German racing circuit maps available:

For a number of years, a German company named Borch GmbH has been producing a series of slick, laminated country and city maps under the Berndtson & Berndtson trade name. If you go to the map rack of any "Barnes & Noble" store you should find plenty of titles in their old blue-&-yellow cover design or their new beige one.

Well, I found out recently that Borch has 3 maps of similar cover design covering the major German racing circuits: the Hockenheimring, the Nuerburgring (current track), and the Nuerburgring Nordschleife (the historic 14-mile circuit).

I bought them and they are quite fascinating. The maps of the current tracks show all the amenities: grandstands, parking, campgrounds, concessions, walking paths, even toilets and big-screen TVs! Inset maps show the surrounding areas, including the village of Hockenheim itself. There are also important phone numbers provided. All legends are in German only but most can be figured out by those who don't speak German.

The map of the Nordschleife obviously can't go into the same level of detail, but does identify all the curves and features of the circuit. There is a mountain-bike trail that closely follows the road circuit, and a number of parcours trails in the "infield".

To see more on these maps, go to http://www.borch.com/englisch/produkte/kategorien/motor.html. They seem to be available in the U.S. only from amazon.com, at the non-discounted price of $7.95 each, though that is cheaper than Borch's other laminated maps.