Daniel Dörrschuck is an influencer, content creator, car tester, journalist, filmmaker, entrepreneur and racing driver. We spoke to him about his career and the fascination of racing.
Hi Daniel. You run a pretty successful YouTube channel with MotorWoche: 131,000 subscribers there, around 110,000 followers on Instagram: how did you get into this scene?
I've been a self-employed content creator for more than ten years. A veteran, so to speak. My friend Patrick and I started 14 years ago - when we were 17 or 18 - with pictures and test reports that we uploaded to our Facebook page. It was all still a leisure activity.
Back then, we drove to car dealerships for fun, borrowed demonstration cars, went for a spin and wrote reports. And, yes, that was totally unsuccessful.
Then I was given a GoPro, which we put in the car and filmed our test drives. That was new and cool at the time and we opened our YouTube channel MotorWoche and uploaded the videos. And bingo, the clicks went through the roof.
That was the breakthrough?
This actually came from a classic press event at which the new Ford Fokus RS was presented at Baden-Baden Airport. We were one of the first YouTubers to go there and shoot a video of our test drive. And then the whole thing really took off.
I'm an old-school guy and approach everything with an open mind. I have zero prejudices against any brands, against any drive types, against any future visions of the manufacturers. I always give my honest opinion on everything. You won't find any embellished or paid-for opinions on my channel. And I am someone whose judgment you can trust in the current very exciting phase in the automotive sector. I'm a motorsport enthusiast and combustion engine guy at heart, but I drive electric in my private life. My third video more than ten years ago was an electric car test. So I've covered all sectors right from the start. In addition, I naturally take people with me on my journey and always show them a lot of my private life. This gives them the feeling that they are right there with me. I get to live the dream of many people out there and try to let my community be part of it so that they can feel what I feel. I think that's one of the differences.
Where does your affinity for cars and your automotive expertise come from? Have you done any training in this area?
Yes, I actually studied automotive engineering. But then I got a taste for video stories, dropped out of engineering and went to Cologne to study film. I was simply more interested in the journalistic film sector. I come from a very motorcycle-oriented family, which is what I grew up with. That's why I initially took care of the motorcycle part of our YouTube channel. Over time, however, we switched almost completely to car topics because that was more popular. Today, we do 95 to 98 percent car content.
Where does your passion for motorsport come from?
I just want to make better content. Driving a car and reporting on it is one thing. Understanding a car is something completely different.
And I knew you could only do that if you were more intensively involved with the subject of driving. You can never drive a car at the limit on public roads, you have to go to the racetrack. And as a journalist, I spent a lot of time on racetracks and was always able to keep up with the instructors.
And then the topic gained momentum and I said to myself: Hey, Daniel, you need to get into motorsport so that you can talk about a car even more sensitively, so that your videos offer even more added value for viewers.
You then got your racing license. What does this do for you?
I just didn't want to drive just road cars and press cars anymore, but really race cars on racetracks.
When training for a racing license, you learn the details, such as what happens if the camber is adjusted by half a degree. What happens to the car then? What is the benefit of adjusting the high-speed traction level? What really happens? That way, I can report on new developments even more competently and not just blather on about what the manufacturer says.
That's how I started doing motorsport properly. And because the whole thing has to be financed and managed somehow, I take people with me on YouTube. All of a sudden, it was a whole new area of content that people were interested in.
At different events. For example, when I was at JP Performance, we did a few shoots with MAHLE. That's how the contact came about. Then, of course, my involvement in motorsports came into play, and MAHLE is also very active in that area. So the contact intensified over time. And then came my plan to drive the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring. And for that you need sponsors and supporters. A logical path.
In what way does MAHLE support you?
The collaboration goes far beyond classic motorsport sponsorship. For me, the whole thing is of course also linked to content creation. This means that I also create content for MAHLE at the races with pictures, videos and, of course, stories that are published in my Instagram feed. MAHLE can then share these on its pages. And, very importantly for us, we have diagnostic testers and an automatic transmission flushing device in use. This was also urgently needed because we had turbocharger damage at the first round of the Nürburgring endurance series.
What is the appeal of the 24-hour race for you?
This is a childhood dream. I used to go to the Nordschleife a lot with friends. One tank of gas was always enough for the outward journey, three laps and the return trip.
We also often went to the races. And I stood at the fence and thought: "Dude, how awesome would it be if I were to sit in a car there myself one day. The Nordschleife is simply the most difficult and dangerous racetrack. Many cars are tested, tuned and prepared here. Yes, and then at some point I started motorsport.
I quickly realized that sprint races and Grand Prix circuits weren't for me, they were far too monotonous. When you drive the Nordschleife, on the other hand, 90 percent of the time it's always a multiclass race. Different levels of speed, horsepower and performance are racing together on the same circuit and battling it out in their classes.
And that's what makes the Nordschleife so incredibly exciting for me. You don't have a single lap that is exactly the same. It's a bit like rally driving. You don't know what to expect after the next bend. It's pure adrenaline.
Your first 24-hour race didn't go so perfectly. You retired relatively early. Are you planning to take part again?
My dream is not yet complete. Driving a 24-hour race doesn't just mean that you start at the start, but that you also cross the finish line - after 24 hours. I definitely want to attack again in the next few years, maybe even next year. But at least now I know what's involved: organization, time, stress, money and so on. But I will do everything I can to make it happen.
Isn't it incredibly stressful to prepare for a race for six months and then make content on the side?
That's exactly it. For me, a race like this is the biggest event I've had this year, both professionally and privately: the preparation with the sponsors, all the handling with the vehicle wrapping and the design ... and then continuously creating content for you and the sponsors. Then you might have to prepare or buy equipment. It was a huge effort to build a camera into the car. It has to be secured and technically approved for the race track. That involves thousands of phone calls, pictures and emails. But: I learned a lot.
What are your next plans? Are you developing new content formats for your followers? And if so, what can you tell us already?
I definitely want to push ahead with the whole SimRacing theme. I find that extremely exciting. Recreating a real race in a simulator has become incredibly realistic. I believe that racing will move more and more in this direction in the near future, with drivers perhaps qualifying for a race at home in the simulator.
But I also want to make more journalistic videos again, i.e. classic car tests, because we have an extremely exciting future ahead of us: autonomous driving or all the comfort features as well as infotainment and entertainment systems. Of course, at some point we will no longer be sitting behind the wheel and let the car do all the work. But then, in the not-so-distant future, I'll be able to talk about this past in motorsport. That's a privilege that not many people will have.