The inaugural race in 1953 counted toward the World Sportscar Championship and was won by Alberto Ascari and Giuseppe Farina in a Ferrari 375 MM. On the traditional Nordschleife, the 22.810 km "Northern Loop," the competition typically covered 44 laps, totaling just over 1,003 km, and initially lasted around eight hours. As cars grew faster over the decades, completion times fell below seven hours by 1965 and under six hours by 1971.
The race became particularly prominent in the late 1960s and 1970s after Formula One withdrew from the Nürburgring following safety concerns arising from the 1976 German Grand Prix. Without Formula 1 on the calendar, the 1000 km event became the Nordschleife's most visible international fixture.
During the 1976 season, World Sportscar Championship calendar conflicts led to a split race format: a 300 km Group 6 event in April and a longer Group 5 event in May. The oil crisis of 1974 had already forced a 25% reduction in race distance that year, illustrating how external pressures periodically reshaped the event.
The last race on the original long Nordschleife was held in 1983. That year the track had been shortened to 20.832 km due to ongoing construction, and the race produced what remains one of motorsport's most remarkable benchmarks: during practice, Stefan Bellof lapped his Rothmans Porsche 956 in 6 minutes 11.13 seconds, at an average speed exceeding 200 km/h — still the fastest timed lap of the Nordschleife in competition. Bellof also set the race lap record during the event itself, lapping in 6:25.91 in traffic. The 1983 race was won by Jochen Mass and Jacky Ickx in their Rothmans Porsche 956.
From 1984 onward, the 1000 km races moved to the new, much shorter Grand Prix circuit (Grand-Prix-Strecke), while the 24 Hours Nürburgring continued on the Nordschleife. The format changed again in 1991 when races were shortened first to 480 km, then discontinued entirely as the World Sportscar Championship collapsed.
The race was revived in 2000 as part of the European Le Mans Series (ELMS). In a wet opening race, Jan Magnussen and David Brabham won in the unusual front-engined Panoz ahead of a BMW V12 LMR and an Audi R8. The event continued under the Le Mans Endurance Series banner in 2005 before transitioning to the Blancpain Endurance Series banner in 2013 under the Stéphane Ratel Organisation.
The record for the most 1000 km victories belongs to Stirling Moss, who won the race in 1956, 1958, 1959, and 1960.
The 1000 km of Nürburgring occupies a unique place in endurance racing history. Its decades on the Nordschleife — the most demanding circuit in the world — gave it a character unlike any other sports car race, blending outright speed with the unpredictable challenges of the Green Hell. The 1983 edition, and Bellof's extraordinary lap time, remain touchstones of motorsport achievement. The VLN/NLS series, successor to the amateur endurance culture at the Nürburgring, carries on the tradition of long-distance racing on the Nordschleife to the present day.
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