Old Course Would Be Way More Interesting

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Look how many hazardous signs the old course has.

Today the Formula One calendar had another three races confirmed. It makes sense as Brazil,Mexico and the United States has been scratched off this season. Vietnam is still hanging in there and expect them to be announced for an early December race along with the Gulf Region to cap the year off with a possible 16 or 17 race schedule.

The Formula One teams will be happy as it has kept the bulk in Europe making travel far easier to control along with their existing bubbles. Maybe by the time we hit October or November things would have opened up far more so Vietnam hosting later on may actually even have visitors from all over the world flocking to the event.

The image at the top is a map of the two Nurbrgring courses. The one in blue was the original course back in the 1920's. It has been adapted and made a little safer since those days as it originally featured over 170 corners. I would love to see a Formula One race on this track but unfortunately for safety reasons we have the more boring type down highlighted in orange on the image.


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Today the old course is used by the public to test their vehicles and driving skills. Many of you may have seen the episode of Top Gear where a certain blonde woman named Sabine Schmitz who is well known and respected in the racing world took a panel van around the course overtaking other drivers in sports cars and motor bikes. She was challenged with breaking 10 minutes,but missed out by only 8 seconds. Sabine is the old tracks driving pro these days so she knows the track like the back of her hand.

The Formula One race circuit was the original track and in 1957 when Fangio after a terrible pit stop was lying in second place went on to break the lap record by 12 seconds for 3 consecutive laps and take the lead winning the race. He retired the following year saying that the course was the most challenging and nerve wracking of them all.

The only problem with the old track was that there was no more space to develop as it is in some cases right up against a mountain face. The FIA had to employ 5 times as many marshals to make the track safe enough to race. With increased interest by racing enthusiasts they didn't want spectators to not be able to see most of the race from a grandstand. Imagine seeing the leader every 4 or 5 minutes plus with the time allocation that would mean a 90 minute Grand Prix would be roughly 18 laps only.

It made sense to build a new course and why today's track built in 1984 is the correct track to use. Not only is it far safer but viewer friendly yet I would just like to see a championship decider on the old course. Who knows maybe Red Bull with their advertising campaign will put an old car around the course to get an idea of what it would be like. With all the down force generated it would be an epic lap to watch.



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