August 8, 2008 - In 2009 the Franco Gianotti Trophy will be organised for the sixth consecutive year. Franco Gianotti (I) was one of the best scale- and model car racers of his generation. Owner of an own factory he passed away on October 23, 2002, when, doing some repairs on the roof of his factory, he made a deadly fall through the roof. His two lungs were punctured. He lived still during 90 minutes in presence of his wife Corinna (also one of the best scale racers during the mid 1980s), but no type of surgery could help him. He had two lovely daughters.
At the Franco Gianotti Trophy we commemorate each year our friends slot-racers who passed away.
Among them Bruno Novarese (I), Uwe Geißler (D), Dawie van Rooyen (RSA), Perry Dekker (NL), Craig Landry (USA), Tim Murphy (CDN), Michel Blanchet (F), Hans-Peter Sutter (CH), Juanma de Torres (E), Philippe Thibault (F), Herman Helskens (B), Marco d'Amato (I), Werner Grund (D), "Fast" Eddy Ellenburger (USA), Michel Thoumieu (F), Ricardo Felauto (ARG), James C. Hollabaugh (USA), Eric Errthum (USA), Ray Nunes (CDN), Claes Törnfeldt (S), Denny Tindall (USA), Peter Pancke (D), Thomas Sasse (D), Oliver Beeck (D), Jan Groos (NL), "Smette" (B), and many others I should not had forgotten. Some of those great racers must have been very alone in their last day, because five of them committed suicide. Why we were not there with a last good word of hope?
Except for the German racers Pancke, Sasse, and Beeck, and for the American racers Tindall and Errthum, all others were in the past regular entrants of IMCA Nats.

This year the 6th Franco Gianotti will be contested over 8 rounds, contested with 1/24th scale copies of the BMW M1 Group 4 cars, used 30 years ago at the PROCAR Series. There is room for only 24 top racers who, at uneven rounds, have to race perfectly identical BMW M1s as assembled by Michael Niemas, and who at even rounds can race their own cars (at least if they want so). An extra incentive to assemble the best possible cars is that Michael Niemas and the Bad Boys will have to race exclusively handout cars. Car assigment will be done by lottery as soon as Børge Haug received the sealed box with all cars.
At each round the racers of the 10 best prototypes and of the 10 best GT cars win res. 20, 15, 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, 3, 2 & 1 point(s) under the condition that they achieved at least 75 per cent of the laps achieved by the class winners. Ties are broken by comparing the total of points won over the 8 rounds.  
The Franco Gianotti Trophy is organised since 2004.
The first round of the Gianotti Trophy is always started with one minute of silence for all former slotracers having passed away.
The 8 first racers of the final ranking will win the same type of super trophy as was won in 2008 at the end of the Toblerone 12 hours race. Price of each trophy is € 250.00. The trophies will be sponsored by Moneytron II. Racers, not in the list of invited, interested to enter the Gianotti Trophy can always send me a mail. [JPVR]
LEFT PIC: Moment de gloire suprême for Franco Gianotti, here flanked at the left by America's Mike Swiss (twice world champion wing car racing) and at the right by America's Jan Limpach (the best slot-racer of the 20th century, four times world champion). The picture was made at the 1988 IMCA Worlds at Chicago. Franco had just won the 1st World Champion-ship Endurance Racing. Swiss won that year the G7 Wing Car Worlds, Limpach the ES24 Scale Racing Worlds.


Yes, nothing is impossible if you're creative

BMW PROCAR GIANOTTI TROPHY & PRODUCTION WORLDS

Sponsored by BMW and Moneytron II - Herentals (B) - April  18-19, 2009

Sponsored by BMW and Moneytron II the new IMCA PRO League will organise on April 18-19, 2009 at Herentals near Antwerp, a series of 8 model car races as the BMW PROCAR Memorial. For this event 24 pro racers are selected. Cars - all of type BMW M1 Group 4 - meet the technical rules of art 7B. At even rounds 24 perfectly equal handout cars, being a copy of the 24 cars having been raced at the 1979 PROCAR BMW M1 Series, will be raced. At uneven rounds drivers can use their owns cars if they believe that they can make their car any better than Michael Niemas (builder of all handout cars) did.
l Why 1979 BMW M1 cars? Because it gives us a unique opportunity to commemorate the legendary PROCAR Series which started 30 years ago. At this series over 8 rounds, prior to 8 F1 Grand Prix, the five best qualified F1 racers could compete in works cars with lesser Gods using private cars. No less than 23 famous F1 racers, having won in total no less than 11 F1 world championships and 135 Grand Prix on 2,634 outings, entered the series.
l Why a Moneytron II series? In 2009 I'll start the Moneytron II series with 20 Formula BMW 1/1 cars. With the best slot-racers of the world at the start, the event will be covered by the national press offering Moneytron II the necessary publicity.
l Why prior to the Toronto Worlds? Because by this highly sponsored event we wish to fund the loans for those racers who otherwise should have been absent in Toronto. Despite the economic crisis we wish a full house at the upcoming Toronto Worlds. [JPVR]

Racers are free to drive an own car at even rounds if they meet the BMW M1 Rule set

PROCAR GIANOTTI TROPHY BASIC PRINCIPLES

(1) The IMCA PRO League lets make 26 BMW M1 cars, being 1/24th scale copies of the BMW M1 cars having been used at the 1979 PROCAR series) by Michael Niemas, following strictly the PROCAR rule set. Those handout cars are the ones the selected racers have to race at the uneven rounds of the 2009 Franco Gianotti Trophy. Set-up of all cars will be done in function of the MTT track. Once the definitive set-up is done all cars go into a sealed box.
(2) At the even rounds racers are free to drive their own car if they think that they can do better with them than with the works cars assembled by Michael Niemas. Niemas himself can drive no other car than one of the works cars.
(3) By March 10, 2009, all 26 cars will be send in a sealed box to Børge Haug, who is considered by all of us as one of the most correct racers we know. Børge Haug will be asked to draw by lottery which car will be raced by which driver. Once the result of the lottery is known the racers will be informed which car they have to drive at the uneven rounds of the 2009 Franco Gianotti Trophy. If they want to drive an own car at the uneven round they then know which body they need to assemble.
(4) On race day Børge Haug will be asked the open the sealed box in front of all racers and to do the handout of the cars.
(5) There will be 8 rounds of 8 x 5 minutes.
(6) At each round the 10 first ranked cars win res. 20, 15, 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, 3, 2 and 1 point(s). The top qualifier wins 1 extra point.
(7) Except for repairs under the eyes of an official there is absolutely no work allowed on the  cars.
(8) Prior to the first round of the 2009 Franco Gianotti Trophy there will be three hours of free practice. Racers who want to drive their own cars at uneven rounds will receive a market PS4000-IMCA motor and a pair of marked Sigma Max tyres, perfectly equal on the motor and rear tyres used at the handout cars.
(9) Cars having finished in the top-3 of a round have to start with 20 gram ballast glued by an official under the highest point of the nose of the car. Ballast may only be removed when a car finishes no longer in the top-3. Should a car with ballast finish again in the top-3 an additional 20 gram will be glued under the front bonnet.
(10) The racers having finished in the top-16 will be selected for the
11th IMCA Production World Championship, with two Semis over 8 x 4 minutes and one main final over 8 x 5 minutes.
(11) The link between autosport and slot-racing, having resulted in an absolute boom of slot-racing during the mid sixties, can hardly be any closer than at the 2009 Franco Gianotti Trophy where we'll race at scale 1/24th ALL the cars having seen at the 1979 PROCAR Series.
(12) Prize giving will be done at the racing premises at Herentals at 10pm on Sunday.

TIME SCHEDULE F. GIANOTTI TROPHY
SATURDAY
08.00-11.00 Free practice for 26 cars
11.00-11.30 Technical scrutineering
11.45-12.20 Qualifications round #1 [21st Benelux Cup] IOC RACE
12.20-14.35 Round #1, 3 heats of 8 x 4 minutes
14.35-14.45 Placement of ballast by officials under top-3 cars
14.45-15.20 Qualifications round #2 [1st Uwe Geißler Memorial]
15.20-17.35 Round #2, 3 heats of 8 x 4 minutes
17.35-17.45 Placement of ballast by officials under top-3 cars
17.45-18.20 Qualifications round #3 [7th R.O.C]
18.20-20.30 Round #3, 3 heats of 8 x 4 minutes
20.30-20.40 Placement of ballast by officials under top-3 cars
20.40-21.05 Qualifications round #4 [1st Perry Dekker Memorial]
21.05-23.20 Round #4, 3 heats of 8 x 4 minutes
SUNDAY
07.00-07.10 Placement of ballast by officials under top-3 cars
07.10-07.45 Qualifications round #5 [1st Bruno Novarese Memorial
07.45-10.00 Round #5, 3 heats of 8 x 4 minutes
10.00-10.10 Placement of ballast by officials under top-3 cars
10.10-10.45 Qualifications round #6 [1st Dawie van Rooyen Memorial]
10.45-13.00 Round #6, 3 heats of 8 x 4 minutes
13.00-13.10 Placement of ballast by officials under top-3 cars
13.10-13.45 Qualifications round #7 [17th EuroNats Sprint] IOC RACE
13.45-16.00 Round #7, 3 heats of 8 x 4 minutes
16.00-16.10 Placement of ballast by officials under top-3 cars
16.10-16.45 Qualifications round #8 [8th BNL Race Festival]
16.45-19.00 Round #8, 3 heats of 8 x 4 minutes
TIME SCHEDULE IMCA PRODUCTION WORLDS
19.00-20.45 Two Semi Finals 11th IMCA Production Worlds 8 x 4'
20.45-21.35 FINAL 11th IMCA Production Worlds 8 x 5' IOC RACE

NOTE: Racers coming from overseas will receive a free plane ticket.

                               GOAL OF THE EVENT
As l explain in my last editorial, and based upon a strictly scientific econometric analysis, the structural economic crisis will be within six months much much sharper than it actually is. As I wish that as many European racers as possible can show at Toronto, I am searching financial means to help the poorer racers who cannot afford to pay the trip. In a normal situation I could have given those racers a loan without interest, so that they could make the trip. Unfortunately I am in deep financial problems: (1) my first lawyer, with who I worked a quarter century, has stolen most of my money (yes he's life long suspended now, but what I can buy with that, he wasted all my money in casinos); (2) I lost another big part of my money in the Fortis Bank crisis (shares went down from € 35 to less than 1 euro); (3) Belgian fiscal people blocked my lonely account with the rest of all my money. So I am absolutely out of cash now that several young racers need help. The here proposed BMW PROCAR GIANOTTI TROPHY is intended to fund the necessary loans for those racers who really need it.
As I explained earlier I am busy to put a new Formula BMW Series on the rails: Moneytron II. I was thus in a largely privileged position to negotiate with BMW Switzerland and BMW Austria to make a model car version of the PROCAR BMW M1 Memorial of 30 years ago. I achieved to materialise a concrete sponsoring deal of € 20,000 cash (could have been the double if I could have had two reigning sprint champions at the start). Half of that budget has already been paid to Michael Niemas to build 26 identical BMW M1 cars at scale 1/24th: a copy of the 26 BMW M1 race cars having been used in the 1979 PROCAR Series. Initially I believed that we could use the collection of Ronald Zaal, but sharper analysis learned that most of those cars - all falsely attributed to 1979 - never entered the 1979 PROCAR series. Having failed to get ISRA ES24 world champion Matti Fyhr at the start it was no longer opportune to waste the remaining sponsoring money on too much starting bonuses for scale racers or for moving IMCA's MTT track from Herentals to Mechelen (where we should have to pay the rent of the building). If we wish to obtain our goal with only half of the initially scheduled sponsoring budget, the best solution was (1) to restrict the number of invited scale racers with a starting bonus and (2) to organise the race in Herentals at the IMCA Model Car Centre, Nieuwstraat 31.


   PROCAR BMW SERIES ALLOWS TRUE MODEL CAR RACING
True model car racing is the reproduction at scale of races having been contested, or in the immediate past (e.g. the 2008 Petit Le Mans ALMS as contested in 2009 at the Toronto Endurance Worlds, or the Ferrari F430 Challenge Final of 2007 as contested at the Toronto 124 Sprint World Championship) or in the further past (e.g. The 1970 Le Mans 24 hours as contested at the 2005 Franco Gianotti Trophy at Aalst). In most cases the reproduction is only partly perfect as not all cars in the original 1/1 race are present at the 1/24th reproduction (at the Petit Le Mans of Toronto not all GT1 and GT2 cars will be present; at the Le Mans race in Aalst only 32 of the 55 cars were present at the model car version).
If we consider all 1/24th models actually available, I see only two possibilities to organise the perfect model car race, nl. as a copy of the 1979-1980 PROCAR BMW series or as a copy of the IROC races of 1974-2006 in the States. Number of cars having been involved in those series was restricted and complete model car versions are easily available. Of the two the PROCAR series shows certainly a higher attraction than the IROC as famous F1 racers entered in 1979 and 1978 that PROCAR competition.  
PROCAR was thus - just as IROC - a one make series, pitting professional drivers of the F1 World Championship. Jochen Neerpash, head of the competition division of BMW Motorsport GmbH, was the father of the initiative. For that competition, having started in 1979, the street version of the BMW M1 was tuned to a 3.5-litre Group 4 version with 470bhp instead of the original 277bhp, allowing a top speed of 311 kph and an acceleration from 0-100 kph in 4.2 seconds. BS Fabrications constructed five cars for the BMW Factory team, in the course of the season four more. Cars for other competitors were constructed by the British Project Four team of Ron Dennis (38) and by Squadra Osella Corse (2), using themselves a car in competition, and selling the other cars to such teams as GS Tuning, Schnitzer, Tom Walkinshaw Racing, Max Eggenberger, Max Heidegger, Alimpo Sport, etc. Price of the car was up to $ 60,000. The winner of the series received a new BMW M1 Group 4.
The races - no longer than a half hour - were contested as curtain raiser to the European F1 Grand Prix in the mid-season. The five best qualifiers at the Friday F1 qualification session received a works BMW M1 and could - irrespective of their qualification time with the M1s - always start from the five first places on the grid. As the cars used special Goodyear tyres several Formula One drivers were not allowed to compete due to contractual obligations with competing tyre manufacturer Michelin.  As Scuderia Ferrari and Renault raced on Michelin and were selling road cars themselves, they did not allow their Formula One drivers to participate. The other cars went to famous drivers of road racing (among them several ex-F1 drivers and several later F1 drivers). In 1979 e.g. twelve F1 racers of that year entered the PROCAR Series. For Jody Scheckter and Gilles Villeneuve (Ferrari) and for Jean-Pierre Jabouille and René Arnoux (Renault) such was, however, forbidden by their employer.  
The BMW M1 was intended to be a direct opponent to the Porsche 935 in Group 5 racing. Unfortunately the FIA changed the rules by requiring 400 copies of each car before they could be tuned to Group 5 cars. When BMW eventually had manufactured its 400 cars Group 5 racing was replaced by Group C racing, so that it never came to a direct opposition between the Porsche 935 and the BMW M1 Group 5 (except at the 1981 Nürburgring 1000-kms, where a BMW M1 Group 5 won the race when it was flagged off after 2h16min due to the fatal accident of Switzerland's Herbert Muller.


BMW M1 MODEL CARS AS 1/24TH SCALE COPIES OF THOSE SEEN AT THE 1979 PROCAR

BMW Motorsport GmbH BMW M1 ( Mario Andretti) BMW Motorsport GmbH BMW M1 ( Carlos Reutemann)
BMW Motorsport GmbH BMW M1 ( Didier Pironi) ( Emerson Fittipaldi)

Project Four BMW M1 ( Niki Lauda)

BMW Motorsport GmbH BMW M1 ( Nelson Piquet) ( Hans-Georg Bürger) BMW Motorsport GmbH BMW M1 ( Patrick Depailler)( John Watson)
BMW Motorsport GmbH BMW M1 ( Jaques Lafitte) BMW Motorsport GmbH BMW M1 ( Alan Jones) ( Carlos Reutemann)
BMW Motorsport GmbH BMW M1 ( Clay Regazzoni) ( James Hunt)

Wolfgang Schutz Airpress BMW M1 ( Wolfgang Schütz)

GS Tuning Castrol Winnebago BMW M1 ( Markus Höttinger)

Schnitzer Racing Memphis BMW M1 ( Sepp Manhalter)

TWR BMW M1 ( Dieter Quester)( Tom Walkinshaw) ( David Hobbs)

Team Krebs Warsteiner BMW M1 ( Jochen Mass) ( Albrecht Krebs)

Squadra Osella Corse BMW Italia BMW M1 ( Elio de Angelis) ( Eddie Cheever)

Max Eggenberger Arcus Air/Mobil BMW M1 ( Helmut Kelleners)

Squadra Osella Corse Denim BMW Italia BMW M1 ( Bruno Giacomelli)

Max Heidegger Buler BMW Switzerland BMW M1 ( Marc Surer) ( Markus Hotz)

Manfred Cassani Racing Uher BMW M1 ( Hans Joachim Stuck)

MRS/Écurie Arvor BMW M1 ( Jean-Louis Lafosse)

Winkelhock Kreis Telefonbuch BMW M1 ( Manfred Winkelhock)( J-P Beltoise)

Konrad Motorsport BMW M1 ( Franz Konrad) ( "John Winter")

BMW Motorsport GmbH M1 ( Tiff Needell) ( Michael Bleekemolen)(Teo Fabi)

Alimpo Sport BMW M1 ( Toine Hezemans)

THE INVITED RACERS

Piki v Rossem (845) Nick de Wachter (716) "Gugu" Bernardino(706.5) Michael Niemas (529) Philipp Kremer (450) J-P v Rossem (402) Youri v Rossem (390) Giovanni Montiglio (386)
Ralph Seif (291.5) Chris Radisich (202) James Cleave (201) Gabriel Inäbnit (171) Tim Tyler (169) Jozef Miskolci (134) Alex Ortmann(132) Fred Hood (113)
Marcel Oosterling (72) Afolabi Osu (74.5) Børge Haug (58.5) Kristof Huys (55.5) Bj v Campenhout (51) Carlos Checa (48.5) G. Wennerberg (37.5) Javier Checa(23.5)

THOSE WERE THE 1979 PROCAR DRIVERS

Niki Lauda Nelson Piquet Emerson Fittipaldi Mario Andretti Alan Jones Carlos Reuteman James Hunt Jacques Lafitte
25 wins/171 GP- 3 Worlds 23 wins/204 GP- 3 worlds 14 wins/144 GP- 2 worlds 12 wins/128 GP- 1 worlds 12 wins/116 GP- 1 worlds 12 wins/146 GP 10 wins/92 GP- 1 worlds 6 wins/176 GP
°1949 °1952 °1946 °1940 °1946 °1942 1947-1993 °1943
Clay Regazzoni John Watson Didier Pironi Elio de Angelis Jean-Pierre Beltoise Jochen Mass Eddie Cheever Jean-Pierre Jarier
5 wins/132 GP 5 wins/152 GP 3 wins/70 GP 2 wins/108 GP 1 win/86 GP 1 win/105 GP 0/132 GP - 9 podia- 70 pts 0/135 GP- 3 podia -31 pts
1939-2006 °1946 1952-1987 1958-1986 °1937 °1946 °1958 °1946
Hans-Joachim Stuck Teo Fabi Bruno Giacomelli Marc Surer Manfred Winkelhock David Hobbs Dieter Quester Tiff Needell
0/74 GP- 2 podia -29 pts 0/64 GP- 2 podia -23 pts 0/69 GP- 1 podium -14 pts 0/82 GP - 0 podia -17 pts 0/47 GP- 0 podia -2 pts 0/7 GP- 0 podia- 0 pts 0/2 GP- 0 podia- 0 pts 0/1 GP- 0 podia- 0 pts
°1952 °1955 °1952 °1951 1951-1985 °1939 °1939 °1951
no picture could be found no picture could be found
Michael Bleekemolen Toine Hezemans Helmut Kelleners Jean-Louis Lafosse Walter Brun Tom Walkinshaw Markus Höttinger Hans-Georg Bürger
0/1 GP- 0 podia- 0 pts no F1 races no F1 races no F1 races no F1 racer no F1 racer no F1 races no F1 races
°1949 °1943 °1939 1939-1981 °1942 °1950 1956-1980 1952-1980

racer entrant sponsor Zolder Monte Carlo Dijon Silverstone Hockenheim Zeltweg Zandvoort Monza [Donington] pts1 pts2
1 Niki Lauda BMW Motorsport/Project Four BMW/Marlboro DNF 1 8 1 1 DNF DNF 2   78 78
2 Hans-Joachim Stuck Manfred Cassani Uher DNF   7 4 2 7 1 1 4 83 73
3 Clay Regazzoni BMW Motorsport BMW  3 2 5 DNF 5 4 5 DNF   61 61
4 Markus Höttinger GS Tuning Castrol/Winnebago DNF 6 11 3 DNF 2 DNF 3   45 45
5 Toine Hezemans Alimpo Sport F&S/BMW Holland 2 4 9 DNF 9 10 6 5 5 52 44
6 Jacques Lafitte BMW Motorsport BMW 10 DNF DNF   DNF 1 2     36 36
7 Nelson Piquet BMW Motorsport BMW DNF