24 hours Nurburgring

The 24-hour Nurburgring is an endurance race held on the Nurburgring North Loop since 1970 under the auspices of ADAC .

Winner 2003 : Opel Astra V8 Coupé , OPC Team Phoenix

Winner 1999 , 2001 and 2002 : Zakspeed Dodge Viper

Manthey Racing Porsche, winner 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009

Nissan 350Z

Porsche 911 GT3 Hybrid

The race originated as a cheaper alternative to the 1000 km of Nurburgring, which was offset by the World Championship among Sports Cars, and where professional racers performed on powerful sport prototypes .

The 24 hours of the Nurburgring are attended mainly by amateur riders, for whom the main thing is to challenge the Green Hell, as the Northern Loop is called. After the track was rebuilt in 1984 , 1000 km of the race moved to the Grand Prix ring, while the 24-hour race remained on the Nordschleife .

Previously, the race was included in the calendar of the German VLN Endurance Championship, which takes place on only one track - the Nurburgring North Loop.

The technical regulations of the race are very liberal. If in the 90s only standard Group N cars were allowed to start, as well as modified Group A cars (which allowed DTM cars to take part in the late 80s and early 90s, and STW in 1995), then in 1999 GT2 category cars were also able to enter the start , which made it possible to win Dodge Viper from Tsakspeed. In addition, under a special agreement, even the silhouette-sport prototypes of the new DTM from Opel and Abt Sportsline , as well as the BMW M3GTR from Schnitzer Motorsport , which were not homologated in the GT2 , were allowed.

Sometimes factory teams are also declared for the race, in order to conduct promotions or test different decisions. So, in 1998 , a diesel car for the first time won - BMW 320d. And in 2008 , the Gumpert Apollo hybrid car was announced for the race, which however came off the race. In 2010 Porsche 911 GT3 Hybrid with a mechanical recovery system almost won, leading 2 hours before the finish, but came down due to a breakdown in the main engine, while showing excellent fuel efficiency.

Races are held on the Nurburgring North loop, using different configurations - from 22,835 m to almost 26 km, depending on the configuration of the Grand Prix ring. The longest configuration was used in 2002 and 2003 , when the newly - built Mercedes-Arena was used . Since 2005 , a configuration of 25,378 m has been used, which bypasses the Mercedes arena used to park the cars of participants in support races.

In the race, which traditionally takes place in May or June, 220 cars will start (and 230 in training), because of which the start is carried out in 3 runs. The number of riders can exceed 8 hundred, as crews of 3, 4, 5, and even 6 people can drive one car. At the same time, one pilot cannot operate the machine for more than 2.5 hours in a row, and must withstand a 2-hour break, before driving again. In this case, it is allowed for one rider to be present in two crews at once. In 1996 and 1997 for the first time, a woman won the race - it was Sabina Schmitz in the BMW M3.

Despite the fact that the bulk of the field is made up of amateurs who go to the start on a wide variety of cars, professional crews fight on victory on specially prepared machines corresponding to the GT3 and GT2 level. For them, private owners can be a big problem, which they have to constantly overtake throughout the entire huge ring.

The race is always accompanied by a large festival, gathering a lot of people, and is a great holiday in which the racing action itself often recedes into the background, especially at night. The total number of visitors to the race exceeds 400 thousand. in a week.