Nürburgring To Dismantle Roller Coaster, Finally Ending 16-Yr Boondoggle

While the Nürburgring is one of the vital recognizable race tracks on the planet, the legendary German venue has continually struggled to stay financially solvent. The Nürburgring is now dismantling Ring Racer, the problem-plagued roller coaster that was initially built to be the fastest on the earth. The coaster was a component of the ambitious 2009 expansion to attract tourists to the track year-round, which led to the track’s bankruptcy just just a few years later.

The Nürburgring is tearing down the primary section before the launch, Motorsport-Total reports. Ring Racer was a $15 million Formula 1-themed coaster, so aptly the ride’s track would zig-zag because it rolled off like an F1 automobile warming its tires on a formation lap. The coaster would then stop at a launch point parallel to the start-finish straight. A pneumatic system was designed to blast the coaster to 100 miles per hour in under two seconds. Nevertheless, this technique would speed up the ride’s demise. In September 2009, the system exploded during a test, injuring seven people and blowing out the windows of nearby buildings.

The technical issues with the coaster were only complicated by the track’s financial problems. The Nürburgring filed for bankruptcy in 2012. The state government of Rhineland-Palatinate, the track’s then-owner, made the choice because a $16 million aid deal from the European Union was set to be denied, in keeping with Der Spiegel. Ring Racer would eventually open in 2013, but only operated for 4 days before shutting down for good. The track was ultimately sold to Russian billionaire Viktor Kharitonin in 2014.

While the Nürburgring continues to be the positioning of lap records and tourist lap chaos, the track is not any longer a lynchpin of the international motorsport calendar. Its 24-hour race is the one marquee annual event. The last F1 German Grand Prix was held there in 2013. The FIA World Endurance Championship’s visit to the track was in 2017. Track management is now focused on its partnership with automakers who test on the 12.9-mile Nordschleife. Ring Racer is being dismantled to reconfigure the Ring Werk, the previous indoor theme park, into an exhibition space that may be rented to the track’s partners. Despite the Nürburgring’s history, it’s just far too expensive to bring championships to the venue.