from Hacker News

Sabine Schmitz, Queen of the Nürburgring, Has Died at 51

by chrisbennet on 3/18/21, 1:18 PM with 32 comments

• by joncrane on 3/18/21, 2:12 PM

  Some people just capture the imagination and she was one. I'm not sure what it was about her. It wasn't just that she was a woman and a very fast driver, which are both abundantly true. She was a great ambassador for motorsport in general and almost a mythical, legendary presence at the Ring.

  She apparently ran a bed and breakfast near the track with her husband after her hardcore professional racing career was over and by all accounts she was an absolute treasure to stay and socialize with if you were staying in the area.

  RIP.

• by downut on 3/18/21, 3:04 PM

  I'm 59 and a 2x cancer survivor myself and it just makes me so angry that such talent and joy for life gets taken. It is the way of the world.

  I had never seen that video and it made me laugh out loud about the idea of being passed by a van. That sort of thing has happened to me twice, and each time, I did laugh out loud.

  The first time I was driving a Prius over, and then down the Tehachapi grade in the middle of the night. I was maintaining 90-95 mph. I got passed by a U-Haul van. Hahahahaha. I love it.

  And then I was on the two lane road from Tecate to Ensenada. Standard mountain driving. Don't remember the speed exactly but I was definitely going double the speed limit, driving a Tundra. I got passed on a blind curve by a full size Mexican passenger bus. Once it was over I laughed. Can you imagine the people in those front seats?

  So boy that video brought back the memories.

• by ProAm on 3/18/21, 2:56 PM

  If you havent watched her take a van around the ring in a smidge over 10 minutes it is worth a watch. [1]

  [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KiC03_wVjc

• by travisgriggs on 3/18/21, 3:21 PM

  The Ford GT episode was the first TopGear bit I ever saw, that single viewing led to my entire extended family becoming ardent viewers.

  Life is so quixotic. Sabine's passing deeply saddens me. The idea of her vibrant personality dealing with cancer is so dissonant. Though I guess I can choose to see it as provident that in this case, her inate bubbliness was a tool that hopefully gave her a leg up during the more miserable moments of the journey. Perspective I guess.

  I'll be headed into work in just a few minutes. Every time I overtake someone in my F150, I'm going to yell "faster , faster, get out of my way" in my best German accent.

• by mellosouls on 3/18/21, 1:57 PM

  Yeah, very sad - I was a little surprised that Top Gear didn't make a little more use of her over the years after that famous item; as an occasional guest presence she would have been a nice (and amusing) ego-deflating counterpoint to the very blokey, British energy.

• by sschueller on 3/18/21, 2:04 PM

  My recollection is that she beat Jeremy in a van and that is how I will remember it. Sorry Jeremy.

• by apples_oranges on 3/18/21, 3:41 PM

  I find it a bit scary (not in a bad way) how similar we all seem to be, if this story makes it to the front page

• by cyberlurker on 3/18/21, 2:48 PM

  Terribly sad news about a wonderful person. I am happy to see jalopnik on HN tho.

• by WanderPanda on 3/18/21, 5:06 PM

  Didn't know her, thanks for posting! I wish I had taken a taxi drive with her when I was at the Nürburgring

  Edit: Falls hier jemand des Deutschen mächtig ist, sehr unterhaltsam: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRBLix7DVGw

• by chrisbennet on 3/18/21, 1:18 PM

  Very sad.

• by fattybob on 3/18/21, 10:02 PM

  Ah the mix of sadness and joy in remembering her reading the posts here, she will certainly be missed by everyone that ever enjoyed driving and motoring shows I believe

• by andreskytt on 3/19/21, 6:02 AM

  Our heroes are passing away, on by one. It’s time we became our own heroes.