TG’s guide to surviving the Nürburgring 24 hours

Been to a Formula One race, have you? Made the pilgrimage to Le Mans? You may well be a seasoned pro on race spectating, but watching a 24-hour endurance race at the Nürburgring is next-level stuff. Here are the things we wish we’d known before joining 200,000 other Nürburgring fans at the 2016 N24...

As the flag dropped on the 44th N24, staff were hurrying around the Mercedes-AMG paddock handing out free bottles of water in an effort to stave off dehydration. The mercury was hovering around 23 degrees Celsius and climbing – it was 26.5deg earlier in the day – and the balmy weather was in danger of giving everyone heatstroke. Lesson one: stay hydrated.

Thirty-five minutes later, the drivers were in danger of not making it back to the paddock at all. While the pit lane and GP circuit continued to bathe in Rhineland sunshine, a vicious hailstorm and torrential rain attacked the opposite side of the Nordschleife, sending several cars from all classes tobogganing into the barriers at Aremberg, causing a 90-minute red flag. Lesson two: bring warm clothing.

Several cars were stranded out on the circuit, their desperate pilots radioing in to say they were unable to climb the slippery hill up to Adenauer Forst and complete their lap. In half an hour, the Nürburgring microclimate randomly chewed up and spat out tens of N24 dreams. Ouch.

In fact, at times it feels like the motorsport itself is merely incidental to the music festival-meets-Oktoberfest-drinking-meets-camping-extravaganza that is the N24.

The whole place feels a lot more fan-dominated than say, Le Mans – there are more places to roam free, a less policed paddock, and the homemade gantries fans construct in the woods of the Nordschleife have ambitious architectural merit, considering they’ve been nailed together by someone pickled with Bitburger. It’s a proper carnival. Don’t come unless you’re prepared to join the party.

For a first-timer, finding a particular location around the Nordschleife can be a bit daunting. Happily, the local roads around the circuit are smooth, flowing joyous bits of tarmac that are great fun to drive.

So, follow a map, park up at a set location, and then – judging by the number of mud-caked spectators about the place – be prepared to get your hands dirty scrambling through the woods to shack up at the optimum vantage point.

The elite class of racers at the N24 is the GT3 field, featuring a widetrack, winged-up selection of AMG GTs, Audi R8s, Porsche 911s, Nissan GTRs and BMW M6s, plus the odd Lamborghini Huracan and Aston Martin Vantage. There’s a great mix of engine sounds to enjoy among them, with six, eight, ten and twelve cylinders all barreling past. Oh, and the Glickenhaus twins are completely beguiling.

Thing is, the slower classes have just as much to enjoy. We spotted RS Meganes and BMW M3 V8s, a fleet of Porsche Cayman GT4s and BMW M235is, Hyundai’s plucking i30 N, random Toyota GT86s and the C-HR, plus an E34 BMW M5, a Vauxhall Calibra, and a Mk4 VW Golf. If you can’t find a supercar to shout for and an underdog to cheer on among this esoteric, electric field, you’re at the wrong event.

If you’ve been to Goodwood, you’ll have spotted how the car park itself is its own motor show, usually chock-full of classic British sports cars. And at Le Mans, you’ll trip over supercars from the marques that’ve tasted champage at La Sarthe.

Lots of folk bring rare machinery to the N24 too, but as it’s the Ring, it’s all serious stuff. Over three days there I didn’t see a single Ferrari or Lambo, but Porsche 997 GT3s and 991 RSs were as common as a black cab in London. M Division, AMG and Quattro GmhB are locked in a weekend-long battle to out-shout each other, with various Black Series models, R8 V10 Pluses and more M2s and M3s than it’s possible to count patrolling the Ring’s, erm, ring roads.