MICHAEL Schumacher’s home town has just 12 people living in it after becoming abandoned as it prepares to be completely torn down.
Kerpen-Manheim, located around 20 miles outside the city of Cologne in western Germany, is set to meet a tragic end.
It is set to be flattened in order to make way for Germany’s largest open-pit coal mine – the Hambach surface mine.
This is despite a statutory plan being put in place to phase out coal within the country in 2029.
Nonetheless, the excavators are set to begin their destruction in 2024.
But three things will remain intact, including the listed St. Albanus and Leonhardus church and Schumacher’s childhood home – restored by Michael’s brother Ralf.
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“I grew up with lots of animals. Of course, that leaves its mark,” Ralf told Auto Bild.
“And since, thanks to the Greens [political party], my entire hometown didn’t fall victim to lignite mining after all.
The legendary Erftlandring go-kart track, where the seven-time Formula One world champion honed his skills, will also remain.
This was where Michael’s parents took him once he had crashed his motorcycle engine-powered pedal kart, built by his Dad, into a lamp post.
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The go-kart track, which was recently served by Ralf as the youth director, helped to discover a new generation of talent.
“I was the youth director until recently, but now someone else is doing it, which makes sense because I can’t always be on site,” said Ralf on the Kerpen-Manheim track.
“But I’m glad that the kart track is still there.
“It has been newly asphalted and parts of it are on land that belongs to me. I live right next door.
“We try to promote young German drivers, which is hard enough in Germany at the moment.”
The surviving infrastructure in Kerpen-Manheim will show just how much the area has benefited from Schumacher’s success, at least.
The area also holds extra sentimental value for the Schumacher family because it is where Michael married his wife, Corinna, in 1995.
However, the house at Forsthausstrasse 92, where the couple first moved into together, is no longer there.
For everyone else who has come and gone throughout Kerpen-Manheim’s history, the town will soon become a distant memory.
That is, however, despite the fact it has basically worn down to nothing as a result of its abandonment over the years.
With just 12 residents to its name, Kerpen-Manheim waits patiently for its demolition, with overgrown roads and boarded up houses dominating the landscape.
As for Michael himself, he remains out of the public eye following his tragic skiing accident in 2013.
His wife, Corinna, revealed in the 2021 Netflix documentary, ‘Schumacher’, that he is “different, but here”.
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However, one of the F1 legend’s closest friends dealt a fresh blow to fans in an update on Michael’s ten-year health battle.
F1 journalist Roger Benoit described the 45-year-old as “a case without hope” in a harrowing confession.
Source: Motorsport - thesun.co.uk
