Original subtitles

All the way from Germany, please welcome Sabine Schmitz.

She was fun, and she saw driving a car as a fun thing to do,

and driving it quickly as an even more fun thing to do.

On a track. That's great and I think that came out.

If you just walked into the average pub in the UK in the last 15 years,

and said, " Racing driver. Woman." Quite a few people would go,

"Oh, the German woman off Top Gear."

Your driving style is really funny.

Sabine is beautifully bonkers.

I'm coming for you!

And I mean that with so much love and respect.

She loved doing something that we all love doing, but she really loved

doing it, and also was extremely good at it.

Woo!

She drove fast, but lived life fast,

and you get the sense with Sabine that every day of her life

was an event.

On the 16th of March 2021, the world of motor racing lost one

of its brightest stars.

My dad actually told me once that if I work really, really hard,

I may be as successful as her one day.

Fierce, hugely talented and a great person.

And there was one place above all others where that star

burned brightest of all.

The Nurburgring is the biggest challenge of a racetrack

on the planet. There's no debate about that.

You can't be the Queen of the Nurburgring without being very good

at it, and, to be honest, if youtre not very good at it, and you do it

that much, you're going to come a cropper because

it's not a safe place.

There's so much undulation and banked corners and dips,

and it can be raining over one side of the circuit,

but really sunny on another.

It doesn't matter how good a driver you are,

that place has always got a surprise for you. Always.

NARRATOR: But to Sabine Schmitz,

the world's longest and most infamous motor racing circuit

was simply...

...home.

If you're looking to describe Sabine, you've got to put her

in context and the only context is the Nurburgring.

This is a place she knows better than you know anything you know.

Everybody who can compete there can do it everywhere

on any racetrack in the world.

There is talk about the Nurburgring having a corner named after her.

Just name the whole course after her, you know,

she was the queen of it.

Born in 1969, in the very village that the track encircles,

Sabine grew up literally surrounded by racing.

This is what people, I think, sometimes forget just how big

the Nurburgring is, that it does have civilisations in it,

and so she was going round it on, you know, skis when it was snowing

or bicycle or whatever...

...from as soon as she was a sentient being.

NARRATOR: Sabine started driving the circuit at the age of 17.

By 19, she held a Nurburgring lap record, quickly becoming

a specialist in motorsport's most gruelling discipline:

Endurance Racing.

Endurance racing now, it's arguably a lot less difficult than it was.

You can drive a racing car flat out now for 24 hours and it won't break.

Back then, you had to look after the vehicle.

And that was a real skill.

It was a physical challenge, as well.

It's a challenge of concentration.

And she was the only woman doing it there. I mean, looking back,

actually, there's a reason why she was such a hero out there.

In 1996, Sabine became the first woman

to win the Nurburgring 24 Hours,

and the following year, she won it again.

Double 24 Hour Nurburgring champion. I mean, that's hard.

That's so, so hard.

To win that race, not once, but twice.

I think anyone who can master that circuit is a truly

great racing driver.

This was a young, talented, successful female driver,

and with her reputation in the motor racing world

already well established,

in 2004, Sabine was discovered by a whole new audience.

Yeah, I remember the first time I saw her on telly at the Nurburgring

with Clarkson. Erm, it was... it was so good to watch.

The Top Gear test track has eight corners.

Silverstone, which is a big Grand Prix circuit, has 12 corners.

The Nurburgring has 147 corners.

To help me get round this place, I have a teacher - Sabine Schmitz.

The first time she ever took me round the Nurburgring,

she just humiliated me and was rude.

- I have no idea where this track goes. - At the moment it's quite easy.

OK, and now accelerate, accelerate, accelerate...

- It's a corner! - Accelerate!

It's not really a corner.

- It's a huge corner! - SHE LAUGHS

You could see him behind that wheel just getting smaller,

and smaller, and smaller.

- This is my first lap. - Don't brake so much.

Just... she was extremely critical of me.

I mean, hurtfully so.

- No, don't! Don't brake! - OK.

Oh, a girl overtook you. Did you see that?

Do you know, I'm not feeling proud.

She had many observations to make about my driving,

and none of them were kind.

Is this the Carousel?

Ja, now the Carousel is coming.

Turn in more later. Ugh!

Your driving style is really funny. SHE CHUCKLES

"Your driving style is very funny."

I did laugh out loud when I saw that.

I mean, I'm glad that I amused her, but I still don't know why

it was particularly funny.

Maybe listen? Maybe she knows more than you.

Do you think I'm going to be able to get around in ten minutes?

No. THEY LAUGH

Don't sugar-coat it like that. Tell me straight.

You're not 100% talent free, but 80%?

- SHE LAUGHS - 80% talent free. Right.

But nevertheless, she did coach me well enough,

so that I did a sort of sub ten minute time.

Oh! Come on, come on.

There's the end! There's the end!

9, 8, 7, 6, 5,

4, 3, 2, 1.

I did it! I did it!

9:59!

Yes! 9 minutes, 59 seconds.

- That means you did the lap in... - BOTH: 9:59.

9:59 is under 10 minutes.

- I tell you something. - What?

I do that lap time in a van.

- Oh, rubbish. - I show you what a really fast lap is,

okay?

Stop.

Sadly, that's all we have time for...

Shut up, Jeremy, it isn't. Now, that looked pretty fast, did it not?

You did it in 9:59. How fast did she do it?

Um...

Bear in mind, this is her first lap in the car.

- Strange car to her. - 9 minutes something.

- No, come on. - 9...

Who wants to know how fast she did it?

- AUDlENCE: Yeah! - I'll tell you. 9:59 for you.

She did it 9 minutes, 12 seconds.

I'm sorry. You're rubbish.

You are rubbish!

OK.

- You're right. I was rubbish. - Yep.

I think she beat him, what, by about 40 odd seconds?

Um, yeah, and that isn't a reflection of Jeremy.

I think she would do that to any man.

HE CHUCKLES

A year later,

Top Gear returned to the Nurburgring,

this time with the stakes even higher.

How many laps do you think you've done of the ring in your life?

- 14-15,000. - OK.

How many times have you crashed? I'm just wondering.

Oh, many times. Many times. I can't count, actually.

- SHE LAUGHS - Right.

She'd laid down the gauntlet to Jeremy,

he'd driven round the Nurburgring, er, in a Jaguar, and she'd said,

"I could do it quicker than that in a van."

All right, then... however you say sunshine in German,

we'll get you a van, and you can... you can... you can try.

- We're away. - Go, go, go, go!

Woo!

- I have to brake with my left foot. - OK.

Then I can keep the right foot on the gas. See?

110!

115!

Hurry up, please!

Ooh!

Yeah, it was scary, but not terrifying.

It was fun because she was in control. She was doing what she did.

Woo! Oversteer, and understeer, and everything!

Ooh!

Yeah, I've sat with a lot of fast drivers and they make it look easy.

She made it look joyous.

SHE SPEAKS GERMAN

Just overtaken a motorcyclist.

Glad it wasn't me being overtaken by a van.

Woohoo!

Oh, no...

It was a real privilege to be alongside her when she

went for that and then to be thrown out of it because I was just weight

and I 'd get in the way.

Go!

I don't think Sabine would have allowed a quarter of a second

to be missing from her lap time in that van.

Now it's working.

And sixth gear.

I mean, she properly threw everything into it,

she did want to beat my time.

The brakes are burning!

She screwed literally everything out of that thing.

Jeremy, everything is for you, just to beat you.

Of course, she didn't.

Oh, don't, please!

Eight seconds left. No!

No! Ah! 10:08.

I mean, she was in a van and I was in a Jag',

but nevertheless, you know...

NARRATOR: Sabine's exploits on camera had made her a cult icon.

And in 2016, the beginning of a new chapter for Top Gear

gave the world another chance to see her in action.

Sabine Schmitz, everyone!

You know, people looked up to her, I would see it when we would do

the live audience shows, I would see people that, you know,

they would tap each other on the shoulder.

"There's Sabine, there's Sabine."

And it was it was really cool to watch and to see the effect

she had on people and on women especially.

It was that she was a true inspiration to people.

She had a bit of a reputation for making people very ill in cars.

Should I name names?

I tm going to name names.

Yeah. Chris Evans.

Hold on tight to your balls, sonny!

Woo!

Stop, stop, stop, please, stop.

Go out, go out, go out!

HE VOMITS

Then a fighter pilot was in a Corvette

with her and he was sick.

- I might need a break, Sabine. - Huh?

- I might need a break. - You need a break?

- I might need a break. - What?!

This is an actual fighter pilot,

whose job it is to drive at Mach 2,

twice the speed of sound.

HE BURPS

Oh!

Yeah, what can I say?

She's fast!

Oh, I love the Carousel!

- OK, now I tm scared. - I love it!

THEY SHRl EK

Your name is Rory Reid or Rory "Worried"?

I'm very worried right now!

She has this confidence and trust in the car and knowledge

of every metre of the tarmac, so she knows she can brake later.

She brakes at points where you think that's a crash, that's an accident,

we're having an accident.

But we're not. We're braking.

Oh, sorry!

And we're turning in and you think, we probably

shouldn't be accelerating so soon because we might wash out and

hit a wall. No. We're turning, we're cool. It's all happening.

She's one step ahead of the car, one step ahead of you,

one step ahead of the track.

Shets in total control and you have to dial yourself

into her frequency before you start to relax and appreciate

what she's doing.

What is Sabine like as a teacher? Tough love.

- Push! - I'm pushing!

This is the fastest part of the track.

I'm not scared. How can it be?

Scare me, scare me!

- Scare you? - Scare me!

I'm trying!

I actually remember, we came around the corner, I was pushing and

pushing and pushing, and I ended up on the dirt.

And we were heading towards the pit wall,

this metal barrier, really quickly.

Oh!

I panicked.

And she was like: "Keep the wheel straight."

- She was still coaching. - Sweep the wheel!

And then at the end, where I thought she'd be really angry with me

for putting her in danger, she was like,

"Yes, you finally get it. You have to push."

To go through the dirt, that's a good sign.

That means you're really pushing, Rory.

I don't know if you just realised, but we almost died there!

I like that, Rory. You must push, you must hit the dirt,

go through the dust. " Eat my dust,"

that's what we want to see.

This woman is crazy.

Sabine brought that same energy and enthusiasm to every one

of her appearances, no matter the race track or the race car.

Chain car racing, weird concept, not something I ever want to do again.

Hey, buddy.

Oh, God, no.

- Let's smash some stuff. - No, let's not smash some stuff, Sabine.

Poor Chris, I don't think he knew that Sabine was going to be driving

the chain car.

He was in the back seat, operating the brakes

and Sabine had steering and throttle.

Brake, Harris.

Yeah.

Sorry.

This is a woman, you know, who has barrel-rolled many cars.

She doesn't give a monkey's.

And true to form, it hurt.

I know Harris quite well, from the olden days, and I know

he was genuinely alarmed by that - I can tell the difference.

Oh, my God!

This is the worst thing I've ever done.

LAUGHTER

Chris, good job. Are you still there?

- Just. - It scared him.

It takes quite a lot to scare Harris, and

and Sabine thought it was funny.

You total lunatic.

LAUGHTER

What was really telling, actually, in all of these events,

was you can tell someone's got a real natural driving gift

when you just throw them into anything.

Sabine was that person. She was like a Swiss Army knife.

You never get a sense of danger with her behind the wheel, ever.

There was only... even in that King of the Hammers thing.

The King of the Hammers

is an extreme off-road competition held every year

in Southern California.

It is considered one of the world's most challenging motorsport events.

I remember standing, doing an opening shot somewhere

in the Mojave Desert.

The scenery was remarkable and I just stood and looked at her

and went, "What on earth are we doing here?"

Woo! This is what I call a proper playground.

She loved Americana.

She liked big American cars.

She loved all that stuff.

So we turn up to do King of the Hammers,

there's just 50,000, for want of a better phrase,

rednecks - with ATVs, quads, desert, drinking beer,

with rock music playing.

She just walked in and went, " I've come home."

This vehicle has been on its roof several times, Sabine.

But that's standard, isn't it?

Are you not worried by this?

I can't wait, actually. Don't cry, Harris, please.

The boss of King of the Hammers, the owner, Dave Cole,

delivered a pretty crushing summary

of what he thought our chances were in the event.

She's going to kill it. You're not going to make it.

Anybody that can drive a van around Nurburgring

is willing to try different things.

Plus I've heard she's already been upside down and you're worried about that.

So you're going to drive scared

and you're going to be upside down anyway.

She's going to kill it.

I was just stood there thinking, A, that hurts.

And B, you're probably right.

I didn't want to be there, at that point,

but she just loved it.

She never looked afraid - speed didn't bother her.

Let's think about it as the Nurburgring in the Stone Ages.

SHE LAUGHS

Whoo!

Oh, I hit that!

Whoa, look at that!

This is crazy.

Yeah, then it caught fire.

Oh, God.

You got smoke coming out of the back.

She didn't give a monkey's about any of it.

I mean, fire is a problem.

I remember telling her, just pull over and get out, just get out.

And she very calmly pulled over and got out.

I don't think she even raised her voice.

Just get out.

Whoo!

She's out, she's OK.

As a driver unfazed by any challenge that came her way,

Sabine's successes continued both off track and on.

Alongside her partner, Klaus,

at Frikadelli Racing, the team they founded together,

The Queen of the Nurburgring continued to show her class.

And in 2019, the arrival

of Top Gear's current presenting team

saw Sabine make another impactful return to the show.

She was fun.

She just brought a presence and she was a real treat for us

to work with and a treat for the viewer,

because when Sabine turned up, something's happening.

We were doing the banger racing day.

I was a bit nervous about meeting her,

not so much for the driving side of it,

more about - I hope we got on.

You know, I really wanted for her to like me.

Hello, my Paddy patty cake.

- Hi, Sabine, good to see you. - Bang!

"Bang!"

And I remember sitting there going, I think I said something like,

"Oh no, it's the German, I thought they got rid of her."

But no, they hadn't!

I was in a banger car and we had to defend Paddy's car.

And she had to try and take Paddy out.

Can we not let them through?

I feel like Kevin Costner in The Bodyguard.

No-one's coming through here.

You couldn't take me.

Oh! Sabine's having a go at me!

I think she just toyed with us, it was like a cat

with a ball just pawing at it.

Paddy, I'm coming for you!

No!

Paddy's in the big car. He's got all the chat, Paddy,

but again, it's another man out their depth!

I sense impending doom!

Paddy? Sweetheart? I'm coming for you!

When she decides she's had enough, it's game over,

and that is exactly what happened.

Whoo!

This doesn't feel good. Oh, no!

- Oh, no! - Bye-bye.

SHE LAUGHS

Oh! Oh, no!

Oh!

Bye, Paddy!

Then, you know, I spent time with her.

We had a few days in a Portofino, you know, driving round together.

M18 south, there,

that's us.

- Ja! - Hey, hey!

I loved spending time in that car with her.

I loved... I loved our little arguments.

Have you seen Thirsk on there? We're 20 miles away from Thirsk.

There's nothing on my map!

Nothing on my map!

That's the bloody hotel we've just come out of!

What?!

You've drove us all the way back to where we started!

There is an irony in that she can navigate 147 corners

at the Nurburgring, but struggles round York.

Just...

It's just Sabine, innit, all over.

She loved her animals.

And I think I asked her, what are you up to this weekend

and what did you do last weekend?

And she said, "Oh, I'm going to go and pick up..."

I think it was, like, a sheep.

I'm like: "Oh cool, what car are you taking?"

Cos we used to talk cars.

And she was like, "No, no, I'm taking the helicopter."

"You're going to put a sheep in a helicopter?"

And that was typical Sabine.

When she walked into a room, it was as though...

...everything got just a bit brighter and a bit louder.

It was just... she was turning everything up on your television

until it was just like that.

And that's what five minutes with Sabine was like.

I remember her, being sat behind the wheel -

big smile on her face, shouting and screaming.

And she just goes past us.

She was an absolute force of nature,

and that's how I want to remember her.

Hold on tight to your balls, Sonny!

It's the breadth of the affection for her, it was everybody

from the hardcore Nurburgringers, who respected her enormously,

to just, you know, households who watched Top Gear,

and who just loved her because she'd turn up and sort of slightly

smash the place up, you know, and ridicule the rest of us.

And I think it earned her a huge, huge number of fans.

There weren't ever really many women racing when I was coming up

through the ranks, let alone successful women racing,

but Sabine was always there.

She was always someone that I watched from afar.

And seeing her success definitely inspired me.

She was a real figurehead for women within motor sport, and she had such

belief in her talent and her ability.

Just a source of joy - you watch those films with her in, again,

you just watch her smile.

Faster!

Watch her expressions when she was driving right on the ragged edge.

Ah, I love it!

Even at those moments, she was happy to give in to the joy of it.

Woohoo!

I love my job!

And the tragedy is, I'm sure she had a great deal

more of that to share with all of us.

SHE LAUGHS