Nürburgring Nordschleife track guide with photo locations

The Nordschleife operates in a clockwise direction, and was formerly known for its abundance of sharp crests, causing fast-moving, firmly-sprung racing cars to jump clear of the track surface at many locations. In only two years, engineers drew up a 23.8 km circuit, which could be used in different versions. 25,000 persons were hired to construct the racetrack from 1925 to 1927. It features a Grand Prix race track built in 1984, and a much longer Nordschleife "North loop" track which was built in the 1920s around the village and medieval castle of Nürburg in the Eifel mountains. The north loop is 20.8 km long and has more than 300 meters of elevation change from its lowest to highest points. Jackie Stewart nicknamed the old track "The Green Hell".

The first motorcycle race on 18 June 1927 was won by Toni Ulmen with an English 350 cc Velocette on the new track. Just one day later, Rudolf Caracciola was the first driver to win a motorcar race at the Nürburgring or The Eifel Race as they called it. Originally, the track featured four configurations: the 28.265 km long Gesamtstrecke "Whole Course", which in turn consisted of the 22.810 km Nordschleife "North Loop", and the 7.747 km Südschleife "South Loop".

In 1953, the ADAC 1000 km Nürburgring race was introduced, an Endurance race and Sports car racing event that counted towards the World Sportscar Championship for decades. The 24 Hours Nürburgring for touring car racing were added in 1970. Several touring car series still compete on the Nordschleife, using either only the simple 20.8 km version with its separate small pit lane, or a combined 24.4 km long track that uses a part of the original modern F1 track plus its huge pit facilities. Two racing series (RCN/CHC and VLN) compete on 15 Saturdays each year, for several hours. The annual highlight is the 24 Hours Nürburgring weekend, held usually in mid-May, featuring about 220 cars. From small 100 HP cars to 700 HP Turbo Porsches or 500 HP factory race cars built by BMW, Opel, Audi, and Mercedes-Benz, and up to 290,000 spectators.

A favorite spectator vantage point, the Brünnchen section is composed of two right-hand corners and a very short straight. The first corner goes sharply downhill and the next, after the very short downhill straight, goes uphill slightly. This is a section of the track where on public days accidents happen, particularly at the blind uphill right-hand corner. Like almost every corner at the Nürburgring, both right-handers are blind. The short straight used to have a steep and sudden drop-off that caused cars to take off and a bridge that went over a pathway; these were taken out and smoothed over when the circuit was rebuilt in 1970 and 1971. It's a large popular viewing area with refreshments and a camping site. You can really smell Motorsport here! Everywhere are fire pits, BBQ's and fans cheering on their favorite with a beer in hand.

How to get there:
Navigate to Parkplatz Brünnchen. It is a huge parking lot where you have to pay. Once you have paid, you can park in any parking space around the circuit. You have arrived in Brünnchen and left the car. Cross the road to the car park and campsite on the other side of the road. You can just walk on this terrain and you will immediately arrive at the circuit.

If you walk to the left across the parking lot to the spot near the trees, you can take overview photos that the cars are coming towards you.
You can also walk straight ahead upon arrival. You then walk to the bend where the cars come towards you at a decent speed. You can pan here, take an overview photo and have plenty of action.

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Follow the route to Brünnchen as described above. Walk straight ahead as you arrive at the parking lot. Pass the Brünnchen bend to the right and you keep following this sandy path. You walk directly along the track and after a few hundred meters you arrive at Eschbach.

This is a tricky point in terms of photography, because there are fences all around. There are a few peep holes which you can use, or pan directly through the fences if you are a bit more experienced. If you succeed, you can create photos with a lot of speed and the beautiful wooded area in the background.

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To get here you can follow the route to Brünnchen as described above. After you have left the parking lot and crossed the road, walk straight ahead. You pass the bend you are now descending on the right, and you keep following this sandy path. You walk directly along the track, so you can keep track of the race. You clearly notice the difference in height here, because you also have to go up a hill yourself. Once at the top of the hill you can photograph the cars straight from the front as they come out of the corner from Wippermann. However, it is also possible to photograph the cars from the back, which can be quite difficult with the position of the sun.

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Follow the route to brunnchen, then walk via Eschbach and Wippermann along the track as described above. Once you are at Wippermann you are already looking in the direction of Hohe Acht. Walk past Wippermann for about 300 meters along the track to get to Hohe Acht.

At this point you can take two different photos. First the cars come from the Caracciola-Karussell at high speed and you can photograph them far away from you in the bend. This is a nice picture with the typical background that you only find on the Nordschleife.

In addition, they come at you when they send the corner down. There is a good chance that you will get a picture of several cars together here, and spectacular pictures of cars that are full of curbstones.

Finally, you can also walk slightly past the corner, so that you can photograph the cars from the back in the same corner. You have a good chance that one wheel will come off the asphalt.

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The famous banked corner at the Nurburgring Nordschleife. From the car park at Brunnchen there is a path alongside the track that leads to Hohe Acht. Follow this track for 20 minutes, you will pass Wipperman, Hedwigs Hohe and arrive at Hohe Acht. From that point you follow the track in the opposite direction to the traffic and walk down the hill for 10 minutes. Keep to the left and you will automatically arrive at the site of the Caracciola-Karussell.

Ofcourse there are high fences all around, but it's not that hard take photos through them. Sometimes you can use objects in the environment. Think of waste bins or a trailer that you can stand on. I always find it useful to bring your own stool, so that you can stand on something at any time. Personally, I think it is better to have a low position and I therefore advise you to just stay standing or even lower a little. The pictures you can take here are at the beginning, the middle and the exit of the corner. Enough variation on a short stretch.

Although being one of the slowest corners on the Nordschleife, the Karussell is perhaps its most famous and one of its most iconic- it is one of two berm-style, banked corners on the track. Soon after the driver has negotiated the long uphill section after Bergwerk and gone through a section called Klostertal (Monastery Valley), the driver turns right through a long hairpin, past an abandoned section called Steilstrecke (Steep Route) and then goes up another hill towards the Karrusell. The entrance to the corner is blind, although Juan Manuel Fangio is reputed to have advised a young driver to "aim for the tallest tree". Once the driver has reached the top of the hill, the road then becomes sharply banked on one side and level on the other. This banking drops off, rather than climbing up like most bankings on circuits. The sharply banked side has a concrete surface, and there is a tarmac surface on the bottom of the banking for cars to get extra grip through the very rough concrete banking. Cars drop into the concrete banking, and keep the car in the corner until the road levels out and the concrete surface becomes tarmac again. Usually cars come out of the top of the end of the banking to hit the apex that comes right after the end of the Karrusell. The combination of a recognizable corner, slow-moving cars, and the variation in viewing angle as cars rotate around the banking, means that this is one of the circuit's most popular locations for photographers. It is named after German pre-WWII racing driver Rudolf Caracciola, who reportedly made the corner his own by hooking the inside tires into a drainage ditch to help his car "hug" the curve. As more concrete was uncovered and more competitors copied him, the trend took hold.

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Bergwerk has been responsible for some serious and sometimes fatal accidents and for that reason could be the most notorious corner on the track. The turn does not look very exciting at first, but it is therefore dangerous. A fast tight right corner that comes just after a long fast part with a small nod to the left at the top.

This was the place where Carel Godin de Beaufort crashed fatally, but also the place where Niki Lauda had his Formula 1 accident in 1976 where his car was completely on fire. Because of that accident, this kink is often referred to as the Lauda-Links.

Due to the fast and long uphill section after Bergwerk in the direction of Kesselchen (Little Valley) it is an important section on the circuit. The section, together with Breidscheid and the Adenauer bridge in front of it, is a series of turns that will make or break your lap time on the Norschleife.

There is a viewing platform to stand on for spectators, including photographers. This vantage point is very easy to find and is close to the track, but as it is under trees it is usually darker than most other vantage points on the ring.

To get here, navigate to Bergwerk. Via the L10 from Adenau you will get a small parking lot on your right. You can park your car there and walk to this point via a small road. However, many people take a turn later and park their car there because it is closer.

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Ex-Mühle is the bridge over the road at Adenau, and you have to go underneath it. This part of the circuit goes all the way to Bergwerk. Navigate to Breidscheid and after you passed the bridge follow the road for a couple of meters and park your car at the supermarket. You are now at the inside part of the track, where you will find a stairs next to the bridge. Climb the steps to a large viewing area.

This was once the first place I came to Nurburgring and so I have special memories of. The moment you are at the top of the stairs you can already see the circuit on the same level. The asphalt with the grafiti is a beautiful backdrop in the wooded area around Adenau.

The cars come straight at you here at high speed from Wehrseifen. Freezing your photo is therefore not surprising here, since you do not see this speed back. You can also walk a bit along the track and turn around. You have the option to pan and also to photograph the cars from behind as they cross the bridge. I don't think the latter is a pretty picture with the dirty gray walls that are there.

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Follow the same direction as told above with Ex-Mühle / Breitscheider Brücke guide. Walk under the bridge and up the steps to the viewing area at Breidscheid. Then walk up the path alongside the track for about a few minutes. Wehrseifen is a hairpin bend before Breidscheid wich is going down al the time. You can see the cars leave Kallenhard and take a small turn to the right before they drive underneath you.

From the highest point it is possible to get the cars in the picture if they take the kink to the right. However, this is quite a distance, so you cannot make it with less than 200mm.

It is better to take pictures of the cars that pass in the hairpin below you. Angled from the front is an option, but it is also cool to photograph the moment of steering from above. When you have the settings on your camera right, you can see the driver's face, as well as his helmet and gloves on the handlebars.

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Kallenhard is a fast turn to the right where you can pan well. There is a small tunnel under the circuit to get here, but it is also within walking distance of Wehrseifen, which is much easier.

From the point mentioned above you continue the path along the circuit. At some point you get a junction, where you have to keep the low point on the right. You are now walking past the fences and the bushes. Follow this path for a few hundred meters to get to the bend. You also have the option to pan along the way.

I myself would not go here separately for this point, but in combination with the route from Wehrseifen to Metzgesfeld it is a nice addition.

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Metzgesfeld is really in a beautiful setting and is the highest point of this route. You can recognize this point by a huge pole that is probably used to transmit TV / radio signals.

Where you have walked around in the woods all the time, you now come to an open plain. From Adenauer Forst, the cars will come towards you through a gentle left turn. There are wide grass run-off areas next to the track.

So you can take great pictures here with the option to freeze the image. However, the cars still make a sharp left turn on the way to Kallenhard. You can easily pan the cars from a low point of view and also capture something of the environment so that you get attractive pictures.

If you don't want to walk through the beautiful surroundings for more than half an hour like me and then get lost, it is advisable to take the same way back down from this point.

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If you like walking and you love nature, you should navigate to Adenauer Forst in Google Maps. It is even easier to go to Kallenbachstraße. You will end up at the Hocheifel Realschule Plus mit Fachoberschule where you can easily park your car. First check whether the gate next to the school is open, because then you can drive up. If it is closed, you will have to walk the rest.

There is a path to the right of the school. Walk this for about 700 meters, going up all the time. At some point you automatically end up at Adenauer Forst.

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I have read several things about how to get here, but I always navigate to Parking Quiddelbacher height myself. This parking lot is small but usually you have space. You will find this parking lot as you go under the circuit.

Leave the car and walk about 400 meters along the circuit on a dirt track to get to Hatzenbach. It's a short hike, but well worth the effort to get to the viewpoint.

This corner is a fast right left right combination which is always spectacular. You have enough space here to take different photos with different points of view.

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