Cars and bikes will no longer share the 'Ring
From this year, bikers will only be allowed on the Nürburgring Nordschleife with a trained guide
Tourist laps at the Nürburgring are one of life’s great pleasures, but even the most battle-hardened ‘Ring addict probably feels a degree of trepidation when sharing the track with Joe Public. Heavily modified GT3s tend to come out of nowhere, lights flashing for you to GET OUT OF THE WAY, and almost certainly there will be a clapped-out 325i stopped in the middle of a blind corner having not pulled off an optimistic drift. But the scariest obstacles are the bikes. They’re immensely fast, being ridden by folks with no concept of fear and they’re going to come off a lot worse than you are in a shunt. Well, that will no longer be an issue: probably not before time, the circuit has officially announced that cars and bikes will no longer share the track at the same time.
On the surface, it looks like a move that benefits everyone. Drivers will no longer have to dodge screaming two-wheeled projectiles, while bikers can crack on without the fear of coming across a dawdling Fiesta Zetec. But truth be told it does limit bike owners because anyone on two-wheels will only be allowed on the full 12.9-mile Nordschleife under the supervision of professional guides during training sessions and courses. And while there will still be dedicated days for riders in 2025, they’re restricted to just four dates (July 30th to 31st and August 13th to 14th).
“The different driving dynamics can lead to misunderstandings between two- and four-wheelers”, says Nürburgring Managing Director Ingo Böder. “In this case, motorcyclists are particularly at risk because, unlike car drivers, they have no crumple zone. That is why we have decided to strictly separate cars and motorcyclists in the future and to restructure the offer for bikers so that they can enjoy the Nürburgring experience as safely as possible.”
The silver lining, aside from the obvious safety benefits, is that bikers will still be able to mix it with cars on the Grand Prix track. The circuit has earmarked 38 sessions for the GP track this year, nine of which are dedicated to bikers. But, let’s face it, that’s not much of a deal sweetener, is it? So, Nürburgring users of PH, is this a good move? Or one that’s a tad unfair to our friends on two wheels?
I know some wont agree but I don't think this is a bad thing.
Hopefully it's safer for the bikers plus it keeps the track open more. This may well be a money thing as well as safety.
I know it's not a race track per say, but you don't see any race tracks with cars and bikes for good reason.
As above I don't see this as a bad decision in anyway, just long overdue IMO.
I'd also slightly churlishly contend that a Caterham doesn't have crumple zones either (unless I'm mistaken).
It's the guys looking to set a time despite only riding 2000 miles a year that cause the issues in my experience.
The real shame is there'll be thousands of them every bike day now, so probably lots and lots of accidents those days.
The worst I've seen was a 928 that shed a coolant line; a following biker hit the coolant & then the barrier. Really unfortunate. I ended up translating between the distraught UK 928 owner & the German police. Really not nice.
In a way it's a shame as it's the end of an era. The Ring has been a bit of an island of legacy in a world that has changed massively under legislation over the last 30 years. Like the IoM lack of speed limits it's always been there as a little thing completely out of time.
But, I stopped doing tourist days nearly 20 years ago as they were very clearly becoming far too busy and the skill gaps too great. The number of 'mavericks' was also ballooning.
The first time I ever went was some time in the mid 90s. The night before I received a call from a friend of my father's saying he was racing down there at the Oldtimers GO weekend and that he had some spare tickets and passes. I called up a mate who lived down the road and we jumped in the Griffith and we left London some time around 5am. Bought Chunnel tickets at the gate and armed with an out of date European road atlas we arrived at the Ring around 11 in the morning, having got lost around Malmady trying to short cut the journey.
Back then it was all old buildings, parking in fields opposite the main entrance and a real bit of living history.
After lunch we thought we'd do a tourist lap. Back then you could join at Adenauer, which we duly did just behind a pair of sports bikes. Barely half a dozen corners later those bikes had collided in a corner ahead of us and the riders were dead in the Armco.
A biker seemed to die each weekend we went back over the years. It was as if it were just something that happened.
Mostly they over cooked it themselves but it wasn't uncommon for them to hit a car or get hit.
You won't stop them from crashing on their own but keeping them segregated from cars does strike me as a sensible step to prevent some of the pointless losses.
Never had a coming together with a car or a bike on the track...and only with cars/trucks on the road.
I know some wont agree but I don't think this is a bad thing.
However, I do not agree that bikers will now be supervised, ffs.
https://www.reddit.com/r/nurburgring/comments/1eha...
A biker decided to go around the outside of me mid corner. Due to the speed differential I'd barely registered it coming. I'd totally committed to the outside curb, that was where the car was heading, which is precisely where they were. I managed to just back off a little (too much and I'd probably have gone around myself). Must of missed them by a couple of inches.
He (or she) would have probably cleared the armco if I'd hit them. I don't want to think what the outcome of that would have been.
I didn't go out again...
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