Car-racing in the Eifel mountains started early, and the idea of a permanent racingtrack soon grew. In 1922 Konrad Adenauer (who after the war became Bundeskanzler/chancellor of West Germany), at the time lord mayor of Köln (Cologne) became enthusiastic about motor sport. When a plan to create a track in Cologne came to nothing, attention was turned to the nearby Eifel region. Up until 1926 already four Eifelrennen had been run on the roads around Nideggen close to Schleiden. One day, a certain Hans Weidenbrück from Bonn (at the time a hunting leasholder in the Nürburg area) came up with the idea that a perfect racing circuit could be created around Nürburg. In Dr. Otto Creutz, Landrat in the area, he found the perfect builder. Konrad Adenauer contributed money from the local government, as did the city of Koblenz. The German government came up with the rest of the money, and made the building of the Ring a relief program during the depression to provide work for the countless unemployed in the poor Eifel region.
In 1925 the first 60 workers arrived, and for the next two years more then 3000 men worked with shovel and axe. On the 18th of June 1927 their work was complete - Nordschleife 22.81 km, Südschleife 7.45 km, Start- und Zielschleife 2.24 km. Together 28.265 km. Up to 13 bends per kilometer, 174 altogether. Rising and falling. The longest plane straight one km, and with different pavement around the track.On the first race, more than 15000 people came to watch. Only a handful could afford to arrive by car or motorbike, and the organizers arranged for extra trains and buses. The small roads leading to the rack soon became jammed and all traffic stopped. People had to walk the last bit to finally reach the track.
110 motorcycles showed up at the start. Both ordinary machines and those with side-cars. Punctures and accidents accounted for a lot of the retirements in the race. Finally Toni Bauhofer stood as winner with his BMW.
The next day, the 19 June 1927 the racing- and sports-car race took place. Among the starters was three supercharger Mercedes, with the mechanic in the passenger seat. Rudolf Caracciola in car no 1, took a superior win, with an average speed of 96 km/h. Caracciola described the track as the most difficult roller coaster in the world.
The opening race turned out a success for the organizers, and already the following month the Grosser Preis von Deutschland took place, covering 18 laps with a total of over 500 km.
Hatzenbach - A small creek, flowing left of the track.
Hocheichen - During the time the Ring was built, there were big oak-woods, which had to be cut-down to build the track.
Quiddelbacher Höhe - A hill above the village "Quiddelbach" which is placed within the Ring. It is the famous steep uphill jump before Flugplatz, where Manfred Winkelhock had a spectacular crash (the car somersaulted backwards, Manfred walked away unharmed) in a Formula 2 car back in 1981
Flugplatz - A airfield for sailing planes used to be left of the track behind the double right hand corners after the jump at Quiddelbacher Höhe.
Schwedenkreuz - Old way-cross of 1638. The term has its base in the 30-year-war (1618-1648), but is not directly connected to the Swedish Army, which regularly occupied the Eifel area until 1634. The cross of stone, standing directly at the right side of the track, reminds the murder of a tax-collector, perhaps done by some deserted former Swedish soldiers. The cross fell down about 100 years ago and broke into pieces. The resurrected parts are now fixed with iron clamps.
Arembergkurve - Called after the "Arem-Berg" and the town "Aremberg", which are situated north-west from the curve.
Fuchsröhre - 'Foxpipe'. During the building of the track, a frightened fox fled into a drain-pipe. The workers then gave the section it's name. Called 'Foxhole' in England.
Adenauer Forst - A forest near/above the town "Adenau".
Metzgesfeld - Here, the track crosses a bigger field with that name. The origin of that at least 200-years-old plain-description is unknown. In a map from 1860 the plain-description "Mertgendsfeld" can be found. It could be the field of the family "Mertgends". Afterwards, for simplifying reasons, the plain-description was renamed to "Metzgesfeld".
Kallenhard - Near the track, there are a lot of plain-descriptions ending in -hard or -hardt. They point to a forest on a hill. This "Hard" is called after the creek "Kallenbach", which runs near the track.
Wehrseifen - "Wehr" means defense in general, not only in the military sense, but also like in "Feuerwehr" (fire fighting). A "Seifen" is a moist valley. The "Wehrseifen" was some sort of frontier between the towns "Adenau" and "Breidscheid". Actually, there were a frontier-stone, marking the border. Nowadays, both villages have grown together.
Breidscheid - After the town "Breidscheid".
Exmühle - The "Ex" is a small creek there, and there is still the "Ex" lake on the left side of the track leading to Bergwerk. The "Exmühle" was a water mill, so the proper name would be "Ex-Exmühle". The track- builders wanted to build the start- and finish-buildings here in the little valley after the steep uphill right hander. But the owner of the mill refused to give away the necessary grounds. The curve was also called the "Junek-Kurve", named after Czech driver Viktor Junek, who died here after his accident in 1928.
Lauda-Linksknick (Lauda Leftkink)- Between Exmühle and Bergwerk is the fast lefthander where Niki Lauda had his infamous crash in 1976. Not an official track section, but refered to by Helmut Dähne in his famous onboard-motorbike video of his 7.49min record lap, where he says "the Niki Lauda kink ...full throttle is the way to take it"
Bergwerk - Up to ~1900 there were a lead- and silver-mine, which had to be closed after water break-ins and unreantability. The adits still exist, and are partly situated under the track.
Kesselchen - The name was created during the building of the track, because the track runs through a valley ("Talkessel" in german, or "valley pot")
Klostertal - In the 14th century, there were a Johanniter-orderly. Some say, in the grass, the shape of the convent can still be seen.
Steilstreckenkurve - Here is the beginning of the "Steilstrecke", which is leading directly up to "Hohe Acht", and which was formerly used to test the hill climbing ability of automobiles. It has an ascent of 27%!!! The surface consists of 35cm x 35cm concrete-plates. It is said that some cars (in car-tests) have tumbled over backwards because of their high center of gravity. The race track of course turns sharply right there, leading upwards to Karussell.
Karussell - Named after the caroussel-like steep-oval, which is concrete since 1932.
Hohe Acht - Named after the near mountain "Hohe Acht", which is the highest mountain in the Eifel (746,9m).
Hedwigshöhe - Just behind the Hohe Acht turn, hidden on the right side of the track among branches, is the most overlooked official name sign of the Ring. Named after Hedwig Creutz, the wife of Landrat Dr. Creutz, who is the "father" of the Ring. She used to sit there, watching the ongoing work.
Wippermann - Here, there used to be many bumps on the track. "Wipp" is local dialect for bumps, while "man" is a personalized expression for something. Bus-drivers feared the "Wipps", because their bus could get stuck on the track. Wippermann has been rendered more harmless twice, and is rather smooth nowadays.
Eschbach - Named after the creek "Eschbach" and after the town "Herresbach-Eschbach".
Brünnchen - Little well. Near the track, there is a small creek, and the track leads over it with a bridge. From here, the village "Herschbroich" was supplied with water around the turn of the century.
Eiskurve - This curve is mostly in shadows, so there was the first place of the track, where could be ice. Or, if it had rained, the track dried very slow here.
Pflanzgarten - The earls of Nürburg had their gardens, fields and tree-schools here.
Schwalbenschwanz - The track-builders created this name in 1926. From the bird-view, this section looks like the tail of a swallow. The "Schwalbenschwanz" is also called the "kleine Karussell", because of its concrete steep-oval.
Galgenkopf - Here, the earls of Nürburg had their execution-place and their gallows, where public executions took place. A "Kopf" is a natural lace in the area. Formerly, the "Galgenkopf" was even higher, but it has been removed during the construction, to gain "Basalt".
Döttinger Höhe - The high plains up there, named after the village "Döttingen"
Antoniusbuche - Named after a huge beech-tree. Some say, that there was a small altar at the bottom of the tree, which was dedicated to the holy Antonius. The tree stood left of the track (today, there is a cross of stone), and was cut down 1935, when the B258 (road) was built. Even before that, the farmers feared, that the tree, which was enormously thick, could fall, and block their main trade-route.
Tiergarten - Horses, cows and other animals, which after accidents couldn't be "used" for slaughter anymore, have been buried near the track. So, "Tierfriedhof" (Animal cemetery) would have been more fitting.
Hohenrain - A "Rain" is a grass-covered field-border, a frontier between two fields. A high "Rain" (Hohenrain) is a higher situated field-border, a hill.
