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Work and enjoy at the Nürburgring Nordschleife

For Lars Kern, Porsche development driver and fast lap specialist, the legendary Nürburgring Nordschleife track is part of his day-to-day work, but it is also the stage where he enjoys his passion.The Nürburgring Nordschleife (north loop of the Nürburg Circuit) is a dream location for any speed fan. Demanding like no other, the possibility to pay to shoot in it has made it the definitive destination for enthusiasts of track sessions, with its famous "Touristenfahrten" (tourist routes). But what if this 12-mile loop through the Eifel mountains, Jackie Stewart's "Green Hell" no less, was simply an extension of his workplace?Ten years ago, Lars Kern started working for Porsche as a test engineer. He performed relatively important tasks during the final stages of development of production cars. "My job at first was 0-100-200km/h tests with development cars to see if we met our targets," says Kern. "And driving dynamics, like slaloms, the kind of thing the press might do later. Porsche needed someone who could drive at a decent level, but not necessarily a racing driver. I also had to prepare the cars. press releases with all kinds of quality checks before they came out. Various things someone has to do, that's how I started."