Editing Nürburgring (section)

===1971–1983: Changes===
[[File:Map of Nurburg.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Relative location of the Nürburgring (around Nürburg, not to scale)]]
In accordance with the demands of the F1 drivers, the ''Nordschleife'' was reconstructed by taking out some bumps, smoothing out some sudden jumps (particularly at Brünnchen), and installing [[Traffic barrier|Armco]] safety barriers. The track was made straighter, following the race line, which reduced the number of corners. The [[German GP]] could be hosted at the Nürburgring again, and was for another six years from 1971 to 1976.

In 1973 the entrance into the dangerous and bumpy Kallenhard corner was made slower by adding another left-hand corner after the fast Metzgesfeld sweeping corner. Safety was improved again later on by removing the jumps on the long main straight and widening it. They also took away the bushes right next to the track at the main straight, which had made that section of the Nürburgring dangerously narrow. A second series of three more F1 races was held until 1976. However, primarily due to its length of over {{convert|22|km|mi|abbr=on}}, and the lack of space due to its situation on the sides of the mountains, increasing demands by the F1 drivers and the FIA's CSI commission were too expensive or impossible to meet. For instance, by the 1970s the German Grand Prix required five times the marshals and medical staff as a typical F1 race, something the German organizers were unwilling to provide. Additionally, even with the 1971 modifications it was still possible for cars to become airborne off the track. The Nürburgring was also unsuitable for the burgeoning television market; its vast expanse made it almost impossible to effectively cover a race there. As a result, early in the season it was decided that [[1976 German Grand Prix|the 1976 race]] would be the last to be held on the old circuit.

[[Niki Lauda]], the reigning world champion and only person ever to lap the full {{convert|22.835|km|mi|abbr=on|adj=on}} ''Nordschleife'' in under seven minutes (6:58.6, 1975), proposed to the other drivers that they boycott the circuit in 1976. Lauda was not only concerned about the safety arrangements and the lack of marshals around the circuit, he also did not like the prospect of running the race in another rainstorm. Usually when that happened, some parts of the circuit were wet and other parts were dry, which is what the conditions of the circuit were for that race. The other drivers voted against the idea and the race went ahead. Lauda crashed in his Ferrari coming out of the left-hand kink before Bergwerk after a new magnesium component (lighter but more fragile than aluminum used until then) on his Ferrari's rear suspension failed. He was badly burned as his car was still loaded with fuel in lap 2. Lauda was saved by the combined actions of fellow drivers [[Arturo Merzario]], [[Guy Edwards]], [[Brett Lunger]], [[Emerson Fittipaldi]] and [[Harald Ertl]].

The crash also showed that the track's distances were too long for regular fire engines and ambulances, even though the "[[Deutscher Motor Sport Bund|ONS]]-Staffel" was equipped with a [[Porsche 911]] rescue car, marked (R). The old Nürburgring never hosted another F1 race again, as the German Grand Prix was moved to the [[Hockenheimring]] for 1977. The [[German motorcycle Grand Prix]] was held for the last time on the old Nürburgring in 1980, also permanently moving to Hockenheim.

By its very nature, the ''Nordschleife'' was impossible to make safe in its old configuration. It soon became apparent that it would have to be completely overhauled if there was any prospect of Formula One returning there - the Nürburgring's administration and race organizers were not willing to provide the enormous expense of providing the number of marshals needed for a Grand Prix - up to six times the amount that most other circuits needed. With this in mind, in 1981 work began on a {{convert|4.556|km|mi|abbr=on}}-long new circuit, which was built on and around the old pit area.

At the same time, a bypass shortened the ''Nordschleife'' to {{convert|20.832|km|mi|abbr=on}}, and with an additional small pit lane, this version was used for races in 1983, e.g. the [[1000km Nürburgring]] endurance race, while construction work was going on nearby. During qualifying for that race, [[Stefan Bellof]] set a lap of 6:11.13 for the {{convert|20.832|km|mi|abbr=on}} ''Nordschleife'' in his [[Porsche 956]], or {{convert|199.8|km/h|mph|abbr=on}} on average. This lap held the all-time record for 35 years (partially because no major racing has taken place there since 1984) until it was surpassed by [[Timo Bernhard]] in the Porsche 919 Hybrid Evo, which ran the slightly longer version of the circuit in 5:19.546- averaging {{convert|233.8|km/h|mph|abbr=on}} on 29 June 2018.

Meanwhile, more run-off areas were added at corners like Aremberg and Brünnchen, where originally there were just embankments protected by Armco barriers. The track surface was made safer in some spots where there had been bumps and jumps. Racing line markers were added to the corners all around the track as well. Also, bushes and hedges at the edges of corners were replaced with Armco and grass.

The former ''Südschleife'' had not been modified in 1970–1971 and was abandoned a few years later in favour of the improved ''Nordschleife''. It is now mostly gone (in part due to the construction of the new circuit) or converted to a normal public road, but since 2005 a vintage car event has been hosted on the old track layout, including part of the parking area.<ref>[http://www.vintage-nuerburgring.de Vintage Nürburgring] ''vintage-nuerburgring.de.'' Retrieved 18 October 2007.</ref>