► N24 produced a thriller for 2025
► We go behind the scenes with Falken
► What makes people come back to the Nurburgring
‘Clean and fast,’ answers Dorian Boccolacci when we ask what it takes to win the N24. Driving the #44 911 GT3 R car for the first time at the Nürburgring, he’s enthusiastic about the race and raring to go. He’s due to take the reins of the Porsche at 8pm later that day, and forms a fresh-faced driver line up. In the sister #33 car, Julien Andlauer, Nico Menzel, Sven Müller, and Alessio Picariello bring speed and experience – and go into the race with a good chance of winning.
Around an hour after Boccolacci takes the wheel later that day, #33 is out with huge damage. It hit a stranded 911, tipped into a spin moments before. The corner was blind, and there was nothing Andlauer could do to avoid it. With the leading Manthey Porsche well within range, it was running clean and fast when disaster struck.
Boccolacci happened to be driving the next day when the surviving Falken’s powertrain gave way. And the Manthey? Despite leading most of the race, a split-second error and tangle with a slower car meant a 100 second penalty and demotion to second place. Instead, first spot fell to the Rowe BMW that was both anonymous and ominous the entire race.
Such is life at the Green Hell, and the reason why racing here is both so intoxicating and punishing.
Having shortsightedly agreed to both Le Mans and the Nürburgring races back-to-back this year, it’s hard not to compare the two. On a graph of atmosphere and performance, Le Mans is at one end, with the best drivers and the best technology. On the other side is the N24, with amateur drivers mixed with Le Mans racers, driving everything from a Dacia Logan to a GT3 car. N24 then, is maximum vibes with less sophisticated tech, mixed with the unpredictability a huge track and 140-strong field gets you.
Peter Dumbreck, ex-Falken and endurance racer describes it in a similar way. ‘Le Mans is the blue ribbon of 24-hour races, but this is like the cult of 24-hour racing because of the way it’s evolved,’ he says. ‘Not long ago you’d look through the results and see cars having won the race that were very basic. Then a full spec GT3 car arrived.’
After that, everything changed performance-wise, but the Nürburgring has kept its two most important ingredients in place; the track and the fans. Just like Le Mans, but on an even larger scale, the Nürburgring feels wild and unpredictable, wiggling through the forest at random. This isn’t a track made for spectating – requiring shuttles, walking boots and good fitness levels to get you to the most popular vantage points.
It’s barely made for driving, too. Look at a map of the track, and it’s a sprawling monster of A-roads stitched together at random. Drive the track – even on a racing sim – and that’s exactly what it feels like. ‘It’s almost like it’s a living being,’ says Dumbreck. ‘It’s evolving all the time. Grip levels, evolving weather – usually.’ He says usually, because this year the weather changes from very hot to *extremely* hot, putting the physical endurance of the drivers to the test as much as their mental fortitude.
The mercury rises to 30-degrees on Sunday, but the fans don’t seem to care. As I drive into the track that morning, they’re still going strong. Buzzing around stalls that sell trinkets and die-cast cars or wheeling used racing tyres to their cars, crowds in bucket hats, shorts and motorsport merchandise are everywhere – and they seem undeterred by the sweltering heat.
Get deeper into the track or around popular corners like Quiddelbach (named after a nearby village) and Hatzenbach and you start to see tents, gazebos, barbecues and scaffolding platforms – busy during the day and a hive of activity during the night. The circuit officials say some 280,000 fans made it to this year’s race and that feels conservative. They line most of the track’s 70-ish corners, partying throughout but well aware of the race’s developments.
‘Just a few years ago you’d even find the fans in in the pit box while the cars were running, and it’s like, “mate, what are you doing?”’ says Dumbreck of the fans. ‘Now every pit box has a security guard and because it’s become such a high level. The [N24] went from being a bog-standard club race, to an international motorsport event, equal, but in a different way, to Le Mans.’
While Le Mans was an incredible spectacle, it didn’t seem to have the same level of drama nor jeopardy of the Green Hell. The race wasn’t particularly close either, with Ferrari going into the race clear favourites and eventually winning it for the third time in as many years. In contrast, the N24 felt stressful, engaging and close – with the top cars within sight of each other, with strengths and weaknesses in different sections of the eight-minute (for top class cars) lap.
‘The race has become about fine margins,’ says Dumbreck of the N24. ‘Whereas before it was, well, “if it’s your time, it’s your time.” Now you can manufacture it a bit more to be your time and to keep your car running and to finish high up.’
Which do I prefer? After around five hours of driving and pondering, a revelation hit me on Le Shuttle: There’s no point in comparing the two – as both are compulsory for motorsport fans. The Nordschleife has the more tribal event it’s the one that really gets to the point of motorsport. Le Mans is the more prestigious of the two, and offers a different experience, and one that’s just as fascinating for its tech and spectacle as its racing.
‘We’re in a heyday of 24-hour racing and in motorsport in general,’ Dumbreck reminds me. ‘Possibly it’s a knock-on effect from Netflix and F1. But then we’ve got WEC with new cool hypercars and all these different manufacturers. Then you’ve got here, with over a quarter of a million people attending. It’s just really cool to be a part of it still.’
Motorsport, and the N24 with it, is approaching a new golden era. With that in mind, Spa 24 is next week, and it’s looking tempting…