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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Place
Dottinger Her
“Dottinger Her” refers to the Dottinger Höhe section of the Nürburgring Nordschleife, a fast stretch where cars build speed. The speaker ties it to the start phase, noting that teams use the approach to get tire temperatures up in cold conditions.
Instead of all cars starting at the exact same moment, they’re sent out in groups. That helps avoid chaos and makes the start safer, especially with different car classes.
GT3 is a type of race car category. These cars are based on real sports cars, but they’re built and regulated for racing, and they often have to share the track with slower cars during endurance races.
Road position is basically where your car is placed on the track compared to the other cars. A good position helps you avoid crashes and gives you a better line into the next corner.
Term
tone one
“Tone one” sounds like a specific section or phase right after the start. The important part is that it turns into a traffic jam where cars bunch up and have to be careful.
A cold tire spin happens when the tires aren’t warm yet, so they don’t grip well. If the driver accelerates too hard, the wheels can spin and the car can lose control.
Place
T13
T13 is a specific corner/section on the Nürburgring track. When people say T13, they mean “this exact spot,” which helps everyone follow where the action is happening.
Sabina Schmitz is a famous Nürburgring driver. This name is used for a particular corner/section of the track, so it tells you where on the Nordschleife the race action is happening.
The Nordschleife is the long, twisty part of the Nürburgring. It’s known for being challenging, so races there are a real test of staying focused and driving smoothly for hours.
They’re talking about the Nürburgring in Germany—the big race track complex where the 24-hour race happens. Fans and teams hang around different parts of the venue during the event.
Topic
N24
“N24” means the Nürburgring 24 Hours, a long endurance race on the Nürburgring. The hosts are explaining how race interruptions work there.
A yellow flag is the warning signal that something is wrong on the track. Drivers have to slow down and drive carefully because there may be an accident or debris ahead.
A safety car is when a special car comes out to slow everyone down and keep the track controlled after an incident. It helps marshals and crews deal with the problem safely.
A red flag means the race is stopped. It’s used when the situation is too dangerous to keep driving at racing speed.
Term
double wave yellow section
It means the caution warnings are being shown more strongly than usual. The idea is that drivers should slow down more and be extra careful because the danger is bigger.
Live recovery is when officials remove a crashed car while other race cars are still driving around the track. It’s tense because the recovery vehicles and race cars share the same circuit at the same time.
The sidewall is the part of the tire on the outside edge, not the rubber in the middle that touches the road. If something is “in the sidewall,” it means the tire has marks or wear on that outer area.
Closing speed means how fast a faster car is gaining on a slower one. In races with different car classes on track, that difference can be really obvious.
The R8 is a high-performance Audi supercar. In this moment, it’s being recovered after an accident during the event.
Place
North Cipher
This is a named part of the track complex the host is using to orient where they are. They’re pointing out that there’s a public road nearby in that area.
During safety periods, cars may be forced to drive slower. A limiter on the steering wheel helps control that speed so drivers can’t accidentally exceed the rule.
In the race, “code 60” means officials are warning that the track is dangerous. Cars have to drive at about 60 km/h or slower in that area, and if they don’t, they can get big penalties.
A slick is a race tire with smooth rubber and no grooves. It works great on dry pavement, but when it’s wet it can struggle because it can’t push water out of the way.
Term
tyre starts to degrade really quickly
In tire terms, “degrade” means the rubber and tread behavior deteriorate faster than expected, often due to heat and operating conditions. In this case, wet-tire tread blocks can overheat when used on a dry track, accelerating wear and performance loss.
Aquaplaning is when your tires lose contact with the road because water builds up underneath them. The car can start to feel slippery or unresponsive, especially when you’re turning or braking. It depends on how deep the water is and how good the tire tread is at pushing water away.
A tyre fitting bay is the dedicated area in a racing paddock where teams remove and install tires during service. It’s set up for speed and organization, with tools, tire stacks, and mechanics working in a controlled workflow. The transcript emphasizes it’s busy and noisy, reflecting the service intensity of endurance racing.
An intermediate tyre is for “in-between” weather—like damp roads or light rain. It’s not as aggressively grooved as a full wet tyre, but it has some grooves to deal with small amounts of water. The goal is to keep grip without the extra drag of full wet tread.
Tread depth is how “deep” the tire’s grooves are. Deeper grooves can move more water out of the way. The transcript mentions that there are rules about how much of the tire’s depth needs to be grooved for it to count as a wet tire.
A wet tyre is built for rainy conditions. It has grooves that help push water out from under the tire so the car can still grip the road. That’s what helps reduce the chance of skidding on standing water.
Tire compounds are different types of rubber. Softer rubber usually grips better but wears out sooner, while harder rubber lasts longer but may not grip as strongly. Racing tires often offer multiple compound choices for different track conditions.
In a long race, tire logistics are hard because weather can change. Teams have to make sure they have the right tires on hand at the right time, which takes a lot of planning.
Place
Père Montferrand
They’re talking about where the tires go after the race. If not all of them get used, they get sent back to storage/another location instead of being consumed on track.
A groove is the channel cut into the tire’s tread. It can help move water away, and in some tire designs it also helps the tire warm up so it grips better as the track dries.
“Cup 2” is a specific Michelin tire line. The point of the comparison is that this endurance tire is designed to grip in wet conditions and then keep working as the track dries, by using a different tread/compound strategy than Cup 2.
An endurance tire is designed for very long races. It has to keep working reliably for hours, not just for a short sprint, and it’s engineered to handle the heat and wear of racing over time.
“Trickle down technology” means ideas invented for racing eventually end up in regular products you can buy. In this case, tire tech learned on track can influence road tires.
It means racing tech eventually makes its way into regular cars. The tires (and other parts) get better because they were tested and refined on a race track first.
A “2050 strategy” refers to a long-term sustainability plan with targets aimed at the year 2050. Here, it’s mentioned in relation to making tires fully renewable (100% renewables) and improving recycling and material sourcing.
Carbon black is an ingredient inside rubber that helps tires last longer and stay strong. When tires are recycled, that material can be recovered and used again.
After recycling pulls out useful materials, the rest of the tire can be burned in a controlled way to make heat or electricity. So it’s not just thrown away.
The pits are the team’s area next to the track where the car comes in for service. If a car is towed there, it likely can’t keep racing and needs repairs.
They mean the Nürburgring Nordschleife, the long and very twisty part of the track. It’s famous for being challenging, with lots of ups and downs and corners.
The Audi RS 3 is a fast, sporty version of a compact Audi. It’s designed to be quicker and more performance-focused than a regular model. The podcast mentions it because someone spotted it while watching cars on track.
The Dacia Logan is a low-cost car model from Dacia. The interesting part is that you can see it on the same track as much faster race cars, and it highlights how different cars behave in the same corner.
Brunchen is a named turn on the Nürburgring. In wet conditions, it’s a place where cars can lose traction and go wide when they’re trying to accelerate out.
A low traction surface is track pavement that provides less grip than normal—often due to rain, rubbering, or surface condition. On such surfaces, tires can’t generate as much lateral force, so cars are more likely to slide, spin, or run wide.
The Audi RS4 is a high-performance Audi based on the A4. It’s the kind of car enthusiasts buy for quicker acceleration and sharper driving feel.
Term
Flexi Plus
Flexi Plus appears to be a named add-on plan or service for car ownership. It’s the kind of thing that can change what support or coverage you get while you drive.
They’re calling a particular area “YouTube Corner” because that’s where they often see YouTubers hanging around. It’s basically a humorous local nickname for a meeting spot.
The “carousel” is a specific part of the Nürburgring track. It’s a corner section the hosts like to visit because you can watch the cars go by really close up.
Place
Nord Stream
They’re using “Nord Stream” as a spot on the track area. They’re saying it’s the highest point there, so after that you go downhill toward the next section.
A pit box is the specific marked bay in the pit lane assigned to a team. It’s where the car stops for service during a race, and pit crews work within that confined space to complete tire changes and other tasks safely and quickly.
F1 means Formula 1, the highest level of open-wheel racing. They’re comparing how pit stops work in F1 versus longer endurance races where rules can force the car to stay in the pits longer.
Oil on the track is dangerous because it makes the surface slippery. If a car hits it, the tires can lose grip and the driver can lose control quickly.
Car
GT3
GT3 is a type of race car category used in endurance racing. It’s usually the faster, more purpose-built class that competes for the front of the pack.
A “puncture” means the tire got damaged and started losing air. In a race, that’s a big problem because it can force the team to stop and fix things quickly.
The “right rear wheel” is the back wheel on the right side. If they take it off completely, they’re likely checking the tire or something connected to that rear corner.
A “sensor” is a device that measures what’s happening on the car. If they think a sensor is involved, it could mean the car is detecting a problem and the team needs to check the readings or the sensor itself.
This is a BMW M4 being raced in a track-racing setup (GT3). They’re talking about how well it’s doing in the race and how its grip and aero seem to be working out.
“Aero” is short for aerodynamics—how the car’s shape and wings push the car down onto the track. They’re saying the wing design/position helps the car get grip sooner when accelerating out of turns.
Overrun is what happens when you lift off the gas and the engine slows the car down (engine braking). They’re saying the Aston’s engine braking sounds and feels really special as it goes by.
Michelin is a tire brand. In a long race, the tires have to keep working for hours, so which brand you run can change how fast and how stable the car feels. The host is saying the Mercedes is using Michelin tires, which is a good sign.
The Hyundai Elantra is a regular passenger car model from Hyundai. The host is talking about it in the context of the race, saying it’s the only one that seems to be having a little moment or variation.
The Ford Mustang is a sports car made by Ford. It’s known for its sporty look and for being available in different performance versions. In the podcast, it’s mentioned while it’s driving through a track section.
“Fastest sectors” means the quickest time in a specific section of the track, not the whole lap. At endurance events, sector-by-sector pace is a key way to show where a car is gaining—especially when conditions like nighttime temperature change grip.
Car
M240i cup car
The BMW M240i is a sporty 2 Series. A “cup car” means it’s been prepared for racing under a specific competition ruleset.
The BMW 2 Series is a smaller BMW that’s made to feel sporty. In the podcast, they’re talking about an M240i “cup car,” which is a version prepared for racing. That’s why it’s being mentioned while it’s on track and doing something like waiting to go.
Term
B58
B58 is BMW’s name for a specific turbo inline-six engine. They’re pointing out that one of the cars running has that engine.
Marshals are the people who keep the race safe. They watch the track, handle accidents, and help get cars back under control—especially important in long races.
Term
24 hours worth of war battle scars
In a 24-hour race, cars get beat up from running for so long and from racing close to other cars. So they often come back looking dirty, dusty, and sometimes with signs of contact.
GT4 is a class of race cars that are based on normal production models. The idea is to keep them cheaper and closer to the street version than the top GT3 class.
A “road going version” means the street-legal production car that the race car is based on. In GT racing talk, this comparison is used to show how much of the race car’s shape and hardware comes from the original model versus being purpose-built for track use.
LIVE
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
wet. Although they're pretty good in damp conditions, I believe. Yeah. To a point,
but as soon as you start getting a layer of water, then it can't expel water and you start
aquaplaning and all that kind of stuff. I think it's all down to the temperature as well, because
if you start losing a temp and it's damp, then you're finished. Anyway, I think we should join you
in there. We're going to go and get a bit of a briefing so we kind of at least look like we
know what we're talking about. Do we know what we're talking about? No. Where are we? I don't
know. Let's head over this way. Well, we're inside the tyre fitting bay here and it's
very busy, as you can imagine. And very noisy. There's lots of things going on.
And actually, what we've learned is there is still a corporate private tyre. Yeah. And then the
normal customer tyre that any of us could buy. And essentially, half of the workshop is the
normal tyres, which is over there. And this side is all of the corporate tyres. Yeah. So I've put
that into the customer tyre. There's literally an office over there. The race team can come in and
buy a set of four tyres and pay for them. The special tyres are all the factory teams
and they have a slightly different tyre. Yeah. Secret Skrill tyre. Secret Skrill. And while
we're talking about that, these tyres are quite special, aren't they, mate? Number three.
These are now, interestingly, I know we were just talking about the wet and the slick outside.
This is the intermediate tyre. But actually, it's a slick tyre and then these grooves are
hand cut in it to make it into an intermediate tyre. And this is a special tyre. This is a special
tyre. And the grooves, they have to be a minimum of 5% of the tread depth of the tyre. If it's
4%, then they're not glassed as a wet tyre. Yeah. So they try and get away with a very minimum.
But essentially, yeah, there's full wet just behind over here, which we talked about on the
outside. That's a brand new one. Nice fresh one. Then we got the intermediate, which would probably
be a great tyre for what we experienced 20 minutes ago when it was a little bit damp and there was
a bit of standing water. And then we got the full slicks. And with the full slicks, we've got three
different compounds, soft, medium and hard. And because it's quite cold for this race,
they're predominantly using softs. And Pete, how many tyres did Mr and bring to the event this
weekend? Well, we'll go and show you in a minute. I think on each side, because there's obviously
the two types of customer, there's about 8,000 tyres on each side that are here, but there's even
more at a storage facility nearby because there's not enough space. A secret storage facility.
I think this is 12,000 tyres. Now, what happens, the teams bring the wheels over. You can see the
wheels on top and then the guys here will fit a bit like when you go to a tyre fitters and you
might watch the tyres being fitted. It's exactly the same process. So they'll fit the tyre onto the
rim. They'll then put the air in the tyre and then right at the end of this line is a balancing
machine where they put the balancing weights on it. It's exactly the same. It takes them about five
minutes to fit a set of tyres to a set of rims. So it's an amazing process. And I think the guys
were saying there's just over 100 Michelin people here supporting just tyre fitment, which is mad.
Taking shifts as well. I know. Obviously, like everyone here. Really, this is open all 24 hours.
Yeah, it's just an amazing place. It's very noisy. It's got a real very rubbery smell. Yeah,
good smell. Very interesting. I always find it absolutely fascinating. Now, whenever we do these,
we like to get experts on that know more about stuff than us. Oh, more than us? Yeah. Right.
And we've just been told that we've got a very special guest to come on the podcast. Pierre
Alves. He's the global head of Michelin's endurance motorsport program. He sounds important. I
reckon he's going to know a lot about tyres. Let's go meet him. him and head over that
way. I want to take the guys in the door. Yeah, let's see if we can get him to show us around in
there. Definitely. Awesome. So I was trying to work out the value to you then as Michelin of
all the tyres here on site must be a number you probably won't share with me. If you just want
to have a value, you know, is the eight for the eight years on the road, we are winning the 24 hours
of Nuremberg Green. So the value is that, you know, it's the technology we put into the tyre
and the performance and that's why all the main need are the big car company who are choosing
Michelin to race here. That is amazing. I mean, it's just unreal. There's quite a lot of tyre you
are likely to come today because if you're coming tomorrow, we get a lot less tyre depending on how
the race goes. But you know, we have, at the beginning of the week, we had 3000 slick tyres
and 2000 wet tyres because we need to cover all the conditions. Yeah. And on the slicks, we have
three different compounds. So we have one, it's not like in Formula One, where they're using a
stop to go faster and a hard to go longer. Here, we have all the three different compounds are the
same. It's just that you have the same grip, I mean, but they are working in different temperature
window from the track temperature. So that's why we need to provide the same grip depending of the
weather. So that must be a bit of a nightmare, a logistical nightmare because last year it was
really hot here and this year it's quite cold. Correct. So then they're running soft and last
year they're probably running hard mostly. Exactly. But you have to bring all of them because you
don't know. Yeah. What we are bringing, you know, we are going to use the best case. When I say
best case is when all the cars finish the races, we are around 40% of the quantity that we are
bringing here that are going to be used. So if 60% they are going back to Père Montferrand.
So we have to provide the full range because we never know what's going to happen. Well,
last week you already have a good idea that is going to be very cold. But when we order the tires,
produce the tire, it was three months ago. So that's why we have to anticipate and to provide
them, produce them, provide them and be ready for all conditions. The logistics behind this just
must be unbelievable. It's a long activity. You know, for the 24-hour race we already started
three months ago to produce the tire, but we already developed this tire a few years ago
and we are providing the same range now for four years. But you know, we have to be in constant
evolution. Evolution. That's why we need to anticipate all the different weather conditions
to be ready. Slicks is quite straightforward because the track never changed. We have some
resurfacing, but while we are doing a lot of efforts, it's on the wet tires. So you have
three different wet tires. Have you seen wet tire? It's called a monsoon tire. You know,
when there's a lot of water, we have this pattern and when there is a lot less water,
we have this one. It's a drying wet. Oh, so you have, okay. And the intermediate cut slick as well.
The cut slick is more for the driver's confidence. It's a slick. It's the cold tire for the slicks
to give the driver a bit of confidence when it goes out, when there's some wet patches
on the racetrack. But the groove we are making is not to evacuate water, it's just to bring
some heat on the tire. Oh, okay. And this one is a purely wet, but it's for a drying condition.
That's why the pattern is totally different than this one. Wow. It looks an awful lot like a cup
2. Exactly. You know, it's inspired by the cup 2. Yeah. Because we know this, that's why, you know,
when you're using the cup 2 on a wet, on a road, you know, it's difficult to put heat or not. But
with this car, you know, we put a lot of energy on the tire. So that's why this compound, it works,
it's a lot softer than the cup 2. And it works on the, on the wet until the drying condition,
when the track, you know, we have a dry line. Yeah. So this tire is robust enough to continue
to race with this tire until we switch directly to a stick. So did you say I could take this set
for my M3 for my next track though? If you go off this tire, you will be in trouble because
this one is totally fully confidential. Yes. This is a technology, all the wet ones is fully
confidential. Yep. We have a contract with the teams. So that's why we don't sell it. And if one
tire is missing, we have a penalty of 1000000 euros. Oh, wow. It is a million. The same as...
We talked about that, but we didn't know whether it was the same because that's the same M motor
GP. Because your, your competitors could cut it open and have a look. That's why that secret area
over there. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Wow. That's cool. Wow. That's not the value of the tire, the 1000000
It's all the knowledge that we have how to make an endurance tire. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. A deterrent
to look after the tires and bring them back. Exactly. Yeah. That's why it's very important for us. We
are nervous when the tire is missing at the end of the event. Excellent. Wow. Thank you so much for
your time. Absolutely fascinating. And yeah, it just brings a whole different dimension to, to the
race and, and why it's so important. And I think that for me, I love the trickle down technology
into road tires because, you know, a lot of our audience, they'll, they'll have Michelin tires on
their road car. And I think sometimes people see motorsport and don't see the connection between
motorsport and road tires. And then you see something like that and you go, okay. Exactly. So
it's going, this is what we call the approach from track to street. Yeah. You know, all what we
learn here, it will be transferred on the road car in coming years. Definitely. This is what we
have done in a hypercar. And if you follow the hypercar category, you know, we did something
on the tread, you know, it looks like the, there's Martin heaven is selling the diners or skin. Yeah.
So it's, we wanted to show to the, the fans that the tires are different, you know,
and yeah, to tell them it's different, it's difficult to go through the message on it. So
it's better to show it. And that's why we ask our designers to make it different. It looks different.
But now we can explain why it's different. Last question. And then we'll let you go. I promise.
Clearly, there's lots of tires being used. They come in there warm.
Can you just tell us a bit about the kind of recycling? Because I know there's the 2050 strategy
where you're trying to get all of the tires being completely 100% renewables. So what's the sort of
the story on the recycling side of things? What we are doing for the endurance racing,
there's a lot of tires to recycle. Of course, like I told you, we don't sell it. So it means we
collect back all the used tires. We are sending back to Clermont-Ferrand. And all the sticks
go through a factory which paralyzes, you know, to extract some materials inside,
like the carbon black, some oils and metal. And also we can separate some materials inside
to recycle to have a different usage on a different usage. And the rest of the tire is
reused as energy. So that's why we send them to the cement factory. And we are sending our
tires, but we need to have a bodyguard to check if the tires goes into the factory to make sure,
to keep the confidentiality until the end. Fantastic. There you go. Fantastic. Thank you very much
for your time. Really nice to meet you. Thank you so much. Yes, thank you very much. There you go,
guys. We now know everything we need to know about tires. Until next year when we learn more. I know,
one second. I think it's a BMW sand. And what a view they've got. Unreal. And we've got cover.
I know. On a slightly sadder note, and we do feel a bit guilty because we're here,
we've just seen the Mantai Racing 9-Eleven, the Guerno Car, have a big accident and it's over.
It's being towed back to the pits as we speak, which is really sad because it looked like it was
going to be a good battle, at least between that and the Max Verstappen car. But being here is just
amazing. I mean, this is like, I've come here for probably 10 years and this is the best view
point I've ever had at the N24. You've got to say, hospitality is next level. But a really cool thing
is you've got the guys coming out here. I guess it's the end of the GP circuit, right? Yeah,
M&U GP. The Norsleife. It looks so good, doesn't it? It does. And then you can see them coming back
off the Norsleife down that way. And that's the pit entrance is basically here as well. So
it's just, wow, it's so cool. The light's slowly fading. We've had a bit of rain and sun and rain
in the last hour or so. Yeah, you can kind of see it over there, look. Yeah. Rain,
blue sky. And it happens so quickly, though. It goes from being overcast and raining
to being bright sunshine literally within five or 10 minutes. And then it starts raining again.
It does. And it's not that warm, is it? No, I've took my jacket off, but I'm actually quite cold
now. Oh, Porsche, come on. I've got a Porsche.
No, just phenomenal. You've got the helicopters flying above as well. And in fact, you can just see
a pat. Oh, yes. There's one of them. Oh, both of them are together.
Oh, yes. Who doesn't love the Sandra V10?
Well, yeah, you can actually see the other side of those hedges and trees. That's where
we were walking earlier on. Yep. And actually BMW have got another hospitality over there.
Wow. Wow. But I've got to say, though, we're very lucky. We've come, we've got hospitality and it's
always very special and a real privilege. But the great thing about this race for me is you don't
need hospitality. You can come and, you know, all the fans out there that they're having probably
arguably more of a better time. Not on yet. Yeah, you definitely don't need hospitality.
No, no. You don't need hospitality. No. Cheers mate. Cheers, mate. Yeah, you don't need hospitality.
Where's your wine? Hey. Thanks, BMW. Thanks, Fabian. He's over there. Baby, what a legend.
I bet there's going to be an insane view of the end here as well. Yeah, there is.
Oh, wow. Look at that. Wow. That is so cool. So that's the back end of the GP circuit,
which is really fast downhill, flat out through that kink, and then into the chicane. And that is
just so cool that you can see all of that from here. What's that, an RS3? Wow. No, S3.
And what's really interesting is we've just seen the Dacia Logan go through that left-hander.
And because it's one of the slowest speed corners on the track, all the GT3 cars aren't really
utilizing their aero through there. So actually, Lambo, the difference in corner apex speed through
there is probably quite minimal compared to some of the faster corners. Oh, it's brilliant.
I wish we were here to see the start of the race. I mean, it's just unreal. You can see all the
fan zone, BMW have only got their own fan zone, but all the back of the paddocks and all the
hospitality over there, the start finish straight is just the other side of those flags. Amazing.
Absolutely. What a view here. Wow.
So you've got like, you know, three series followed by
M4 GZ4, followed by a Cayman. And then what's that? Say it, Leon.
And then we've got a got, is that a Golf? It's a Golf. They are quite difficult to spot with
all of the livery arms. Yeah. And then another Golf. Yeah, with a big gangster wing on it.
Yeah. A big AMG. AMG GZ4. Go around the outside. Go on, son.
And here comes some of the boss ones. Three differences. Unreal.
Yeah. We'll go around the outside there. Wow.
Fantastic. Unbelievable. Cheers, everyone. We catch up with you in a little bit.
Yeah. Wicked. McLaren.
So we're down at Brunchen and we're actually at a really cool setup part of the Manthey Racing crew.
I think basically a couple of people at Manthey Racing know the people that own this and they
fund the alcohol and some of the food. So we're just down here watching it. It's been raining out
there. It's been about five or six cars that have run wide on the exit of Brunchen. And we've
literally been watching it happen live, which has just been nuts. So yeah, it's really good.
Still light out there, but it's getting dark. It's pouring with rain and I'm drinking beer.
I think we should go over and find Penn. So, Penn, I was just explaining on the camera in there.
That obviously we've had tricky conditions. Lots of cars have been running wide, spinning off.
It's, yeah, I mean, you can kind of see them coming out of Brunchen there. They just started
to lose it a little bit. Yep. And it's got, we've seen they've got a red-yellow
low traction surface. Hey, do you want to take the mic? Introduce yourself.
Sure. I'm Taylor from Auto Alex. Oh, is there the camera? Hello.
And yeah, we're at Brunchen. I'm having a good time. Yeah. And yeah, I'm just amazed by this
all. This is my first time here. And yeah, I just, I don't know where to look. It's so overwhelming,
but it's an amazing place, amazing event. I've never seen anything like it. We were in the pits
earlier, looking at all the pit garages, walking around. Yeah, it's, it's insane. Have you been
enjoying it, Joe? Oh, absolutely. Yeah, it's been, it's been an awesome day. It's a shame because
we're here with Mantai Racing and obviously they're number one Gredo car out of it was
shunt earlier on, but then that's all part of insurance racing. You know, so it's the risk
you take, I suppose. It is. Yeah, I don't think I would last one lap in this weather out there.
Oh, I don't. Yeah. I actually did one wet lap on the Nurburgring and it was terrifying. It was
completely terrifying. It was so slippery. I nearly spun out. I did have a back end out. It was
really funny. On purpose or not on purpose? No, not on purpose. But it's great. It's all part of
the experience. It's really good fun. Brilliant. Oh, it's great to see you out here. I know I bumped
into you at the, at the Euro tunnel, which was random. You're loving your RS4. Yeah, loving the
RS4 and making the most of the Flexi Plus. Yes, exactly. I only just finished that yesterday.
I've still got bits and pieces all over my car. But yeah, nice. But yeah,
it was sorry for interrupting your podcast. It didn't interrupt at all. It was nice to see you.
Yeah, and you, and enjoy the rest of it. We will, mate. We will. So easy.
Good timing.
Well, there you go. You bumped into all sorts out here in the woods. Well, that's why they call it
YouTube Corner. It's exactly why they call it YouTube Corner. You bump into YouTubers.
Yeah, no, it's wonderful. It's going to get dark in the next 20 minutes, half hour.
And I think the plan is Max Verstappen. Max Verstappen. And I'm not even a Max Verstappen fan.
I can't believe I'm calling the hell. I am. But he's got a good chance now. He has.
Grello's out. He's got a really good chance. And actually, I have to say another big shout out to
the G81 M3 Touring, which is in third place at the moment. I mean, they would not have thought
that was going to happen in a million years. So really cool. I think we should sort of slowly
head down to the carousel, because it's something we do every year.
Plan. Yeah, very, very good plan. Cheers, everyone. Cheers, mate.
Where are we, bed? We're at Hueracht. How do you know that?
Because I just asked that lovely lady in the support vehicle behind. But other interesting fact,
this is the highest point of the Nord Stream. Oh, okay. I didn't know that.
Yeah, yeah. So downhill from now on. I suppose we have just walked uphill since
like a long way. And now we're going to walk all the way downhill to the carousel.
I've got to say, I said it last year, you come here and you walk from Brunchen to the carousel.
It's one of the coolest things you can do in motorsport. Because on one side of the fence,
you've got the cars going past and you're so close to the track, you can, it's amazing.
With professional athletes in them. Yeah. And on the other side, you've just got these
absolute lunatics from all over the world, mainly German, as we said. And it's just joyous.
It is. It's so funny and it's just wicked, absolutely wicked. It's actually the first
time I've walked along that bit with some daylight, so you get a completely different
perspective. And then we'll go back when it's pitch black. So. But now the light's gone and it's
dark. Yeah. A really cool thing is as the cars go by, you can see like the exhausts glowing.
Yeah. And on the 911s, it's almost like the whole back of the car behind the rear bumper.
It's just a red glow. It's amazing. It's unbelievable. Yeah. Very cool.
But yeah. So I don't know how far we are wrong to go. So we've got to be about halfway.
Yeah. About another 20 minutes. Yeah. But it is mega. I think, I think Max is still,
or Max is still leading. The nice thing as well is almost every tent or campsite or scaffolding
they've all got live stream massive TVs like 50, 60 inch tellies with a live stream of the
track and stuff. And a lot of them have got timing screens. So as you walk along,
it's dead easy to keep track of who's what's going on. Yeah. Absolutely brilliant.
Excellent. Right. Well, we'll leave these guys in peace and we'll head down to the carousel.
Who are act? Who act? I don't know what it means, but it means we're here. Yeah, exactly. Carousel
that way. Well, we've made it down to the carousel. I know four our way through the crowds
and the crazy Germans. Yeah. I know we were here last year. The thing that still blows my mind
about the carousel is you can hear all the cars scraping out, bottoming out as they go around.
I know. And if it was just over one lap, we'd be like, oh, that's painful, but it's over 24 hours.
I know. And obviously, we drove around it today this morning in your car and
it's a really steep bank. I don't, I've never quite understood why it's like that, but
why the bank bit doesn't go all the way up. Yeah. Yeah, like a Velos Rome almost. Yeah,
exactly. Yeah. Yeah. It's just bizarre, but I mean, it's a spectacular place to come and watch
motorcars. It is. And it's cool to drive through in a car as well, isn't it? Yeah, exactly.
You can see it's going around the outside. Oh, is it that? That's it. Yeah.
Yeah. You can see the brake is glowing red as well in the dark. Yeah.
V8s. Long live V8s. I guess we best walk all the way back through the crazy Germans again.
Yeah, I think we should. It's getting a bit late, although it's only about half past 10 and there's
still randomly some light in the sky, which I wasn't expecting. But yeah, I think we're gonna
head back there, see what's going on. Yeah, at least it is dry. No rain, which is nice.
And on that note, we'll see you in a bit. Now, taking Grandad out on a walk like this is a bit
tiring. It's been a long, it's been a long couple of days, mate. It has been a long couple of days,
but we are, we are nearly back at the transport back to our hotel. Yep. To go back to the hotel and
get a few, a few hours of shut-eye before we then head back tomorrow. And we thought we'd finish it
in a place that we visited last year. The best place. I think they've upped their game. I mean,
there's some amazing, amazing stands here, but these guys are on another level. They are.
It's, I think it's actually a vehicle this year, because the bottom end is a truck look.
Oh yeah, because last year it was a bit of just scaffolding. That's right. I think they've changed
it. And, uh, yeah. So I'm not sure, I'm not sure what their logo is. No, I'm not sure.
How cool is that? Especially for us, clearly. And then they got this big kind of banana thing
going on. But yeah, absolutely insane. Two floors. You've got a bar on the bottom floor
and like a nightclub on the top floor and a whole beer garden. They've even got a kiddies play area
look with a slide. So we thought we'd kind of come here to end our nighttime coverage of the N24.
Yep. And, uh, tomorrow morning, we'll be back after we need to sleep. And then we'll see. Yep.
Max is in second at the moment, I think, isn't he? Yeah.
The M3 Touring is in seventh, which is pretty good. Yay!
Absolute legends. On that note, I think we should, uh, say good night. Yeah. Bye-bye.
We're in the, uh, Manthey pit box and it was quite when we got here, but suddenly it's an
absolute hive of activity. This force has just come in and the legendary Daftelogen is just about
to finish its pit stop. I guess the big difference between this mate, isn't it, is in F1, it's like
two and a half seconds for a pit stop. Here, there's a minimum time for a pit stop. So they have to
stay in irrespective of what's being done. Watch out. This car is coming in. So this is pretty
cool access. Let's try not to get run over.
To get this close. Good timing. Sometimes when you come on these pit box tours,
you don't see anything at all, but here we're actually bringing a car in. It's on its dollies.
Oh, you can smell brakes and rubber and all kinds of things. Every very cool. But yeah, with a minute
left, I think this is about to leave. The closing speed between that and Max in first place is just
ridiculous. But for me, it just shows the cool thing about N24. Off it goes. Oh, I stalled it.
Old school. Can't beat a push start. Can't beat a push start. We should probably say hello and
good morning as well. Good morning. All happened a bit quick. Yeah. Well, we've got bad news,
haven't we? Misha, Steve, me, their car went out overnight, unfortunately. Quite a lot of
timings, I think. Yeah. And it's just heartbreaking for them to have the car not still be running this
morning. But yeah, it's... How long have we got left? What time is it? It must be approaching
midday. I think we've got about four hours left. But a lot can happen in four hours. I think Max is
still leading by about 30 seconds. It's just absolutely monstering it. But like we've seen
with Grelo yesterday, with Misha and the boys. Anything can happen. And
we're just talking to one of the guys about the oil on the circuit that took the Grelo out
yesterday. And the challenge is because they don't close the track down and so on when there is an
accident. They do the live recovery we saw yesterday. Yeah. Quite often there's like oil and
another kind of vending fluids on the track. And you just can't do anything about it if you drive
into that. You have to be stuffed. Oh, look at that. See, 8.6. Joe, look at that. I mean,
what's that, a 325CI or something? That's what I love about it. I mean, that's a 20-year-old car.
But it's competing with the rest of them. I think I saw on the screen Max's car coming in. But
maybe I've made that up and they're much further along the pit lane. It's got, you know,
a proper front-running GT3 over there. Just amazing. So to be able to be... I don't know about you. I
always feel like being naughty, being stood here, whether I'm allowed to be here or not,
but we'll be here until we get told to. Yeah, we're not allowed to stand over that red line,
basically. I am on the limit. That's track limits right there. That's, no, that's Joe's very bright
trainers. And my bright trainers. Clown shoes. Peds off to the safari today again. I've got safari
shoes today. So yeah, really cool. So we're on the countdown now to the end. Let's see if there's
any other cars coming in or out. There we go. I think we're being... We're being ushered in.
We're being ushered out. Right. Okay. We'll speak to you later. Yeah, take care.
Do you know, like, have you seen... It's number three, isn't it, man? I think it's number three.
We're at the back of the pit, trying to find Max's garage. I'm not sure which one it is.
No idea. What are all these people doing? I don't know. What are all the phones for and,
yeah, and 50 million people. Oh, number three. Oh, right. This one. Oh, that's Max's garage.
Oh my God. Yes. That is unbelievable. Wow. Yeah, there's no way you're going to get
anywhere. I've not seen anything like it. So I'm presuming he's around. I'm guessing he is.
That is nuts. We just watched other people's phones. People there with helmets to sign and...
Oh, I thought I was going to get going. I thought it would be like a Max's good wave.
Should we start the crowd? Yeah. Let's get ready to... Should I do a really loud
d-d-d-durse if anyone does anything? Well, I just did that and everyone just...
No, no, no. I'll do it really loudly. I'll tell you. Ready? Ready? Yeah.
D-d-d-d-d-d. Oh, that's disappointing. Everyone's really tight. I've got no sense of humor.
That, the working on one side here, that suggests possibly another puncture here, David. To me,
another AMG driver sitting just to the right, they are... Now, let's go back to the garage.
They've taken the right rear wheel off completely, so this could be suspension,
maybe something to do with a sensor under the back of there as well. What drama, David, this is.
Right, so we literally have a couple of minutes left of the N24. We're here at the BMWM hospitality,
drinking hand. Cheers, buddy. Cheers, buddy. And, well, it's been a fantastic 24 hours. Let's start
with that. It's unbelievable. Absolutely unbelievable. It kind of went really slow to start with,
and then it's just flown by. It has the last few hours of really flown by. It's been a lot
happened, actually, since we're last on camera. If you remember, we were outside the... No one's
singing. No one's singing. And then we arrived here and we were told that Max or the car had given up.
But it's back out there again. I think they repaired it. Yeah. But it's not going to finish
anywhere. No. It's been a close battle at the top. We're here with BMW, or on their stand, at least,
and they've currently got their M4 in fourth place. Yeah. And their G81 in fifth place, which is just
awesome. For you, that's wicked, right? It's so cool. The really interesting, when we were doing
the M laps, the Corsa lap, the guys we were chatting to were like, we're not quite sure how the
touring's going to go. We're not sure about its aero. They tested it clearly. But what they found
out is, actually, the aero's worked an awful lot better than they thought it was going to.
Yep. And certainly, they were saying that they kind of gripped out of the corners so that that
initial phase of traction has been really, really good for it. Yeah. Because the wing,
essentially, on the M4 GT3, the wing is a long way back from the boot. Yeah. But on the touring,
it's a lot closer. Yeah. And they're saying that because the air gets to the wing closer, it picks
up aero quicker. But we've had a bit of everything weather-wise, but no horrific rain. In fact,
throughout the 24 hours, we've had sprinkles, which has made some spice. But thankfully, not relentless
rain like they've had years gone by. I was going to say, the really cool thing that, I mean,
everybody wants to finish the race, right? And unfortunately, we've got lots of teams that
haven't done. But we were sat here in the BMW hospitality, and they had one of the drivers
from the number one car talking to us about the sort of tactics and so on. Yeah. They were saying
that the back-running teams in the last hour or so, they're just going to slow off and back off
and just make sure they finish. But the really interesting thing for me is they said that the
top teams, they were basically given orders just to absolutely send it and go for it because
you've got to, right? Yeah. So then you've got a real closing speed. Right. Final lap. So they've
gone through now. Here we go. We've got a beautiful Aston, it's V8, just screams past. The overrun
on the Aston is just, ah, it's what dreams are made of. So we've got number one, it's a Mercedes.
Lambo in second. I think that must be a good place, best place Lambo ever. I think it is.
They qualify well normally and they don't do so well in the race. Because they're quite thirsty,
I think. They're quite thirsty. And that was the car that actually spun out, had an incident
just here on the first lap. So to think if that didn't happen, it would be right up there.
But what's most important is the Mercedes is on Michelin tyres. Yeah, exactly. And I've just had
to Google this, but Michelin up till now have had 25 overall wins at the end 24. So fingers crossed,
I think this is good. They've got the bottles of beer ready for spraying. That's brilliant.
That's really brilliant. It's just been an amazing, amazing day. I've got to tell a story.
We were sat in the hospitality about an hour ago and we heard, you know, the Nokia ringtone.
That one, that rang out and everyone looked around and thought it was someone with an iPhone.
And this old chap stood up and he had an old 6210 Nokia that he's had since 2001 on its original
battery, still working. Absolutely best moment of the week. And he was a legendary X-Works BMW
driver, which made it even better. Absolutely unbelievable. So when are we going to get the
last cars coming around? Are they on their last lap? I think they're on their final lap now.
So let's have a look. So BM, yeah, unfortunately, the M4's 28 seconds off third place, which,
when you think about it, every 24 hours is absolutely nothing. So the Hyundai Elantra
is the only car that has a little flutter. It's just wicked. Wherever you are on a circuit,
you can hear it. Look at these cars coming. Oh, here's the touring coming to you. Yes,
now it's got its dirt livery on it. It looks so good, doesn't it? Oh, the Mustang going through
there as well. I've still, the speed differential when you come here is still something that just
blows my mind. Yeah, absolutely incredible. It's just legendary. And I love seeing like,
that's an old E 9325i. And it's, you know, it's lasted, well, it's lasted its whole life. It's
then been built into a race car and it's just under 24 hours. I mean, it's like, it's amazing.
It's almost more impressive than the factory cars. What have we got coming through here?
So do you think that's, it's on its last lap then? Yeah, so everything's now on its last lap.
Ah, so that's the last time we'll see it. That is, yeah. I think, I think it does one GP circuit.
Oh, that's right. Yeah. Yeah. They don't do the full lap parade because that would take forever.
Yeah. But it's really cool. You were talking to, I know some of the guys from BMW about the M3
touring. Yep. And I think it's surprised everybody, right? Yeah, absolutely. I think,
I was talking to one of the lead sort of engineers of the project and he was saying that to be honest,
if they came here, if I said to him yesterday before the start, it was going to get a top 10 or
even a top 15, they would have taken that. So I think to be right up there, I mean,
their fifth, but they are in the mix. And apparently last night, it changes obviously
when the temperature drops at night. He said it was, it was setting fastest sectors in places,
which is just unreal. When you think that a lot of that car is actually the standard G81.
So that makes my car basically a top five N24 car. Well, mate, the way you drove it round
yesterday, if you haven't watched, oh, no, no, no. What's happening here? Is he going to do a
massive burnout? We've got M240i cup car. What's it doing? Is he waiting? I don't think you could
do that. Oh, there you go. Oh, I thought he was going to do some burnouts or some donuts or
something. Yeah, I think now would have probably got him a few points on his license. Nice to see
a B58. But yeah, no, if you guys are listening to this or watching this, haven't watched our
M Corsa lap that we did yesterday, you've got to watch that one because that was just such an
experience. It was awesome. And we just found some photos of it actually. Oh, yes. Absolutely
brilliant. I guess we should bring this one to a close. I guess we should. I mean, I don't want
it to end. Well, it'd be nice to see the cars come in at the end of the actual finishing lap. So
maybe we'll join you in what would be about five minutes as the cars roll past here. And I've had
another sip of alcohol. I know. We could take this time just to thank everyone that's made this
weekend possible, right? Yeah. So I mean, I'm going to thank Pat first because he's always
behind the camera and doing all I need. He's got to edit this, which I'm so glad about. Yeah. Yeah,
yeah. But massive thank you to Michelin who invited us out here. It was their trip and it's
always a special thing to be on a Michelin trip for Manthey racing, for hosting us for the whole race
and also for Fabian and the guys at BMW M for asking us to come on to their stand and
giving us the opportunity to film the end of the race here with such an amazing view. It's
absolutely mega. It really is. So yeah, let's wait to see if we can get the cars coming around
again. If you haven't, by the way, hit that subscribe button or follow us, whether you're
listening on an audio podcast or watching us on YouTube. It helps us so much to get access to
more stuff, to get more guests. So please do comment below. Let us know who you think has
the cooler swatch watch. Oh yeah. So Joe is not a watch guy, right? But he's recently gone into
the watch thing. So which one's yours? I don't know. The brown one? Yeah. It's not, we're not,
by the way, and I've got a 1965, the mission to the moon. Yeah, we're not sponsored by swatch,
but if you're watching, but yeah, if you're watching swatch, then please get in touch. But yeah,
let's wait to see if we get the get the cars coming past because that would be wicked. Yeah.
And again, it's falling flat. Yeah, I know. There's something about me trying to get,
is it going to do some donuts or whatever? Here they come. It's just great seeing all the cars
coming in and where's the touring come on? The V8 grumbles.
I think that you should, we should give a big shout out to all the marshals as well, actually,
because I think marshals in motorsport, motorsport wouldn't happen without them. But
to be a marshal here, that's hardcore, man. They're out there for 24 hours. I'm sure they do
shifts and stuff. Yeah, but big shifts. And can you imagine how many there are? Yeah, well,
yeah, because of the length of the circuit. Absolutely amazing. We've got, we're just
waiting for the, I'm waiting for the touring to come through because that car, I think the really
cool thing now, when you look at all the cars, because they've got their 24 hours worth of
war battle scars and mud, dust and they just look so cool. That rainbow looks amazing, doesn't it?
Did they just hit then? I think they just had a bit of contact.
Look at that. That looks amazing. Oh, fantastic. Well, because I think they all go,
they go over to screw nearing now. Of course, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah,
there goes screw nearing. I don't trust that thatcher. I think it was running a thousand horsepower.
Yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah, yeah. What have we got? Where is it? We're just waiting for the touring
to come through. I suppose they're one of the last to go through on the final lap,
weren't they? So they're probably running a lot of the line. So there's a rebel. So that's an M4 GT4.
So that's very close to the road going car. Really? Just a cage in a wing.
Yeah, it's way less modified than a GT4. Oh, a little bit.
Oh, what's he going in there? Oh, these must be the, why is he going that way?
Maybe they're the podium finishes. I could be here. I'm guessing.
Is the, is the worst BMW coming to you now? Yes.
Amazing.
I bet there's some beers drunk this evening in all of these teams. Yeah,
if they can stay awake long enough. Yeah. I know that feeling, mind you. Yes.
It's just amazing. So touring can't be far behind. No, it was a,
oh yeah, let's get in there. We'll get Pat in there. We'll get the camera guy in there. Look at that.
Oh, that's one of those beautiful 190s. That is up there. Cool, aren't they? Oh, in fact,
the green one behind it. They do a road going version of that. That looks very, very similar
in terms of the body shape. Absolutely stunning. Wicked, aren't they?
And rapid as well. Like not far, full GZ3 pace. Yeah. Come on, G81. Where are you?
This is your day, right? Happiest, happiest M3 touring owner in the world. Mr. Joe Achilles. Oh, yeah.
Moving on. Oh, the other M people. Sorry.
Yeah. Yeah, not those M people joke ever. Sorry. There's Elias.
Elias. Elias. Legend. Mr. Red Bull drip brother.
There it is. Flash this lights. Come on. Yeah, baby.
Yeah. Look at that legend.
Absolute legend.
It just looks fantastic. Oh my goodness. That looks so, so good. The April falls,
the car that was an April falls a year ago. Yeah. It's now fifth. Absolutely. The N24.
Absolutely. Unreal. There you go. Brilliant. Should we raise a glass?
We should raise a glass. Two M3 touring racing cars. Yes. I think there should be more of them.
I think we should modify mine into one of those and enter it next year. Okay. Yeah.
Who's going to drive? Because I wouldn't drive this. I think we'll drive. We just got to get James
to approve it. And on that note, cheers, everyone. Cheers.
About this episode
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.
