Rumours of a plan to build a replica of the Nordschleife in the Mojave desert have surfaced. But is it actually possible?






A recent interview with US race track tycoon Burton Smith, CEO of Speedway Motorsports - the company that runs the Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Infineon Raceway among others - revealed some possible new plans to construct an identical replica of the 13-mile Nurburgring Nordschleife... In the Mojave Desert just outside Las Vegas!

The idea behind the plan is to create a more stable test facility for manufacturers to develop cars, with the 'real' 'Ring falling pray to harsh winters, and varying weather at the best of times.

It does leave us wondering one thing though. Even if the mammoth project got the go-ahead, is it actually viable to re-create the 302m variation in altitude from the highest to the lowest point of the Nordschliefe in a flat desert? Only time will tell, but it sounds like a enormous engineering task.

 

It's exciting but at the same time I'd rather they build a track with an original design. Building a 'Ring clone means that it's doomed to fall short and not meet expectations. With all the space they have in the desert I'm sure they could come up with a great original design that uses ideas from tracks all over the world and ultimately build a unique track that's set to be one of the best, if not the best, in the world.

 

exactly. the goal could be to build one the same length, of equal challenge but I see no reason to not create a new design.

and take out all of the brickwalls.

 

the good thing about building an exact replica is that the drivers already know the track.

the bad thing about building an exact replica is that it will take a lot of business from the original track.

 

thats a bad thing ? what about the economy

 

I don't see how building an exact replica is financially viable. I talked to a few civil engineers I work with an a project like this would easily cost in the high 8 figures, 9 figures not being a stretch at all... Some how I doubt this guy has this much capitol... and it definitely won't be easy to find investors for this.

I think it'd be much more viable to create a new track thats 10-15 miles long that flows with the existing terrain rather than trying to replicate the 'ring... even that would still run deep into the 8 figures...

 

It would be freakin awesome though! I lived in Germany for 3 years, went and checked it out but didnt have my car them

 

agreed wasn't that the reasoning for the original ring to boost the economy and help unemployment? Why would it be bad to take business from Germany and bring it to Merica

 

Well, the way I see this is that America has a growing community of Car Enthusiasts. To support that community there will be more production vehicles made with those enthusiasts in mind. However, where do American Manufacturers test vehicles now and where can they test them in the future?

There are so many news stories about the GT86, M3, XFR being tested in the Nurburgring. It makes sense that the potential investors for this new ring would be Car Manufacturers. Global competition is escalating to a higher level with new manufacturers gaining traction in other markets. American Manufacturers traditionally have not pushed the envelope which is why they starting to make better cars now. Technology is changing constantly if what I think is high-tech right now then I cant imagine what will be high-tech in the ten years.

 

whats to stop them from testing on a track thats not an exact copy of the 'ring but is also as long and has similar elevation change? It'd be a **** ton less investment $$$ for the same results coming out of testing... and the American public may even respond better to a car developed on an American track rather than a copy of a German track in NV... not to mention thats what it will always be known as, the copy of the 'ring, kinda like that knock off rolex...

and the GT86 is Japanese, shipping to US or Germany prolly isn't that much different, M3 and XFR are European, much closer to Germany... most cars that are developed on the 'ring are European cars. Not many American cars are developed over there, and even then, most of the development is done over here and they take it there just for testing and some tweaking... If they wanna use 'ring times for advertising they'll still have to do it at the real one. If they wanna advertise that it was developed at the 'ring, they have to do it at the real one... I don't really picture a car ad that says "developed at the fake Nurburgring in Nevada"

A unique track designed with the same principles as the 'ring, maybe with a few similar features just makes more sense in every way...

 

This would be pretty sick!

 

road trip from detroit to nevada for this. no doubt MiEvo would be down lol