The ADAC Ravenol 24H Nürburgring is among the strangest endurance sports car races in the world with multi-class action on the longest and twistiest race course anywhere. Part of what makes this race so exciting is the 141-car deep entry list, and the good liveries. Most of the world’s eyes will be glued to the massively impressive SP9 category, which is effectively current FIA GT3-spec machinery flying around the track at breakneck speeds. These are the same level of factory-supported racers that will be entered at the 24 Hours of Le Mans just a few days prior, 27 of the best of the best from Porsche, Mercedes, Audi, Lamborghini, Ferrari, Aston Martin and Ford. But what about the oddball teams with interesting race car choices? Let’s talk about a few of those for a change.
For an entire day, twice around the 12-hour clock, these teams will be forced to negotiate not only with managing traffic ahead of them and passing their in-class competition, but they’ll need to put up with being passed every few minutes by cars with closing speeds deep in the double digits. One simple misstep or poorly judged pass in this race could theoretically see a Ferrari 296 GT3 embedded in the back seat of a Dacia Logan.
The SP 3Ts
For decades the fan favorite at the N-ring 24 was Olaf Beckmann’s unique “foxtail” Opel Manta. Unfortunately the Manta suffered a battery fire in 2022, and the mantle of unsung hero has been passed on to the Ollis Garage Racing Dacia Logan (above). Racing in the sort of catch-all SP 3T class, the Logan will face competition from much faster BMW M2s and Hyundai Elantra Ns, as well as a couple other oddballs we’ll discuss in a second. The car will be driven by Oliver Kriese, Gregor Starck, and Martin Kaffka, Germans the lot of them. In 2024 the car finished in 104th position just 16 laps down from the winning Audi R8 in a fog-shortened 7 hours and 24 minutes race.
24h-rennen.de
Another fun SP 3T class car is the White Angel Racing Volkswagen Beetle “RSR” of Bernd Albrecht, Carsten Knechtges, Sebastian Asch, and Oliver Bliss. The White Angel team used to run a Dodge Viper Competition Coupe in the 24-hour event, but the team was forced to find another machine after a few years of running the Viper when parts supplies started to dry up. So they decided to build a one-off race car instead, plugging a TCR-spec 2-liter turbocharged engine with 370 horsepower into an old Beetle Cup Car with some in-house developed aerodynamic aids. White Angel came second in the SP 3T class last year.
Mini
In 2024 the Bulldog Racing Team triumphed over the SP 3T class, racing what Mini calls a “near-production” John Cooper Works Pro. It’s not immediately obvious to what level the Mini is prepared, but the company says Bulldog Racing retained the 2.0-liter turbocharged engine, which makes 227 hp and 280 lb-ft of torque in stock form. The car doesn’t seem to have much in the way of aerodynamic aid, either. They must have been absolutely wheeling this thing.
A couple more
Ravenol Motorsport is entering not just one, but two 30-year-old BMW E36-generation “Compact” 318ti models in the SP3 category for naturally aspirated race cars. The team will automatically earn a double podium as they are the only two cars in the class, probably what will be the slowest class on the track. Apparently on non-24 hour weekends these cars race in the regional 318ti Cup and do quite well there. In 2024 the team entered a single 318ti and won the category by finishing the race and being the only car in the class, 104th of 105 classified cars. We love an underdog.
Those are a few of our favorites. Here’s the full entry list. Who will you be cheering for?
