We Found Max Verstappen’s Tyres at Nürburgring 24 Hours & so much more | Ep 90 | Drive Torque Podcast
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At the Nürburgring 24 Hours, the hosts break down how the Nordschleife and GP circuit combine, why the formation lap is so long, and what Max Verstappen’s first-year entry does for the crowd. From Michelin’s massive tyre logistics and rapid weather swings to live recovery, code 60 zones, and wet-to-dry tyre choices, the episode follows the race’s endurance rhythm. They also tour the paddock, spot BMWs and other GT traffic, and describe the carousel’s brutal night-time drama.
0:00
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00:09
Place
Nürburgring
Nürburgring is a legendary race track in Germany. It has different layouts, and in a 24-hour race they use it to see which cars can stay fast and consistent for a whole day.
The BMW M Coupe (E36) is a smaller, older BMW sports car made for performance driving. It’s a two-door coupe and is known for being fun to drive on a track. The podcast brings it up in the context of doing laps and comparing how it performs.
00:18
Company
Michelin UK
Michelin UK is part of Michelin, the tire company. Tires matter a lot in endurance racing, so their presence at the event is a big part of what’s going on.
00:18
Company
Mantai Racing
Mantai Racing is a racing team that has cars entered in this endurance event. They’re responsible for getting the car ready and coordinating how it’s driven and serviced during the race.
00:24
Term
formation lap
A formation lap is the slow, organized lap before the race starts. The goal is to get the cars ready—especially the tires—while keeping everything safe and orderly.
00:38
Place
GP circuit
The GP circuit is a shorter version of the Nürburgring track. In a race, using it means the cars have to be good at more than just the hardest Nordschleife sections.
01:20
Person
Max Versaphin
Max Verstappen is a famous Formula 1 race driver. They’re saying he’s racing in this 24-hour event with his own team, which is why there’s extra hype and a bigger crowd.
01:40
Term
grid walk
A grid walk is a pre-race event where people walk around the cars lined up for the start. It’s like a behind-the-scenes look before the race begins.
01:48
Term
VIP badge
A VIP badge is a special pass that lets you access certain areas at the event. It’s used to control entry to restricted hospitality or team areas.
02:00
Company
Manthey racing
Manthey Racing is a racing team. They run cars in endurance races and have garages where the team works on the cars during the event.
03:11
Term
tyre changes
A “tyre change” is when the team swaps the tires during the race. Endurance races are long, so tires wear out and the track can get wetter or drier, so teams change them to keep grip.
03:17
Place
Eiffel region of Germany
They’re talking about the area in Germany where Nürburgring is. The weather can change fast, and in racing that affects tire grip and when teams need to swap tires.
04:47
Concept
live timing screens
Live timing screens are the real-time scoreboard for the race. They show things like who’s where and how fast each car is going right now.
They’re talking about Porsche 911 cars—one is from the newer “992” generation. The point is that Manthey runs multiple 911s in the event.
05:16
Concept
technical?
A “technical” is when race officials look at whether a car followed the rules. In this case, they decided it didn’t go Manthey’s way and added a penalty.
Easy now. Easy now. What a view. Not bad, is it? We're here at the 24-hour race,
Nürburgring, and if you watched the last episode, we finished that essentially
after doing a lap on the BMW M Corsa lap. Yeah. But we're here with
Mantai Racing in Michelin UK, and all of the cars are going out for their
formation lap. Yeah, yeah. Which is a long formation lap because it's like 20
or kilometres. It is. Oh, if not nearly 30, I think, because for the 24-hour race
you've got the Nordschleife, which is long enough, and then you've got the GP
circuit, which you can kind of see behind the wheel over there. You can see some
of the cars going around doing their formation lap. To test that zoom lens. Yeah,
you can zoom into the cars going around. Oh, he's already on it. I think we said
this last time, if you're listening to this as a podcast, this is another one
where you really do need to watch it on YouTube and make sure you give us a
subscribe, because what we're going to do is just have a wander around, aren't we?
Yeah, a bit like last year. Hopefully we'll get invited up to first floor bar
and a temporary sort of build up in the woods. But it's amazing. You can see the
smoke. That's actually part of the main lap over there. Loads of spectators there.
I mean, it's a sellout crowd. Number one, because it's a popular event anyway, but
number two, because if you've been living under a rock, Max Versaphin is racing
his own car and own team here for the first year. So it's really ramped it up.
And I can't wait. I'm feeling a bit tired because we've had a couple of long days and
driving, but I mean, the atmosphere is building the last couple of hours. You can kind of feel it.
They did the grid walk and unlike last year, because we went on to the grid for the grid
walk last year and it was rammed and we got next to Grello and kind of saw all their
Manthey team. This year, they took the first 10 cars and they put them at the front behind
a separate barrier with a separate VIP badge, which we didn't have. We have got VIP guest access to
be with Manthey racing. It's very, very cool. Massive thanks to Michelin for inviting us out here
and to Manthey racing for hosting us. But I wouldn't take a wander around. The race is about to start.
Where should we watch the race start during? I reckon from the lounge is probably the best.
It's like any live event, isn't it? You want to see it live and hear it live, but then you don't
know what's going on because you literally see two seconds. In fact, let's go over here and see
how good Pat can get his camera, just a little sneak of the view. So this is the roof of the
pit buildings basically and underneath us directly is all of the hospitality lounges
and then underneath that is the garages where all the teams have the cars and stuff.
And you can come up here and watch, but it's like three or four deep along here. The circuit is
just the other side of that gaggle of people. I love the fact this guy is standing on a wheelie
that is proper health and safety going on there. Excellent.
Anything happening down there Pat? Unfortunately Pat is quite short, so he's struggling to get
a decent view, but short by our standards. He's still on the box. Yeah, I know, maybe we should
get up on the box. Exactly. We've just moved along the roof a little bit to get a better look
at the Michelin setup, which we will be heading down to check out later because
I can't remember any numbers, but there's lots of tyres in there and they do lots of tyre changes.
Obviously, being here in the Eiffel region of Germany, well it's dry at the moment,
but it could rain in 10 minutes and then the sun might be out in 15 minutes and then it could
hail down in 20 minutes. And it's really cold. It is cold. The wind. It feels like an Arctic
sort of wind. And actually behind Patrick, where the castle is, which is beautiful,
we've got a massive BMW hospitality which we will pop down to and say hello on camera a little
bit later. Yeah. So looking forward to that. But yeah, we bend them down there. We got the Ferris
wheel down there, but I haven't been on for years. Maybe we should go and have a look. I'm scared
of heights, mate. I'm not going to know that. No. Oh, you really? Yeah. Well, we won't head down there.
But I think we've got about five minutes. Five minutes until the race starts. So
we'll probably head downstairs and watch the start. Yeah. Okay. Well, welcome to the
Manthey Racing hospitality. Can I tell you I've got Manthey Racing GL on my spider? I think you
told me a few times today. It's about as close as I'm going to get to having anything Manthey Racing.
Shall we come and have a look? Come inside. So you need one of these special badges. Look,
which luckily we have. Now the really cool thing about here, they feed us and water us for the
whole event. But this is also where all of the team are. So the drivers, the drivers families,
certainly the guys that aren't in the car, they'll come up here and relax. It's really,
really lovely. And then the best bit, the reason why it's a great place to watch the race is the
screens up there. When the race is right, you've got the live timing screens and they also feed
live footage from both of their cars. And I love the fact that their cars are number 911 and 992.
No, it's pretty cool. And to be fair, the Aston over the years always 007. They always try and
play a bit in the numbers. But yeah, it's great. And just below the window is basically the Pitlane.
We're actually here last year and Manthey were that close to winning. And it was only like,
what would you call it, a technical? Yeah, well, they had to come in together with another car and
they Manthey's argument was they weren't at fault. And unfortunately, the stewards saw it the other
way, gave them a massive time penalty, which meant they just lost the lead or lost the win.
Yeah, such a shame to be to be in here and see the reaction of the team was was really,
really heartbreaking, to be honest. Yeah. So we should even get near the window.
See, thank you. Obviously, we've chosen the busiest time to try and do a podcast.
Yeah. Well, the race is about to start. So, yeah, as you can see, that is essentially
a start finish line right there. That's the marshals box. And the cars on the screen are coming
along the Dottinger Her warming up their tires, because as Ted talks about upstairs, it's actually
really cold. So getting that heat in the tires to start with is really, really important. And
they start in groups. So the first group, to my understanding, is essentially GT3 cars,
the fastest group. I think is it three or four different lots of cars, and they release them
within like four or five minute sections, which is always weird, because I always think that the
GT3s are going to go around and catch the slowest ones, which they do very quickly. But they're
all punching up now. And actually, we are 30 seconds away from the start. Yeah. So we're just
coming through here now. Time that well. It's 2.59. Everyone is absolutely jammed together.
This is going to be so interesting. And I think, I think the, the, do you imagine being in the car
right now, the pressure and the nose, you want to, you want to make a decent start. You want to get
a decent road position. Yep. But you also don't want to come together with anybody. You don't.
I'll hear they're coming down the straight. Yep. I love it. That everyone's going quiet.
No, yeah. Here we go. All the camera phones are out. This is fantastic.
Seconds away. Here we go. There you go.
Oh, fantastic. Straight into tone one, which is just a complete bottleneck. Look at that.
It looks like it. I mean, I mean, getting their elbows out there. Everyone's through.
Fantastic. Ah, so they've only got to do that a few 100 times. Yeah. Over the next 24 hours.
But it's just great. I mean, Lambos, Porsches, Howdy's. You got AMGs in there,
even cars like the MP Touring. It's just epic to see everything on the track together.
Quite something. Fantastic. Anyway, we'll tune in with you a little bit later. Yeah.
And we're going to look forward to your track side. All around the paddock and
see what's going on with it. Oh, there's a crash. someone's off.
It's one of the bin. Oh, that's the first, the top BM. Okay, he's back on. It was just a spin,
probably a cold tire spin. Daniel Harper, British driver. Maybe he was nudged. Anyway,
the trials and tribulations of endurance racing. Otherwise, this podcast is going to be 24 hours long.
So we're a couple of hours into the race and we've come down to, well, formally known as T13.
Nowadays known as the Sabina Schmitz, which is right towards the start of the actual
Nordschleife lap. It's a great corner and it is absolutely packed down here, as you can imagine.
Everyone's still remarkably quite sober, but I could tell you when we come back a bit later.
Including us. It won't be, including us. But touch wood, the weather's still holding off
and we've had these kind of threatening crowds above us. That one doesn't look very good over there.
Doesn't look great, does it? It looks a little bit dark and threatening and a bit gloomy. Yeah.
But out and about, driving around Nürburgris itself and around the area, it's just rammed,
isn't it? It is. Absolutely. Car parks are all full and then you come outside, outside of the main
circuit complex. And these are where all the real fans are, really. We're so lucky to be in the
hospitality, but the real fans at the N24 for me are out here. I mean, these guys, you know
they're going to be there all night and all morning. And look, they've got their little phone set up
on the fence. Checking out the race. Now, I've just been... You've seen the phone hold a look.
It's two cups put through the fence. And then the phone resting on top, that is genius.
Now, I'd heard... All by yourself, Pat. I'd heard through a friend who was updating me,
because we left the lounge and the second you leave the lounge, you kind of lose track as to
what's happening. But there's been a big crash in one of the R8s. And I was just looking at that
guy's phone there and it looks like there's a massive yellow zone, which is really unfortunate
this early on in the race. But that's all part of it, isn't it? It's going to happen. Yeah, I think
the other thing to say for those who are not familiar with the N24, if you watch something
like Formula One, as soon as there's an off, yellow flag comes out and then before you know it,
it's a safety car and they might even red flag the race. They never red flag the N24. So if there's
a big accident, they'll double wave yellow section it. And then they do this thing called
live recovery. So basically, the pickup trucks come onto the circuit and they recover the cars
while the other cars are still going around. Which is quite scary. It's super, super scary and you'll
see, you know, you'll see the cars going along and it'll be like a flatbed with a racing car on
the back going along. It's terrifying. It's insane. Really cool. Did we go fast? We went quicker through
there earlier on. Yeah, to be honest, it was good. Really, really good. I think we should, we
haven't got long here before we have our mission tour. So I think we should do a little bit of a
wonder down there because it opens up and it's just beautiful. I mean, look at the view. And in fact,
if Pat looks over there, that's where our hospitality is. And that's basically the backside
of it, the paddock. You can tell by the carousel and stuff. But I think we should wander down this
hill and have a quick look. Now, it's funny. For me, the coolest bit is when you get out
into the forest a bit and you've got the big stands that have been built. It's less of that here
because it's, I guess, there's not as much space. But some of these guys will have been here for
days in a partner campers up, grab their space. I mean, look at this setup on the right there,
that's not there all year. Watch out for the SUV.
So we've got there, we've got some, the other thing, there's all the music and stuff.
Proper Euro pop. Look at that. That is cool. That's a bit of Pat all over wherever Pat's gone.
Where is Pat? He's over there. It's a lot of Neaver. That is wicked.
And that is not getting stuck tonight, is it? No, not at all.
Fantastic. I wouldn't want to be sleeping in that tent though. It's a bit downhill.
Oh my goodness. Yeah, literally. This for me is my favorite bit when you come to N24. It's just
soaking up the atmosphere, walking around. It's just absolutely mega. Where's Pat?
Yes. That's an old school. That's a vintage one. I think that's been on there for a few years.
It's in the bumps, in the sidewall. Oh my God. Brilliant. That is bad.
How about like tractor tyre, racing tyre? I know, right? Two ends of the extreme.
The other thing, when you come out, I always find the closing speeds between the different
cars. I know we mentioned it at the beginning of the race. It is noticeable. The slower cars
still going on at a decent lit, but then when you get one of the top class cars come back.
Yeah. I just felt some rain on my hand then. I think it's going to get wet, you know.
Do you think? Yeah. Oh, I think you're right about that crowd.
That will throw the cat amongst the pigeons. That's a cool jumper. I really like it.
Yeah, that's very cool. I'll quite throw an R8. No, that will throw the cat amongst the pigeons
because, and we can say this, the Michelin wet weather tyre is a much better wet weather
tyre than a lot of its competitors. Yes. We might have been told that off the record by a
few people actually. Yeah, I know. We can't say we can't. We won't dob them in. No. No, I think
they're fine. That could be quite interesting if it starts to rain. Yeah. Now, I guess it's not
such a problem for the very front running cars because they're all on the same tyre, aren't
they? Yeah, but then you say that, I suppose if you're a front-runner and you just come through
this section and it starts to pull the rain, you've then got eight minutes of a lap before you
can get back. Oh, here comes the pickup. This is what we were talking about earlier on.
This is its live recovery. This is coming to recover that R8.
That is... And look how slow that's going. I mean... I mean, it's got lots of flashing lights on it
and stuff, but that is just terrifying. That is what you call live recovery. But that's what makes
the car coming up behind it. I mean, yes, if you look at the Marshalls post as double-wave
yellows and they're all trying to be letting people know. That's proactive as possible.
Absolutely terrifying. Yeah, so Pat's actually currently looking at the back end of the GP
circuit, which is bizarre because that then disappears off to the left of the trees
and then comes back around here. But in between the GP circuit and our circuit,
or the North Cipher, we've got a public road behind those trees. So it's just like a big
spaghetti junction. And here are some of the Marshalls. These are the heroes.
Oh, you're not Marshall. You're just wearing an orange jumpsuit.
Oh yeah, they're on the beers here. I want to get one of these suits for next year.
So we've just walked down a little bit further and we're actually just about to enter the
Speed 60 zone, which is where all of the cars are guarded to their cars. They need to sew down 60.
Most of them have limiters on the wheel and it just gives the Marshalls
staff at times a safety recover the accident, which is literally 200 meters away.
So they've got a full-sized telly. There's a game of beer pong going on there as well.
I mean, you've got to have beer pong at the end 24. That is brilliant.
This is the best. They've got beer pong going on here. They've got a screen there.
You've got the race circuit there. Life would be good, right? But it is starting to rain now.
So you can actually see where the accident has happened.
I don't know if you can see it, but just through there you can actually see where the accidents
happen and we are basically at the code 60 here. So you'll see the cars flying in
and they have to be doing 60 or below there. Otherwise they get like massive,
massive time penalties. So here we go. They're all sowing down already down 60.
There's the GZ3 car, also 60 and they're cruising through there and it is really starting to rain.
So I think we should maybe head back to the... It's a really good idea.
The Michelin minibus and go back to the paddock and check out the Michelin facility.
You join us about three days later. As you can see, it's now summer time. No, you join us
literally 15 minutes later and about 100 yards away from where we were lost.
And there's now just over on that hill over there. Yeah, exactly.
And it's sunny. It's sunny. I think it stopped raining. I'm loving it. It's nuts.
We're here at the Michelin pit area, I guess, the paddock. It's like where they do all of the
tyre changing and fitment for all the teams and it's always an interesting place to come.
It is. Yeah, and they've always got some cool cars around and lots of tyres.
And a giant bib or two. And in fact, there's a couple of tyres to look at here. Yeah,
well, pretty obvious. One's a slick and one's a wet. And why is this a wet then, Ped?
I reckon because... I know why. Is he got a W on it? Because it's got water.
But I guess that looks much more familiar to a road tyre, right? It's got tread patterns
to expel water. The problem with that is when it's not wet, these blocks will start to move
around. They overheat and then the tyre starts to degrade really quickly. Just like a lot of
road tyres. Exactly. Yeah. Whereas this is a full slick with no tread pattern, so no good in the
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