The first sports drivers' courses in Europe were created by the Scuderia Hanseat already in 1958. At that time we were a small circle of friends of successful race and rally drivers and we wanted to pass on our experience to sports drivers. The term "sports drivers" at that time stood for fairness and tolerance during sportive events and for exemplary behaviour in road traffic. More and more like-minded friends joined us and we were able to continue our philosophy successfully. (An article from the German magazine “Motor Klassik” featuring our 30th anniversary in 1988 is available as PDF document(281 kB).)
Today the Scuderia Hanseat is well-known as leading provider for sports drivers courses. Our concept has been copied in many cases and also been adopted by various manufacturers of automobiles for their events. Our courses are qualitatively highly regarded in the German Motorsport scene and are recognized by the DMSB (Deutscher Motor Sport Bund e.V.) so that German participants are able to reach the National Drivers Licence "A" during our courses.
Since 1958 we are effecting our training on the Nürburgring. The legendary "Nordschleife" and the fabulous Grand-Prix-Track today offer the maximum standard of safety to our participants as well as greatest joy of driving with its gradients and countless bends.
Participants take part with their own cars.
At the Ring we are supported by our staff that is composed of instructors, coaches and safety team. Members of this staff are successful race and rally drivers, however, meanwhile the team also includes former participants who have qualified due to excellent abilities as well as well-known real professional instructors.
Two thirds of our participants in our courses are enthusiastic repeaters and we, staff and participants, have become one big imaginary family. All of them are connected by the passion of fast, safe driving. More than half of our participants are foreigners and lots of long international friendships have developed over the years during our courses.
Gudrun Pauli
After Ms. Pauli had worked in the company for many years supporting and assisting her father, she took over the management in 2010 from her father, Helmut Rathjen.
She led the company through the time in which the courses were affected by major changes in the Nürburgring Management and were no longer self-runners as in the previous decades.
She has mastered this phase with engagement and consistency, even though it was very difficult for her by their insidious disease.
Gudrun Pauli died in January-2013.
Excerpt from Program Bulletin June 2013 "obituary Gudrun Pauli"
Helmut Rathjen
In 1958 an idea was born. Helmut Rathjen together with Günther Isenbügel and Victor Humer created the International Sports Drivers' Course Nürburgring, which is unique up to now. It is even until now that both, the team and the participants are taking part in the course with enthusiasm and passion for the thing. This also might have been the reason why Helmut Rathjen always and everywhere was with us until his death in 2010. It was not just a job for him. This school, this work was his life.
Excerpt from Program Bulletin September 2010 "Obituary Helmut Rathjen"