Gradient of altitude

The course of the Nürburgring Nordschleife with height differences of up to 300 meters:

Another special feature of the Nürburgring Nordschleife is the enormous difference in altitude of around 300 metres.

The highest points of the course are located at the T13 grandstand and the Hohe Acht. Here, a height of about 620 m above zero is reached. The deepest section with about 320 m above zero is at Breidscheid. In between there are gradients of up to 18% between the Caracciola Carousel and the High Eight and gradients of up to 11% in the Fuchsröhre.

The 450 m long steep section with 27 % gradient is still in good condition. However, it has not been used for racing or tourist trips for many years.

With these inclines and declines, the Nordschleife places very high demands on the engine and especially on the brakes. Especially road vehicles with standard equipment, as they are often used for tourist trips, can quickly reach their limits here. In addition to a regular check of the cooling water or engine temperature display, sufficient reserve should therefore be taken into account, especially with regard to the brakes. Series brakes can quickly overheat after repeated hard braking before curves and long downhill brake passages. This can then lead to a sudden and unexpected loss of braking power, which will inevitably lead to serious problems if you accelerate quickly before the next corner. The fact that an overheated brake can also cause permanent damage to the brake discs is probably the lesser of two evils.

 

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