Nurburgring Just Banned Motorcycles From Tourist Laps

After many years of tourists in cars and motorcycles running fender-to-fender at full tilt around the Green Hell, the Nürburgring is effectively banning bikes on the famous Nordschleife. The decision is being presented in the name of safety, which is fair, but is a blow to the sport-riding motorcycle community, as a major opportunity for performance riding has just disappeared. It is the end of an era.

Instead of being able to run on the 21-kilometer Nordschleife (the super-long track most people think of when you say “Nürburgring”) at any time, motorcyclists will now only be able to ride the Green Hell “under the supervision of trained guides during training sessions and courses.” There will only be four such days scheduled for 2025. The Nürburgring’s Grand Prix track, a 5.148 loop at the same location, will still be open to tourist cars and motorbikes. As the ‘Ring’s site explains, the “long version in combination with the Nordschleife makes for a total Nürburgring track length of about 25 kilometers.”

My sport bike days are probably over, but I know some folks who’ve dreamed of a hot lap on the ‘Ring on two wheels and they’re going to be pretty bummed about this news. Based on the comments under the Nürburgring’s Facebook post announcing this, it looks like a lot of bikers are mad about being treated as “second-class citizens” as one person put it (translated from German).

In a practical sense, all riders probably will get a lot more out of a Nordschleife experience in the context of rider training than just going hog wild on their own. But the limited time slots and pricing of those courses are going to prohibit a lot of would-be riders from having the experience at all.

That said, while a big part of me hates to take the side against vehicular freedom, it’s not hard to understand why this decision was made. The risk-to-reward level of letting just anybody whip a motorcycle around the ‘Ring is far less favorable than it is for cars. An accident that might only result in dents on a car could mean death for a biker. While a car can spin into the grass and get itself going again, a biker going off is much more likely to result in an emergency services activation. And then, of course, there’s the financial factor. Nürburgring regular and motorsport writer Dale Lomas phrased it perfectly on his blog Bridge to Gantry today:

“This change is not just about safety. It’s about money AND safety. Of course it is. The Nürburgring, like most other circuits, is a business. (It’s actually pretty crazy to think that for nearly 75 years it was a nationalised state facility run for the benefit of the people). But like any business would, it’s moving away from the chaotic, unpredictable nature of the open sessions and towards a more managed, regulated model. This is not the first step in that direction, and I doubt it will be the last.”

I don’t think the ‘Ring will be closed to tourists entirely in the immediate future, but honestly, that nugget from Lomas has me thinking that if driving the Nordschleife is on your bucket list you might want to get to it sooner rather than later.

If you were planning to ride the Nordschleife, or want to understand exactly how you can do it under these new conditions, you can read the Nürburgring’s official no-more-bikes announcement on its site in English and German,

Have you driven on the Green Hell? Tell me about it, I’m at andrew.collins@thedrive.com

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