The Nurburgring 24-Hour sits amongst the likes of Bathurst, Spa and Le Mans in the pantheon of great endurance races. As an experience though, it surely surpasses them all. The 15.5 mile lap, comprising the F1 circuit and full Nordschleife, means there is space for over 160 entrants - compared to just 60 at Le Mans and a paltry 27 at Bathurst.
These range from factory supported GT3 entries from the likes of BMW and Mercedes-AMG to privateers, arriving at the track in vans, their Renault Clio Cups and Opel Calibras in tow. And they're all on track at once, racing day and night, for 24 hours. It's incredible.
The entertainment is far from confined to the track though. One hour you'll be wandering around the highly accessible paddocks, inquisitively observing the teams as they go about their race prep. The next you'll find yourself deep in the forest, perched by the side of the Nordschleife on an impossibly rickety scaffold, whilst three dozen drunk, sunburnt Germans cheer on the passing cars and thumping Euro-techno echoes around the dense pine trees. There really is nothing else like it.
All of that said, one Pic of the Week did not seem enough to do this year's race justice. So we have four for you. The Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus 003C, chasing down the pack on the approach to Brunnchen; the Bentley Continental GT3 of Team Abt, ploughing on into the night; a Mercedes-AMG GT3 thundering down the pit straight; and, as we were guests of Bentley at the race, a second Conti GT3 taking on Pflanzgarten. A full selection of over 40 of our favourite pics from the race can also be found on the PH Facebook. Enjoy!
