Nürburgring Classic 24-26 May 2024

Written by Guus Docen

A week before the ADAC 24 hours endurance race at the Nordschleife, the sixth edition of the ADAC Nürburgring Classic was held from 24 to 26 May on the legendary Nordschleife and Grand Prix Track. Despite the initially changeable weather, over 800 participants took part in seven different racing series and numerous special races on Saturday and Sunday in partly bright sunshine! During this weekend the long version of the Grand Prix was used including the AMG Arena, Goodyear corner and the Veedol chicane.

Touring Cars from the Golden Era
In 2022 the race of the touring cars of the golden era was launched as part of the Nürburgring Classic weekend. The high attractiveness of this race series is due to the well-known vehicles from the active years of the touring car racing in Germany from 1984 until 1995. Formerly competing for prominent and well-known racing teams and works teams, the vehicles are now all in collectors' hands and are extensively maintained and "ready to race". Sixty-four cars were competing in two races of which many BMW 3-series and M3s. Both races were won by Yannik Trautwein in a BMW 320i with Kris Nissen in a BMW M3 finishing in second position.
Youngtimer Trophy
Even after 30 years, the fascination and passion for the Youngtimer Trophy is undiminished. This year, almost eighty drivers were competing in two separate fields. Visitors could experience a unique range of motorsports from the 70s and 80s. The fastest vehicles in this trophy include the Group 5 Porsches, which caused a sensation in the German Racing Championship at the time. But also the highly tuned Opel Kadett GT/E and Ford Escort RS1600 are a pleasure to view from the grandstands. The battles in the individual races went down to the last second and in some cases the finish line was only separated by fractions of a second!
Battle of the Dwarfs
In 2013, the club “Battle of the Dwarfs” was founded out of four other race series for small cars: Abarth Coppa Mille, British Car Trophy, NSU TT Trophy and the 1300 Histo Cup. This club currently has about 120 members, 86 of whom are permanently registered for this year’s season. However, guest entrants can also take part in each race. The racing cars that form the basis of the series all have one thing in common, their model year may not be later than 1974. There is also an engine capacity limit of 1300 cc. In the Abarth Coppa Mille, cars such as the Fiat Abarth 1000 TCs, Autobianchi A112 or Fiat 127 with just over a litre of engine capacity start. In the British Car Trophy, the Mini Cooper is the preferred vehicle but there’s also a Hillman Imp! The NSU TT Trophy is for the model 1200 TT. The 1300 Histo-Cup is home to classic touring cars such as the Fiat 128, Simca Rallye or the Simca 1200 S Coupé. This weekend the top three cars were two Mini Coopers (driven by Herbert Wein Jr. and Gregor Nick) and the beautiful Simca 1200 S Coupe driven by Hans März.
Historic Championship '65 and '81
This series brings together GTs from the 50s and 60s in sprint races. GTs, touring and racing sports cars built up to 1981 compete in endurance races in the HC-81. Twenty-six cars started a 30 minutes race for HC-65 cars on Saturday. Oliver Hartmann (Elva MK 8) won this race followed by Alexander Kolb in a Shelby Cobra 289. On Sunday the second HC-65 race was held and the both aformentioned drivers finished in the same order. The HC-81 had their 90-minutes race on Sunday with 28 cars on the grid. Felix Haas in a Lola T210 took victory, second place was for the equippe Luco Sanchez - Michael Funke in a Ford GT40.
Vintage Meeting
An important and very nice issue of this weekend is the vintage meeting of around 100 pre-war cars in the historic paddock of the legendary Nordschleife. This paddock from 1927 is the oldest surviving part of the legendary circuit. There were several Bugattis, Bentleys, Alfa Romeos, Jaguars, Lagondas, Rileys, Wolseleys and MGs but also two Mercedes SSKs, three BMW 328s, an Allard and a Talbot Lago. The vehicles were not only driving on the Grand Prix circuit, their drivers could also enjoy the Nordschleife.
BOSS GP
The abbreviation BOSS stands for Big Open Single Seaters. The top classes from the international single-seater categories past and present will be competing in the races. The F1 class is the top class in which Formula 1 cars from the 1996 season onwards are eligible to compete. The OPEN class is home to IndyCars, ChampCars, prototype single-seaters. Fourteen of these fast and noisy single-seaters were competing at the Grand Prix circuit. German Ulf Ehninger driving a F1 Benetton B197 and Brazilian Antonio Pizzonia in a Dallara World Series V8 scored maximum points for the championship twice.
Historic Monoposto Racing
The Historic Monoposto Racing Foundation was founded in 1996 with the aim of keeping the formula cars of the 60s and 70s in racing. The foundation wants to offer customers great races on outstanding tracks with a wonderful atmosphere. For many racing drivers the next step after a successful karting career was very often Formula Vee, Formula Ford 1600, Formula Ford 2000 or Formula 3. Many of these historically significant cars have survived and their owners are keen to drive them again. Thirty-six monoposto’s were racing in two heats during this weekend. Both heats were won by Frank Färber in a 1986 Reynard SF86.
During this 3-day event the approximately 22,000 visitors were offered close-up motorsport with a unique range of vehicles. A huge firework’s display on Saturday evening and an illuminated Ferris wheel in the paddock attracted the visitors just one week before the 24-hour ADAC race. Pictures by Guus Docen