I recently stumbled across this Nordschleife guide on the Ringers forum and it really is well worth a read. Originally published in July 2003 by Sport Auto, in conjunction with BMW GmbH, it contains comprehensive corner by corner advice on the best lines and areas of caution. Keep in mind, that being 5 years old, some of the comments in this guide that relate to the condition of the track may no longer be accurate, so it will be best to use this as a general guide rather than a definitive rule book.

A couple of other points of caution. This guide is giving an ideal racing line, if you’re tackling the Nordscheliefe on a regular Touristenfahrten open day you will be best advised to sacrifice the ideal line if it means giving way to faster traffic approaching from behind (remembering the ‘overtake on left’ rule). It is probably a good suggestion to have a read of Ben Lovejoy’s sobering warning page on his excellent nurburgring.org.uk website. The BMW guide, too, has personal safety in mind and has various warning phrases throughout, here are a few:

• Please work towards your own personal upper limit step by step!
• On Fuchsröhre: it is important to explore potential intelligently here!
• On Kallenhard: Front-wheel drive cars will tend to understeer heavily here – dramatically so in rain – while rear-wheel drive vehicles can be beautifully guided out with the throttle.
• On Breidscheid: The bridge at Breidscheid marks the lowest point of the Nürburgring Nordschleife – and the lowest point of brake performance, since the long downhill stretch from Metzgesfeld to Breidscheid heats up the brakes considerably. This should be taken into account at least in regular road cars when flying towards the bridge – and wall – at 180 km/h.
• On the Karussell: Be careful on the exit: if you accelerate too much on the bend, you will be forced out in the final third. Be especially
• careful in the afternoon: a low sun blinds you on the approach.
• On Antoniusbuche: The Nordschleife raises a warning finger once again!

If you would like to download this guide, in PDF format, you can do so by clicking the link below.
The Nordschleife line: Presented by BMW GmbH (28pp PDF, approx 3mb)

Sample pages (clickable thumbnails)