Nurburgring 24 Hours 2019
Photographing the N24 – the Nurburgring 24 Hours 2019
There is 21 km of narrow twisty undulating tarmac through the Eifel Mountains known as the Nordschleife. Christened the Green Hell by Jackie Stewart, it is the place that very nearly took Niki Lauda’s life in 1976. It was constructed in the 1920s and supplemented with the modern Grand Prix circuit in the 1980s and has an almost mythical standing among motorsport and car enthusiasts alike.
For many years there has been a German domestic race series, the VLN, which runs exclusively on the Nordschleife. These four or six hour races cater broadly for GT and touring cars.
In addition, there has been a 24 hour race (colloquially known as the N24) since 1970 – which has been won over the years by everything from a Ford Capri to a BMW 320D to a Viper. ‘Tis said that if you have a car, they can find a class it can run in ! The entry these days is generally over 150 cars, but in earlier years it has been in excess of 200.
In Germany, where the N24 is generally scheduled around one of two bank holidays in May or June, it has long been a tradition for 200,000 plus Germans to head to the Ring to camp in the forests surrounding the track, drink, barbeque, play loud techno music and watch motor racing.
In recent years, due in no small part to the organisers adopting both the Radio Le Mans commentary team and YouTube streaming, the popularity of both the VLN and N24 races have increased way beyond the German borders.
Our first VLN race was in 2016 – the Rowe 6 Hours – where we joined with the other spectators on the grid as the cars assembled (yes, you read that right). For the N24, at selected places around the track, spectators are allowed to stand by the track for the parade lap – with some of the drivers high five-ing the fans as they drive by.
Given the numbers, and the amount of empty beer bottles, the crowd behaviour across the weekend, in our experience, was excellent.
We have spectated and taken photos at the N24 in 2018 and 2019, on both occasions staying 20 minutes down the road at the Park Eifel Centerparc. I need a proper bed and decent night sleep these days ! The race starts at 3.30pm Saturday, although this year we arrived in time to see the first WTCR (touring car) race and Top Qualifying for the N24 late afternoon Friday.
We had never ventured to the Grand Prix loop on previous visits (why would you with the whole of the Nordschleife to explore ?) but this time we headed down there for the Qualifying where the quickest cars had two laps – essentially on their own - to set their grid position.
We were down at the Dunlop-Kehre at the bottom of the Grand Prix loop but I have to confess that the process didn’t really work for me. It certainly didn’t for the #3 AMG Mercedes who spun at Turn 5/6 on one of his two allowed hot laps …
This was followed by the Falken Drift Show. I am glad I saw it but I am not sure I’d rush back to watch it again … it’s possibly more exciting sat in the car !
Saturday morning dawned bright and clear with a prospect of two sunny, hot days – although as we know from 2018, the Eifel Mountains can be wet, cold, foggy … if you can’t see the castle it is raining; if you can see the castle it is about to rain ! Except it wasn’t true this weekend, just hot.
We decided to park in Nurburg village and walk against the race traffic to be at Galgenkopf and the Kleine Karussell for the two WTCR races on Saturday morning. The former is one of the places where there are totally unrestricted views of the cars.
The latter has fencing but spectators can get close – and there are windows for photographers – although I need to lose about a foot in height for them to be comfortable to use !
The plan thereafter was to walk the track past Pflantzgarten, Brunnchen and up to Hohe Acht. In the event we went beyond the Karussell to Steilstrecke for the start. As anticipated, the crowd were allowed to line the track as the three batches of around 50 cars each came round on their parade lap.
Hohe Acht is the joint highest point of the track with Nurburg village near the Start / Finish – so from here it was all downhill to Adenau village – and then it was all uphill to where we parked the car …
Beyond Steilstrecke the path starts to run above the track and there are interesting shots through the trees. I want to head back here on a future occasion to spend some time developing this sort of shot.
As the track flattens out near Kesselchen, there is a tunnel under the track to a location giving a high speed, head on shot.
At this point, near Bergwerk, the scene of Lauda’s accident, the path moves away from the track although there is a view across the valley. Thereafter, the path and road lead down into Adenau village where food and drink is on offer.
Now there are buses that run between key locations around the track – and Adenau village is one of them. However, after brief discussion we decided to keep walking.
Now, I should have known better having walked it the other way around in 2018 and I knew what the next section was like – a very long slog uphill away from the track – so not even the sight and sound of racing cars to encourage except at the start at Breidscheid.
At the top however, you come out at Adenauer Forst – a fast left right left right complex with an elevated area for spectators and – hurrah – slots for snappers. I “think” the walk was worth it – I hope you do too !
Keeping close to the track then leads past Fuchsrohre and up towards Aremberg. There is a rough road away from the track or you can hug the fence line in the trees and see the cars at high speed.
Just before Aremberg, there is a bridge to allow access to the inside of the track. I sneaked a shot over the bridge on my trusty step but this was frowned upon by the spectator control chaps.
The step doubles as a temporary seat so it was worth carrying it. At this point I should reassure readers that I had not carried my 200-500mm zoom as well as the 70-200mm – my usual lens elf wasn’t with me this time !
The inside of Aremberg is a good spot with windows in the fence and by the time we got there the sun was low in the sky. Walking up towards Schwedenkreuz we got the sunset ! Thereafter the path runs away from the track but there is room for some creativity.
We were now getting closer to the end of our marathon hike – and reached what is now my favourite spot on the track – Hocheichen – a fast downhill left which runs very close to the fence on the outside – and with a snapper’s window !
In the dark it was spectacular and, probably fortunately, the drivers were keeping on the track and not running wide. We will come back to Hocheichen …
Darkness was now fully set in allowing us to appreciate the trouble some of the fans had gone to with their campsite pitches.
Thus, 13 hours after we set off, climbing and descending around 300m and walking 23km, we got back to the car.
Sunday morning dawned sunny and bright and after a slightly more leisurely start, we headed to Brunnchen with the idea of parking and covering the area we had walked on Saturday when there was no racing. However, the car park was full by the time we got there so Plan B was required.
We headed back to the start area and instead walked the first part of the Nordschleife from Hatzenbach to Hocheichen that we had seen in the dark the night before. This wasn’t ideal as the sun wasn’t in the best place for all of the shots.
Many of the spectators have been there all week - there is a programme of support races, practice and qualifying - so by Sunday morning many are breaking camp. This opens up areas on the fence that have not previously been visible – and certainly weren’t in the dark the night before.
By then – 18 or so hours in – many cars are showing signs of wear although, with no rain, they hadn’t got that dullness that dry road spray seems to leave. Some were still trying !
We walked in as far as Hocheichen where the sun was really not in the right place, but frankly, just standing there watching is fully entertaining.
Early afternoon, we headed back to the Mercedes Tribune at Turn 1 for the final hour or so of the race. The big screen opposite and streaming the English language commentary on the phone kept us in touch – including the shout out from my tweet to the radio team.
The different factions – Audi, Porsche and Mercedes had their fans and the leading cars were cheered as they came around each lap. Not a lot of noise for BMW who had had a race to forget.
Then there is the Opel Manta – the one with the foxtail - run by ex-Opel Motorsport boss Volker Stryczek. Like Trigger’s broom, it’s probably not all original and can certainly motor along, but his year it suffered significant damage in a no-fault accident.
The team, along with another team who’s car was out having gone off in a big way, set about repairing it and the biggest cheer was reserved for the Manta’s reappearance for a lap right at the end of the race !
At this point it is worth mentioning that, due to the length of the track, the organisers will, when required, scramble recovery vehicles / armco repair teams that run with the race traffic under cover of a slow zone where the speed limit has to be scrupulously adhered to.
In the end, the long-time leader – the Manthey Porsche #911 - was delayed by a penalty for speeding in a slow zone and the win went to the Phoenix Audi #4 of Kaffer, Stippler, Vervisch and Vantoor.
I have said in previous reports that if I could only watch one class of racing it would probably be GT3 cars – the fastest class at the Ring. Despite the vagaries of Balance of Performance, they remain superb to see close up and at speed, especially on the Nordschleife.
You can find the race highlights on YouTube.
The race commentary can be found at radio Le Mans and full race results can be found at 24 Nurburgring.
If you have any questions about either the N24 or the VLN series please contact us through Facebook.
Report by David Harbey
2018 Andrew Harbey
2019 David and Madeline Harbey
To share this report use these links
Follow us on Social Media: