Of course he's referring to the jump. But what the man says doesn't
necessarily conform with what Dr. Otto Creutz had in mind.
This is all going to be very nit-picky and unnecessary, but if anyone's
still interested...
One disclaimer I'd right away want to make is that I'm not sure how the
bends and straight are supposed to be aligned with the signs. I'm assuming
that they can't precede the signs, though. So if I'm past a bend and then
see a sign that says "Brnnchen," I'm thinking that that last bend wasn't
Brnnchen, but Eschbach (or unnamed). That out of the way, let me talk
about signs only and imply that they mark the beginning of what they refer
to.
I had to dig deep in my stack of material to come here reasonably
well-prepared. Not because said stack is large but because it's badly
indexed. Unfortunately, I haven't found a single photograph that shows were
the signs were in 1967. But, in the video "Ringmasters," of the 1967 German
Grand Prix, there is one tantalizingly short shot that shows the "Flugplatz"
sign in the same position it is today (see below).
Let me describe the signs again. On the 'Ring of 2000, the sign
"Quiddelbacher H?he" is just at the brow, where in GPL it says "Flugplatz";
this makes sense to me, seeing as the literal translation into English is
"Quiddelbach High", which it sure is. Quiddelbach of course is the name of
a nearby-village.
Then the Flugplatz sign is right between the two right-handers that
immediately follow the jump. Again, this makes sense to me: nowhere near
the brow is there room for an airfield, but here, to the left of the track,
there is. Bear in mind we're talking about sailplanes here, although I
don't know until when they flew there. Incidentally, there is no sign like
this at all in GPL.
All the material I have puts Flugplatz further up the track than where it's
at in GPL and where even drivers think it is. Just because Derek Bell says
it, doesn't make it there; even for him it must have been too tempting to
think that where cars take off, it's Flugplatz. And in the same video that
gives me the one-frame evidence of the "Flugplatz"-sign's real location in
1967, the voice-over says "over the jump that puts the 'Flug' in Flugplatz."
Obviously, when you say "Flugplatz," people think you mean Quiddelbacher
H?he.
Having said that, I was once discussing the 'Ring's liability to catch the
unwary with a 'Ring-*** at the parking lot there. He drove a Porsche
944, but at a somewhat snaily pace. He said he believed the blind bits on
the 'Ring could be taken flat out at his pace. I immediately thought of
Quiddelbacher H?he, where the double-right could take the unwary with his
right foot planed on the throttle for a surprise. So I said "Well, except
for Flugplatz, of course" and walked him to the track map, confidently
pointed at the brow-formerly-known-as-Flugplatz only to have him say in
surprise "but why does it say Quiddelbacher H?he?"
So much for making sense to the 'Ring-***...
To sum it up: there _is_ a right way of naming bends; but that doesn't
necessarily mean everyone understands you. And just when you think they do
understand, they don't.
Now that I have had time to think about it, the patch I would most like to
see for the 'Ring, in terms of signs, goes to "No Racing!" (seen at various
places on the 'Ring today).
-Laurens de Jong, The Netherlands.