The world of motorsport always knew that the Nurburgring was a dangerous place to drive, ever since the track opened initially but it seems like only after Niki Lauda crashed and literally burned on the track some alarm signals were pulled.
Ever since that day back in 1976 the world knew the track as the Green Hell and Formula 1 events were forbidden on it. Even so, the death and injury toll is still higher on the Nurburgring than on any other track around the world.
It’s a valuable lesson to keep in mind, as the driver of this BMW E92 M3 nearly found out. The tricky bit about the Green Hell track is that it’s not all flat like most circuits, allowing you perfect visibility. No, this demon has hills and creases and tight corners going up and down and it’s really not a place to play around.
Most guys that drive on it on the regular learn it by heart and go all out even in the worst visibility conditions but sometimes, it might not be all up to them to get home safely.
In the video below, a more unexperienced driver of a Mazda MX-5 crashes on the crest of a hill, right on the racing line. With low to no visibility, the E92 M3 driver coming up from behind has almost no ground to bring his car to a complete halt.
In this scenario, for example, braking hard is completely useless as no brakes in the world would bring you to a complete stop in that little space. The car was probably doing around 100 mph (160 km/h) as far as we can tell from the gauges mounted right in front of the gearshift lever and stopping from that speed in a couple of feet is downright impossible.
Therefore, his reflexes kicked in and with absolute cold blood we managed to avoid the crash, going around the little MX-5 and probably saving both his and the other driver’s lives.
This might seem like a situation you can encounter only on the track but in reality, such cases happen on public roads all the time and too many people rely only on their brakes to avoid accidents. That’s why there are special driving schools out there that teach you when to break and when to swerve clear off. In some cases, this difference could save you and your loved ones.
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