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This was posted by a fellow driver on rennlist, and I thought it was well stated. So I am plagiarizing and pasting here:
"I race and do so competently; I drive at speed on track probably an average of 5 hours per month, maybe more, since I also am lucky to be a member of MSR.
The 'Ring is an incredibly dangerous track and frightened me more than any place I have ever been. It's like the Kink at Road America for 21 km. The speeds are huge, runoff almost nonexistent, and it's very bumpy.
The pace of modern street cars is starting to compare with the F1 cars of years past and Stewart and Lauda are not incompetent pussies; they and others thought the 'Ring is a terrible race track.
While I loved driving there, I don't think I'd be willing to run at a qualifying pace, especially not in a street car without a full cage and proper safety gear. The GTR that went into spectators at Flugplatz is yet another dimension of danger.
It is inviting death or serious injury to the test drivers of street cars to have them motivated to run "record" speeds. In addition to the intrinsic danger of the track, add in uncertain surface conditions due to rain, debris, or dew and I am frankly surprised no one has been killed so far. On my first trip to the 'Ring there were 2 fatalities in 7 days.
On the other hand, Spa was fantastic! Huge speeds, but proper runoff and so I was able to run 10/10s there and went off in Eau Rouge and Pouhon both with no drama at all, given the room and off-track pavement.
While nostalgia for the 'Ring may be strong, there are plenty of other tracks to provide comparison lap times and frankly I'd rather see a track where I could also drive 10/10s used as a yardstick, in the hopes that I could see how I stack up. I'll never do that at the 'Ring.
Finally, if lap time records are so important, how do you explain the ever-growing popularity of the Tail of the Dragon?
I'll probably go back to the 'Ring, but won't worry at all about lap times and it is a bit of a relief to think no one else is allowed to, either. It will remain an epic, must-drive for any gearhead."
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