Schmitz was born and grew up just 300m from the N\u00fcrburgring Nordschleife. The 14-mile track is considered one of the most challenging racetracks globally and certainly the most popular. Sabine gained fame in 1996 when she became the first female driver in the world to win the grueling 24 Hours of N\u00fcrburgring touring car race driving a BMW M3, followed by a second win in 1997. Since 1997, Schmitz was the one and only female driver to ever do that. She also won the VLN Endurance Championship at N\u00fcrburgring in 1998.<\/p>\n
She gained the title of the “world’s fastest taxi driver,” having driven passengers on the German race track in a BMW M5<\/a>. Later she became famous as the Queen of N\u00fcrburgring \u2013 estimates show that Schmitz has completed more than 20000 laps around the racetrack. She revealed her 2017 cancer diagnosis through a social media post in July last year.<\/p>\n Expressing grief on Schmitz’s demise, the German<\/a> racing network said on Twitter, “The N\u00fcrburgring has lost its most famous female racing driver. Sabine Schmitz passed away far too early after a long illness. We will miss her and her cheerful nature. Rest in peace, Sabine.”<\/p>\n Sabine appeared for the first time on a Top Gear episode in 2004, where she drove a Ford diesel van around the N\u00fcrburgring and completed a lap in just 10 minutes. After that, she became a regular part of Top Gear and became a presenter of the show in 2016. Fellow presenter James Clarkson took to Twitter to pay her a tribute and said, “Terrible news about Sabine Schmitz. Such a sunny person and so full of beans.”<\/p>\n Terrible news about Sabine Schmitz. Such a sunny person and so full of beans.<\/p>\n \u2014 Jeremy Clarkson (@JeremyClarkson) March 17, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n![\"Sabine](\"https:\/\/www.emanualonline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Sabine-Schmitz-Queen-of-the-Nurburgring-2.jpg\")
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