Man reveals the truth about driving around the Nürburgring as a car lover

Published on Jun 05, 2025 at 6:58 PM (UTC+4)
by Alessandro Renesis

Last updated on Jun 05, 2025 at 6:58 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by Emma Matthews

Anybody can drive around Germany’s Nürburgring Nordschleife race track, or ‘Green Hell’, as some people call it.

You can do it with your own car, or you can rent a car while you’re there.

There are a few rules, and even more catches.

We’ve done it, and this is what it was like to drive around the ‘Ring as a car lover.

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Broadly speaking, anybody with a driver’s license can drive around Germany’s Nürburgring Nordschleife, the section of the track that people also call the Green Hell.

And, again, generally speaking, there aren’t that many things to bear in mind.

It all boils down to a lot of common sense. Basically, there’s only one simple rule: bear right and let anybody faster than you overtake you.

Translated, they don’t want you to race other drivers around the track, and for good reason.

This is for your safety, but also for your wallet.

This is something else to bear in mind, because only you, the driver, is solely responsible for any damage to yourself or your car, of course. But you’re also responsible for what happens to the track.

If you overdo it and damage a wall, for example, the Nürburgring will send you a bill for it, and it won’t be cheap.

This is one of many reasons why they call it Green Hell.

With that in mind, another thing that people might be interested in knowing is that the track is a lot longer than you think.

Obviously, everybody is already aware of the fact that the track is long – even ultra-fast cars with pro drivers at the wheel take up to six or seven minutes to complete a lap.

But it hits differently when you actually drive around it.

You should settle in for the long drive – about a quarter of an hour or longer – and this brings us on to the other thing you don’t realize until you actually do it.

This is a very fast track, and unless you’re at the wheel of a very fast car, everything else will feel slow.

In any other scenario, a Suzuki Swift Sport, which is what we drove, would feel quite nippy and fun, but it feels like a tortoise around the Nürburgring Nordschleife.

This brings us on to the catch-22 of this track experience.

Because this is a fierce and dangerous track, which leaves you with two options.

You can either take a fast car around it, and it’ll be dangerous, or you can take a slow car around it, which’ll be relatively safe but duller than you think.

It’s still worth it, though.

If nothing else, this is one of those things people do just so they can say they’ve done it.

And why not? It’s a lot of fun.

user

Experienced content creator with a strong focus on cars and watches. Alessandro penned the first-ever post on the Supercar Blondie website and covers cars, watches, yachts, real estate and crypto. Former DriveTribe writer, fixed gear bike owner, obsessed with ducks for some reason.