Following intensive negotiations, all the assets of the Nürburgring have been sold to Capricorn Nürburgring GmbH, a newly established member of the Capricorn Group, which will take over in 2015. The new owner is a medium-sized business providing products and services for the automotive sector and motorsport through the development of new materials and technologies, at several sites across Europe.
The buyer will take over and continue to run the business operations of the Nürburgring while the Capricorn Group develops and expands the Nürburgring into an Automotive Technology Cluster, which will go beyond motorsport and offer job prospects in the area.
It has been sold for a total in excess of €100m of which €25m is earmarked for investment in the expansion of the Nürburgring and its periphery. “Some 20 months after the insolvency application, the time of uncertainty for the Nürburgring, motorsport fans, the automotive industry, event organizers, employees and the region, is over. We can now look ahead because we have clarity and a real perspective,” commented Dr Schmidt, MD of the restructuring process.
“As an enthusiastic motorsport fan, the Nürburgring has always been a passion of mine,” added Dr Robertino Wild, managing partner of the Capricorn Group, which already has facilities nearby. “We have identified the enormous potential of this unique race venue and would like to optimize the existing structures, but above all turn the vision of an Automotive Technology Cluster into reality.”
Some of the planned changes are already known. The organizational structure of the facility will be revamped, the unsuccessful ring racer rollercoater shut down and the Eifeldorf Grüne Hölle holiday village will be replaced with the proposed Automotive Technology Cluster.
