Will Verstappen era help or ruin the Nürburgring?
Discussion
Like many I am looking forward to following the livestream this weekend. I have been the N24 before and it is a unique event. For the past few decades I have gone to the Ring every year or two with a variety of cars. It has of course changed from the days when most cars were Minis, Golfs, old 3 series and the like when it was uncrowded and unfilmed before the Top Gear/Sabine/Van stuff and the endless YT videos.
However it for me still remains the Ring of my earlier years; I still stay in the same hotel I have done since my first visit, ( Hotel am Tiergarten), eat in the same places and talk to a number of locals I know. Yes, it is crowded but there are also track days, still unpredictable weather, still people in objectively slower cars who can drive rings around me.
I notice that the N24 this year is sold out for the first time because of the Max effect, ( I will not say Max factor), and would hate to see some kind of Netflix-type series that will simply overwhelm the places with Instagrammers trying to get that perfect shot. One of the things I always liked about the NS was the complete lack if glamour or flash. I have seen F1 change radically since the social media era; I don't watch the Netflix series, don't care about the intrigues,WAGS and so on, but now brilliant tracks like Spa are being downgraded because they don't have the kind of glam paddock facilities and the like.
My fear is that this will begin to happen to the Ring. I am old enough now that I will probably only have a few more visits, and very glad to have been there when it was just an eccentric hobby with no rush to post a video.
I was lucky enough to have pit access in those days during the race. Would not happen now....
However it for me still remains the Ring of my earlier years; I still stay in the same hotel I have done since my first visit, ( Hotel am Tiergarten), eat in the same places and talk to a number of locals I know. Yes, it is crowded but there are also track days, still unpredictable weather, still people in objectively slower cars who can drive rings around me.
I notice that the N24 this year is sold out for the first time because of the Max effect, ( I will not say Max factor), and would hate to see some kind of Netflix-type series that will simply overwhelm the places with Instagrammers trying to get that perfect shot. One of the things I always liked about the NS was the complete lack if glamour or flash. I have seen F1 change radically since the social media era; I don't watch the Netflix series, don't care about the intrigues,WAGS and so on, but now brilliant tracks like Spa are being downgraded because they don't have the kind of glam paddock facilities and the like.
My fear is that this will begin to happen to the Ring. I am old enough now that I will probably only have a few more visits, and very glad to have been there when it was just an eccentric hobby with no rush to post a video.
I was lucky enough to have pit access in those days during the race. Would not happen now....
I think Max’s involvement is entirely positive.
F1 sucks the blood out of most other motorsport in its media domination.
Here, Max is putting something back into the wider sport, and showing he’s a real racing driver, like many of the legends of the by-gone days - and it’s earning him new found respect.
I gather it’s a ‘sell out’.
F1 sucks the blood out of most other motorsport in its media domination.
Here, Max is putting something back into the wider sport, and showing he’s a real racing driver, like many of the legends of the by-gone days - and it’s earning him new found respect.
I gather it’s a ‘sell out’.
Times change and yes it will be a great benefit to the NS 24 and motorsport in general , which is in the shadow of the F1 "circus " when drivers going to Cochella or the Met Ball gets more press coverage than drivers racing say at WEC . Yes I remember being at Kyalami siting on James Hints car chatting to him while he was smoking .and I was drinking wine , still have the picture . Needless to say I never watch F1 anymore .
I think my concern is not about the broader viewing audience, ( completely positive) but for the smaller number of people who turn up to drive there periodically. However, of course the clock cannot be turned back. I worry that the traffic jams over the season will turn into something like Dubrovnik in the high tourist season....
I suspect the short term effect will be good for the ring in terms of financial stability and public interest. However that’s is likely to bring more tomfoolery and general idiocy to TF days and trackdays, which is a bad thing for keen, circumspect enthusiasts.
The real business at the ring is the motor industry testing and development and this is showing no signs of diminishing any time soon. The public stuff is mere window dressing compared to the industry spend. The risk is that the public stuff is banned / much reduced and we loose the opportunity for some great days out.
There wont be many YouTubers there on a damp Tuesday morning in March watching professional test drivers trundle round testing tyres in a 3-series estate. The novelty will soon wear off!
The real business at the ring is the motor industry testing and development and this is showing no signs of diminishing any time soon. The public stuff is mere window dressing compared to the industry spend. The risk is that the public stuff is banned / much reduced and we loose the opportunity for some great days out.
There wont be many YouTubers there on a damp Tuesday morning in March watching professional test drivers trundle round testing tyres in a 3-series estate. The novelty will soon wear off!
Castellet said:
I think Max s involvement is entirely positive.
F1 sucks the blood out of most other motorsport in its media domination.
Here, Max is putting something back into the wider sport, and showing he s a real racing driver, like many of the legends of the by-gone days - and it s earning him new found respect.
I gather it s a sell out .
Agreed, I think it’s a good thing. F1 sucks the blood out of most other motorsport in its media domination.
Here, Max is putting something back into the wider sport, and showing he s a real racing driver, like many of the legends of the by-gone days - and it s earning him new found respect.
I gather it s a sell out .
GhostLap said:
Castellet said:
I think Max s involvement is entirely positive.
F1 sucks the blood out of most other motorsport in its media domination.
Here, Max is putting something back into the wider sport, and showing he s a real racing driver, like many of the legends of the by-gone days - and it s earning him new found respect.
I gather it s a sell out .
Agreed, I think it s a good thing. F1 sucks the blood out of most other motorsport in its media domination.
Here, Max is putting something back into the wider sport, and showing he s a real racing driver, like many of the legends of the by-gone days - and it s earning him new found respect.
I gather it s a sell out .
Max is using his profile to raise that of the N24 as an event, and is clearly going there with the intention of winning a trophy.
The “putting something back” argument is also compelling. As a Lewis Hamilton ‘fan’, I think it’s fair to say that the reputation of Max has changed positively in the F1 world, with his involvement in the ‘Ring racing.
Its only positive in my eyes, both for the event and Max. The danger of the VLN/24h is going to catch up with it eventually and making it a higher profile event will hopefully allow them to invest in things to mitigate that. The circuit is too big to be taken over by corporates.
Ive never liked the way Max drives but fair play to him, with this and PR stunts like the Super GT drive hes showing an incredible range of talent that i dont believe most of the F1 grid possess.
Ive never liked the way Max drives but fair play to him, with this and PR stunts like the Super GT drive hes showing an incredible range of talent that i dont believe most of the F1 grid possess.
It has been higher profile than this on the past, with more factory cars etc, Max is just one driver, in the past you had factory Audi, Merc, Porsche, BMW, Aston, Nissan, semi works Lambo and Ferrari, Glick, lots of factory small class cars from Nissan, Toyota, Hyundai, VW.
Its always been huge, Max just adds more fans and a different slant on the event.
Its always been huge, Max just adds more fans and a different slant on the event.
bigmowley said:
I suspect the short term effect will be good for the ring in terms of financial stability and public interest. However that s is likely to bring more tomfoolery and general idiocy to TF days and trackdays, which is a bad thing for keen, circumspect enthusiasts.
The real business at the ring is the motor industry testing and development and this is showing no signs of diminishing any time soon. The public stuff is mere window dressing compared to the industry spend. The risk is that the public stuff is banned / much reduced and we loose the opportunity for some great days out.
There wont be many YouTubers there on a damp Tuesday morning in March watching professional test drivers trundle round testing tyres in a 3-series estate. The novelty will soon wear off!
I’d argue that the youtubers without naming them have been making it more and more public over the last few years the racing & another known local made tf and tomfoolery in the area worse. Max isn’t going to do much more as they are motorsport fans generally that follow him now single braincell knuckle draggers with an M2 on Klarna.The real business at the ring is the motor industry testing and development and this is showing no signs of diminishing any time soon. The public stuff is mere window dressing compared to the industry spend. The risk is that the public stuff is banned / much reduced and we loose the opportunity for some great days out.
There wont be many YouTubers there on a damp Tuesday morning in March watching professional test drivers trundle round testing tyres in a 3-series estate. The novelty will soon wear off!
Valid that even the local you tube folk don’t bother with cars testing etc anymore it seems they don’t get the views so stopped.
The biggest risk comes from sell-out tickets and the Nurburgring smelling big money.
This is what has happened at Le Mans over the last few years. Yes the toilets, food and facilities are now way better and it’s much more family and corporate friendly - but this has come with more hospitality and massive new grandstand construction as well as the loss of the trackside campsites.
For the ACO it’s all good, for the traditional fan on site it’s becoming ever more soulless and distant.
It would be a shame if the ‘ring 24 went the same way.
This is what has happened at Le Mans over the last few years. Yes the toilets, food and facilities are now way better and it’s much more family and corporate friendly - but this has come with more hospitality and massive new grandstand construction as well as the loss of the trackside campsites.
For the ACO it’s all good, for the traditional fan on site it’s becoming ever more soulless and distant.
It would be a shame if the ‘ring 24 went the same way.
With the size of 'the ring' there may be room for both the commercialised focus around the grandstands on the start/finish straight while retaining the literal grass roots camping, German sausage fest, and party zones elsewhere, which the relative small size of Le Mans couldn't do.
Some may deride the focus already brought to NLS24 by the youtubers but it got me interested via the sim racing aspect (can sim racers be competitive in the real world) and the tie in with Misha the ring youtuber sharing the same car over recent years (can a youtuber really be competitive when not just throwing other people's cars around for views). Though their tiny class due to using 'green' fuels seems a bit of a fudge into getting more success, they should have gone into the proper Porsche GT3 Cup class if they thought they were any good to prove it. Perhaps there's less cost in going their way, to ensure all the classes get enough participants so presume there's an entry fee by class so only the big teams can enter the top tier with the likes of Verstappen.
Will be watching the live stream on and off and hope it's not red flagged due to bad weather after dark like the other year when the fog rolled in.
F1? That's mario kart these days, so perhaps they're proving it the other way, can real drivers hack it at sim racing.
Some may deride the focus already brought to NLS24 by the youtubers but it got me interested via the sim racing aspect (can sim racers be competitive in the real world) and the tie in with Misha the ring youtuber sharing the same car over recent years (can a youtuber really be competitive when not just throwing other people's cars around for views). Though their tiny class due to using 'green' fuels seems a bit of a fudge into getting more success, they should have gone into the proper Porsche GT3 Cup class if they thought they were any good to prove it. Perhaps there's less cost in going their way, to ensure all the classes get enough participants so presume there's an entry fee by class so only the big teams can enter the top tier with the likes of Verstappen.
Will be watching the live stream on and off and hope it's not red flagged due to bad weather after dark like the other year when the fog rolled in.
F1? That's mario kart these days, so perhaps they're proving it the other way, can real drivers hack it at sim racing.
They would be nowhere against the main Cup guys, they can be top 10 overall, I get why they are doing it, funding etc what I hate is the chat endlessly talking about rich playboys living the dream instead of what is actually going on on track, but this is the era we live in sadly.
Hope we get a full 24 too,
Hope we get a full 24 too,
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