Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie

The Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie (NLS) is an organisation of motorsport clubs of which each hosts one event of a nine-race series held on the Nürburgring Nordschleife.

Participants of NLS races range from amateurs in small road legal cars with rollcages and harnesses to professional factory teams racing Group GT3 cars. The NLS series is closely associated with the Nürburgring 24 Hours, as it has similar rules (mostly), and mainly the same participants. In the calendar, several weeks around the 24h date in May/June are taken off to allow teams to prepare for the 24h, and to fix their cars afterwards. However, the 24h is no longer a part of the championship.

The championship is known for its large quantity of cars as well as its variety, with an average of 113 cars starting per race in 2023.

As of December 2023, future of the championship is unclear, with the series' current right holders involved in a legal battle with Nürburgring owners over race dates for 2024, and plans for a rival Nürburgring-based series currently under way.

Name
The series was formerly known as VLN (German: Veranstaltergemeinschaft Langstreckenpokal Nürburgring, Association of Nürburgring Endurance Cup Organisers) until 2020. The series was named "BFGoodrich Langstreckenmeisterschaft (BFGLM)" from 2001 to 2009.

History
The VLN was founded in 1977 by several motorsport clubs, which are members of ADAC or Deutscher Motorsport Verband (DMV), in order to join forces. Previously, each club had run its own touring car racing event on the Nürburgring, lasting for 3.5 to 6 hours, with about 150 cars and 400 drivers taking part. The rules were unified and the races were made part of a series.

The winners of the series were awarded a Cup (German Pokal), sponsored by Valvoline and later Veedol lubrication products. Due to this, both organisation and races were simply informally called "Veedol-Cup" for many years. Since the change of sponsorship and the official recognition by Deutscher Motor Sport Bund (DMSB) as the German endurance championship (German Meisterschaft) in 2001, the former Veedol Langstreckenpokal Nürburgring was the BFGoodrich Langstreckenmeisterschaft Nürburgring. The championship was renamed the NLS in 2020, however the name of the VLN organisation stays the same.

Apart from the 24 Hours, the Rundstrecken Challenge Nürburgring (RCN/CHC) and GLP are related smaller events dedicated to non-professionals.

Races
Each NLS race is held as a "one-day event" on Saturdays only, in order to limit costs. The mandatory drivers briefing is at 07:30, qualifying is from 08:30 to 10:00. Following a warm-up lap behind safety cars, the first of three groups starts the race at 12:00, followed by the other two a few minutes later, in time before the fastest cars complete their first lap in just over 8 minutes. After parc fermé is opened and the winners are honoured, the teams can travel home on race day. At some events, the schedule also accommodates additional sprint races of visiting other series, mainly classic cars and youngtimers.

The "Nürburgring 6 Hours" is considered the season highlight – in 1998, even Sir Jack Brabham took part, at age 72. Here, 2 to 4 drivers per cars are entered, while in all others races, a single driver can drive all alone for 4 hours, or up to 3 can form a team. There are two other standout races – the NLS-6 "Barbarossapreis", in which Michael Schumacher's success with Scuderia Ferrari in Formula One is honoured with all podium placegetters receiving red wigs; and the NLS-9 "Münsterlandpokal" or "Schinkenrennen" (ham race), where large pieces of ham from the Münsterland area are presented to class winners.

Most of the fans watch the race on the Nordschleife. To get to the favourite viewing points it is often necessary to take a walk. Several sections, including "Adenauer Forst", "Karussell", and "Wippermann", are up to a kilometre away from the nearest main road. Easy to reach and always well attended are sections such as "Breidscheid", "Brünnchen", and "Pflanzgarten". Around most of the Nordschleife no entrance fee is raised. A ticket for the price of €20 is needed for access to the paddock and grid walk, the grandstands on the Grand Prix circuit of the Nürburgring, and two spectator areas at the Nordschleife.

Car classes
A variety of cars compete at the same time during each race. In the 2023 season, cars in 22 classes competed in at least one race. Most of them can be classified in the following groups: A large portion of the field is made of TCR and Cup classes (BMW M240i, BMW M2 CS, Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport) that do not fit in specific groups.
 * The VLN production cars group is intended to allow relatively low cost racing with near-series cars. It consists of several classes of normally-aspirated cars (V3 to V6), several classes of turbo-charged cars (VT1 to VT3, with separate classes for front-wheel drive cars), plus one class for hybrids (VT Hybrid) and one class for electric cars (VT Elektro).
 * The 24h-Special group consists of pure race cars that may compete in other race series. It consists of the classes SP1 to SP8 differentiated by engine displacement with an optional suffix T for turbo charged engines, the SP9 class for FIA GT3 cars, the SP10 class for SRO GT4 cars, plus the SP-Pro class for prototype racecars over 3000cc, SP-X for "special vehicles" and AT (-G) for vehicles using alternative fuel sources.
 * The H (historic) group consists of cars made in 2008 and before. It consists of the classes H2 (up to 1999cc) and H4 (2000 to 6250cc).

Safety
Due to the length of the track and championship's format, the NLS has unusual safety procedures compared to other modern professional racing series. Safety cars are not used, double yellow flags indicate a local speed limit of 120 km/h, and code 60 flags, used locally for conditions warranting a safety car on shorter tracks, limit the speed to 60 km/h. It is common for course cars and vehicle recovery trucks to travel around the course under local double yellow flags.

Closing speeds between the fastest and slowest car classes is a common concern, as the track has many blind crests and corners.

Four drivers have died in accidents in the NLS, Wolfgang Offermann in 1986, Wolfgang Scholz in 1998, Carola Biehler in 2000 and Leo Löwenstein in 2010. Two drivers have died of heart attacks at the wheel, Stefan Eickelmann in 1998 and two times drivers champion Wolf Silvester in 2013. One marshal and one spectator have died after being hit by a car in 1977 and 2015 respectively.

Championship standings and trophies
The NLS has the particularity of awarding its main championship, the drivers championship, based on group positions rather than overall positions. This means that championship contenders very often do not contend for overall wins or podiums, and do not race directly against each other. As of 2023, the last four drivers championships were won by entries in the slower production cars group, while drivers piloting entry level hatchbacks such as the Renault Clio, Opel Corsa or Suzuki Swift have won the championship in the past.

There is however an overall teams' championship, named NLS Speed-Trophy, based on overall results only, meaning that it is contested by the faster SP9 (GT3), or Cup 2 (Porsche 992 GT3) classes. Other trophies such as the Junior or Ladies trophy follow the same format as the drivers championship, while each class has its own individual drivers and teams championship.

Member organisations

 * ADAC-Westfalen e.V.
 * Renngemeinschaft Düren e.V. DMV
 * AC Altkreis Schwelm e.V. im ADAC
 * MSC Adenau e.V. im ADAC
 * Dortmunder MC e.V. im ADAC
 * Rheydter Club für Motorsport e.V. DMV
 * MSC Ruhr-Blitz Bochum e.V. im ADAC
 * MSC Sinzig e.V. im ADAC
 * AC Monheim e.V. DMV
 * MSC Münster e.V. DMV

Most overall race victories
''Last updated 8 October 2023, listing drivers with 10+ victories only. ''

Most group victories
''Last updated 8 October 2023, listing top 10 drivers and maunfacturers only. ''

Most class victories
''Last updated 8 October 2023, listing top 10 drivers and maunfacturers only. ''