Is The Nurburgring 24hrs The New 'Le Mans'?

PH/Castrol EDGE reporter Tony Hetherington on why the 'Ring 24hrs is a must see

By Chris-R / Thursday, 30 June 2011 / Loading comments

The eventual 2nd place BMW factory team - sponsored by Castrol EDGE (Just like Tony H!)

When Castrol EDGE invited PH to send two reporters to the Nurburgring 24hrs, we picked Tony Hetherington for his great idea to 'recce' the event as a Le Mans alternative.

He went, he saw, he filed this story:

*****

"Having been lucky enough to be picked for PH's recent "

NURBURGRING 24HRS TRIP WITH CASTROL EDGE

", I wanted to use the opportunity to report back on something I thought would be valuable to you, my fellow PHers.

My brother, friends and I have attended the Le Mans 24hr race for some years now - going to the same site and the same trackside locations each time. As predictable as our camp site location, is the PH Le Mans forum's sound of frantic keyboard tapping on the Monday with users proclaiming "it's not what it used to be" and "chavs have ruined Le Mans". With this in mind I chose to look upon this trip as the chance to decide if the Nurburgring 24hr race is a worthy alternative to our - to your - yearly pilgrimage to La Sarthe.

We stayed at the M-Festival camp site (just next to Hatzenbach, for those of you that know it) - great views across the back of the pits and a short walk from all the main activities. One of the things that first struck me about the event was its sheer size: the track is 25km long and as a result I found it ends up in little pockets of communities. The centre of activity is the development along the main pit straight which houses the 'ring rollercoaster (though yet to run) along with shops, catering and huge space available for displays and games. Notably, this year, a 24hr Gran Turismo 5 race running along side the real race. Everything in and around the centre, as well as Nordschleife laps when possible, is paid for using the ring-o-card. A credit card which you top up with funds and merely wave over a pad to make your purchase. Prices for food and drink were reasonable - €2.80 for a small beer, and €5 would get you "Schweine-Schnitzel im brotchen".

As I said, the size of the track is so large that it was very difficult to truly appreciate the scale, however the opportunity arose to be a passenger in an M3 around the track at the M-Corso on Friday afternoon - an event which saw over 150 BMW M-Cars drive round in convoy.

A wonderful experience, but what amazed me most was the fan's ingenuity. Many erect full scaffold viewing towers to over safety-fence height, from scratch, with stairs and full cover from the extremes of weather we would see over the weekend (there was hail Thursday night and 30c on Sunday afternoon!). The dedication to their race viewing was second to none.

Over the weekend we got the impression that the race is very important to the German fans. Of course, the cars in the race are predominantly German, but even so it was more than that. Everyone was friendly and enthusiastic, but not with over-exuberance or stupidity that you may often find at modern Le Mans. As we walked through the streets in and around the circuit there were many lovely cars - everything from E30 M3 through to brand new high power autobahn slayers - and driving noisily, but appropriately. One particular camp site summed up the key difference for me; a chap had a generator plugged in to his caravan merrily running with no thought for tying it down or locking it up. Doesn't sound like much, but that really showed the mood of the area for me.

All this talk of roller coasters and camp sites, but what of the racing? Well, by now you will all know the result (and if you don't; the Porsche GT3 RSR works car won, beating the factory BMW M3 GT into second place by just 4mins 23 seconds). The field of cars was huge; over 200, so the walk along the grid (which anyone can do, no special pass needed) at the start of the race took 20mins end to end! The result was that the faster cars would constantly be lapping the slower classes - using their flashing headlights to warn the cars ahead almost the entire lap, every lap.

As a non-German speaker (well, I can ask for a beer!) I did find it difficult to keep on top of the racing. I felt there were not enough screens situated around the track (for example, there were none on the start finish straight) and, unfortunately, the Radio Le Mans team who normally do such a fantastic job in France were transmitting only online, not on FM around the track. Huge data bills on your phone would have been the only way to overcome that. There were not frequent place summaries on the screens we could see and so this minor gripe is one of the few I have. The attendance is dominated by the home countrymen, which explains this entirely.

I mentioned earlier the small pockets you seem to get around the circuit? Well, there is a shuttle bus which circulates the whole track but we were warned it is way too busy, and the result is many hours' queuing once you find yourself 12 miles away from your tent. So it's to ay by the main section with plenty of great viewing opportunities at different types of corner - even though we remained fairly static we never felt left wanting. My suggestion would certainly be to drive yourself there (we flew, so were car-less), perhaps even with a mountain bike or two on the back. It will make viewing different parts of the circuit far easier and give you the opportunity to stock up at the local supermarket.

To the question I hope you're now wondering; "Is the Nurburgring 24 an alternative to the Le Mans 24"? Yes. Very much so. It's a different proposition, certainly, but there seems to be a far nicer atmosphere. By it's very nature it has different cars - there's no LMP (Le Mans prototype) cars, but the sounds emitted by the Mercedes SLS and Lexus LFA more than make up for it. Ask yourself why you go to Le Mans; if it's for great racing and a festival atmosphere then you'll not be disappointed.

The people, the track, the country and the racers made it an absolutely fantastic weekend, and I would certainly suggest that fellow Le Mans visitors - or even those new to endurance racing events - give a go."
Tony Hetherington