The ADAC Zurich 24-hour race is one of the most spectacular motorsport events of the year. The action is happening on the legendary 21-Kilometer-long Nordschleife track, mated with its Grand Prix Circuit.
So, if competing on the old track for 24 hours wasn’t already enough, the participants are using every meter of asphalt from the German racing facility – which totals around 25 kilometers a lap.
That’s pretty insane, considering the action is happening on what is called “The Green Hell”, one of the most fearsome, gruesome and unforgiving race tracks out there. Needless to say, both driver and machine are pushed to the absolute limit. We know Le Mans is King when it comes to 24-hour racing, with its high-speed configuration, but Nurburgring comes very close.
Since 2006, N24 has become an annual event, with competitors ranging from second-hand standard road cars to DTM, FIA GT and GT2-spec cars. That means there is a lot of eye-candy there to indulge every kind of petrolhead. This year the action is taking place between 14 and 17 May.
One of the regular competitors attending this prestigious race, besides Audi, BMW, Bentley or any other common car manufacturer, is Scuderia Cameron Glickenhouse.
You might remember Jim Glickenhouse for his outrageous Pininfarina coachbuilt P4/5 (based on the Ferrari Enzo), or the racing version of it, which the Glickenhouse team previously raced at N24.
This year, Mr. Glickenhouse brought two new vehicles to the party, built from the ground up, as replacements for the heavier Ferrari. Nicknamed Macchinauno and Macchinadue, the SCG003 models, developed by a team of highly-specialized Italian engineers, like Paolo Garella and Sal Barone, are some of the fastest cars the Nurburgring has ever seen.
In fact, fast is not an adequate word to describe these cars. The SCG003s are simply mind-bendingly fast – proper old school – with a registered 6m42s time on the Nordschleife course. The idea behind them was to create lighter, smaller, simpler cars, similar to the ones of yesteryear that competed in the hardcore era of racing. The beasts are powered by a 3.5-litre twin-turbocharged Honda V6 race engine, developed by Autotecnica Motori.
Unfortunately, during a night qualifying session, Macchinadue suffered a crash at the Kesselchen section of the circuit, on Post 131 – according to Dailysportscar. The accident happened at around 200km/h (120 MPH) and as you can see from the photo, the carbon fiber cell of the car remained intact. Even the gorilla glass windshield didn’t get a scratch on it. The driver, Ken Dobson, escaped unharmed.
#40 Glickenhaus @scg003c withdrawn after qualifying shunt #N24hr @phoenix_racing Audi fastest http://t.co/vlQvfTEpgG pic.twitter.com/zr9ki9eLy5— Graham Goodwin (@dsceditor) May 15, 2015
That’s just a reminder of how ruthless the Nurburgring really is and it’s unpleasant to see a team driven by passion getting down on its luck.
The car will be fixed, but for safety reasons it will not compete for the time being. Of course, Scuderia Glickenhouse still has chassis number 1 to race around the track.
In the meantime, here’s a video of SCG003 Macchinadue toying on the ‘Ring, on Post 85. As you can see, the front wheels are getting some air, which is a truly awesome sight.