Here is another highlights package of the 2008 Nürburgring 24 hour race, including a brief interview with Carlos Sainz.

Enjoy!

I hope you enjoy looking at this old Nürburgring map. The dark line is the Nordschleife (North Loop), note the Steilstrecke section (above the Karussel) which was used for steep gradient tests. The lighter circuit below is the 7.7 kilometre Südschleife (South Loop) which was lost when the Grand Prix track was redeveloped in the 1980s. Read more below to see a representation of the how the GP track affected the Südschleife. For a brief history, read this website. A more detailed historical account of the Südschleife can be found here.

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This is very cool! Porsche have collected data from countless hours of Nürburgring Nordschleife testing to produce the virtual engine simulator. The telemetry gathered enables the simulator to not only recreate the acceleration and engine braking from a lap at the Ring, but also the G-forces as well. This machine was used in the development of the new dry sump engines in the recently launched 2009 911 range.

Source: autoblog via Inside Line (Thanks to to Lee for the tip.)

Interestingly Juechter’s blog states, “despite posting one of the fastest times ever run by a production car, Nürburgring lap times were not an over-riding priority in the development of the ZR1. The truth is, if the only priority was speed at the ring, the car would not be very pleasant to drive on American roads. The ZR1 is an incredibly capable track machine, but unlike most ultra-high performance cars, it is very easy to live with on a daily basis.”

There should be some video of this lap on the next within the next week or so. In the meantime check out the short clip from the Aremberg corner on bridgetogantry.com.

Source: bridgetogantry.com

Continuing the theme of the Nürburgring 24 hour race, here is some footage of the MINI CHALLENGE support category from the 2007 event. Split into four parts the in-car setup has been taken from the car of Carlo Bermes, racing for the HBPO racing team. This first clip takes you from the start on the Grand Prix track to the approach to Hohe Acht, just after the Karussel. The racing is tight, clean and a delight to watch.

Make sure you check out the three extra clips below, which continue on where the one above left off. Trying to overtake down the Döttinger Hohe straight when you have three cars abreast in front of you is pretty interesting, that’s for sure. Towards the end the traffic clears up but then the driver is starting to fight tyres which seem to be going off. That’d keep you on your toes!

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With thanks to bridgetogantry.com here is a short clip of the new Honda NSX in testing at the Nürburgring Nordschleife. You can see the car driving through the Brünnchen complex, doesn’t sound too bad either.

RSR describes the Clio accordingly, “2008 model Clio Sport is characterised by it’s eagerness to go around corners. Brembo brakes and solid suspension means this little giant-slayer doesn’t just fly down the straights, it carves the corners too”.

Pricing starts at €350.

Thanks to Peter for the tip.

This is the second and final image gallery of the Volkswagen Scirocco GT24s as seen at the 2008 Nürburgring 24 hour race.

See below for quotes from the drivers, as well as Volkswagen’s press release, and, of course, more images. Remember to click on each image for a 2000px super image.

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Over the next few days I’ll be posting up some images from the recent 2008 Nürburgring 24 hour race. Starting with the agressive looking Volkswagen Scirocco GT24s. The Sciroccos, running 2.0 TFSI engines and six-speed DSG transmissions achieved a 1-2 class victory with Hans-Joachim Stuck’s #118 car claiming the bragging rights among the Volkswagen team. Their car had a fastest lap of 9:30.797 over the full course, while Carlos Sainz’s #117 car came in second, although, they did nab the fastest lap time of all the Sciroccos, by the narrowest of margins, 9:30.394. The third car, #116, came home fifth in class with a best lap of 9:38.283.

See below for more images and you can click on each one for a 2000px super image.

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A few days ago I received an email from German motor racing fan Obi passing on some links to in-car footage of the Tischner Motorsports BMW M3 competing at this year’s Nürburgring 24 hour race. You should spend some time at ring-emotionen.de website as there is plenty of footage there available for download, including the clip above.

Turns out Obi is quite a fan of the Australian crews racing at the Ring, especially Mal Rose and his V8 Supercar. Obi started following Mal Rose back in 2004 when he first took a two car Mitsubishi Mirage RS team to the Ring (did you spot the Mirage on the featured clip above?). Ever since, Obi has followed the fortunes of the Aussies and is now a real fan. So much so, he even has an autographed front fender from one of Mal’s Commodores hanging in his lounge room. Go Aussie! After you’ve watched the clip above, check out Obi’s camp site pic below from this year’s 24 hour race. Their set up was just before the famous Karussell corner.

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The Australian crewed Mitsubishi Mirages, that have raced at the Nürburgring 24 hour race since 2004, may appear humble enough, but their impact on Australians competing at the ‘Green Hell’ has been extraordinarily profound. This year, in their fifth successive appearance, the 156 Mirage set a new lap record for the team. The 156 car—driven by Layton Crambrook, Anthony Robson and Barrie Nesbitt—completed 125 laps, and it was on the car’s 78th lap, with Crambrook at the wheel, that the record time of 10:55.519 was set. The 155 car—driven by Malcolm Niall, Brett Niall, Clint Harvey and Mark Pilatti—completed 115 laps, with a best time of 11:10.936.

The Mirages are 1998 models that were originally raced in a one make series in Japan before being imported to Australia for racing in the Mirage Cup Series back in 1999. They weigh in at around 950kg and have 1.6 litre four cylinder engines. Both cars have around 35,000kms racing behind them. All told the cars have competed at the Bathurst 24 hour (2002, 2003—podium positions in class), Dubai 24 hour (2006, 2007—winning class), Malaysian 12 hour (2005-2007) and, of course, the Nürburgring 24 hour (2004-2008—including three class podiums). That’s a supreme effort of nine completed 24 hour enduros and three completed 12 hour races—tough little buggers aren’t they!

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One of the first articles featured on AUSringers was about Aston Martin’s V8 Vantage N400, so it only seemed right to post up this clip from UK’s Car magazine which I just stumbled across on YouTube. Sadly, it doesn’t feature the N400 at the Nürburgring Nordshcleife, which is a bit of a disappointment. But then, who could possibly get tired of looking at a Vantage? I know I couldn’t.

Well, this is the third clip I’ve posted showing the Nissan GT-R’s 7:29 Nürburgring Nordschleife lap, but it is definitely the best. This one, spotted on GTRblog.com, features audio that is much better and the small Nordschleife circuit layout out super imposed on the lower left of screen always makes such footage a favourite. There’s also some, no doubt, interesting banter at the start, but unless you can speak Japanese you’ll just have to agree with me I guess.

Journailsts from the Drivers Republic website Richard Meaden and Jethro Bovingdon competed in the 2008 Nürburgring 24 hour race last month. Their report is now online (note, clicking on this link will resize your browser window).

It is well worth putting ten or so minutes aside to read of their experiences, Meaden sharing the Ulrich Bez Aston Martin Vantage and Bovingdon in a Fiat 500! Bovingdon was popping his Nürburgring 24 hour cherry and started the race with the expected nerves, “Text messages pinging into my phone aren’t the usual ‘have fun’ or ‘go for it’, but rather ‘be careful’ and ‘have a safe one’. I’ve sent a couple myself to friends also in the race and you can’t help but write something that sounds slightly spooky in the cold light of day.”

Meaden, too, had his reservations, especially about racing at night, “the Nürburgring is so dark it reawakens long dormant childhood fears. Problem is, crying for your mum won’t help in the slightest as you ricochet down Fuchsröhre, flat in sixth gear. For much of the lap it’s too shadowy to see anything but taillights in the distance, headlights in the rear-view mirror and the odd pissed German felling a pine tree with a burnt wurst and a bottle of Bitburger.”

Readers of EVO magazine will be familiar with these guys. They’re very good and I recommend you take the time to read their contrasting tales.

Thanks to Chris for the tip.