| Bend |
Translation |
Explanation |
Antoniusbuche |
Antonius'
Beech |
Named
after the huge beech tree which used to stand here. Legend says there
used to be a memorial at the foot of the tree dedicated to Saint Antonius.
St Antonius is the saint of lost things, so you'll find even non-religious
Germans appealing to him for help when they lose something. :-) |
| Tiergarten |
Animal
Garden |
A
pleasant-sounding name for a place where animals were buried. Various
versions have it as animals unfit to eat, the hunting animals of a
noble, the pets of a noble and horses which died in combat fighting
for the glory of Nurburg! Take your pick ... |
| Hohenrain |
Elevated
field-boundary |
A
'rain' is the boundary between two fields, and 'hohen' means that
the boundary is raised. |
| Schikane |
Chicane
... |
Doh!
This chicane was added to the circuit in 1967 to reduce the speed
of the cars as they passed the (then) pits. |
| T13 |
T13
:-) |
This
is named after the stadium block overlooking the bend. |
| Hatzenbach |
Hatzen
Brook |
A
small brook running just to the left of the track. Hatz is to drive,
so maybe a place where they used to hunt, driving the game to the
brook? |
| Hocheichen |
Great
oaks |
Some
large oak trees had to be cut down here to build this section of the
track |
| Quiddelbacher
Höhe (QH) |
Quiddlebach
Height |
The
highest point of the village of Quiddelbach |
| Flugplatz (FP) |
Airfield
('Flight place') |
Gliders
used to be launched from this hill, but many of us feel the literal
translation is the perfect description for the feeling you get on
this section of the track :-) |
| Schwedenkreuz (Sx) |
Swedish
Cross |
A
stone cross dating back to 1638, said to be a memorial to Hans Friedrich
Datenberg, mayor of Kelberg and tax-collector for Adenau, believed
killed by some deserters from the Swedish army. The cross fell down
and broke about a century ago and the surviving parts are now held
together with iron clamps. |
| Aremberg |
Arem
Mountain |
Named
after the nearby village and volcanic hill of the same name. 'Arem'
apparently isn't a word - maybe a local colloquialism? |
| Fuchsröhre (FR) |
Foxhole |
Apparently
a frightened fox dived into a drainpipe during the construction of
this section, and the workers named the section after it. |
| Adenauer
Forst (AF) |
Adenau
Forest |
The,
uh, forest near the town of Adenau ... |
| Metzgesfeld |
Metzges
field |
Where
the track crosses a field which has been so-named for reasons unknown,
but an 1860 map apparently calls it Mertgendsfeld so it may be a corruption
of a field belonging to someone called Mertgend. |
| Kallenhard |
Kallen
Forest |
Kallen
Forest. (In old German, '-hard' means a mountain forest. The origin
of Kallen is unknown. |
| - |
'Miss-Hit-Miss' |
Unofficial
English name for the triple-apex right-hander between Kallenhard and
Wehrseifen as that's the normal line to take the apexes - stay out
from the first, clip the second, drift out from the third. Germans
refer to it as Drei Rechte - three rights. Officially, I believe this
bend is part of the Kallenhard complex. |
| Wehrseifen |
Defense
valley |
'Wehr'
apparently loosely translates to defence, protection, that sort of
thing. The valley originally marked the boundary between the towns
of Adenau and Breidscheid (which have now effectively merged into
a single town). |
| Breidscheid |
A
wide forest clearing |
The
bend closest to the town of the same name. Told you they lacked imagination.
Breidscheid is the lowest point on the circuit. Two explanations have
been suggested. First, in older German a 'Scheideweg' means a junction
where one way splits into two, and 'Breit' means broad, so Breidscheid
may describe a place where a wide route splits. So effectively 'broad
junction'. Second, 'breit' still meaning broad and 'Scheid' means
a forest strip, so Breidscheid may mean a wide forest strip.
|
| Ex-Mühle |
Water
Mill |
Named
after the water mill which still stands here behind the ARAL petrol
station. 'Ex-' is from the French 'Aix', meaning waters. The original
plan had been to build the paddock here, but the mill owner refused
to sell the necessary land. Occasionally known as Junek Kurve after
the Czech racing driver Viktor Junek killed here in 1928. |
| Lauda-Linksknick |
Lauda
Left-kink |
Unofficial
name for the slight left-hander between Ex-Mühle and Berkwerk where
Niki Lauda had the horrendous crash that ended Formula 1 racing at
the Nordschleife. His car got out of shape here and ended up crashing
in flames into the armco at Berkwerk. Locals sometimes refer to this
as Grill Kurve ... |
| Bergwerk |
Mine
('Mountain work') |
Named
after the lead and silver mine worked here until around 1900 |
| Kesselchen |
Little
Valley |
Talkessel
means the bottom of a valley. 'Chen' is a diminutive, meaning little. |
Mutkurve
or
Angst Kurve |
Courage
Curve or
Fear Curve |
I
could never understand why this seemingly-innocuous bend was so-named
... until I'd gradually increased my speed to the point where you
start rapidly running out of tarmac as the outside of the bend curves
back in towards you! Ah, that would be the reason, then ... The correct
name for this bend is Mutkurve; Angst Kurve is just an English bastardisation
of the name. |
| Klostertal |
Convent
Valley |
There
used to be a convent ('kloster') here in the 14th Century, nestled
in the valley ('tal') |
| Karussell |
Carousel |
Obvious
once you've driven/ridden the famous 270-degree banked curve :-) The
banking was originally only there for drainage, with the bend going
around the top. Caracciola was the first driver to use it as a means
of carrying more speed through the bend, which is why it is now officially
known as the Caracciola-Karussell (but you won't ever hear anyone
use the full name - it's just too long!). |
| Hohe
Acht |
High
Lookout |
There
is a nearby mountain of the same name, the highest point in the Eifel
at 746.9m, but we've also heard that it's named after the high lookout
hut to be found here. 'Acht' is from 'Achtung', or attention, hence
'lookout'. Hohe (not Höhe) Acht is the second highest point on the
circuit, very slightly lower than the original start/finish at T13
(the bridge immediately after Shikane, next to the Grand Prix circuit).
See the Altitude Profile. |
| Hedwigshöhe |
Hedwig's
Height |
A
well-hidden sign on the right at the start of Wipperman. Dr Otto Creutz,
'father' of the Ring, named the bend after his wife, Hedwig. |
| Wippermann |
Seesaw
Man! |
This
section apparently used to be very bumpy before it was smoothed out.
Ok, so they had some imagination. |
| Eschbach |
Ash
Brook |
Yet
another bend named after a nearby brook, in turn apparently named
after one or more Ash trees ... |
| Brünnchen |
Little
Well |
This
section includes a bridge over a creek which used to supply the water
for the village of Herschbroich |
| Eiskurve |
Ice
Curve |
This
bend is mainly in shadow so tends to be the first bend to get ice
and the last bend to dry after rain |
Pflanzgarten
1 (PF1)
Pflanzgarten 2 (PF2)
|
Plant
Garden |
Named
after a plant nursery patronised by the counts of Nurburg. |
| Schwalbenschwanz |
Swallow
Tail |
The
builders apparently considered it to be the shape of a swallow's tail |
| Kleines
Karussell |
Little
Karussell |
A
slightly banked bend, also with concrete blocks, hence a little or
baby version of Karussell |
| Galgenkopf |
Gallow
Head/Hill |
The
site of a gallows where public executions used to take place back
in the midst of time. Kopf means 'head', but hills are often named
kopf, and if you ever want to frighten yourself, wander up there when
the Ring is closed and take a look over the armco to the left! |
| Döttinger
Höhe (DH) |
Döttingen
High |
The
high point near the village of Döttingen |