After three years of uncertainty, the Nürburgring has finally been sold, and not to an American investment group as had been rumored, but instead to a German real estate development group: Capricorn Development.
Capricorn is said to have paid €77 million for the iconic race course and its surrounding facilities, with the Düsseldorf-based firm promising to pump another €25 million into the property once they take full-ownership of it on January 1, 2015.
Besides putting the Nürburgring in solid financial hands, motor enthusiasts should be pleased to hear that Capricorn plans on keeping the race course open to the public, and that the motorsports facility will be the focus of the property’s purpose (previous proposals hand all manners of non-motorsport uses in mind).
Capricorn Development hopes to create a technology and development park around the Nürburgring, something we have seen other track organizations do with some success (take Silverstone and Motorland Aragon, for example).
The hope is that by bringing commercial and industry players into the Nürburgring area, it will not only help bolster the local economy, but also create a mutually supportive economic zone for these businesses.
We shall see what that means in reality for the development group, especially as it tries to maintain marquis events like Formula 1 (which seem to always been a precarious state). For now though, with the public still able to ride the Nordschleife, the ‘Ring seems to be in good hands.
Source: AutoBlog
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