 The 24 hour race at Nurburgring is one of the world's great motorsport parties |
The brochure said “the most beautiful and exciting race track in the world” hosting “the largest motor race in the world”. This enticing publicity drew me to the Nürburgring where I was keen to see our own lads throw down a challenge to some of Europe’s best.
They were all but completely overshadowed by the enormity of this insanely oversized world car frenzy. Some 1700 drivers and 750 cars from 23 countries took part in the programme of events that included touring car, historic and formula supports. The organisers received a total of 363 entries for the main event, the 28th International ADAC 24h-Rennen, a number that would ultimately be pruned to just 210 starters!
100 teams were scratched before practice, presumably told not to bother coming, while a further fifty were eliminated after qualifying – a stressful and distressing event in itself. With many drivers and teams literally coming from the other side of the world, being yanked at the last minute was not a cheerful experience. So much so that I heard one official even wore an uppercut as a reward for his intransigence.
116,000 spectators crammed the many vantage points around the track with a great many making a weekend of it in motorhomes, campers and tents. At such romantically named locations as Quiddelbach, Schwalbenschwanz and Pflanzgarten they erected a crazy array of structures ranging from mini-grandstands, towers, scaffolding, concert stages and humpies – each draped in flags, bunting and regalia of all sorts. And it looked like every one of these fans were lining the kerbing (yes, kerbing!) of the entire 25 kilometres during the warm-up lap, patting and slapping panels as their heroes tried in vain to put some heat into their tyres before the rolling “Indianapolis” start.
Info: Opened in 1927, the misty, damp Nürburgring Nordschleife is the longest permanent racetrack in the world. It hosted Formula One until Niki Lauda’s fiery crash in 1976 highlighted some of the over-length circuit’s safety compromises.
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