A Driver’s Eye View Of Hurtling The 1937 Mercedes W125 GP Car Through The Nurburgring

We all know of the Nurburgring, the fearsome 14 mile grand prix built in the mid 1920s in the Eiffel Mountains and used for the German Grand Prix until 1976. But what did it look like to drive before the safety was brought to a standard that at least supports modern track day and testing use? Let’s see, with Hermann Lang and Graham Hill, under the watchful eye of Alfred Neubauer.

I’ll let the video and the commentary do the talking, and will just quickly summarise. The full 1927-1982 Nurburgring (or the ‘Ring to many) is, by Grand Prix standards very long at over 14 miles, with over 180 identified corners and curves, as well as substantial altitude changes. The Grand Prix lap record for the full circuit 8min 24 sec, set by Jim Clark in a Lotus in 1965, three years before he sadly joined the Nurburgring’s long list of racing fatalities. Jackie Stewart says “When I left home for the German Grand Prix I always used to pause at the end of the driveway and take a long look back. I was never sure I’d come home again” and named the circuit The Green Hell or Die Grüne Hölle after his victory at the 1968 Grand Prix in rain and fog, when he finished 4 minutes ahead of Graham Hill.

Lang was born in 1909 and raced with the Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix team from 1935 to 1939, before the Grand Prix series was named Formula 1. He won  other championship events in Tripoli and at the Avus circuit before winning five grand prix  including the Belgian Grand Prix, the Pau Grand Prix, the Swiss Grand Prix and his third consecutive Tripoli Grand Prix. He is widely considered one of the great drivers of his era, and after WWII continued racing for both Mercedes-Benz, including winning Le Mans in 1954, and for Maserati in what was now Formula 1.

Neubauer was perhaps the most prominent and successful Grand Prix team manager of his era, which ran from 1926 to 1955. His achievements and those of his team were immense and legendary; staying in post for 30 years shows that.

Graham Hill was an example of the old school Formula 1 driver; he started as a mechanic with Team Lotus after a career in lower formulae, as had Lang, and only graduated the car at the age of 32. It took three seasons to get a podium and in 1962 he took the (initially) unfancied BRM to the championship. He went to win the championship with again Lotus in 1968, the Indianapolis 500 in 1966 and Le Mans in 1972, being the only driver to have that “Triple Crown” to his name, and won the Monaco Grand Prix five times. Don’t overlook Graham Hill.

This was filmed in 1960 and presumably edited in slow time. Hill may not sound like a time pressed competitive racing driver, but in the car he was.   Outside the car he was just as competitive at letting his hair down , and a first class story teller and raconteur. But you just know the competitive juices flowed strongly, as he returned to driving in 1969 after breaking both legs at Watkins Glen and started his own team after he retired from driving. Hill died in an aircraft accident in 1975 and his son, Damon, followed in his footsteps, as Formula 1 World Champion in 1996.

The German Grand Prix is now back at the Nurburgring, but on the shorter, safer and much more contemporary GP-Strecke (Großer Preis-Strecke or Grand Prix Course). The old Nordschleife (northern loop) is still in use, for track days and testing. But, thankfully, not for the Grand Prix.