There are races after which there are races. The 24 Hours of Nurburgring is the latter. And that’s even promoting it brief. The ‘Ring is in contrast to any observe, any ambiance and any custom on the planet. A observe minimize via the forested hills of picturesque western Germany, the Nurburgring is a 14.2 mile observe that feels otherworldly in its format and site. However the observe is simply a part of the story. We’ve all the time heard its the ambiance that actually defines this place. So we wished to see for ourselves what it was like on the final race a the ‘Ring – the annual 24 Hours of the Nurburgring.
This race being a significant bucket record merchandise for me, I wished to expertise as a lot as I might. Nonetheless in contrast to most races, the very best place to observe the race isn’t the stands however within the forests the observe runs via. Whereas the MINI camp that we stayed at was wonderful, we wished to get out into the wilds of the ‘Ring. So I grabbed some mountain climbing sneakers and a GoPro and headed out. That is what I discovered.
By no means have we expertise a race just like the 24 Hours of Nurburgring. That is as a lot a race as a pageant devoted to vehicles, tradition and the madness of German race followers. We’ve been ready to make it right here for 25 years and if something it blew away our expectations. The paddock and the vehicles had been spectacular however seeing the group and the tradition that has constructed up round this race was in contrast to something on the planet.
This isn’t the primary time I’ve been to the ‘Ring. Should you’re a very long time reader you’ll bear in mind after we took a R56 Cooper S to the ‘Ring for an epic day 15 years in the past. However to see a race of this magnitude and followers this loopy was in contrast to another race we’ve ever skilled. The German followers creativity with camp websites was one thing we had heard about however nonetheless had been shocked by. The engineering that went into among the buildouts had been wild and the expertise was electrical – particularly into the evening. It was all made even higher by how welcoming the whole crowd was.
Should you’re in any respect concerned with going our sturdy advice is to simply do it. Coming from abroad a good quantity of planning shall be so as but it surely’s very doable and finally very price it.
