Nürburgring 24hr Experiment

During a quiet moment at Race Mode, inspired by the recent Nürburgring 24 Hours, I decided to see just how difficult a race stint around the endurance track really is. To clarify, I already knew it would be difficult — and infinitely more so in real, fast-moving metal rather than on a simulator — but my experiment was more about how I responded to that difficulty over time.

For those unfamiliar, the Nürburgring 24 Hour race takes place across a 25km combination of the Grand Prix circuit and the Nordschleife. It’s a punishing track, featuring a relentless mix of corners, cambers, compressions, and elevation changes, with very little room for error and barriers that often feel uncomfortably close to the racing line.

The 24-hour element makes the challenge even greater. The Nürburgring is difficult enough in daylight, but once the sun goes down it becomes incredibly disorientating. Very little of the circuit is lit — really only the start-finish straight — and the punishment the cars endure over 24 hours means that simply reaching the chequered flag requires enormous teamwork, reliability, and exceptional driving to keep the car both competitive and out of the barriers. Oh, and there are around 160 cars on track, spread across multiple classes with vastly different performance levels.

For my experiment, I chose the Mercedes-AMG GT3 — the older version of the car that won this year’s race — and lined it up against a selection of other GT3 machinery. To better replicate real race conditions, I also included slower GT4 and TCR cars. The race length was set to eight laps, roughly equivalent to a GT3 stint between pit stops.

I started at dusk, meaning the light faded lap by lap. By the eighth lap it wasn’t fully dark, but headlights were becoming increasingly important.

So how did it go?

What I really wanted to find out was whether my concentration and driving ability would deteriorate over the course of the stint. Would the mistakes slowly creep in? I’m by no means an expert around the Nürburgring, but I’ve driven plenty of laps in simulators and a handful in real life, so I know the general layout, the more technical sections, and just how unforgiving the place can be.

Lap 1 – 9:21.223 I deliberately let the other cars pass at the start to give myself traffic to chase, so the lap time wasn’t particularly representative. Still, it was a clean opening lap with no crashes, although I did have to avoid several AI-controlled incidents. I also quickly relearned how difficult overtaking can be on the narrow Nordschleife sections.

Lap 2 – 8:55.586 A sizeable improvement. On medium tyres this may have been down to the tyres coming into their operating window, or perhaps simply me getting more comfortable with the car and its limits. There was also less traffic to navigate.

Lap 3 – 8:50.026 Now I was really pushing. I was braking later into several corners and carrying more confidence through the faster sections. I could already feel how much concentration and physical effort was required to keep finding time.

Lap 4 – 8:48.655 My fastest lap of the stint. I found time on the GP circuit by pushing harder under braking, then gained a little more through Eschbach, Brünnchen, and Eiskurve. When you link that section together properly, it’s incredibly satisfying.

Lap 5 – 8:58.104 This should have been another low 8:48 lap, but I out-braked myself into the Hohenrain chicane and clipped the barrier. In a real car, I’d probably have been limping back to the pits with a damaged front end and a long list of excuses and apologies.

Lap 6 – 8:55.915 A clean lap, but I could feel my concentration starting to slip. Instead of anticipating what was coming next, I was reacting to it. The car wasn’t as settled between corners or under braking, despite still pushing hard.

Lap 7 – 8:53.750 A small trip across the grass through Hatzenbach confirmed it: focus was fading and mistakes were appearing in sections I’d normally drive comfortably. I also arrived at a couple of corners far too quickly and only just managed to keep the Mercedes on the circuit.

Lap 8 – 8:54.103 The final lap. There were still plenty of small mistakes, but honestly, I expected the final lap of the stint to be much worse.

So what did this experiment show me?

As with any form of racing, small mistakes have a compounding effect on lap time, but nowhere is that clearer than at the Nürburgring. The sheer complexity of the track makes sustained concentration incredibly difficult, and although my predicted lap times were often quicker, I rarely delivered them cleanly.

The lap times themselves weren’t especially fast. Part of that was the older-spec car, part was my choice of medium tyres, but most of it came down to the driver. In reality, these times were probably closer to the slower GT4 runners in the 2026 race than the leading GT3 cars.

I’d like to repeat the experiment with a different car and tyre combination that better suits my driving style to see how much impact that has.

The most eye-opening part, though, was realising how much easier my experience still was compared to the real event. The number of cars on track was far lower, and I never had to think about self-preservation, repair bills, or the consequences of a mistake. I was sitting comfortably in a simulator at Race Mode, in controlled conditions, and the only penalty for overdriving the car was a slower lap time.

For the drivers competing in the real race, the pressure — and the achievement — is on an entirely different level. If you would like to experience the thrill of the Nürburgring at a more attainable level on our motion simulators, then book your session at Race Mode.