Fireworks from the #14 Audi's broken front splitter
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IopHkCc12cw

Quote from Vain :

@Tomba:
The one at the entrance of the caroussel?
Not the best behaviour from the slower driver, but my stance is that when you're behind and collide with someone in front then you're to blame.
I'm a BMW fan myself, but I still don't blame the slower driver.

Vain

But the m3 was clearly going to overtake from the left side to take the inside of the caroussel, and when the bmw was just about to overtake, e46 decides to turn on the same side?
There was no reason for the e46 to take left side of the road because he should have gone to the outer side of the carousell anyway to give way...

I hate that they lock the cameras for the night.

(just came home from cinema) is here any place to see timings that show the car make/team name, not just drivers and number?

Quote from NotAnIllusion :

The SLS GTs look soooo delicious :yummy:

Yeah.

Bimmers are doing well innit.

Quote from NotAnIllusion :

Bimmers are doing well innit.

Dunno, I'm not watching. I can't stand the fugly german language streams, I'm watching Wheeler Dealers instead.

RLM is not in German.

yeah, the Need For Speed Z4 is 3rd atm

and one of the LFAs moved up to 20th place, and the sole Subaru is just behind the highest ranking Golf24 consistence against pure speed

btw, the Audi stream is quite good now, no music, but live footage from the box (and not just Audi) and a quite competent guy giving commentary (in german)

cameras are back on the whole track.

What happened to the #30 Merc?

Was ok race.. I still rage at the e46 for pushing the leading m3 on grass. BMW could have won, ffffuuuu. But I like that porsche won, glad that audi didn't.

Decent race. Was hard to follow, but still very enjoyable.

Porsche still the king of the ring.

Quote from Tomba(FIN) :

Was ok race.. I still rage at the e46 for pushing the leading m3 on grass. BMW could have won, ffffuuuu.

Can't believe I'm actually agreeing with you on this. The race was BMW's until this little mess happened, it was just bad luck I guess, because it's pretty much impossible to avoid a collision at the Nordschleife with 200 cars racing around it for a whole day.

Since I attended the race as a guest, here are some impressions of it for you folks.


Picture credits:

1: The Artega GT catching a last glimpse of daylight, being prepared for its first 24h race on the Ring. The car seemed to be in road = stock condition and didn't even have a rear wing.

2: A look into one of the still empty pits on Wednesday evening, which in contrary became absolutely crowded during the weekend with up to seven cars each in it!

3: The Stuck Lamborghini Gallardo accelerating out of the formerly called "Dunlop" bend. Ferdinand "Striezel" Stuck shared the car with his two sons, officially finishing his racing career which also started here on the Nordschleife in the 1970s. But he's arguably to come back in some form of car racing at least.

4: One of the Lexus LF-A's, attending the 24h race for the third time. Its V10-engine is still unmistakingly screaming "Formula 1", unfortunatly not as loud and wicked as during the years before.

5: 1-series BMW called "Tittenschlitten", crudely translatable as "t*t ride". You catch why?

6: 1-million-and-more-worthy one-off Ferrari P4/5, built for US-billionaire James Glickenhaus and driven by former F1 stars Mika Salo and Nicola Larini. It arrived finish in quite good condition, compared to a large number of cars not entirely staying "stock" or not arriving at all. By the way the loudest car in the race. And maybe the wi(l)dest.

7: View from the tribune down to Dunlop bend during race night. Very nice place to have a barbeque or just spectate.

8: Aston Martin V12 Zagato, one of two. Impressive and raw sound included! Both finished despite having gotten some small bruises during the race.

9: The one and only Corvette of the race. Quite unspectacular in the sound department, I had wished for a bit more grunt.

10: One of the Mercedes SLS bunch braking strongly for corner number one, an extremely tight right-left combination, which means slowing the car down from at least 250 to 50 km/h. Nearly every car took another line through these bends after catching the braking point more or less exactly. The SLS-V8 in my opinion had the most "American" sound - nice!


Altogether it was a great weekend at the ring again - maybe apart from the weather (10°C and 100% humidity in June? Brrrrrrr!). It was the third 24h race as a visitor for me, and as in the years before, there is more and more to "learn": where you can find what, what you HAVE to see etc. Everybody you ask, being it team members, security or even drivers, gives you a friendly answer, if you need time and place to take a photo into one of the pits, mechanics hold back or excuse for walking through the picture, whereas in Formula 1 you are sent away or not allowed to stay there at all. This is what makes this race so special. And to see cars so widely varying race makes it even more perfect. You can HEAR which car is passing next - and if you couldn't hear it, it was probably not a Lambo or a Merc SLS or an R8 or a Porsche GT3 or a Ferrari or a Lexus LF-A or an Aston Martin. It was maybe just a Diesel VW Golf.

Quick financial side note: A weekend ticket costs you not more than EUR 59, which is a bit of a snip compared to what you effectively get: 4 days of racing (including a 3 hours classic race and the Porsche Carrera World Cup this year), entry round the entire Nordschleife and Grand Prix circuit, entry to paddock, grid (and pits if you're lucky), going down to the side rail during formation lap to cheer the passing field of nearly 200 cars, taking a used slick tire as a souvenir if you like - and that's for sure not all. So, to everybody who wasn't there before: GO THERE NEXT YEAR!

Great pictures! I am impressed Good job

Quote from baSh0r :

Great pictures! I am impressed Good job

Thanks mate. The fence isn't the photographer's best friend though, but you have to make the best of it if you're lacking an accreditation. Maybe I should start taking pictures for a team for a start.

You were also there, I guess?

Quote from smove :

5: 1-series BMW called "Tittenschlitten", crudely translatable as "t*t ride". You catch why?

I am impressed that they allowed this, I mean, there must be kids watching etc. Nice livery.

Actually I am impressed by all photos of yours. If you have anything else to add, feel free to post it here.

Quote from smove :

Thanks mate. The fence isn't the photographer's best friend though, but you have to make the best of it if you're lacking an accreditation. Maybe I should start taking pictures for a team for a start.

You were also there, I guess?

Yeah i was, you could try contacting your local newspaper or anybody who is running a website and try to get an accreditation from them.

Quote from Mysho :

I am impressed that they allowed this, I mean, there must be kids watching etc. Nice livery.

Actually I am impressed by all photos of yours. If you have anything else to add, feel free to post it here.

Hehe, last year the "lady" wore even less, and if that wouldn't be enough, the car left some parts as well.

I will be pleased to upload some more photos. Maybe from the classics race? A lot of the cars there could be exhibits in a museum as well - driven to the limit here and there which is really impressive.

Quote from baSh0r :

Yeah i was, you could try contacting your local newspaper or anybody who is running a website and try to get an accreditation from them.

Is it this easy, actually? Even for a small one-car amateur team with a sluggish website?

Pictures from the 24h-Classic preparations + race, more or less edited ... enjoy.

Quote from smove :

Is it this easy, actually? Even for a small one-car amateur team with a sluggish website?

I guess so, all the organisators have to do is send you ticks and they get free publicity, so i guess they are interested in this "partnership" too

Quote from smove :

7: View from the tribune down to Dunlop bend during race night. Very nice place to have a barbeque or just spectate.

Really nice pictures !

Can you please send me this picture in higher resolution. Would be really cool if you can send 2560px wide one

that green porsche (#1 in second set) is now my desktop background

great pictures all around