Nurburgring death track in pursuit of new owner

FOR SALE: the world's most difficult and dangerous purpose-built motor racing complex - with one of the most brutal histories.

On the Nurburgring.

FOR SALE: the world's most difficult and dangerous purpose-built motor racing complex - with one of the most brutal histories.

The Nurburgring, scene of Niki Lauda's fireball crash in 1976 dramatised in the recent film Rush, is seeking a new owner.

Despite 68 professional drivers having been killed in races there - plus an unknown number of amateurs who pay euros 23 per lap to have a go - the Ring retains a mythical allure for race fans.

The British Formula One drivers to lose their lives were Peter Collins in the 1958 German Grand Prix and John Taylor in 1966.

The Ring was built in 1927 to showcase German engineering, but at 13 miles long, notoriously bumpy and dramatically hilly, the Nordschleife, or north loop, eventually proved too dangerous for Grand Prix competitions to continue, although amateurs still use it.

The German Grand Prix is now held on a safer modern track next to the original.

"The Nurburgring is without a doubt the cradle of German motorsports," said Peter Meyer, president of the ADAC, the German motoring club. "It is an automotive cultural treasure."

While the Nurburgring is known as the world's deadliest purpose-built racing complex, the most dangerous circuit is the Snaefell Mountain Course that hosts the Isle of Man TT on public roads. About 200 lives have been lost there over the past century.