Rarely do we ever see female names in the world of motorsport, largely due to the utterly demanding, gruelling nature of the sport. Yet, the name Sabine Schmitz stands out.
Winning the unforgiving, yet glamorous 24 Hours of the Nürburgring Nordschlife not once, but twice at this fabled, challenging circuit is NO MEAN FEAT!
Sabine was nicknamed "The Queen of Nürburgring" by the people of the motorsport community
She passed away on 16th March, 2021...revealing only last year that she had been diagnosed with cancer since 2017.
Racing for BMW in 1996 and 1997, she conquered the "Green Hell"...an alternate name for the 20.83km long Nordschlife.
Schmitz came to mass public attention driving one of the two BMW M5 "ring taxis" around the 20.8 km-long race track in an entertaining manner.
Making a brief appearance on the British TV show "Top Gear" in the year 2004, she gained further recognition in the United Kingdom after appearing with presenter Jeremy Clarkson.
Since September 2006, Schmitz has co-hosted a motoring show on German television,
From her Wikipedia article "In March 2015, The Guardian featured a satirical article calling for Schmitz to be the new presenter of Top Gear in order to gracefully cancel the show, concluding that "She has appeared from time to time on Top Gear in the past, and shown herself to possess exactly the right mix of knowledge and boisterousness for the job every time. Plus, she is both German and a woman, a combination of traits so alien to the majority of Top Gear viewers that the whole show would probably self-destruct within an hour of her taking the job. "
Tributes were paid from across the motorsport world to Schmitz.
Quoting the official F1 Twitter Handle @(F1) -
"Pioneer, champion, Queen of the Nurburgring
Sabine Schmitz was a unique, much-loved and cherished member of our sport's family, and a force of nature for inspiring a new generation of motorsport enthusiasts
Our thoughts are with her family and friends at this sad time."
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