The Nürburgring Is For Sale, And We Want It

If you’ve never dreamed about owning your own race track, then you’re no petrolhead. But if you have, then your dreams might be about to come true. You might need a few wins on the Euromillions, mind.

The legendary Nürburgring, separator of men from boys and the bane of James May’s life, is up for sale for something in the region of £109 million. Everything from the F1-spec' grand prix circuit to the famous 14-mile Nordschleife ‘North Loop’ that Jackie Stewart called the ‘Green Hell’ is included in the sale.

Which, to us, seems like a bargain, given the earning potential enshrined within the annals of history that are forever linked with the circuit. Even ignoring the struggling modern Formula 1 track, the Nordschleife is a Mecca for car enthusiasts worldwide.

It’s the track once dominated by the likes of Juan Manuel Fangio, Alberto Ascari, Stirling Moss and Jim Clark. Nowadays, the circuit is used as a performance benchmarking venue. Even Hyundai is building a test centre on its doorstep. Pay a few shekels and thrash your car around the world’s most famous, and difficult, circuit? What’s not to like? Well, that depends on whether you end up picking the pieces of your broken car out of a crash barrier or not.

The Nürburgring has featured on Top Gear a few times, too. One of our favourites was the time Clarkson managed to pilot a diesel Jaguar S-Type around it in less than 10 minutes, sparking a challenge from 'Ring legend Sabine Schmitz that she could go faster in a van. Here’s a reminder of some classic squeaky bummage.

Even at this price, it’s unlikely that CT can nip out and pop a cheeky offer in. But think: if we can find just 109,000 drivers each with £1,000 to burn, it could be ours…