It’s a 24-hour endurance race at the Nürburgring in Germany. Cars and drivers have to keep going for a full day while dealing with changing conditions and lots of other cars.
“GT3 era” means the race has been increasingly shaped by GT3 race cars. GT3 cars are purpose-built race versions of normal sports cars, and they’re made to compete under shared rules.
In racing, a “cage” usually means a roll cage—an internal metal framework that helps protect occupants during crashes. When the speaker says the Mercedes 560 SEC was “almost stock” but had a cage and a seat, they’re describing a minimal safety/track-prep setup rather than a fully purpose-built race car.
A pit stop is when the car pulls into the pit lane during the race for service. In long races, these stops happen often, and how fast they are can make a big difference to where the car ends up.
Term
auto-changer
An auto-changer is a machine that automatically swaps something in and out. Here, it’s used to load a CD cartridge so the driver can use the audio system without manually changing discs.
Car
A-series-powered mini
The “A-series” is the name of the Mini’s older engine. A Mini with that engine would be a small, lightweight race car—usually not the fastest on pure speed, but it could still do well by being steady and well-managed.
Term
flashing blue lights for the windscreen
The flashing blue lights are a signal to the driver that faster cars are coming up behind. It’s meant to help the driver react quickly so they can let the quicker car pass safely.
Term
last corner onto the dotting of her straight
This is talking about the final turn before a long straight. If you come out of that last corner at the right speed, you can accelerate harder and faster on the straight.
It’s a race that lasts 24 hours, but the cars still go very fast the whole time. The goal is to keep a high pace and stay consistent for the entire day.
“Sims” means racing simulation software. People use it to practice the track and driving technique, which can make real drivers faster because they’ve already learned the layout.
Concept
learn the track vs learn the car
You can learn where the corners are on a track, but learning the car means figuring out how it feels and grips in real driving. A simulator can help with the track, but the real car’s behavior takes more experience.
This is a Porsche 911 from the 964 generation, and the “RS” is the track-oriented, lighter version. The host is basically saying they were seeing serious race cars up close in the garage.
The Aston Martin Vantage is a sports car brand used for racing. The host is saying they spent most of their time racing with Vantage cars in this event.
“Dampers” are shock absorbers that control how the car rides. They help the tires stay planted when the track gets rough or the car is braking and turning.
The Aston Martin V8 Vantage is a sports car made by Aston Martin. It uses a V8 engine and is meant for fast, fun driving. In the podcast, they’re talking about a specific V8 version (the 4.3) that was driven by people at an event.
“Engineering sign-off” means the engineers feel the car is ready and has passed its development checks. Racing it helps prove it works reliably in tough real conditions.
Hydrogen is a fuel that can be burned or used in a fuel-cell system to produce energy. In racing context, hydrogen is interesting because it can enable very different fueling and power delivery compared with gasoline, and it’s often used in experimental “green” race cars.
The Aston Martin Rapide is a four-door sports car from Aston Martin. It’s meant to be fast and stylish, but with extra seats for everyday use. The podcast mentions a hydrogen version, meaning it was an experimental fuel setup rather than the usual gasoline approach.
The BMW 3 Series is a popular mid-size car made by BMW. It’s known for being comfortable to drive daily, but some versions are built to be very sporty. The podcast mentions it because a race car based on the E46 M3 is connected to that generation.
The BMW E46 M3 GTR is a track/race version of the BMW M3. In this segment, it’s mentioned because Rob was driving it at the same time as the hydrogen Rapide project.
ABS is a safety system that stops your wheels from locking up when you brake hard. That helps the car keep control, even if the surface is slippery or the car hits a bump.
GT3 cars are a popular class of race cars used in endurance events. They’re built to race against each other, and here they’re the cars that get caught up by a faster vehicle.
Dual side drafting is when two cars drive very close together to help each other go faster. The air between them is managed in a way that can reduce drag, making passing easier on a straight.
Overtaking is passing another car. Here they’re saying the straight used to be the safest place to do it because the cars can line up and use speed/drafting to pass more cleanly.
The Jeep Gladiator is a pickup truck with Jeep’s off-road drivetrain. It has a truck bed for carrying things, but it’s also designed to handle rough roads. That’s why it comes up when people want both utility and off-road ability.
“Natural gas powered” means the race car uses natural gas instead of gasoline. That’s different enough that it can change how the car is set up and how it runs during the race.
Schwedenkreuz is a specific spot on the Nürburgring track. In racing, that corner matters because how you slow down and turn there affects your whole lap.
In long races, strategy is about more than speed. It’s about planning when you can realistically catch and pass other cars, and when you’ll just have to stay behind and avoid losing time.
The Opel Astra is a compact car made by Opel. It’s built for normal daily driving like commuting and errands. The podcast uses it as a quick reference to the word “astra” rather than as a deep technical topic.
The racing line is the best “track path” through a corner. If you have to let other cars through, you’re trying to get back onto that best path so you can keep your speed up.
Pit lane is where the race team works on the car during the event. When you leave it, you have to get back up to speed fast and safely around other cars.
The Audi R8 is a sports car built to handle track driving. In a race like this, the driver has to keep performing even when the pressure and conditions get intense.
In endurance racing, a car on fire is an emergency that can force immediate safety actions—marshals, flags, and sometimes changes to how drivers approach that section. The mention of a “burnt out” car highlights how quickly heat and debris can affect nearby cars and drivers.
These are race marshals with a special job: get to a crash as fast as possible. Because the track is huge and marshal posts are spaced out, getting there quickly can make a big difference.
The Audi RS4 is a high-performance Audi model. Here it’s mentioned because race officials used RS4s as fast cars to get to crashes during the Nürburgring 24 Hours.
The Audi RS6 is a powerful Audi performance model. The hosts mention it because it was used as a fast car for marshals to respond quickly to accidents on track.
They’re describing what happens after a crash: a vehicle gets there quickly and helps warn other drivers. That warning is crucial because cars are still going very fast.
Concept
N24
“N24” means the Nürburgring 24 Hours race. It’s a long endurance event where cars run for a full day, so there’s always something happening on track.
A prototype is a race car built specifically for racing, not adapted from a normal consumer car. At events like Le Mans, these cars are usually the most extreme-looking and high-tech on track.
Lap times are how long each lap takes. If they get slower, it usually means something is affecting the cars—like traffic, problems, or what’s happening near the track.
“Flat out” means the car is going as fast as it can, with the throttle mostly wide open. They’re saying that away from nearby trouble, the cars keep pushing hard.
BOP means “Balance of Performance.” It’s how race organizers try to make different cars compete more evenly, so one car design isn’t automatically faster just because of its hardware.
Here “the circuit” means the actual race track layout. The Nürburgring is tough not just because of speed, but because the track demands constant focus and good car control.
In a long race, “pace” is how fast you can keep going lap after lap. It’s not just about one quick lap—it’s about staying consistent without wearing the car out.
Concept
concentration level
“Concentration level” is about how focused you can stay for a long time. In a race like this, fatigue makes it harder to drive precisely, so concentration becomes a limiting factor.
“Mixed weather” means the track grip changes during the race, like some parts are wetter or drier than others. That makes it harder to drive fast consistently, so cars usually go slower.
Concept
car breaks
“Car breaks” means the car stops working because something fails. In a 24-hour race, the stress is so high that even small problems can become race-ending.
The “grid” is where all the cars line up before the race begins. With so many cars packed together, it’s harder to move around and avoid trouble right away.
The Dacia Logan is an affordable car designed to be practical and inexpensive to run. It’s meant for basic transportation rather than high performance. The podcast is using the name in a joke-like way.
This is about keeping the tires at the right temperature for grip. In a long race, you can’t just push hard every lap—you have to manage heat so the tires work consistently.
In a corner, the tire on the outside of the turn usually does the most work. The guest is pointing out that particular front tire is getting the heat and stress in those long corners.
The Aston Martin V12 Vantage is a sports car from Aston Martin with a V12 engine. A V12 is a high-performance engine layout that’s typically used in faster, more special cars. The podcast mentions 2009 because that’s when a V12 Vantage road car was introduced around an event.
A “class win” means you were the best in your group of cars. Endurance races often have different categories running at the same time, so winning your class is a big deal.
“Stick shift” means a manual gearbox, where you change gears yourself. The speaker is basically saying it’s unusual to have that kind of gearbox in a race-winning car.
In a long race, brakes wear down and can overheat. A “brake change” means the team stops to replace the brake parts so the car can keep braking safely and strongly.
Concept
driving it like it was on the PlayStation
This is a metaphor for how controllable and predictable the car felt at speed—like a video game—rather than a literal driving mode. In endurance racing, that kind of “easy to place” feel usually comes from stable chassis balance and consistent traction as fuel load and tire temps change.
RPM is how fast the engine is spinning. They’re saying they didn’t want to push it up to very high revs because it would cost more fuel and likely mean more stops.
Endurance racing is about lasting a long time—keeping the car healthy and making smart strategy calls. It’s not only speed; it’s also avoiding problems and planning fuel and driving carefully.
The barrier is the wall beside the track meant to protect the area. If a car hits it, it usually means the driver lost control or got struck, and the car can be badly damaged.
Cold tires are tires that haven’t warmed up. They grip the road less, so it’s easier to lose control or hit something—especially right after a restart or in the early laps.
The drive shaft is a rotating part that sends power from the gearbox to the wheels. If it gets damaged in an impact, the car can struggle to move or may need major drivetrain repairs.
The Renault Twingo is a small car made for city driving. It’s built to be easy to park and drive in traffic. The podcast brings it up because someone is talking about using one in a setting where you might not expect a tiny car.
“De-restricted” means the race rules are letting the car run with fewer limits. That usually makes it faster, particularly on straight sections of the track.
HWA is a racing team/engineering company that works on race cars. Here, it’s being mentioned as part of who’s involved with the cars they’re talking about.
On a long endurance race weekend, teams get breaks where they can work on the cars. “Rest day modding” means they use that time to tweak or update the car so it’s better for the next part of the race.
The BMW Z4 GT3 is a track-racing version of the BMW Z4. It’s built for endurance races where the car has to keep working for hours, not just go fast for a few laps.
Qualifiers are the races/rounds that decide where cars start. If a car crashes during qualifying, it can start further back or need repairs before the main event.
The Toyota GR GT is a Toyota performance vehicle idea or model name that uses Toyota’s GR performance branding. “GT” usually means it’s meant to be sporty and performance-oriented. The podcast is mentioning it as the specific car they think it will be called.
The Lexus LFA is a special supercar from Lexus. It’s famous for a high-revving V10 engine and a very “serious” performance focus, which is why it stands out even in big races like the Nürburgring 24 Hours.
Concept
tailgarner car
This sounds like a support car that stays right behind another car. The idea is to help keep the driver safer by controlling what’s around them and reducing the chance of a bad surprise.
A splitter is an aerodynamic piece at the front of the car. A bigger one helps push the car down onto the road at speed so it feels more stable and grippy.
Paddle shift means you change gears using buttons or levers behind the steering wheel. It’s often used in race cars to make shifting quicker and easier while you’re focused on driving.
A stint is the time you spend driving before the next pit stop. In long races, it’s also when you might hand the car to another driver.
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Ba-da-ba-ba-ba.
Okay, John.
There's a car on fire in the foxhole.
And there was.
There was a burnt out mini at the foxhole.
Hello, welcome back to Evo podcast episode 49.
Have I got that right?
You have, yeah.
Yeah, nearly 50.
Nearly 50.
Some of us already are.
We're going into a special because if you listen to this,
the day it goes out will be the Nürburgring 24-hour race,
which Sam here is a regular attendee.
I am now, yeah.
I'm joining this.
Sam Jenkins, our senior staff writer,
and also have Dickie Meadon and John Barker,
our founding editors and editors-at-large,
and veterans of the N24.
We are.
You don't come out in hives when we mention it.
Yeah, I've come out the other side of that.
What makes it such a special race,
apart from the fact there's not as many cars as there is.
It's about 160.
It used to be over 200.
161 this year, which is much bigger than previous years.
Yeah, there is a special driver this year though,
there was quite a special one.
GT3 era, because it's become really a GT3 race,
isn't it, with other people allowed.
That's a big grid.
They said that's a small grid
when it was some GT3 cars with lots of other lunatics
and lots of other crazy things.
What was it when you two were,
you raced there first, I think, in the Maserati?
2006, I did that.
So what was the mix of cars there?
Because they weren't road cars, but there was locals.
It was all sorts of crazy stuff.
It's a bit like the Galapagos Islands,
where there's things that only exist to race there.
You'd get that, the 2006 was, I think,
the first year that Mantae won.
Well, they had a huge string of wins
with their famous yellow or grello colored cars.
But there was a GT3 contingent,
but there were lots of other smaller cars.
I mean, there was a 560 SEC Mercedes,
which was almost stock,
like it had a cage and a seat.
But it looked like they'd taken the wrong turn.
Yeah, off the all-time ladder.
It still had the tourists laughing.
It went very slowly,
but it went round and round.
And the best bit was every pit stop.
They'd put fuel in it,
and then the driver that was going to get in
would open the boot, put his 10 CD
cartridge in the auto-changer, shut the boot,
then he'd get in the car,
and they'd drive it,
and they were the most polite guys.
They'd be very clear on where to signal to go,
by the way, it was still there.
So that, I think there was an A-series-powered mini,
still, I think.
Gosh, that would have been so slow round there.
So, yeah.
Unless it was Nick Swift.
Yeah, shaking his fist at everyone.
Yeah, they were all sorts of weird and wonderful things.
The class structure was like 12 or 13 different classes.
Well, they'd sort of make a class.
If you had a car that didn't comply with a class,
I think they would kind of make another class for you.
Also, at that time, I think it was only the top 20
that got the flashing blue lights for the windscreen,
but the last time I went,
just a couple of years ago,
there was, I think it was 30 or 40 of them had that.
Shows you how much.
I think the 23 cars, it's like everything.
In my head, it was a race,
it was sort of a race for us.
That some factory teams would,
or factory supported teams would turn up and race at.
And now it's very much a manufacturer race,
which normal people can take part in as well.
So the whole, in the period that I was doing it,
I haven't done it since 2014, so a little while now,
but in the period I was doing it,
it changed from the former to the latter.
So it got much more serious.
They knocked out the,
there were some really, really quick things
that were faster than GT3 cars,
certainly in straight line terms.
They sort of knocked those out,
and then they knocked the really slow stuff out,
but all that did was squeezed everyone into,
they were less differential in speed,
so everyone's seemingly fighting for the same bits of tarmac.
So it got much more bitey and kind of more aggressive.
At some point, it became a sprint race, didn't it?
And I went back there a couple of years ago,
and we were watching from the last corner
onto the dotting of her straight.
And the cars were, I was thinking,
Christ, that's an R8, Galgane Cops.
And the speed of them through there,
I couldn't imagine I did the same sort of speed.
They're blisteringly quick.
It's similar to all sports car racing,
it's just 24-hour sprints, isn't it?
You go to the mall and it's just the same thing, flat out.
All the pro drivers are absolute headbangers as well.
You get the German pro drivers
who are another level of headbanger.
I think the general pace of everyone has gone up
because sims are so much better.
So I think the first year I did it,
obviously, sims had been invented, Sam, 20 years ago.
But it's not the sort of thing you'd learn.
I think you would kind of learn the track
as in where the corners are,
but you wouldn't be able to learn the car
in any detailed way.
Whereas now, I think people just have done
thousands of hours on the track on high-level sims,
and GT3 cars translate very closely to a sim.
So I think it's just raised the whole nature of it.
Whereas I think previously,
well, in the same pit garage I was in,
there was a 964 RS, again,
that just was a couple of German guys' mates.
They did every single race they could do.
So there was like a young-timer race across the weekend.
They did that.
They did some other stuff,
and then they did the 24-hour race,
and it finished that as well.
But it was much more of a kind of high-level club race.
This class is a national race now, isn't it?
But it's very much an international standard of...
So you did it from 06,
was your first race in the Mazda,
but you did most of yours with Aston Martin Vantage's?
Yeah, I did Vantage's.
2006 was with Maserati.
So they entered a 4,200 GT.
I think they called it a Laboratorio or something.
So it was like a GT3 car, but a bit of a weird spec.
And then the car that I was in was a 4,200 GT,
like Trafeo, one-mate spec car.
So very much stock gearbox,
stock engine, safety kit, different dampers.
And that was about it, really.
But that was quite normal for most of the grid
you were competing with in that car, wasn't it?
Yeah, I can't remember.
I was at SP8.
That was SP8, I think,
because the same year was the first year Aston Martin went there.
We rose the 4.3 V8 Vantage,
which Dr. Betts drove, Chris Porritt drove,
Wolfgang Schubauer, and Horst von Zormer,
who, I don't know, if you know Christian Gebhart,
he does all the magazine lap times now.
Horst was like the predecessor of Christian.
And Aston Martin then came to use that race
as like an engineering sign-off.
So when they had a new model that they were developing
or they finished developing it,
they would race it there.
So they were all pretty much all of them
until the last couple of years were road legal,
road-registered cars that I raced.
Weirdest thing was the four-door one, wasn't it?
They had a Rapide that was hydrogen.
Hydrogen, wasn't it?
Because that was the year mine...
It's going to hate me for saying that.
Rob did it in an E46 M3 GTR.
And we were sharing the garage with Aston with the Rapide.
We were very generously, or he very generously,
gave them some extra garage space
because he went out on the formation lap
at the furthest point from the circuit.
Because it was that year it absolutely...
Chucked it.
Chucked it, yeah, yeah.
So they went out and they had an extra formation lap
because it was so wet when they were forming.
And he just said,
Breaked earlier for the corner than he normally would,
so hit a bump which triggered the ABS on.
So just went straight off.
It took about seven hours to get the car back.
That Rapide was really ahead of its time, actually.
So it was a dual fuel.
I think it was the first race car to do a full lap just on hydrogen.
And it was so fast.
And I'd never drove it,
but Chris Porritt was in the car I was in,
which car I remember what year it was, 2010, maybe.
So I'd have been in some sort of vantage.
He was in the vantage and the Rapide.
And it was the fastest thing down the straight.
It was doing like 200 miles an hour or something.
Because Chris, being Chris,
would torment all the GT3 cars
because they just hit a brick wall.
Yeah.
And he was flashing them.
This huge car would go by them.
But they tried to peg the top speeds
on a lot of things shortly after that.
But that's why you get these incredible kind of dual side drafting
and crazy duals on the straight.
That used to be the safest place to overtake.
But yeah, there's nothing else.
What's it like the prep and the build-up to...
I mean, you know your racing there.
How long are you out there for?
If you have...
It's good in all the sort of qualifying races.
When I...
The first year I went, I had to...
There was like a...
You had to be there for a day to get your license.
If you didn't have a...
Like a VLN license.
It's changed a little bit now.
So there's qualifying races and other ways of getting permission to do it.
But when I did it, I was out there from like Monday or Tuesday before, I think.
And then there was the licensing day.
And then there'd be the first day of scrutineering and checks and all of that sort of stuff.
So it's the greatest part of a week, I would say you're out there.
And it just gets wilder.
And what it used to...
Again, I think when the early doors, it would sort of roll from Rockham Ring,
which was this ridiculous sort of heavy metal festival.
It's huge festival.
And it would just roll in from one to the other.
An even bigger festival.
So it was just like the opening 20 minutes of Gladiator by the time you got there.
It's awesome.
People holding other people's heads up.
It was just nightmarish, but brilliant at the same time.
I think the crowd would arrive there almost as early as...
Yeah, they'd be setting up their sort of home built grandstands.
The last time I went, they were building a pole dancing stage in one bit.
Of course.
But then they're gone before the race has finished.
Oh yeah.
A lot of stuff has already...
Sunday is dead.
Yeah.
Which is weird.
Did you race...
Did you do two races there?
I did it 2009 and 2011.
You did it in the Sirocco, didn't you?
And then you had a customer of Audi R8 GT3 car, didn't you?
Yeah.
The first time was in the Sirocco, which was natural gas powered.
So that's when Volkswagen were well into it.
So they had four regular petrol powered cars.
And they were peppered with drivers like...
And Mark Blundow, didn't they?
One of them.
So yeah, really stack of really legendary drivers.
And then there was these two.
They were all blue and we were orange.
And there was Vanina X in one of the cars with a really quick German car.
I can't remember his name there.
And then I was in Dr Hackenburg's car.
He was the R&D boss.
So Dr Hackenburg and two German speaking journalists.
Was it Patrick Simon?
Was he one of them?
Patrick Simon.
Autocorre, auto item sport.
Crazy German guy.
And Peter Weiss.
Peter Weiss.
And Peter Weiss said, well, you will make a mistake.
You will maybe crash.
You know, it's your first time or the rest of it.
I didn't.
Two of them did, though.
I had the wheel taken off.
Going into the first corner in the middle of the night.
They fixed that.
And another time it was backwards into the Elmco at the Carousel.
Say all fun and games.
But the good thing about that was I practiced on the PlayStation
to learn it in there.
Did you ask them to put controllers?
It's a lot of empty experience.
But it was such a shock to get there with the gradients and the bumps.
Yeah, slightly different.
No reset button.
No reset button.
But at the end of it, because on the PlayStation,
you come down to Schwedenkreuz and just lift lightly and go in,
don't you, on the game.
I was doing that in the Sirocco by the last session.
And I was thinking, wow, yeah, PlayStation.
They got it absolutely spot on.
Yeah.
What was it like with the speed difference?
I'm guessing the Sirocco was...
That would have been two classes down from the vantage, if not...
The lap time is funny.
Quite a lot of cars will do a similar lap time,
but they're doing it completely different ways.
So the Sirocco would be quite quick through all the twisty stuff.
And then some of the Aston's or Maserati or whatever
would have the legs on them up the hills.
And on the straights, but not much different through the corners.
Which must make it, from a strategy point of view,
of knowing where you're going.
You know you're going to catch them,
but you're not going to have anything to get past.
It's just, I'd like to say, there's a...
I'm sure in factory teams, there's strategy.
But I think the first few races, you're kind of surviving, really.
Enjoying it and you build up the head of steam
and you get comfortable with a car
and you get comfortable with a track.
And as long as you don't have any moments that knock your confidence
and then you never quite get back to where you were,
then you get to the end of the weekend.
It's like the best thing ever.
And you just want to keep driving around, around, around.
So you just pick off anything that's in front of you.
You try and catch it and get by it.
And then anything that's behind you.
I found the hardest thing to judge
was generally the slowest cars had the brightest headlights.
So no end of time to think,
Jesus, it's T-My-Burnhard in a 911 RSR.
And I'd wait and I'd think,
right, he's going to catch me and pass me.
And then you're still waiting and saying,
hang on a minute.
It's like an astra.
You're slowing yourself there.
You're slowing yourself there.
Of course.
And it's never been attached.
So you're over here at 500.
Yeah.
So it plays tricks with you a little bit.
The hardest race I ever did,
there wasn't the 24 hours.
We did a six hour race.
The Vauxhall had a sort of,
it's been like it's a knockout.
They entered a load of different courses.
And they had a British team, a German team, a French team.
So it was me, Monkey and Owen Mildenhall were the Brits.
And it's so hard driving a slow car is absolutely terrifying.
Because you're still driving your car as fast
as you can possibly drive it.
But you're spending probably,
if they tracked your helmet much of your time,
you're looking forwards and how much of your time,
you're looking at the mirrors,
you'd be looking probably more in your mirrors
than you are straight ahead.
It's so hard to judge.
And the GT3 cars go in trains.
So quite a lot of the time,
you think, right, I'll let one car go.
And then I need to get back on my line.
And they, oh, and then another three cars go through.
It's like you have to learn things there
that you don't ever really apply anywhere else, I wouldn't say.
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For most of the circuit, there's just one line, isn't there?
If you're committed to it,
if you're a slow car or a fast car.
And if you go off, you imagine like 12 hours of,
when I think the first year I did it,
they were like 210 cars or something.
So you imagine offline, the amount of rubble and crap.
And literally bits of cars, like exhaust pipes lying in the road,
or bumpers, or you kind of, it's the hardest thing is to say,
right, it's your job to go by me.
It's not my job to get out of your way.
And when you've got a 911, the blue light behind you,
trying to saw the back of your car is a lot of pressure.
But the pressure starts before you actually leave the pit lane.
That was terrifying, I thought.
The second time I did it with the customer, R8,
I think I was the third or fourth driver in.
And you've got, your nerves go more and more during the day.
And you get in the car and you think, what am I doing here?
Who do I think I am?
There's more imposter syndrome than you can ever imagine.
Huge crowd, your car, you know, there's people working on it.
It drops down off the jacks.
And the first message I heard was, okay, John,
there's a car on fire in the foxhole.
And there was, there was a burnt out many at the foxhole.
Excellent.
So I can remember driving, was that in the, during the,
that would have been in the night.
Yeah, well, certainly.
Yeah.
That'd be the, I can remember driving past that car burning,
and you could feel the heat through the side of your car.
I need to just like look at it and then try and, try and block that out.
There's a little sea of foam going across the road as well.
Nice.
But as soon as you leave the pit lane, pit lane that goes off,
you know how, sort of, your mind just focuses.
You tell yourself, I need to crack on with this.
The best, the best, I'm thinking about it now, actually,
the, again, the weirdest thing is that you'd have,
they had like fast response marshals that would be driving flat out.
Although I think Audi sponsored it for a long time.
Yeah, RS4s and RS6s.
They'd be like, RS4s, RS6s, absolutely flat out in the middle of the race,
and you just treat them like another car, but they were unbelievably skilled guys,
because they would steam right into the, where there was a crash,
and they would be, like they would warn people before the crash.
The most dangerous job you can possibly think of,
but they'd be on the scene as soon as they possibly could,
because the chances of, although there's hundreds of marshals post,
there's still a big gap between those.
And then there was the fire truck as well, wasn't there?
The, they, the Dovran.
The unit, it was cool.
Sounds like a rat act, but with the flames down the side,
and that pickup truck would always be there just.
We had a passenger ride in that RS.
It was, you know, was it four or six last year, the last time I went out.
So four up, and then he's just given a running commentary.
Yeah, so we'd be here, and this is where,
this is the most regular place we end up coming to,
and this is that, and at nine, this is completely different.
And they've, but they've drive.
To see, to see the race from, from the middle of the race,
as fast as that car will go, like at a sustainable pace is.
And to just drop into it as well, and not have it,
yeah, be in, be in the race consistently.
Yeah.
Must be a bit of a shock to the system.
Come down the, one of those emergency entry points
onto the circuit, wherever you're positioned,
and then right off you go, flat out.
And the way they would coordinate the start.
So there'd be three or four groups.
Three groups, yeah.
And they'd, they'd have to, they'd circulate.
So the first, the first grid would go across the line
at four o'clock or whatever time it starts,
the other afternoon.
And then each grid had to come across the line
two minutes, I think, or three minutes after the other.
So then they could correct.
I'll correct the time.
Correct all the time.
So then everyone was on the same race time,
or all of that stuff, and getting all the cars set.
So you'd go out in your, in your grid bunches,
and the, the number of people that would be on the track,
like before the start of the race.
Sirens go off, yeah.
And then they'd just all melt back into the, into the forest.
Yeah, yeah.
But Sam, you are, are resident N24 sort of visitor.
What got you into the race, and how you go every year?
I don't know, you've been.
I do, yeah.
I make a bit of a thing of it.
It's just the best thing.
It's, I went first with Audi, maybe five years ago,
and managed to get track side, you know,
with the photographer's pass, which is pretty.
Yeah, that's exciting.
Yeah, that's a golden techie that.
Yeah, that was, that was exciting.
And I've just gone every year since made a road trip out of it.
And, and I've been to Le Mans a few times since then.
And N24 is just so much more exciting spectator.
From a spectators perspective, I honestly think it's so,
so far above Le Mans, especially now anyway.
Le Mans, you almost want to be following the race
as it's unfolding.
Yeah, you do.
N24, you're just standing there gawping at stuff.
Yeah, you can just pick it up.
It's on you and follow a,
you can stand at points of the circuit for an hour,
can't you, with a beer and a burger and suddenly go,
right, I'm going to follow that, that pack of cars.
I think the cars are all relatable as well, aren't they?
You know, I love the prototypes at Le Mans,
they're all no incredible things, hypercars,
but I think when the most far-fetched car is still a GT3 car
and then everything else is below that,
there's always something to watch, isn't there, and recognize.
There's always something going on as well.
Yeah, I think that's the thing.
There's always, because of the size of the circuit,
there's that you can have an incident on one part,
but it doesn't impact the rest of the race.
You're very rare, unless it's a very sort of unfortunate incident.
You only know what to say,
if their lap times have dropped down, don't you?
But actually, unless the incident is near you,
it just, everything's flat out all the time, isn't it?
And you can actually, you can see the speed of the cars at Nürburgring,
and you know, you can tell the difference
between a professionally driven version of the car.
Oh yeah.
And the difference is huge.
And the track is so narrow and you're so close to the track at points.
Yeah.
It just makes it all much more exciting.
It's very exciting.
You've done, you've raced at Le Mans as well, haven't you?
Le Mans Classic, yeah.
Yeah, me too.
I think I prefer racing at Le Mans,
but I think that's probably because I got a bit spooked at Nürburgring.
I think Nürburgring is so far up there.
But I think it's race, I think, yeah.
I think the difference, I did hundreds and of racing laps there,
but you can count sort of the number of times you're actually physically racing
against another competitor.
Another car in your class is, and that's the sort of weird bit of the race when I did it,
I suppose.
I think now, like if you see the stuff with the Stappen against all the usuals,
that is a proper literally door handle banging race, isn't it?
You know all of those front pack of cars, it's a race for position at all times.
That's what's changed over the last 78 years, isn't it?
Is that, as you said, the condensing of the grid and taking out the super-fast cars
and taking out the slowest, and you've now got 160 cars much closer,
but you've got 30 or 40 at the front.
I think the BOP is just down to a fine art as well now, and the drivers are at such a level.
You're right, but it's the circuit that's the challenge first.
And then you just maintain the pace that you can.
So there is the give and take.
There's people can pass you, you can pass them.
But a stent is, we were doing a seven lap stent, that's about 150 miles.
Yeah, that's quite a lot.
In a go.
And you're used to doing, you know, half an hour or something is a long race here.
Yeah, the time go, like your concentration level, you can't actually believe you can
sustain that level of concentration for that long.
It was, it was, I loved it.
Absolutely.
Like the first time I did it, I was just completely in love with the place.
And I'd been there and done track days and tourist days.
And it's a total, another level.
It's everything you would imagine it to be and more.
The weather was freakishly, again, it's how weird the place is.
They kind of hope for mixed weather, the organizers, because it slows the pace down.
It cools everyone off.
The first year I did it, 2006, it was hot, the whole, like perfect weather, the whole time.
And it was absolute carnage, because people just got faster and faster and faster.
And then their car breaks, or they go off, or there were cars, like in places you wouldn't
believe, like right up in the trees, or even on the last lap, the very last lap,
I think, not the first year.
I think it was the second year or the third year I did it.
Everyone was just, everyone seemed to be slowing down and waving.
And I'd still like, and I think I overtook three people,
actual, overall positions.
And then I saw two cars have an enormous accident on the way up to the carousel,
because they were looking and waving and they crashed into one another.
What are you doing?
Yeah, it's like a festival and a party and everything thrown into one.
Yeah, I mean, that sort of start of the race, what seems to be like the entire
population of Germany stood on a grid.
It's massive.
Yeah, thousands and thousands of people.
With a Scottish bagpipe band, the Eroes Helms.
But you wouldn't, I don't think you could ever get from the front to the back of that grid,
if you were to try to walk it before the start of the race.
Because there was just...
Well, it's only the first 70 or cars on the grid and then the others.
I was only ever in that group because they not necessarily,
because we'd qualified there, but because the SP8 or SP10,
Coronel SP8 were the big engine stuff.
So they were quite clever in knowing that at the start, you don't want the big engine stuff
is going to be quick in a straight line, even if it doesn't do the lap time of some of the smaller stuff.
It's even now, it's changed a lot, but it's still head and shoulders above other races for just
non-steady.
Yeah, I mean, this year is going to be fascinating, isn't it?
This year is a pretty impressive race, honestly.
And I think it's almost sold out.
It's probably sold out by the time this goes out,
I think largely because Max and Stafford is in the race.
It's so exciting to have it in there, isn't it?
Even in the pre-C1, pre-N24 races, it is the normal VLM rounds.
It's crazy what he's doing.
Max things there, isn't he finding fresh places to overtake,
which are now going to be places that everyone's going to try.
Hit entry.
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, pretty mad.
Yeah, because they won the first race, but we're disqualified.
There was some tire.
Two-minute tire, yeah, it was an unfortunate.
And you get penalty in the second race as well.
I can't remember.
The tire one was annoying.
It wasn't quite, it wasn't his fault.
But it's quite, it's straight as you'd expect for
the driver of his caliber of being sort of one one.
I think it's super impressive.
You kind of see him as well, doesn't it?
The more aggressive you commit to every overtake and commit to.
But he hasn't raced at night yet, has he?
No, no, no.
And that is a different kettle fish.
You can't assume that any driver would just do the day like that.
Wouldn't suggest that.
I think he'll be, yeah, I think he'll be.
If he's quipped during the day, he'll probably go even faster.
I think he'll be quite quick, yeah.
But the thing is, you have accidents with people
who aren't paying attention that night.
I think that's the thing.
Like he gets impatient with other Grand Prix drivers,
isn't he?
So how, how him?
Adacia Logan.
Yeah, he's just going to explode, isn't he?
I don't know.
I mean, he has shared a grid with Nicholas the Teefy,
so he's used to a man pan and he'll be fine.
But yeah, it's going to be how others react to him as well,
isn't it?
Well, he's going to have a target on him, isn't he?
Yes, all the other, all the other guards.
All the regulars.
To assert themselves over him,
at least not, not be intimidated by him.
So it's going to be a...
I'm just amazed he's got it in his contract that he can...
I know, I don't know how he's pulled it off.
Raise some Mercedes at, you know, Nurburgring.
Or raise it at the Nurburgring at all.
That's all for him.
I don't think they're in a position to really tell him
he can't go on and on.
He'd just leave, probably, wouldn't he?
No, I think red.
Who, who else in the F1 grid would?
Would do it.
Would do it and do it at the level he's doing it,
do you think?
Hmm.
What, the commitment level and...
Just the pace.
Like, just the ability to jump in something totally different
and race around a totally different track with all those...
Like, you must get used to, if you're on a grid of 2022 cars,
you kind of know what the other car's going to do
based on who's driving it, don't you?
You would learn how they, but that's completely random
because there's going to be four drivers in...
Yeah, you're welcome to know.
The driver's briefing at N24 is like nothing else
because there's, like, 450 people in there.
Yeah, I don't know who, I mean...
There aren't many.
You look at Kimmy, he looks like young enough
he'd just do anything if you told him
to get in a car and drive as fast as he could.
Yeah, I may have heard.
Can't see George doing it.
No, definitely not.
Can't see Lando doing it.
Alonso would do it.
Alonso, for now, they would do it, wouldn't they?
Hülkenberg would probably do it.
Yep.
There aren't many, though, are there?
No, there's not many.
You'd think that would be comfortable to do it.
Lewis wouldn't, I don't think...
Sort of, I'll ask back to when drivers did all sorts of things,
like Formula One and touring cars and GTs,
you know, when they go do Motty, yeah.
Go and do Daytona in the winter months, go racing the US.
Yeah, you wonder whether there's other drivers
thinking, oh, I wish I could go and do something like that.
But then it's not...
Lando did some pub, he was there, wasn't he?
He was there on tourist laps in 750S.
Which is quite interesting, isn't it?
Because it's obviously...
Oh, well, Matt's was there.
Maybe I should turn up and be seen here.
I think it'll give it the wider attention it deserves.
Yeah, I think so.
But, I mean, God Almighty, the tourist days are busy enough,
as it is, so if it's something we're going to drive...
I mean, it's going to be pretty full on.
Because there's no Dutch Grand Prix this year, is there?
I don't know.
Was it last year, the last year?
Or was this...
Anyway, there's going to be a lot of orange.
There will be a lot of orange.
You know, he brings a fan base that I don't think the
Norse life is possibly ready for yet.
And there'll be a lot of terrible techno music
playing very loudly in the woods up there.
That's normal, isn't it?
Yeah, it is.
I mean, they say at the modern, you can smell and hear all of that.
I assume that with the ring circuit being much closer to...
Again, the first year I went, I can't remember where it was now.
Where is it? Hoax, right?
That's the highest point of the track.
Proper out on the boonies.
They rigged up an impressive turbo engine.
Engine, yeah.
On a stand.
And it was just being all...
Just being revved up the whole night.
Yeah, there was a big source.
It was red.
There was a big fire, loads of scary looking...
That's what you want.
Blokes and this engine just going all...
Popping and banging.
Where did it finish?
I think it was still going.
Yeah, that's what I mean.
It finished the 24th line.
There you go.
What was the...
Because one of the unique things of the N24 is that you obviously
combines GP circuit with North Schlock.
What... When you're on the GP circuit,
how normal did that feel in the race compared to when you're out in the...
It's just like an aperitif, isn't it?
It's just like a starter.
It's a bit weird, yeah.
Was it a bit of a...
Weird.
Right, I've got five kilometers of normality then.
It is very different, isn't it?
It seems darker to me because all the reflective surfaces are
mervoured away, whereas...
And you haven't got the crowd so close.
You've got the barriers and all sorts of stuff going on.
You've got much more track to play with, so...
I don't know.
I just used to use it as the car okay.
I think as a bit of a numpty non-pro race of A,
you lose so much time around the GP circuit.
And then frying yourself silly trying to make up.
Yeah.
You're never going to make up on the old circuit.
And I think certainly in the Maserati and the Aston's,
they were... Obviously they were race prepared and...
More race car than road car, but they were still...
You could very easily cook tyres on the GP circuit.
So you were kind of looking after the car for the whole
lap because you wanted the car to feel near.
It's around the... But those long sort of modern corners
where you just put constant low heat, you know,
outside front tyre or something.
Whereas the proper, you know, the proper Mantaic guys
and stuff were just on it for the whole time.
As they are.
Was there a race that stood out for you that you...
The ones you competed as the two you did and the eight?
I think I did eight with Maserati, eight with Aston Martin
and one with Maserati.
First one, obviously, because it was the first time there
and it's just like the most amazing thing.
And Jatler feet was one of the drivers in my car.
So that was quite cool.
I think when would it be?
2009 was when Maserati launched the V12 Vantage road car
over that weekend.
And we were racing a V12 Vantage in the race
and we won the class, which was really cool.
That was great.
Well, it must be one of the last stick shift cars.
Yeah, probably.
Yes, to win the race around there.
I know Monkey Racer GT3 RS around there,
I think the year later or year or two later.
That was another stick shift car.
But that was great because it was a proper fairytale.
Well, yeah, can't ever miss a beat.
I mean, I remmiss you and it was the perfect story, I think.
All right, or...
As Sorocco is, for the same reason Dicky says,
but there was no restriction.
Drive it as fast as you like.
One brake change in the middle of the night.
And, like I say, at the end of the race,
driving it like it was on the PlayStation.
That was a really nice car to drive around there.
It was.
And it was quick enough, you know.
You just find your own pace.
Small at the right.
So that was really good.
And despite the fact that we lost a wheel at one point
and it was backed into the barrier,
because there were only two cars in the class,
only two natural barriers got on the podium.
Yay!
There you go.
But the R8, I remember thinking,
if anybody came up now and offered to do my last stint,
I would let them, because I was a husk of myself.
We were all there, weren't we?
You, me, Jeff Rowe and Monkey.
I think we're all in different stuff.
Yeah.
But we, I remember the radio message,
I think it must have been my third stint,
they said,
Johnny B, welcome to the top 20.
And I was like, wow, because we started about 40th.
Yeah.
And we finished, I think we finished 18th in the end.
But that was with a strategy not to rub it out to 8000 RPM
to get one less fuel stop.
So seven laps instead of six, I think it was.
And that was the strategy.
And we just, we didn't have any issues at all with the car.
Nobody dinked anything.
And it just went round and round and round.
And that's endurance racing.
It seems, if the races I did either goes like that,
or it's just an endless nightmare of problems.
The weather's awful.
And then they stop the race.
And then you feel knackered because you've sat there
for six hours while it's.
I mean, yeah, two years ago was it with the fog.
Yeah.
Oh, they take like seven hours of racing.
That's the end 7.8.
Yeah, the year
rocked, crashed.
That was only 14 hours because of the fog and the rain.
Fingers crossed for this.
But it's a cruel circuit as well, isn't it?
Because you make one small mistake and you're in the barrier
because it's just so, we run up.
We got hit one year while we were in a Zagato.
And we got harpooned by Cleo coming out of the,
because it's really tight first corner onto the GP circuit,
isn't it?
Yeah.
And Cleo on cold tires came out and just hit the square on the rear.
That's unfortunate.
Which was sort of fixed.
But then it.
And then the other stuff.
Hit the drive shaft and then the gearbox.
And they're like, oh, for God's sake.
And then, and you're only five or six hours into the race.
And then everyone's worked so hard that you have to keep,
you have to keep driving the car.
Yes.
But you're just like, oh, can we just.
What's the point?
You just park it, it'll get to, but it.
We're a hundredth or whatever.
So yeah, you're just driving it around to get the finish,
which I know is the, is the point, but it's, it's either
easier.
Like when, when the V12 Vantage won the class,
it was the easiest, about the easiest thing in the world.
Car ran without, literally without any issues.
No near misses, no nothing.
And then quite a few other years it's been rotten.
But that's how it goes.
That's racing.
So this year, Sam, as you're Mr. N24,
apart from a mad Dutchman, what else should we be looking out for?
Yeah, the grid is, I mean, you say the grid has got more
condensed and closer together, but it's still pretty,
it's still pretty extreme from my perspective,
having only seen it for the last six years and paid attention.
So there's a Dacia Logan, but then there is also
that always gets hit by something.
Yeah, but I did last year or two years ago, pretty bad.
I think they were going to try to run a Renault Twingo this year.
Oh my God.
But they said no to that for obvious reasons.
There's the new M3 touring GT.
Yeah, that should be really cool to see.
And that looks really quick in a straight line,
quicker than the GT3 cars, because I think it's
it's de-restricted, isn't it?
It's in a, it's a SPX.
Yeah, well, yeah.
There's the HWA.
Either one.
It's not a mod thing, isn't it?
Yeah, three.
Three of them.
Bloody hell.
I mean, we're in rest day mods of now.
You're in rest day modding race cars to race with modern stuff.
And they look so good.
And the old retro.
I don't actually know.
But yeah, they look good.
You see some testing.
They did some testing at Port-a-Male somewhere.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
But they've done all the durability runs, haven't they?
So they're, which is the key thing to get it to finish.
There are quite a few retro cars as well.
Like, I think there are two Z4 GT3s.
Oh, they're.
Yeah, with the P65.
Yeah, that should be really cool.
One had a bit of an accident in the qualifiers,
but I think it's back now.
Yeah.
So, and I think Akio Toyota will be there in a GEO Yaris of some kind.
He will be there.
I have a sneaking suspicion he might be there
with something a little bit bigger than a GEO Yaris.
Well, it's down as a GEO Yaris.
Do you think it's going to be the GT car?
It will be the GR GT.
With GTR.
Some more than the GEO Yaris.
We used to, Aston Martin and, or Dr. Betts and Akio Toyota were mates.
Yeah.
So we would always, we Aston Martin and Toyota would always share the garage.
So all through the years when they were racing the LFA's,
we'd be in the same bit garages as the LFA's,
which was brilliant as they were the coolest things.
But yeah, they'd go racing in quite a particular way,
especially with him because they need to keep him safe for obvious reasons.
So there would be a, there'd be like a tailgarner car
that would kind of follow him around.
And it's almost like it would throw itself in the way.
They look like it was going to crash into him.
But yeah, they were always absolutely immaculate.
And there'd be like a hundred mechanics all with their red hats on.
And then it's like the car would come in and it didn't necessarily need anything
other than a bit of a clean.
So they'd all like put some fuel in it and then.
Quick detail.
Give it a T.
Busy clean.
He'd be like, guys, you could kind of go now.
Girls make it look good.
Yeah, it was, they were cool team.
Yeah.
I think that GR GT will be there in some form.
I think it possibly have a race.
Probably will be.
It looks born for there as well, doesn't it?
The proportions of it, don't you?
It looks low and interesting.
It looks very quick.
Yeah.
So where's your favorite spot to watch from?
What would you recommend for people to go to?
Because you have to, you have to hoof in some places quite a way.
Can't do it.
Yeah.
Getting to the tallacies always.
I found a good place to watch it from.
Yeah, you see.
Yeah, it's good.
But carousel is good if you can get to it.
Can't smell it.
You can open the window.
Yeah, it's fine.
Carousel is great.
Carousel is a long walk from, you'd go to Brunchen, wouldn't you?
Yeah, but it's a long walk in that way.
Yeah, all the sparks and the glowing discs and the.
But it's where it is.
We're traipsing through.
Whipperman's good.
Yeah, it is.
That's always good.
You can see who's going for it there.
Brunchen.
Yeah.
Is there some places you're easier to get to doing
quality than it is for racing and actually don't,
you'll waste too much time trying to get there doing the race.
So go and watch from there and quality and then easier access points is,
I guess, Whipperman and Brunchen.
I always thought that taking an e-bike would be a good idea,
but if the crowds are so thick, you're not going to get anywhere.
Yeah, it's fine for getting, I think, on the, you know,
going around public roads to get to quicker points, isn't it?
But you then need to leave it somewhere and walk.
Yeah, a little pro tip is to park in the tech park
and walk across the road to get to Golden Cop and places like that.
Yeah, I mean, that's a handy tip.
Parking is after the challenge.
Yeah, it is.
Yeah.
Yeah, it takes something that you don't mind parking in a field or half on the road.
The Techno Park runs parallel to the main road,
which is always jammed to get into Techno Park and park along there.
You can walk in there.
There you go.
Well, I'm, I'm quite glad I'm not racing there.
I was starting to get a bit nervous then.
I used to have this Pavlov's dog response to the pit in Siren
and the pit lane has got a very, very particular.
It does.
Well, I would almost immediately need a poo when I was in there.
Especially if it was my stint next to me being Jethro,
we're fighting over the toilet.
But you basically, I think I put a sign on the door saying Jethro's office because he was.
He was always.
It's true though.
It's the nervous reaction.
I remember spending a lot of time using a lot of toilet paper.
I think it gets inside.
I think it got inside my head a bit, the track.
I think I was possibly overthinking maybe.
Yeah.
I was very respectful of the place.
And, you know, I suppose I'm of a generation where you know,
it's the unlearnable track and all of that sort of stuff.
So I never really raced there how I would race anywhere else.
It would make a difference to how you feel about racing if you're done or you're able to do more
of the sim testing beforehand for that.
So I'll just get more understanding of how the car's going to behave or is it?
I don't know.
From my side, I would say that you are not in a race with other people.
So that racecraft thing is not just the same thing.
But just learning the car and what it's going to do.
You still, you just need to drive the car as fast and as well as you can.
People will come and go.
You are really, it's the circuit you're racing first.
And then you just do your stint.
I think it's such a big round though, isn't it?
I think, I don't think I applied myself like it's easy to analyse a normal lap
and where you think, oh, I can make a little bit of time here, a little bit of time there.
But I think never agreeing such a, there's such a lot of places where you're,
you have to be brave.
You know, I think you end up fixating on the brave corners,
but you're losing more time through a fiddly technical bit or
because you're not committing in the same, you know, as a, you know, an amateur,
someone with an amateur mindset.
It is rare that you, like you say, come in across somebody that's in your class
on your pace and then that becomes the only time that you really race.
Actual race.
You know, because the other Soroko, the other natural guest Soroko came out the pits
as I was on my second to last lap, I think.
And I knew it was quick because I think they finished 15th,
but being able to stay with him the whole way.
And then tow him up the straight as well.
That was, that was really satisfying, but it's such a rare moment.
Yeah, I suppose it would be.
I had a great, great race with Monkey.
He was in a 9-11 and I was in a V, there's V12 Vantage, but pre,
they sort of did an interim spec car.
So they were developing V12 Vantage into V12 Segato.
So there was a year where it was a regular body with more wing,
a bigger splitter and big rear wing, but with paddle shift and a slightly upgraded engine.
And I can't remember which car Monkey was in, I don't know.
Have you been in the hybrid?
No, I don't know whether he, whether that was the year they were in the
RS factory RS or we used to race with some mates, but we knew like we could see
that we weren't the first guys in the, in the cars and our cars were on very similar pace,
even though they weren't in the same class.
And the pit stop cycle was, we were pitting on the same number of
laps and we'd been hanging out together.
And then we realized when it got close to our stints that we were in the car at the same time.
Going the car, went headed out, I think we got the Aston went out first and then I was,
I spent more time waiting like watching where he was.
And then we had a, there was a fun couple of laps, except I drove like I was more concerned.
Like you'd forgotten how to drive.
Yeah, because I didn't want to clatter him off for, it was like a really odd sensation,
but it was great fun to be on the track at the same time with someone you,
with someone you know.
Yeah.
It was great being there in the same race as John and Jethro,
but it was funny being on track at the same time.
Have you got any aspirations to race in it?
You've done.
Absolutely.
You've done.
About this episode
Nürburgring 24 Hours gets framed as a shifting, multi-class endurance spectacle—now heavily GT3 and manufacturer-led, yet still packed with oddball entries and near-stock oddities. The hosts and guest trade first-hand details: pit-stop routines, class structures, blue-light traffic rules, and the mental grind of staying focused for hours. They also cover sim-driven preparation, tire and cold-grip mistakes, and wild moments like a hydrogen Rapide incident and a car fire in the “foxhole.”
As the 2026 Nürburgring 24 Hour race approaches, John Barker and Richard Meaden recount their best (and worst) memories from their time racing at the iconic event. Stuart Gallagher and Sam Jenkins join the pair to discuss this year's lineup, and why it might just be the most spectacular edition yet.
