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One lap stretches over 25.4 kilometres. It consists of the 20.8 km-long Nordschleife and a large part of the 5.1 km-long Grand Prix circuit.

The Nürburgring’s owner regularly opens the gates to the Grand Prix and Nordschleife circuits for hobbyist drivers who don’t have any specialist racing experience. However, the 24-hour race is not open to motorsport amateurs.

To participate in racing events on the Nürburgring Nordschleife, a so-called ‘Nordschleife license’ (officially: DMSB Permit Nordschleife) is required. This is primarily for safety reasons, as it ensures that drivers have a basic level of Nordschleife experience and knowledge of the circuit’s rules. The easiest way to get a DMSB Permit Nordscheife is through one of the specially offered training courses.

The permit is available in three levels, from A to C. For the 24-hour race, a permit of level B or above is required. However, this is only sufficient for the smaller performance classes, with an A permit needed for the higher-powered vehicle categories. To get an A permit, drivers must have competed in two VLN Endurance Championship races (ADAC 24h qualifying races over six hours also count) at the Nürburgring.

Holders of an international C-licence can obtain a DMSB Permit Nordschleife comparatively easily via a Nordschleife driver training course or by proving participation in at least one RCN (Rundstrecken Challenge Nürburgring) series race.

Simple question, difficult answer: the combination of Nordschleife and Grand Prix track offers several sections that will set a driver’s heartbeat racing. At the forefront are the following sections, which have already left many over-ambitious competitors bitterly punished.

Schwedenkreuz: Drivers enter at high speed from a slight left turn, then braking hard down to a medium right turn. With many bumps and faults, it is extremely dangerous in variable weather conditions.

Exit Fuchsröhre: This is a very fast corner. From a dip it goes onwards into a slight left bend, which lies directly at the top of a crest. If you steer too hard at the wrong moment, you’ll quickly have to contend with an extremely light tail.

Adenauer Forst: A comparatively slow section, but the track turns suddenly, almost surprisingly, hard to the left, and immediately afterwards changes to a 90-degree right again. Anyone who is surprised by bad grip conditions here will at best drive straight across the green triangle between the two corners. In worse cases, the crash barriers almost directly adjacent to the track are waiting to greet you.

Brünnchen: The sticking point here is the medium-fast right. At first it looks as if it's on a slightly incline. But towards the exit of the curve, it falls off to the outside and "closes" a little. If you allow yourself to drift too far out, or accelerate too early, you’ll end up in a small but deep (and highly frequented) gravel trap – or in the crash barriers if that isn’t enough to stop you.

Caracciola Karussel: The carousel is legendary – a type of corner with elevation this uneven cannot be experienced anywhere else. Here man and machine are not only shaken vigorously: anyone who misjudges the speed at the entrance to the corner will be literally ejected as a result of the enormous centrifugal forces and quickly find themselves in the crash barriers above the road.

Schwalbenschwanz: From a fast right bend and a fluid left, drivers go straight into another left bend, which is not quite as fluid. The uneven concrete surface is particularly treacherous, which has given this section of the track the nickname "small carousel".

The three BMW M works drivers are also a notable fact when it comes to the Nürburgring. As drivers for the BMW Junior Team, the three saw a dream come true: in 2021, they became the youngest overall winners of all time, securing their first overall victory on the Nordschleife in a BMW M6 GT3. In doing so, they prevailed against strong competition and went down in history as the youngest winning team in the Nürburgring endurance races. When they took the podium, Harper, Hesse and Verhagen had an average age of 19.6 years.

Vehicles that have qualified in advance among the top 30 fastest times will receive the coveted blue lights. Especially once night falls, the bright lights signal to the vehicle ahead that a faster car is approaching from behind. Drivers can then react early enough and not hinder the progress of the top vehicles.

At the Hohe Acht section, the track is a good 620 metres above sea level, while at Breidscheid it is only around 320 metres above sea level. The difference in altitude between the highest and lowest point is thus a full 300 metres – completely unique amongst the world’s racetracks. In addition, there are gradients of up to 11 per cent at Fuchsröhre and up to 18 percent between Caracciola-Karussel and Hohe Acht.