Steintribüne to be renovated in 2008

The two top terraces of the grandstand at the Norisring will not be open for public when the DTM races there in 2008. The 170 meters long and 8.5 meters wide terraces will be fenced off during a big renovation of the stone grandstand, the so called Steintribüne.

From 1938 till June 1967, the so called “Säulenhalle” was placed on the two top terraces. This was a collection of 144 marble pillars, each 8.8 meters high. The swastika ornaments on these pillars were critisized by a large group of visitors in 1967. Soon after this cracks were found at the roof of the pillar gallery. The city of Neurenberg ordered to remove the “Säulenhalle”, and on June 8th, 1967, this was done by use of explosives.

Parts of the columns fell into the 8 stairwells, through which visitors could reach the top of the stands, entering from the back side. Instead of removing the debris, the 8 stairwells were closed down and a brick wall was placed before the entrances.

After 40 years the debris was finally removed, but this reveiled a big problem. The state of the stairwells and the top terraces was found to be very bad, and has to be renovated immediately. The grandstand has been under monument protection since 1970, and can therefor not be torn down, eventhough people wanted to do so untill the late sixties.

Gernot Leistner, organising the races at the Norisring for the past fifty years, regrets that the terraces have to be closed down during the next races. The terraces are very popular with the fans, because you can see the entire track from there. Each year, 4,000 specatators see the races from the top of the stands. These fans now have to find a place on the 29 rows of stone seats, each 340 meters long, or the center terrace, which is 40 meters long and 9.5 meters deep.