Living the sim-racer’s dream: Jimmy Broadbent and Super GT’s chances of winning the Nürburgring 24h

Written by Benjamin Crundwell, Edited by Julia Bissessar

Every time a petrol head sits in a sim, they have one thought: what if I could be a real racing driver one day? For many, it remains a dream, but Jimmy Broadbent and Steve Brown (Super GT) have turned the dream into reality.

Credit: Luna Maas

Before racing at the Nürburgring, both drivers had some experience with real-world racing. Brown used to race in the BUKC (British Universities Karting Championship) with a high level of success. This is where he started filming some of his earliest content — however, financial issues unfortunately forced him to stop karting. 

Broadbent, on the other hand, never had the chance to race when he was younger, but a few years ago, he started racing cars such as Mazda MX5s and Pragas. Having spent so many days in his famous shed driving random Assetto Corsa mods around the Nordschleife, last year he entered the Nürburgring 24h for the first time.

Brown was also due to be entered to the famous race last year, however, a critical error pre-race got his license suspended, as he sped into a Code 60. Unfortunately, this meant Brown was unable to race. He has re-earned his license and will compete in his maiden Nürburgring 24h this weekend. 

Brown was meant to be racing alongside Broadbent, Misha Charoudin and Manuel Metzger with the Team Bilstein by Black Falcon in the SP8T class. The now-trio raced hard through the night, finishing in second place. 

The group was disappointed with this result, having previously won NLS (Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie) races. They did, however, stress that they were still immensely proud of a podium finish, especially considering the winner of their class was the No.145 who was led by none other than ex F1 driver Timo Glock. 

Credit: Luna Maas

Broadbent and Brown are not teammates with any slouches. Misha Charoudin is also a YouTuber, but as a ring-expert instead a sim-racer. Charoudin has built his account by posting Nürburgring content, most specifically driving his fans' cars on the touristenfahrten. 

The YouTuber knows how to push on the Nordschleife, as he was a ring instructor before his YouTube account took off.

The other driver in their car is Manuel Metzger. Bilstein describes Metzger as one of the “fastest drivers on the Green Hell”, proven when he won the Nürburgring 24h race in 2016. Metzger suffered a heavy injury in 2022 on the Nürburgring, and made his return last year racing with the three popular influencers. 

This year, the four drivers will once again compete in the fabled race with a BMW M4 GT4 car, this time with much more experience under their belt.

The team has been gathering miles in the NLS season this year in the blue and yellow No.150 car. A win in the opening race set them on the right path early on, however in the previous four races, they have finished in second place to the No.187 FK Performance Motorsport BMW. 

In some cases, such as the two 24h Qualifiers race, this has been due to bad luck. The No.187 team only had three drivers, however the No.150 car had four which meant they had to make one extra unnecessary pit stop for a driver change. This, of course, will not be a problem in the upcoming 24 hour race. 

As well as being the favourite amongst the fans, the No.150 car are the favourites to win the SP8T class at the hands of Broadbent, Brown, Charoudin and Metzger. Despite not being the top class, thousands of fans will be keeping a close eye on the SP8T class to see how the YouTubers fare in their second attempt at the 24 hour race.

Jimmy Broadbent and Steve Brown’s car will have its onboard camera streamed on YouTube for the entire race, or alternatively the main broadcast will also be streamed for free on YouTube.