of the central grand stand leads to a right hand sweeper and the lefthand U-turn at Grundig tower, and back in a (now lefthand) sweeper to the Steintribüne, where the "Schöller-S" right-left chicane lead to the backstraight at its backside. Cars touch the outside wall often there. After a righthand kink, the lefthand U-turn of "Dutzendteichkehre" leads back to the main straight after a flat-out lefthand kink.

Due to the proximity of the lake "Dutzendteich" and the situation inside a large city, the track and event is compared to the Monaco Grand Prix (Fränkisches Monaco).

The annual mid-July Norisrennen is considered a highlight of the of the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters series, as fans get closer to the action and the drivers than on modern venues.

Mexican racing driver Pedro Rodriguez died at Norisring in 1971 when the Ferrari 512 he was hired to drive (in championship events, he used to race a Gulf Racing-Porsche 917) hit the bridge wall before Schöller-S and burst in flames. Afterwards, the track was shortened by moving the Grundigkehre U-turn closer in order to reduce corner speeds. In 2006, a memorial placque was inaugurated at the site of the crash.