The consensus is that the Nordschleife of the
Nürburgring in Germany is the most difficult
race track in the world. BMW has won the 24
hours of Nürburgring race 16 times. In fact,
BMW won the event 12 out of 15 times from
1984 to 1998 in machines ranging from the BMW
6 Series Coupe to the BMW M3. Contesting the
31st edition of this endurance classic were
the two BMW M3 GTRs of BMW Motorsport with
more than 450 bhp. The BMW team has Hans
Stuck of Austria, Danish driver John Nielsen
and Boris Said of the United Sates. At the
wheel of the second BMW M3 GTR will be three
Germans: Claudia Hürtgen and the two
(unrelated) BMW works drivers Dirk Müller and
Jörg Müller. This is for the official
cars.
But now, there are countless private teams
who earned international recognition through
their performances at events like this.
Illustrated: a private e46 3-serie, 2005 24
hours.