📍Kerpen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
1969 – 1987“Michael Schumacher was born in Hürth, near Cologne, in January 1969 and grew up in Kerpen-Manheim, a small working-class village in the flat farmland and brown-coal mining country west of Cologne. His father, Rolf, was a bricklayer, and his mother, Elisabeth, kept house; money was always tight. When Michael was four, his father fitted a small motorbike engine to his pedal kart, and after he crashed it into a lamppost, his parents took him to the local karting track at Kerpen-Horrem, where he became the youngest member of the club. The track became the family's world. His father took on the job of running and repairing the karts there, and his mother worked in the canteen. Michael won his first club championship at six, and spent his childhood at the circuit, racing on used tyres that wealthier drivers had thrown away. When his karting became too expensive, local businessmen and family friends sponsored him; one, Jürgen Dilk, bought him a new kart. He also played football with friends in the village, and his younger brother, Ralf, followed him into racing. He trained as a mechanic while racing, and progressed through Formula Ford and Formula Three to Formula One in 1991. He won seven world championships, five of them with Ferrari, and became one of the greatest drivers in history. Kerpen, his home town, has named its karting circuit and a street after him, and Ralf also became a Formula One driver. Much of Manheim has since been cleared for an open-cast mine, but the karting track lives on.”
🗺️ Approximate location today
📍 Street view today