History

In the early 1920s, races called ADAC Eifelrennen were held on public roads in the Eifel mountains. This soon was considered impractical and dangerous. In order to provide work and lure tourists into the area, the construction of a dedicated race track was proposed, following the examples of Italy's Monza and Berlin's AVUS, yet with a completely different character. The layout of the circuit in the mountains was similar to the Targa Florio, one of the most important motor races at that time. The original Nürburgring was meant to be a showcase for German automotive engineering and racing talent, and was built with both purposes in mind. Construction of the track, designed by the Eichler Architekturbüro from Ravensburg (led by Architect Gustav Eichler), began in September 1925.

The track was completed in spring of 1927, and the ADAC Eifelrennen races were continued there. The first World Cycling Championship race took place on 1927-06-19, and the first German Grand Prix a month later. In addition, the track was opened to the public in the evenings and at weekends, as a one-way toll road. The Gesamtstrecke consisted of 174 bends (prior to 1971 changes), and was 8 to 9 metres in width on average.

In 1939 the full Ring was used for the last time in major racing events, as future Grands Prix would be held only on the Nordschleife. Motorcycles and minor races mainly used the shorter and safer Südschleife. Many memorable pre-war races took place at the circuit, featuring the talents of early Ringmeister (Ringmasters) such as Rudolf Caracciola, Tazio Nuvolari and Bernd Rosemeyer

After World War II, racing recommenced in the 1950s and the Nordschleife of the Nürburgring again became the main venue for the German Grand Prix as part of the Formula One World Championship (with the exception of 1959 when it was held on the AVUS in Berlin). A new group of Ringmeisters arose to dominate the race - Alberto Ascari, Juan Manuel Fangio, Stirling Moss, Jim Clark, John Surtees, Jackie Stewart and Jacky Ickx.

On August 5, 1961, during practise for the 1961 German Grand Prix, Phil Hill became the first person to complete a lap of the Nordschleife in under 9 minutes, with a stunning lap of 8m 55.2s (153.4 km/h ((95.3mph)) in the Ferrari 156 "Sharknose" Formula 1 car. Even 40 years later, the highest performing road cars have difficulty breaking 8 minutes without a professional racing driver or one very familiarised with the track. Also, several rounds of the German motorcycle Grand Prix were held, mostly on the 7.7 km "Südschleife", but the Hockenheimring and Solituderennen were the main sites for Grand Prix motorcycle racing.

In 1953, the ADAC 1000km Nürburgring race was introduced, an Endurance race and Sports car racing event that counted towards the World Sportscar Championship for decades. The 24 Hours Nürburgring for touring car racing was added in 1970.

By the late 1960s, the Nordschleife and many other tracks were becoming increasingly dangerous for the latest generation of F1 cars. In 1967, a chicane was added before the start/finish straight, called Hohenrain, in order to reduce speeds at the pit lane entry. In 1970, after the fatal crash of Piers Courage at Zandvoort, the F1 drivers decided at the French Grand Prix to boycott the Ring unless major changes were made, like they did at Spa the year before. The changes were not possible on short notice, and the German GP was moved to the Hockenheimring which already had been modified.

Several touring car series are still competing on the Nordschleife, using either only the simple 20.8 km version with its separate small pit lane, or a combined 24.4km long track that uses a part of the modern F1 track plus its huge pit facilities. Entry level of competition is a regularity test (GLP) for road legal cars. Two racing series (RCN/CHC and VLN) compete on 15 Saturdays each year, for several hours.

The annual highlight is the 24 Hours Nürburgring weekend, held usually in mid-June, featuring 220 cars (from small 100hp cars to 700hp Turbo Porsche or 500hp factory race cars of BMW, Opel, Audi, Mercedes-Benz), over 700 drivers (amateurs and professionals) and up to 220,000 spectators.

Several magazines, manufacturers etc. publish their Nordschleife fastest lap times achieved with "production" cars when the track is closed to the public.

The 24 Hours of Nurburgring

The 24 Hours Nürburgring is a touring car endurance racing event on the Nürburgring, inspired by the famous 24 Hours of Le Mans and the Spa 24 Hours.

Officially called ADAC 24h Rennen Nürburgring in German, it was introduced in 1970 by the ADAC as a low cost alternative to the 1000km Nürburgring (a sports car racing event that counted towards the World Sportscar Championship since 1953).

Unlike the rather professional 1000km race, the 24h race is mainly dedicated to amateur drivers and relatively cheap production cars. Due to the huge grid (220 cars in 3 groups) and the love of the drivers for the challenging Nordschleife (Northern Loop), it was and is always held on this long track, even after the new shorter GP-track was built in 1984 and the 1000km moved there since.

Typical entries range from standard road cars to European Touring Car Championship vehicles, and sports cars like the Porsche 911. As interest had dropped in the 1990s when only rather standard FIA Group N cars competed, stronger vehicles were admitted since 1999, like the Zakspeed Dodge Viper which originally was built to FIA GT2-spec, modified Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters cars from Opel and Abt Sportsline-Audi, and the Schnitzer Motorsport-entered BMW M3 GTR V8 that had been run in the 2001 American Le Mans Series.

Due to various changes and versions of the Grand Prix Strecke, the overall length of the track varied from the original 22.835km to nearly 26km of the maximum length configuration which was in use in 2002 and 2003, after the GP track had been extended by the Mercedes Arena. A 25.3km variant is in use since 2005, bypassing the Arena which is used for a parking zone for the competiors of the other races.

For practice, 230 cars are allowed, 220 qualify for the race, driven by 800 or more drivers, as 2, 3 or 4 can share a car. One pilot is allowed to drive 150 minutes nonstop, and can enter on two cars, yet a rest time of at least 2 hours has to be observed between two turns.

Porsche customer team secures overall victory and distance record on the Nuerburgring

Unlike the two previous races, held on Ascension Day weekend in May in rainy and very cold weather, the 2006 event [1] was run in warm, sunny and dry conditions on Corpus Christi (feast) weekend of June 17-18. Pure factory teams that challenged for the overall win were absent, yet Aston Martin and Maserati had entered factory-backed cars to promote their products, reminding of three overall wins each in the 1000km Nürburgring decades ago. The Aston Martin car in particular was notable that one of it's drivers was Aston CEO Ulrich Bez, and 4th in class and 24th overall.

A privately-entered Porsche 911 GT3, run by the German Manthey Racing team, won the 2006 Nuerburgring 24 hour race on the Nuerburgring-Nordschleife. Porsche factory pilots, Timo Bernhard (Germany), Lucas Luhr (Monaco) and Mike Rockenfeller (Monaco) lent to the Manthey squad for this event, together with former DTM pilot Marcel Tiemann (Monaco) took up the race on the 25.4 kilometre circuit from pole position. After several changes at the front during the opening stage the Porsche customer team grabbed the lead after the first pitstop and held on to it until the chequered flag after 151 laps (3,832.078 kilometres). With this, the team, under the direction of Olaf Manthey (Germany), set a new distance record, beating the old record from 2001 of 3,727.773 kilometres. The last overall victory of a Porsche customer team in the long distance classic dates back to 2000.

Second overall went to another privately-run Porsche 911 GT3 manned by the all-German driver line up of Jürgen Alzen, Uwe Alzen, Klaus Ludwig and Christian Abt. Seven of the top ten positions in the overall classification were claimed by Porsche customer teams.

Olaf Manthey: “We're used to climbing the podium. But here we really tried hard to win so many times and didn't make it by a stone's throw. I'm delighted that it worked out well today. We had an extremely balanced driver line-up who drove with intelligence and professionalism. They brought the car over the distance without making one mistake.“

Stuttgart. For the second time in succession the Manthey Racing team won the 24 hour race on the Nürburgring. With a one-lap advantage the Porsche works drivers Timo Bernhard, Romain Dumas and Marc Lieb together with Marcel Tiemann beat more than 200 competitors with their new Porsche 911 GT3 RSR. The success at the 35th edition of the long distance classic marks the eighth win for a Porsche in front of 210,000 spectators. Ranking third behind  Zakspeed Racing's Dodge Viper came a 911 GT3 RSR run by Land Motorsport.



Right from the start the four Manthey Racing drivers set the pace at the front after starting from pole. Despite the most challenging weather conditions with heat, rain and fog, Bernhard, Dumas, Lieb and Tiemann put in an impeccable drive. The Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, developed and built in Weissach, also finished its first outing at the Nürburgring 24 hour race without any technical problems.

“With this clear victory the Porsche 911 GT3 RSR again confirmed its potential,” said a pleased head of racing Hartmut Kristen. “A huge compliment to the Manthey Racing team who did a great job. The four drivers turned fast laps at exactly the right time and were cautious when the situation warranted it. These are the attributes of an excellent long distance pilot. The Nürburgring means a lot to Porsche. Thanks to all the Porsche teams who once again flew our flag.”

Team principal Olaf Manthey could hardly believe his fortune: “First I have to wait a quarter of a century to win what is for me the most important race in the world and now we win for the second consecutive time from pole position. For my wife Renate and I this was a particularly wonderful present – we have our silver wedding anniversary this weekend.” On Saturday the pair celebrated 25 years of marriage in the paddock.

The story of the 2007 marathon will go down in history as one of the most unusual races. Due to torrential downpours the Eifel classic had to be delayed by almost two hours and eventually got underway at 16.51 hours. At
3.54 hrs thick fog forced the race management to interrupt the event for about five-and-a-half hours. The restart took place at 9.31 hours.

Post-race quotes:

Timo Bernhard: “To win the Nürburgring 24 hour race twice in a row is a dream come true. In the Long Distance Championship we managed to find a good set-up for the peculiarities of the Nordschleife. The new 911 GT3 RSR ran like clockwork – we had not one problem over the 24 hours.”

Romain Dumas: “This is crazy. This is the third time I've raced on the Nordschleife and now I win one of the world's most important races. The track is simply one-of-a-kind. The changeable weather put a lot of pressure on us drivers. Above all, I will never forget my drive in thick fog during the night.”

Marc Lieb: “It's simply an indescribable feeling to have won Germany's greatest race. At the 24 hour events in Daytona and Le Mans I secured class victory and an overall win at Spa. The success here on the Nürburgring is very, very special for me.”

Marcel Tiemann: “This is the third time I've held the winners' trophy on the podium of this 24 hour race. To win here you need a reliable and fast car and the right partners. Thanks to the entire Manthey squad and to my team mates. We all did a perfect job this weekend.”

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The Nürburgring (alternatively spelled Nuerburgring, and commonly misspelled "Nurburgring"), known as simply "the Ring" by enthusiasts, is the name of a famous motorsport race track in Nürburg, Germany, built in the 1920s around the village and medieval castle of Nürburg in the Eifel mountains, which is about 90 kilometres southwest of Cologne and 100 kilometres northwest of Mainz. Originally, the track featured four track configurations: the 28.265 km long Gesamtstrecke ("Combined Loop"), which in turn consisted of the 22.810 km Nordschleife ("Northern Loop"), and the 7.747 km Südschleife ("Southern Loop"). There also was a 2.281 km warm-up loop called Betonschleife, around pits area. Between 1982 and 1983 the start-finish area was demolished to create a new GP-Strecke, and this is currently used for all major and international racing events. However, The Nordschleife is still in use; nicknamed The Green Hell by Jackie Stewart, it is widely considered the toughest and most demanding purpose-built race track in the world.

Public Access

The Nordschleife has remained a one-way, public toll-road for nearly 80 years except when it is closed off for testing purposes, training lessons or racing events. Since its opening in 1927, the track has been used by the public for the so-called "Touristenfahrten", i.e. to anyone with a road legal car or motorcycle, as well as tour buses, motor homes or cars with trailers. It is opened mainly on Sundays, but also on many Saturdays and weekday evenings. During the winter months, depending on weather conditions and maintenance work, the track may be closed for weeks.

During Touristenfahrten sessions StVO (German road law) applies despite a common misconception that it is derestricted like a race track. There is no general speed limit, however speed limits exist in certain areas in order to reduce noise and risks. As on public roads, passing on the right is prohibited, and the police take an extremely dim view of poor driving as they prosecute offenders with the aid of helicopters.

These are the current costs for driving the Nordschleife, as posted on their public website:

Single tickets Nordschleife 2007 Fee per car / motorcycle and round 19.00 € (only available on site) Bus - Adults per Person 4.00 € Bus - children per Person 2.00 €

Lap fees 2007 25-lap ticket car / motorcycle 345.00 € 15-lap ticket car / motorcycle 220.00 € 8-lap ticket car / motorcycle 124.00 € 4-lap ticket car / motorcycle 64.00 €

Tickets valid for a year 2007 Car or motorcyle 895.00 €

2007 Race Preview



A total of 31 Porsche race cars roll to the start of the 35th running of the 24 hour race on the Nuerburgring on 9th June. With this, Porsche is one of the most popular marques at Germany's largest motorsport event. And one of the quickest: the Manthey Racing team  returns as title defender with a 911 GT3 RSR. Also amongst the favourites for overall victory are the Land Motorsport squad and a pack of competitors running Porsche vehicles.

With a Porsche 911 GT3 RSR in the latest spec (382 kW/520 hp), team principal Olaf Manthey is eager to repeat last year's victory. Alongside title defender Timo Bernhard, two of his works driver colleagues, Romain Dumas and Marc Lieb, take the wheel of the Weissach-developed and built GT racer. The fourth pilot is Marcel Tiemann, who belonged to the victorious team last year. “We are well prepared for the race. Our win last year of the Nuerburgring Long Distance Championship gives us extra motivation to claim the victory again. But the competition this year is incredibly tough,” analyses Timo Bernhard, who normally shares driving duties with Romain Dumas at the wheel of a Porsche RS Spyder run by the Penske Motorsports team in the American Le Mans Series. Manthey Racing, with its headquarters in Meuspath a stone's throw from the 'Ring, fields a four-car team this year.

2007 Race


2007 Race


2007 Race


2007 Race