For gearheads of a certain age (please don’t call us old-timers), it’s a question to relish: Where is the greatest racetrack in the world?

Our memories flow. We recall favorite televised races. We recollect sitting in the bleachers while the V8 engines roared past in a blue haze of fumes. We might even share an anecdote or two about what it’s like to be behind the wheel on one of these fearsome circuits.

The names trip poetically off our tongues. Laguna Seca, in California, with its infamous corkscrew turn. Spa, in Belgium, where the weather is often as formidable as the track. Monza, in Italy, one of the fastest of all raceways. Silverstone, in England, where racing kings have earned their crowns. Le Mans, in France, the ultimate endurance test.

This roll call of famous names is merely a preamble. From the moment the question is posed, the destination is set. Our debate will inevitably culminate in the Rhineland forests of western Germany, on a track that wends for 13 miles through 187 corners and along perilously quick straights. “The Green Hell,” some have called it. For others, it is automotive paradise. The Nürburgring.

This is a racetrack from another era, when every race was a life-or-death gamble. In the backwoods of the circuit, any miscalculation would propel a driver into unforgiving forest. And because the track is so long, help would often take several minutes to arrive. Around 200 racers have been killed here, and many more have been seriously injured.

A shorter, safer circuit was devised in the 1980s, and the long course (also known as Nordschleife) was closed to top-level competitive racing. But not to racers. From all over the world, they continue to come.

For $37 for an individual lap, $137 for four laps, or $710 for 25 laps, you can tackle the famous route in your own vehicle, or even in a rental car (so long as you rent from one of the dedicated local companies; the Nürburgring is specifically excluded from most rental contracts in Germany).

If you want to experience the thrill without the pressure of driving yourself, several “taxi” companies will take you around with an experienced race driver. Prices start at $341 for one “hot lap.”

When gear heads talk about cars and racetracks, there exists an underlying nostalgia. The old cars were louder, more exciting, better. The old tracks provided a more authentic test for man and machine. If only we could turn back time.

We can. For three days, Aug. 8–10, the sights and sounds of the glorious past will be revived at the Nürburgring. More than 500 drivers will race around the legendary circuit in cars from seven decades. This is the Oldtimer Grand Prix, an unashamed celebration of the pioneering years, before the strictures of safety, before vehicle emission standards.

In front of enthusiastic crowds, 1920s Bugattis vie with 1930s Chryslers and Alfa Romeos. Ferraris and Jaguars from the 1960s jostle for position as they thunder toward the first corner. Classic Formula 1 cars live again.

Why does this spectacle have the power to bring tears to the eyes of grown men? It is not simply nostalgia. There’s more to it than that. When we gearheads of a certain age (okay, call us old-timers) witness the cars of the past lining up at the start line, revving their engines with youthful vigor, there is a subliminal subtext.

Whether we are sitting at the wheel or viewing from the stands, men and machines are united in common cause: We may be old-timers, but here, once again, we can believe there is a long, thrilling road ahead of us.