After the Rassrück section, the southern loop continued up the mountain – becoming increasingly steep as it went. Just before the “Scharfer Kopf” hill, the drivers faced a gradient of up to 17 per cent – the steepest section of the regular circuit, that is, the standard race track excluding the steep section leading to the Hohe Acht, which features gradients of up to 27 per cent.

Once this extreme gradient had been conquered, the track was laid around the Scharfer Kopf, which can be seen from the Grand Prix circuit. During construction work in this area, shards of urns were discovered – one of several sites where, whilst the track was being built, relics from long-past eras of the Eifel’s history came to light.

After the Scharfen Kopf, the track ran straight ahead for a while, though not on tarmac but on special concrete from kilometre 6 onwards. Shortly after a bridge, the back straight began, leading the drivers round the rear of the start-and-finish straight towards the back straight.

At the end of the back straight, the Nordkehre was built, from which drivers could head back onto the start-and-finish loop or towards the Hatzenbach section – we’ll be looking at this distinctive bend, as well as the first few kilometres of the Nordschleife, in the next instalment of this series.

ℹ️ The Nürburgring opened in 1927. On our #Roadto100 we will continue to look back on key milestones in our long history as we approach our big anniversary year!