On paper the Nurburgring is interesting, but not remarkable. It's a racing circuit, and it's very long. It goes up and down quite a bit. But is it interesting enough for the German government to sell to a private entity at anything like a decent price?
Could the Nordschleife be the next Red Bull Ring?
From a manufacturer's point of view there are plenty of other places to test cars all over Europe and the rest of the world. The behemoth that is the Volkswagen Group has its own German facilities at Ehra-Lessien with over 96km of tarmac available. That place features an 8.9km speed testing straight made famous by the 268mph
Veyron Super Sport
. It's flat, but thanks to the curvature of the Earth you can't see one end from the other. That's pretty serious, and combined with the other 50km of twisty and bumpy stuff, it makes the 21km Nordschleife look pathetic.
There are other places worth naming too, like Millbrook or the Michelin Almeria facility. Now we're about half-way through the schedule of the 'ring's sale and the registered interests are in. One by one, they should be turning into offers. The next step will be formal offers, then final negotiations.
Non-circuit facilities need rejuvenation
The much-discussed deadline here is the end of 2013. According to the local papers, radio and TV the Nurburgring will almost certainly be in new hands by next year.
But who's going to buy it, and why? Right now the doors are closed and we have nothing but conjecture around who's actually bidding. But that speculation includes manufacturers as diverse as Jaguar to Hyundai, with the usual BMW, Mercedes and VW suspects in the middle. Investment groups from both sides of the Atlantic (and Pacific) have been mentioned as well as Bernie Ecclestone himself. And don't even get me started on the energy drinks. Red Bull Ring Part Deux? Would that be so bad?
'Ring has many rivals as a test facility in Europe
Maybe it's the onward march of health and safety that makes us all love the anachronistic Nurburgring Nordschleife and its unforgiving crash barriers. Potential buyers know that. They know we all love the place, and that they can make money from it too. It's win win.
Imagine the glee at Hyundai HQ if BMW had to ask permission to test on the Hyundai Nurburgring? Of course, right now there's no way of knowing how much is being bid and by which party. Only the state-appointed liquidators know that. But even with debts of around half a billion, I wouldn't be surprised if the Government still shift the Nurburgring and turn a tidy profit at the same time. That would be both interesting AND remarkable.