If you’re US-based like Green Hell Guides, or just not familiar with all the various motorsports bodies in Germany, you may have seen these acronyms in association with races that are run on The Nordschleife and wondered what exactly they were. You may have asked, “so what the heck are ADAC and VLN, anyway?” If so, this is the blog post for you!

At this point, most of the races run on the Nordschleife are sanctioned by one of these two organizations. I’ll cover both ADAC and VLN. Let’s start with VLN.

VLN stands for Veranstaltergemeinschaft Langstreckenpokal Nürburgring which translates to Association of Nürburgring Endurance Cup Organizers. They run a series of 10 endurance races at The Nürburgring each year. There are 2-4 drivers per car and the cars are mostly based on street legal vehicles. The car classes and rules allow for a range of entries from small, local amateur teams to professional drivers in GT3 cars. The “Queen of The Ring”, Sabine Schmitz, competes in VLN with Frikadelli Racing as does Dale Lomas of Bridge to Gantry fame.

ADAC or Allgemeiner Deutscher Automobil-Club means the General German Automobile Club. It’s well known for its fleet of yellow vans that assist motorists with breakdowns. In that regard, it’s very similar to AAA here in the US. However, there’s one significant distinction. ADAC is also a member of the FIA and DMSB, Germany’s motorsport governing body, and organizes races like the 24 Hours of Nürburgring and the ADAC Truck Grand Prix. So, it’s like AAA if AAA organized the 24 Hours of Daytona!

I hope this helps explain some of the organizations connected with racing at The Nürburgring!