From the archives of Bob Montgomery, motoring historian
THE NURBURGRING STORY: Porsche use it to develop the handling of their famous cars and take the lap time there for each of their models as the benchmark the next generation must surpass. For Formula 1 drivers it was the greatest challenge until Niki Lauda's near-fatal accident there brought down the curtain on its use as a Grand Prix venue. Today, instead, it hosts the largest historic gathering of racing cars held anywhere in the world. It is, of course, the fabled Nurburgring, the wonderful racing circuit in the Eifel Mountains of Germany.
But few know the tragic story behind its inception. It begins in the mid-1920s when Germany was making recovering from the effects of the first World War. The village of Adenau in the Eifel Mountains was not, however, sharing in this prosperity and the district controller, a Dr Creutz, was troubled by the hardship this was causing to the citizens. Inspired by the Avus race track in Berlin and the speedways of Monza and Montlhery, Creutz hit upon the idea of building a motor racing circuit unlike any other that then existed. He would build it in the Eifel mountains where the layout of the natural contours would produce a track with a high number of acute corners and other natural obstacles.
Dr Creutz wasted no time in putting his scheme before the Allgemeiner Deutsche Automobile Club at the end of January 1925. Their reaction was overwhelmingly supportive and so too was that of Herr Hirtsiefer, the Minister for Public Welfare in Prussia. With such strong support, the scheme was sanctioned and work began on the new circuit on April 29th 1925, just three months after Dr Creutz had first publicly proposed the scheme.
For two years work continued on the building of what was a circuit of Wagnerian imagination and epic proportions. Finally, on June 18th 1927, the new Nurburgring circuit was officially opened by Herr Eichler, the engineer who had been in charge of all construction work. Herr Koch, the Minister for Transport in Prussia, told all present that the track would do enormous good for the prosperity of the region.
Just 24 hours later the inaugural motor race was held there on June 19th 1927. For the sleepy little town of Adenau, the effect was startling as no fewer than 28,000 vehicles filled all the car parks and streets. The vast majority of the spectators arrived by special train and by coaches and it was estimated that 115,000 attended the first race at the track.
The race itself was won by Rudi Caracciola whose Mercedes led from the start followed by the similar cars of Christian Werner and Adolf Rosenberger, all unanimous in their praise of the track's 172 corners and 28.3 kilometre lap.
For a while all was well and Dr Creutz basked in the reflected glory of the new and unprecedented prosperity he had brought to the region. But times were changing and the Nazis came to power. It was well-known that Creutz had political views far removed from those of Hitler's followers and soon there were murmurings that the expenditure incurred in building the circuit had been too much and it was charged that Creutz had "lined his own pockets' during the construction. Finally, a Nazi-instigated "enquiry" resulted in Creutz being dismissed.
There is little doubt that Creutz was innocent of all misdealings but charges continued to be trumped up against him on various pretexts.
Unable to earn a living, and faced with continuous harassment, Dr Creutz took his own life - a sad end to the life of the man who built the world's greatest motor racing circuit in a successful effort to bring prosperity to his fellow citizens.