Longest race and biggest entry in probably the biggest motorsport weekend of the year. On the longest track, with the craziest weather possible. Welcome to the Nordschleife, where you can go from this
to this
in a matter of minutes.
Why?
Possibly the ultimate challenge for a racing driver: navigating both the most treacherous circuit still in use worldwide, and a grid of 160 cars which ends up being a more colourful version of the Paris Peripherique/M25/whatever busy ring road you can think of. And the weather. And nightfall. And the traffic. And weather. And the circuit again.
What should I look out for?
1. Battle at the front of the field. Dozens of GT3 cars, plus the odd wacky special (the Glickenhaus SCG003); the pride of German GT racing dominates the entry list at the front. Basically, if you have a GT3 car, you have a shot at the win.
2. The variety. Everything from full-blooded GT3 cars to small Renault Clios, through race-prepped TTs, GT86s, BMWs of all shapes and sizes, and an Opel Manta with a flapping foxtail tied to its aerial.
3. Lap and race length. With the full Nordschleife + a modified GP track in use, fastest qualifying lap times are in the 8:10-8:20 area and the fastest race lap in recent years has often been under 8:30. This translates in a race length record of only 159 laps, stints of only 7-9 laps between fuel stops, and a total recalibration of expectations compared to the other big 24h races; Daytona leading lap times are around 1:40, and even at Le Mans the front of the field is usually in the 3:20-3:30 bracket.
4. Start groups. With 160 cars in the field, they are split based on class and qualifying times into 3 starting groups which set off under different pace cars and start their race 3 minutes apart. Due to a timing quirk, they all run together on the timing screen though; the smaller cars get a 3- and 6-minute credit against their race times, so at the end you might see plenty of classified runners with a race time under 24h. Not to worry, they are all from the second/third starting groups.
5. Drama. Almost every year, and in certain years on the last lap too.
6. Weather. See above.
What's with all the classes?
With the amount of cars on the track and the variety of cars
SP9 - FIA GT3 cars. SP9-LG - subclass for GT3 cars homologated before 2015.
SP10 - FIA GT4
SP3-8 - N/A race-prepped specials subclassed by engine capacity from 1.5 to 6.2 liters
SP3T, SP4T, SP8T - turbocharged race-prepped specials with engine capacity up to 4 liters
SP-X - race cars that do not fit in any of those categories (Glickenhaus, any potential GTE entries, previously the Lexus LFA)
AT - alternatively-fuelled cars (generally natural gas or bioethanol)
D1T, D3T - diesel engines
V2-V6 - lightly-modified production cars with engine capacity from 1.5 to 4 liters
RESOURCES
Official website: http://www.24h-rennen.de/en/
Entry list: http://24hrennenasse...-12-05-2017.pdf
Official streaming: via http://www.radiolemans.com and/or the official website (audio + video in English or German)
Live timing: https://livetiming.t...#screen-results
SCHEDULE (All times CET)
http://www.24h-renne...dule-race-2016/
Main points from schedule:
Quali 1 - Thursday 20:05-23:30
Quali 2 - Friday 9:30-11:30
Top 30 shootout - Friday 19:50-20:30
Warmup lap starts Saturday 15:10
Race - Saturday 15:30 -> Sunday 15:30
Also, there's some WTCC/ETCC racing for 3 laps at a time, but we shall discuss those at another time, as they charge lots of money for their official streams unlike the N24 itself. 
Free practice starts in about 3 hours.
No Nurburgring 24h is complete without that car.
