24 h - Nürburgring Nordschleife

[Cap'n Jack]

This will be good to know for us Aussies!

"AUSSIE DRIVERS STRONG IN NURBURGRING “PRACTICE RACE” FOR BATHURST 24-HOUR

AUSTRALIAN drivers have performed strongly in one of the world’s biggest endurance motor races, the Nurburgring 24 hours in Germany – and gained valuable experience for November’s Bathurst 24-Hour at Mount Panorama.

Seven cars among 220 in the annual event, which finished early today Australian time, carried a total of 13 Australian drivers, most of whom race at home in the PROCAR Champ Series or Bathurst 24-Hour.

The highest-placed was Wayne Moore, who finished 36th outright and second in class with three German teammates in a diesel-engined Volkswagen Bora after qualifying 123rd.

The result was one of the best yet for Moore, a Nurburgring regular whose attempt at the 2003 Bathurst 24-Hour ended prematurely when a teammate crashed their BMW.

A two-car team of Mitsubishi Mirage RS hatchbacks shipped from Australia by class stalwart Mal Rose achieved a giant-killing result.

The Mirage drivers, Rose, Anthony Robson, Peter Leemhuis, Kevin Burton, Tony Alford and Australian Production Car Championship regular Adam Beechey, brought home one of their little 1.6 litre cars in 70th outright and second in class after starting in 205th position.

The second car, which had been qualified in 199th spot, crossed the finish line in 140th place.

Last year, Alford and Leemhuis finished 22nd at Bathurst in one of the mighty Mirages.

Australians Peter Boylan, Geoff Morgan and Peter Hansen teamed with German driver Frank Burgmann in a BMW 320i. They qualified an impressive 71st, but battled mechanical problems during the race to finish 144th.

Boylan, a leading runner in the Australian GT Performance Championship and interim promoter of the PROCAR Champ Series, spent part of his visit to the Nurburgring contacting potential entrants for the Bathurst 24-Hour on 19-21 November.

“Bathurst has modelled itself on the diverse classes and fun atmosphere of the Nurburgring event,” Boylan said.

“Our race is well known over there now and some of the European drivers – such as the Alzen brothers who took pole position at Nurburgring – have already been to Mount Panorama.

“There was plenty of interest and I’m hopeful we have succeeded in attracting some drivers or teams.”

V8 BRutes Series driver Denis Cribben, another Nurburgring regular, had a disappointing weekend.

His German-run BMW 323i qualified 137th but completed only 37 laps before retiring.

Cribben, Boylan and Beechey will be back behind the wheel next weekend in round four of the PROCAR Champ Series at Winton Motor Raceway, Victoria.

The Nurburgring 24-hour was won by Dirk and Jorg Muller, Pedro Lamy and Hans-Joachim Stuck, who covered 143 laps of the 24 kilometre circuit in a factory BMW M3 GTR coupe.

RESULTS – Australians in Nurburgring 24-hour (12-13 June)
36th outright/2nd in class, 119 laps – Wayne Moore, Volkswagen Bora Diesel (qualified 123rd outright/6th in class)
62nd/7th, 115 laps – Lynden Reithmuller, Honda Integra Type R (qualified 99th/15th)
70th/2nd, 113 laps – Mal Rose, Anthony Robson, Peter Leemhuis, Kevin Burton, Mitsubishi Mirage RS (qualified 205th/10th)
140th/8th, 95 laps – Mal Rose, Peter Leemhuis, Anthony Alford, Adam Beechey, Mitsubishi Mirage RS (qualified 199th/9th)
144th/26th, 91 laps – Peter Boylan, Geoff Morgan, Peter Hansen, BMW 320i (qualified 71st/7th)
145th/27th, 89 laps – Ian Green, Opel Astra (qualified 218th/40th)
DNF/DNF, 37 laps – Denis Cribben, BMW 323i (qualified 137th/10th) "

 

[Party for GT4]

Sex pistols suck! The Clash rules! Yeah!

But what really suprises me is the VW Bora Diesel in 36th overall! Who said you couldn't race diesels?

 

[toler]

a bmw 320d has won this race in 2000 actually

 

[StuRatty]

HI all,

Happened across this thread and can't resist posting.

I was at the Ring this year as part of the crew for cars 152 and 153 (Mal Rose N Peter Leemhuis Mirage RS cars) making a documentary about their exploits. Had an offer to pedal but don't have a FIA Int. C5 licence. Maybe next year!
Actually, I'll take a lot of the credit for telling Mal about the Ring and getting him there in the first place.

What a track! Although the drivers were all very experienced in Australia (V8 Supercar, Targa, etc..) none had been to a Euro track before. Can you imagine how hard it is to learn a 185-bend track with less than half-a-dozen practice laps? Answer: you can't - really. Nonetheless, the results were good. The little Mirages are giant-killers. We started (unsurprisingly) near the back, but finished 2nd and 8th in class, with a best of 70th outright. Plenty of little spills on the way, but the little Mitsu Mirages are unburstable.

Imagine if you will - 5th gear downhill sweepers with blind exits, camber-change, unknown track conditions around the bend, at over 200kph, in the dark, in the wet, complete with mist/fog, no street-lighting. While being passed by the Alzen 996TT 700+hp Porsche and 219 other loonies who know the track and you don't. Let's just say that a 2-hour stint is challenging!

By the way - somebody mentioned the VW diesels. I had a good chat with Wayne Moore (VW Bora 1.9 TDi) who had done 11 x Nurburgring 24h. I can confirm his little diesel does 255kph on the straight, and over 240kph at 5 places on the circuit. How good is that?! Our little 1.6 Mirages manage 240kph on the 3km long straight (which is slightly uphill). Cars just sit at 7100rpm in 5th, but can't push through the air to redline - which is 8200rpm.

Anyway - I shot 20 hours of footage and 10 hours of in-car. Now rough-edited to 3.5 hours and a 30 minute highlights. Hopefully it will eventually go to free-to-air TV in Australia (and on-sold). Sorry - no downloadable highlights yet. But there are plenty of great (faster) videos on www.nurburgring.de site...

Thanks for tolerating the long post.

Sturatty
84 928S
98 VTR1000 Firestorm