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The 6 Hours of Nürburgring, ran from 1953 to 2014 as the Nürburgring 1000 km, was an endurance race for sports cars held on the Nürburgring in Germany. It was organized by the ADAC, while the German Grand Prix is hosted by the AvD.
 | |
| FIA World Endurance Championship | |
|---|---|
| Venue | Nürburgring |
| First race | 1953 |
| First FIA WEC race | 2015 |
| Duration | 6 Hours |
| Previous names | ADAC 1000 km Nürburgring iRacing.com 1000 km Nürburgring |
| Most wins (driver) | Stirling Moss (4) |
| Most wins (team) | SpA Ferrari (7) |
| Most wins (manufacturer) | Porsche (13) |
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History
editOn the traditional 22.810 km long Nordschleife ("Northern Loop") version, the competition took usually 44 laps (1003.64 km, since the addition of the Hohenrain chicane in 1967 1004.74 km) and lasted initially about 8 hours, since 1965 under 7 hours, since 1971 less than 6 hours. While the 1974 event was shortened by 25% in the wake of the oil crisis, 1976 saw a new situation with a divided World Sportscar Championship calendar: the Group 6 sportscars opened their 1976 World Sportscar Championship with a 4 April 1976 race for only 300 km[1] without driver change. The new Group 5 "Special Production Cars" 1976 World Championship for Makes season would visit on 30 May, colliding with the 1976 Monaco Grand Prix, thus Porsche factory drivers Jacky Ickx and Jochen Mass as well as Hans-Joachim Stuck and others were absent from the Int. XXII ADAC-1000-km-Rennen Nürburgring[2] race that was extended by 3 laps to 47, covered 1073.245 km and lasted 6:38 hours. In turn, the "Internationales 6-Stunden-Rennen"[3] in July lasted only 4 hours as part of the European Touring Car Championship.
The inaugural race, which counted towards the 1953 World Sportscar Championship, was won by Alberto Ascari and Giuseppe Farina in a Ferrari 375 MM. The attendance was disappointing, blamed in part on the lack of a serious German entrant with more than only 1500cc. While a Borgward 1500 RS finished third, the new Porsche 550 was absent, as was Mercedes. The successful 300 SL raced only in 1952 as in 1953 Mercedes prepared for the 1954 F1 season which it entered late, in July. Once it became clear that the sportscar derived from the F1 car, the Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR, would not be ready in time for any 1954 World Sportscar Championship event, the 1000km race was cancelled. The 1955 event suffered a similar fate, reduced to 500km for 1500cc in the aftermath of the 1955 Le Mans disaster.[4] It became quite popular in the 1960s and 1970s though, and even more so after Formula One decided not to race at the Nürburgring after the 1976 German GP on safety grounds, having already boycotted in 1970.
The last race on the already shortened Northern Loop in 1983 was won by Jochen Mass and Jacky Ickx in their Rothmans Porsche 956. In that year, due to the ongoing construction work, the track had been shorted to 20.832 km and provisional pits were used. This event saw the fastest ever timed competition lap of the Nordschleife when German driver Stefan Bellof lapped his 956 in 6:11.13 during practice, at an average of over 200 km/h. Bellof also set the race lap record during that race lapping in 6:25.91 in traffic with slower cars, one of them driven by the defending F1 champion.
Since 1984, the 1000 km races were run on the new, much shorter Grand-Prix-Strecke, while the 24 Hours Nürburgring stayed on the legendary long track. In 1991, the 1000 km races were first shortened to 480 km, then discontinued overall due to the demise of the World Sportscar Championship.
In 2000, the 1000 km were resumed, with new competitive cars of BMW and Audi. The race was held as a part of the European Le Mans Series (ELMS), the European version of the American Le Mans Series (ALMS). In a wet race, the unusual front-engined Panoz of Jan Magnussen and David Brabham won, ahead of a BMW V12 LMR, an Audi R8 and the second Panoz.
On September 4, 2005, the 1000 km was held as a part of the Le Mans Endurance Series (LMES).
The 500 km Nürburgring was also similar event for smaller sportscars during the 1960s and 1970s. Current and eternal record of most 1000 km wins belongs to Stirling Moss who won the race in 1956, 1958, 1959, and 1960.
VLN/NLS also runs a 6-hour endurance race, while racing only 4h in other heats. In 2010, for the first time a distance of more than 1000 km was covered by the winning Porsche 911 GT3.[5] In 2010, the winning Porsche 911 GT3 R of the 6h ADAC Ruhr-Pokal-Rennen race was the first[5] to cover more than 1000 km in a 6-hour VLN endurance race for GT3 and touring cars, lapping the 24.369 km long modern version of the Nordschleife 42 times for 1023.498 km in a time of 6:06:56.091. The 2012 winner, a Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3, covered the same distance in a time of only 6:01:29.541,[6] at an average of 169.879 km/h.
As a part of the Oldtimer Festival in 2010 the tradition and name of the renowned ADAC 1000 km of Nürburgring will be continued by the motor sport club DAMC 05. In contrast to former years, the race is organised for older cars and therefore the term “classic” was added to the name.[7][8]
The 2013 race was the first under the Blancpain Endurance Series banner of the Stephane Ratel Organisation.
Winners
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3 Hours of Nürburgring
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- ↑ 1974 Race scheduled for 750 km only.
- ↑ 1981 Race stopped after 17 laps due to fatal accident of Herbert Müller which caused track damage.
- ↑ 1986 Race was stopped due to torrential rain and only ran approximately 600 km.
- 1 2 3 4 5 Time limit of 6 hours reached before 1,000 km distance was completed.
- ↑ Time limit of 7 hours reached before 1,000 km distance was completed.
Gallery
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Le Mans start in 1965
Pit stop during the 1964 race
1965: Mike Parkes in front of Graham Hill
Rolling start in 1969
Starting 1973
Jean-Pierre Jarier, winner 1974 on Matra Simca, together with Jean-Pierre Beltoise
References
edit- ↑ https://www.racingsportscars.com/race/Nurburgring-1976-04-04.html
- ↑ https://www.racingsportscars.com/race/Nurburgring-1976-05-30.html
- ↑ https://www.racingsportscars.com/etcc/race/Nurburgring-1976-07-11.html
- ↑ Posthumus, Cyril (1961). World Sports Car Championship.
- 1 2 "Arnold/Menzel erringen historischen Sieg beim 6h-Rennen" (in German). Archived from the original on 2010-12-01. Retrieved 2010-08-06.
- ↑ "Prestigeträchtiger Sieg für ROWE RACING beim 6h-Rennen" (in German). Archived from the original on 2012-09-19. Retrieved 2012-08-05.
- ↑ "ADAC 1000 km classic" (in German). DAMC 05. Archived from the original on 2012-05-14. Retrieved 2010-04-26.Homepage for the 2010 Oldtimer Festival.
- ↑ "ADAC 1000 km classic" (in German). FHR. Retrieved 2010-04-26.Homepage of the Fahrergemeinschaft Historischer Rennsport.
- ↑ "Official results of the ADAC 1000km classic" (PDF) (in German). DAMC 05. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-09-26. Retrieved 2010-09-18.Homepage DAMC 05.
External links
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- Official Website
- Le Mans Series – 2007 1000 km of Nürburgring
- Story and Photos 1966-1970 (German)
- Story and Photos of 2000 (German)
- Story and Photos of 2004 (German)