OEPS #3 TRIER (D) SEPTEMBER 3-4, 2011 [IOC Rank 1 > 20 pros]

NDW Team wins last round full of motor problems

3RD OEPS EUROPEAN ENDURANCE CHA:PIONSHIP, TRIER (D), February-September, 2011 [IOC Rank 1 > 20 pros)

PLASTIKQUÄLER WINS BUT REMAINS ABSENT AT PRIZE GIVING

OEPS, a commercial trick by NDW & Campbell but ... RIEN NE VA PLUS

September 6, 2011 - 48 hours after the OEPS races there is still no final ranking of OEPS 2011. But even if such final ranking should already have been published the computer program, used for updating the IOC list, cannot work with such fantasy names as "Plastikquäler", "No Limits", "R.I.C.H.", etc. The program only works with names of drivers, what means that we had to make ourselves a ranking based upon drivers results, not upon team names. Working with team names is typically for the club of Trier, having started this use at the SLP races.
As usual nobody published who were the racers of the several teams, so that publishing the results of round #3 was only possible after lots of phone calls to racers who were at Trier. Typical for the mess after each OEPS round is that nobody could tell us who was the third driver of the PQ team. Was it Thomas Nötzel? Was it Jan Schaffland? Or was it Jan Uhlig? As the PQ team, having won the 3rd OEPS Endurance Championship refused to show at the prize giving, pictures of prize giving cannot help. The published list with teams for Trier is completely unreliable. It doesn't mention the names of Ralph Seif, Sven Manti, Marc Kurella, Henri van Gool, Jean-Christophe Job, Gilles Dohogne, Didier Ronvaux, etc. From the other side it mentions the names of Quinten Vanspauwen (who is in hospital), of 'Piki' van Rossem (who, due for obligations at work, had no time for practice), of Martin Borch (who stayed in Denmark), etc. So the published entry list is completely unreliable. Moreover, of the 29 teams in the list, 4 didn't show at all. After lots of puzzling we came to the ranking you can find under the article. What is beyond doubt is that at least 26 pro-drivers showed at least at one round. Of them Lars Harrysson (8 points) and Matthias Parke (7 points) are not on the hereunder published list. Should Jan Uhlig had been the third driver of PQ at Trier, there should even have been 27 pros. Enough thus, to make the ranking a Level 1 IOC event.
If one should ask us what is the general impression of OEPS 2011, the answer can hardly be anything else than "Rien ne va plus". 2011 was a year of wrong decisions, of bad planning, of unbelievable arrogance and of pure commercial interests. Why having replaced the ProSlot Euro MK1 motors by the unreliable black Scaleauto. On doing so, one had to be worse than a beginner, to decide that the gear ratio should be 44/10. It was the best guarantee of overheating motors. Several teams were victims of that wrong decision, so that the results of round #3 give a false image of what was the race. Then there is the system of stop & go penalties. We noted pure abuse of this rule. So Sloefspeed received such penalty before the start because their car was ... 0.05 gram too light. Ridiculous! De Wachter and Campbell are the founding fathers of OEPS, being a bad copy of what IMCA did. Wat else is OEPS than a partial German championship with all others functioning as field fullers? OEPS is nothing more than a trick to win easy money on selling NDW Kimmy chassis. Half of the field uses that hyper expensive chassis to finish in the second half of the results table.

If one has the pure intention to organise a European Championship over 3 rounds one should at least organise those 3 rounds in 3 different countries, not 2/3rd of the championship at German soil. Why there is no round in Spain, at least the second model car nation in the world, with at least as many model car racers as Germany. And why to go with the remaining non-German round to Sweden, counting nearly no model car racers? The reason why OEPS refuses to go to Spain is that its founding fathers know very well that the Spanish racers are not so crazy to spend a fortune on making a competitive car. In reality OEPS reached its own limits and is now on its way to the exit. A sound international sanctioning body can never be in hands of persons with commercial interests as NDW and Campbell (GRID). That body should have been in hands of Borge Haug and  Rolf K. Andersen.
And then there is that typical arrogance of the OEPS directors. When slot-racing became international in 1970 there was a rule, accepted by ALL organisers, that nobody should organise a "younger" race on the same date as an "older" race. OEPS is 3 years old, the Czech Grand Prix exists since 23 years, but NDW & Campbell show once more that they have not the slightest respect for international racing. They planned their final round exactly at the same date as the final round of the 23rd Czech Grand Prix. And then they wonder that the Czechs are no longer interested in model car racing. 
Another serious mistake is the decision to contest the final round at Trier. Yes, Trier has two 6-laners, but if one entered not the SLP or the Trier 12 hours, one has no serious winning chances. The SLP is a series restricted to German racers, so choosing Trier offers the best guarantee that German racers will finish at the best places. If it should be the intention of NDW & Campbell to organise a fair European Endurance Championship, they could go with their final round to Barcelona. There they'll have two identical MTT tracks in 2012 - universal tracks without the smallest advantage for the local racers. The NDW argument that Barcelona is "too far" is humbug? Was Gothenburg not that far also? Don't think we wish to see the 2012 OEPS final round together with the 2012 Barcelona Worlds. We have a complete race schedule for that and we are certainly not waiting OEPS, that is in our eyes a pure commercial dictatorship. OEPS is the way NOT to go. It's the continuation of a monster: racing hyper expensive cars that 9/10th of the European racers cannot afford. OEPS is anti-promotion of slot-racing. It's obvious that all who wishes to conserve model car racing has to stop racing hard plastic bodies. The way to go is to return to lexan bodies. And if one wishes absolutely to continue with hard plastic bodies, one should introduce a rule that no car can cost more than € 300. In the States one can manufacture hyper competitive model cars, turning rounds around the NDW Kimmy cars, using the 4"5 Slick chassis equipped with a lexan body and with some other motor than the lady shave motors used by NDW. OEPS is done. [Jean Pierre van Rossem] (IOC list has been updated)

3RD WORLD CUP SPRINT, TRIER (D), September 2, 2011 [IOC Rank 3 - 12 pros)

YANNICK HORN DOES IT OVER AND WINS AGAIN

23RD MODEL CAR 124 SPRINT WORLDS, BARCELONA (E), July 23, 2011 [IOC Rank 1 - Classic]

JAMES CLEAVE AHEAD OF BAELE, ORTEGA, YOURI & ARTTU

Niemas preparation of the BMW M1s biggest deception of Barsa Worlds

At the Quarter finals Brian Saunders (GB), having to drive an impossible car was eliminated, just as Jozef Miskolci (SK) and Terry Schmid (USA), struggling too with impossible cars. At the Semis Spain's Francesc Reyes, having drawn one of the fastest car (still third at the qualifications), was eliminated after a couple of deslots. Chris Radisich (NZ), driving the fastest car was eliminated by a painful marshalling error and "Piki" van Rossem (B) was eliminated with car going slower after each new segment. So we got to a final with two racers from Belgium (Dirk Baele and Youri van Rossem), one racer from Spain (Albert Ortega), from the US (Jonathan Forsyth), from Slovakia (Ladislav Szalai), from Germany (Yannik Horn), from Finland (Arttu Salomaa) and from England (James Cleave).
The three first segments were dominated by Youri van Rossem, closely followed by Jonathan Forsyth, as both could start on the faster lanes. During the three following segments we found Albert Ortega setting the pace with Dirk Baele and James Cleave moving up in the standings after six of the eight segments into second and third position. During the seventh segment Dirk Baele, driving up to then faultless, could catch the lead, giving the impression that he was on his way to victory lane. For poor Ladislav Szalai the struggle was already over, because at mid-race he was victim of an unbelievable marshalling error, enforcing the race direction to replace the bungling marshal. Yannik Horn, struggling with a tired motor, dropped in the standings from fourth to sixth position, struggling now with Jonathan Forsyth to hold his position. Struggle for the third place went among Albert Ortega, Youri van Rossem and Arttu Salomaa. The two last named, however, could not reduce their complete arrears on Ortega during the two last segments. Starting the last segment Dirk Baele was still a strong leader, but became nervous when he saw that James Cleave came lap after lap closer. Eventually Baele was victim of his nerves when he deslotted twice. His last deslot brought Cleave on the lead, letting Baele not the smallest chance to catch his car. So James Cleave won the 23rs Model Car World Championship Sprint.   

The 23rd Model Car Worlds Sprint, contested with the absolutely unique collection of BMW M1 handout cars, have been won by England's James Cleave after a breathtaking combat with the #27 BMW M1 of Dirk Baele, obviously the fastest car on the track. Baele was leading the race until less than one minute before the finish. For the third place there was a tremendous combat between the cars of Albert Ortega, Youri van Rossem and the surprising Arttu Salomaa. Having the fastest car of the three Albert Ortega reached the finish, one lap ahead over Youri and two laps ahead over Arttu. Most stirring was the fact that Piki van Rossem could not reach the main final, despite the fact that at the semis he was continuously racing beyond the limit, deslotting not once, but with a car on which the motor was completely dead. Although Michael Niemas, who prepared all cars, announced that at the test in Germany, they were all behaving equally, nothing of that was seen on the track. The cars of Piki, Brian Saunders and Howie Ursaner were 3/10s to 4/10 of a second slower than the rest of the field. Fastest car was the one of Chris Radisich, but due to a painful marshalling error, that cat was eliminated at the Semi finals. Three Spanish favourites - "Javi" José Checa Lozano, Carlos Checa Lozano and Javier Checa Villa - had to withdraw, because the evening before the race they were informed that their grand mother was seriously ill.
Already at the qualifications it became obvious, that, contrarily to the previous years, there was something definitively wrong with the handout BMW M1 cars. Some of them had still the motors of 2009, others had new motors. That was certainly not what was expected about the preparation done by Niemas. Several racers had cars being unable to enter a fair competition with the rest of the field. Chris Radisich was fastest qualifier in 7'596, whilst a top racer as Brian Saunders came, despite all efforts, no further than 7"977. It was, however, too late to change the motors in all cars, especially because there were not enough fresh Proslot handout motors to replace them all. So, before the start of the worlds there was no doubt that it should be the most unfair race in the long history of IMCA. It has thus been decided that the system of handout cars will be stopped under IMCA's successor, the new MOCPA.

This is the winning car, driven by James Cleave. It was not the fastest car of the lot, but contrarily to Dirk Baele and Albert Ortega, driving the fastest cars, Cleace made not one single driving error.

10TH ENDURANCE WORLDS, BARCELONA (E), July 22, 2011 [IOC Rank 1 - Classic >12 pros]

RADISICH/URSANER DOMINATE ENDURANCE WORLDS. . .

. . . with a superior NDW car - Arttu & Marko Salomaa best semi-pros

Podium at the Endurance Worlds with f.l.t.r. Ladislav Szalai & Jozef Miskolci (3rd), the new world champions Howie Ursaner & Chris Radisich, and their runners-up "Piki" van Rossem and Yannik Horn.

Among the semi-pros there was a serious combat for the third place where the cars of Dirk Baele/Terry Smith, of Albert & Toni Ortega and of Mark Molina/Juan Rubio were involved. The two last teams drove both a Ford GT. The Ortegas had opted for the classic Plafit SLP chassis, whilst Molina/Rubio went for the new DoSlot chassis. That seemed the best choice because Moina and Rubio finished on the podium among the semi-pros.
It seems that the Maserati MC12, having won last year's Endurance Worlds, is bewitched. In November 2010, at the 5th EEC, Miskolci and Szalai reached nothing with the same car. Now two other excellent drivers, James Cleave and Brian Saunders, had cotunous problems with the car, resulting in a poor sixth place. Of the three Maseratis having entered competition, fastest was the one assembled by Raymond van Campenhout for the duo "Javi" Jose Checa Lozano & Jonathan Forsyth. They finished fourth, but 41 behind the winning Corvette Z06-R.
One of the chassis being no longer competitive seems the Schöler 55. Although Alvaro Sarabia and Francesc Reyes did what they could to keep up with the faster cars, they ran continuously in problems. Also the other Schöler car, shared by Luis Capsi & Jaume Marti, failed to be competitive. Among the semi-pros they finished one but last.   

The 10th Endurance World Championship has been won by Chris Radisich (NZ)/Howie Ursaner (USA) with a splendid Corvette Z06-R assembled by Holland's Nick de Wachter as a compensation for he help of Chris Radisich he enjoyed at last year's ISRA Worlds. The car used the new NDW Agent Smith chassis and demonstrated a superb road holding. Their direct conpetitors were "Piki" van Rossem (B)/Yannik Horn (D), driving a Nissan 350Z GTR, prepared by Michael Niemas (D) using a Slotfabrik nSF 7TX v4 Evo chassis. It was a competitive car missing just the last drop of speed necessary to beat the Corvette. The race went over three sections of 8 x 5'. During the first section the Nissan lost six laps from the Corvette. At the second section the loss was reduced to three laps and in the last section both cars finished with an equal number of laps. Should the duration of the race had been longer, there could have been a more close combat. The third place went to the excellent Lamborghini 560LP which Niemas prepared. Normally Youri & JP van Rossem should have driven this fast car, but after the terrible bad luck of the Slovaks at the November 2010 EEC at Wezembeek-Oppem JPVR decided that the Slovaks could drive the faster car. He and Youri opted for the Nissan using a SLP2 chassis. After the first section that car was still in fourth position. Unfortunately a crash on the straight with the hand of Dirk Baele, marshalling his own car, having deslotted on the straight, was the end of the Youri/JPVR Nissan. The body came off and the car was more than 100 laps immobile in the pits. When it rejoined the track it was undriveable so that after 511 laps it was retired from the race. A real disappointment for Youri who had the amlbition to beat the Slovaks for the third place.
For the duo 'Javi' Checa Lozano and Jonathan Forsyth Raymond van Campenhout prepared a Maserati MC12 using the Metris Mk4B chassis. Well driven the car was unable to follow the three cars in front. It was struggling during the whole race with the fast Aston Martin DBR9 which Niemas prepared for the two Salomaas from Finland. They finished fifth overall, winning the semi-pro class. Both dominated that class, receiving only some opposition from the astonishing M1 Racing car driven by Gerry & Brian de Rouck, finishing 7th overall.
So the new world champion chassis is thus not the famous Metris MkIVB, not the Slotfabrik nSF 7TX 4.0 Evo, not the Plafit SLP, but the brand new NDW Agent Smith, sold at a reasonable price under the 100 euro. Congratulations!

The sublime Corvette prepared by Nick de Wachter for Chris Radisich and Howard Ursaner used the new NDW Agent Smith chassis.

6TH EEC, BARCELONA (E), July 22, 2011 [IOC Rank 2 - No Classic >12 pros]

JOZEF MISKOLCI/LADISLAV SZALAI WIN 6TH EEC

F.l.t.r. Arttu Salomaa and Marko Salomaa (3rd), Ladislav Szalai and Jozef Miskolci (winners), "Piki" van Rossem and Yannik Horn (third)

The 6th EEC has been won by Jozef Miskolci (SK) and Ladislav Szalai (SK) driving perfecly a Lamborghini Murcielago 560LP in a set up by Michael Niemas (D), using a simple Plafit SLP chassis. Second place went to the Nissan 350Z GTR of "Piki" van Rossem (B) and Yannik Horn (D), using a car in a Niemas set-up, using a Slotfabrik nSF 7TX 4evo chassis. Also the third place went to a car in a Niemas set-up, now to the surprising semi-pro winners Arttu Salomaa (SF) and Marko Salomaa (SF). They succeeded to hold "Javi" Jose Checa Lozano (E) and Jonathan Forsyth (USA) and their Maserati MC12, on a Metris MkIVB chassis in a set-up by Raymond van Campenhout, off place 3. The big favourites for this race were Chris Radisich (NZ) and Howie Ursaner (USA) with their Corvette Z06-R, using the Agent Smith chassis, in a set-up by Nick de Wachter.
When the start was given they were not back from lunch, so that they missed the first segment. The same happened with Brian Saunders and James Cleave, missing also their first segment. But the heros of those race were Gerry and Brian de Rouck, driving an M1 Racing car, borrowed from Alvaro Sarabia. Although it was for Brian de Roeck his real first international race he had no problems at all with the astonishing M1 Racing car, showing an unbelievable good roadholding, even better than that of the NDW Agent Smith chassis. The M1 Racing chassis, nearly completely unknown in international racing deserves much better attention because there is no doubt that it is an excellent chassis for hard bodied model cars.
Initially the Nissan was leading the race, but during the second half of the race it lost its leading position duo to an overheated motor. Indeed it appeared that there was no cooler on the motor. As the rear suspension was too soft the motor was heated extra. For the Endurance Worlds Yannick Horn installed a cooler and blocked the rear suspension, resulting in a much better track behaviour of the car.

At the 6th EEC especially Ladislav Szalai (SK) - at the first place an ISRA scale racer - gave full evidence that he is one of the most secure racers in the world. Well helped by Jozef Miskolci (SK) he succeeded to let the Nissan 350Z GTR, suffering with an overheated motor, behind during the last half of the race and to drive the splendid Lamborghini into victory lane.
Most stirring were the results of the semi-pros. The victory of Arttu & Marko Salomaa and a third place overall was a surprise for everybody. Gerry & Brian de Roeck were long time second among the semo-pros. Only in the last segment they were passed as runner-up among the semi-pros by Albert & Antonio Ortega. Among the pros the Youri & JP van Rossem Nissan 350Z GT3  should normally had finished third overall, but a lost screw on the spurgear did them loosing ten or eleven laps in the pits. Struggle for the fourth place among the semi-pros was very intensive with Luis Capsi/Jaume Marti beating Mark Molina/Juan Rubio in the very last segment.
It was sad that Chris radisich came too late on the start. At the qualifications he was the fastest man in 6"929 (his team mate Howie Ursaner realised 6"954). They were the lonely drivers to go under 7 seconds. Second best time went to Jozef Miskolci in 7"174, immediately followed by "Piki" in 7"191.

The Lamborghini LP560 which Michael Niemas prepared for "Piki" & Yannik Horn suffered from an overheating motor, but finished nevertheless second.

15TH IMCA World Championship 132 Production, BARCELONA (E), July 21, 2011 [IOC Rank 1 - Classic >12 pros]

PIKI WINS AGAIN IMCA'S 132 WORLDS WITH NSR MOSLERS

James Cleave 2nd, Brian Saunders 3rd

For the fourth consecutive time - but also for the last time - the Production World Championship was contested with the handout NSR Moslers which the multiple ex-world champion Salvatore Noviello prepared for this type of racing. The cars are not easy to drive and allow that the best drivers are always found in front at the end of the race. Winner of the Production Worlds was "Piki" van Rossem (his eleventh world title). The two British aces, James Cleave and Brian Saunders finished on the second and the third place.
Contrarily to drawing a poor motor with the handout BMW M1s - letting you no means of defense - a small motor is a lesser handicap with the handout NSR Moslers. Best example was the car of Brian Saunders, lacking speed on the straight but much more easily to handle in  the curbs. Although Saunders realised the 17th time, nearly 8/10 of a second slower than TQ, he remained until the finish one of the most dangerous contenders for victory. 
Cars were drawn by lottery and went directly to the track for the qualifications. The record holding car on MTT, having realised in hands of Kristof Huys last year a sharp 8"035 went to Spain's "Javi" Checa Lozano, whilst last year's winning car went now to Francesc Reyes. Fastest at the qualifications was "Piki" van Rossem (B) in 8"006, a new MTT record with that type of cars. Second fastest was Francesc Reyes (E) in 8"137, followed by "Javi" Checa Lozano, Ladislav Szalai and Chris Radich.
The race went over three heats with eight racers in each heat. Heat C was easily won by Gerry de Roeck in 156 laps, followed at three laps by Youri van Rossem and Angel Arcarons.
Heat B was mainly a fight among Brian Saunders, Dirk Baele (the whole week excellent and running the Worlds of his life) and Carlos Checa Lozano. Despite lacking speed in the curbs Saunders was outstanding. Initially he was followed by Carlos Checa, but a couple of deslots by the Spaniard made him loosing his first complete lap. Shortly after mid-race Dirk Baele succeeded to pass Carlos Checa and to set him at one lap. Arttu Salomaa followed in fourth position, struggling with Javier Checa, but already five full laps back to Saunders who deslotted not once with this type of cars, difficult to be hold in the slot. Dirk Baele, who has some experience with those cars - in 2009 he finished as first amateur at the Production Worlds - understood that it was impossible to follow Saunders and continued at his own pace, enough to hold Carlos Checa at one lap. At the finish Saunders realised 163 laps. In 2010 that was enough to win the race (as winner "Piki" came, after a whole series of track calls, no further than 161 laps). In 2009 a total of 163 laps was enough to finish as fourth. So, the eight racers of heat A new that achieving more than 163 laps was the target. Dirk Baele realised 159 laps, enough to finish seventh overall. Carlos Checa - in Barcelona the best of the three Checas - finished one lap further, enough for an eighth place overall. Arttu Salomaa (152 laps) and Javier Checa Villa (151) were too far behind to make any chance to win IOC points.

Of the eight racers who qualified for heat A, three never raced the NSR Moslers: Francesc Reyes (E), Jonathan Forsyth (USA) and James Cleave (GB). Of the five others Ladislav Szalai (SK) was already second in 2008, "Javi" José Checa Lozano (E) was already fourth in 2008, Jozef Miskolci (SK) fifth in 2009. The two very specialists are Chris Radisich (NZ) third in 2008, again third in 2009 and fifth in 2010 with a maximum of 163 laps; and "Piki" van Rossem (B) first in 2008, second in 2009 and first in 2010, with a maximum of 166 laps [that's not the race record as Desmond Dekker (NL) won with 171 laps in 2009.]
The race started in a disastrous way for the defending world champion, having started on the slow red lane. After two segment "Piki" was only fifth, with Chris Radisich leading James Cleave, Jonathan Forsyth and Jozef Miskolci. Reyes, Szalai and "Javi" Checa were victims of crashes on wild deslottings. At mid-race the new leader, James Cleave, had achieved only 81 laps, not enough to do better than what Brian Saunders did at heat C. With two segments left, Chris Radisich dropped in the standings from second into fourth place, now headed by James Cleave, Jozef Miskolci and "Piki". Average pace of the leaders after six segments, all three with an equal number of laps, oscillated between 162 and 163 laps after the eight segments. So chances were raising that Brian Saunders, having drawn the slowest car of the lot, should be the eventual winner. During the one but last segment "Piki" could catch the lead, taking one full lap over James Cleave and Jozef Miskolci, with Chris Radisich following one lap further and Jonathan Forsyth one more. "Piki" had to finish his race on the slow white lane, so he could fear to be passed by Cleave. However he maintained the lead until the finish. There it appeared that he had realised one lap more than Saunders. As Cleave finished at a couple of metres from the finish line, he too realised a longer distance than the heo of the race: Saunders who was eventually third.

GIGANTEN PARTY ROUNDS #3-#5, BARCELONA (E), July 20, 2011 [IOC Rank 2 - No Classics >12 pros]

RADISICH & URSANER DOMINATE GIGANTEN PARTY

NDW built them wonderful... illegal cars - Of the 10 Niemas cars only 1 competitive (Szalai's)

23rd BENELUX CUP, GIGANTEN PARTY #1, BARCELONA (E), July 19, 2011 [IOC Classic Rank 1 - >12 pros]

RADISICH BEATS HORN AND CLEAVE

Dirk Baele wins a poorly attended race among the semi-pros

What should have been splendid racing for fun - the Giganten Party - was already a nightmare days before the start. Michael Niemas, who had to prepare 10 cars, could only finish 2 of them (the Porsche 917PA for Ladislav Szalai and the Porsche 908-03 for James Cleave) properly. Niemas tried during several weeks to reach by phone Jorg Obermoser, where he wished to order the delivery of the 2 McLarens M8F and a McLaren M8E. Only 8 days before the event Niemas was informed that Obermoser had closed definitively his shop and that he refused to sell the masters. So at the very last minute it was decided to replace the McLarens M8F & M8E by the Niemas Racecars McLaren M12. There was no more time for a proper set-up. All went so much in a hurry that Niemas delivered the cars without mirrors and without fire extinguisher. For 5 other cars the drama was that Niemas received from Jens Scale Racing - 5 Porsches 917-10TC - the drama was even more complete. The bodies arrived 5 days before the race. The set-up far beneath what is normally done by Niemas. 8 of the 10 cars were unable to compete seriously with as victims Brian Saunders, "Piki" van Rossem, Youri van Rossem, Jozef Miskolci, Jonathan Forsyth, J-P van Rossem and Terry Schmid. One car, assembled for Howie Ursaner, was not to be used as Howie, just as Chris Radisich received from NDW a RTR car. The difference in speed between the NDW version of the #6 Porsche 910-10TC was 0.45 seconds per lap! To make the drama complete Ursaner and Radisich received from NDW complete illegal cars. The chassis, a DoSlot variant, had been cut, due to the small wheelbase of the p-Porsches 917-10TC, what is strictly forbidden by the rule book. Moreover NDW cut the rear spoiler of the 917-10TC and replaced it by a hyper light lexan version. Normally both cars should have been simply refused by the scrutineers, but as this was not Howie's or Chris's fault, that could not be done. So the race direction could do nothing else than letting them be started, knowing in advance that such illegal cars should win without problems the 2 first places at the 5 rounds!

20th EURONATS SPRINT, GIGANTEN PARTY #1, BARCELONA (E), July 19, 2011 [IOC Classic Rank 1 - >12 pros]

HOWIE URSANER WINS AT HIS BIRTHDAY

Second win for NDW prepared car - Niemas cars not competitive enough

The five rounds among the pros were won by Chris Radisich (3) and Howie Ursaner (2), without any proud of them both, because they understood very well that they won with complete illegal cars. Nevertheless the two good Niemas cars - those of Ladislav Szalai and James Cleave - were during the 3 last rounds never more than 2 laps down to the illegal NDW bolides. Yannik Horn, showing with his own car, in a set-up of Ralph Seif, finished the 4 last races always 1 to 3 laps behind the illegal cars. "Piki's" car was unable to do more than 188 laps, despite no deslots, being continuously 5 to 7 laps slower than the winners. Round after round the car finished lower in the standings: still 4th at round #1 it came no further than 8th at round #5. The car of Brian Saunders finished 6th at all 5 rounds, also unable to be part of a fair fight.
Among the semi-pros Dirk Baele finished 3 times as winner, finishing a couple of times within the top-10, enough to collect the necessary points to move from semi-pro to pro. He drove a splendid McLaren M20 that - without the fanatism of the Spanish voters - should always had won Concourse. Now the 4 first places at Concourse went all to Spanish racers with as top-4 Antonio Ortega, Angel Arcarons, Francès Paris and Alvaro Sarabia. Baele's splendid McLaren M20 was only 5th at Concourse. The 2 rounds not won by Baele at the semi-pros went to Alvaro Sarabia (13th at round #4 with a beautiful Ferrari 512M) and to Antonio Ortega (15th at round #5). Entry by semi-pros was far under what organisers promised. Only 10 of the 20 subscribing Spaniards did show.

11. 12H RENNEN TRIER, TRIER (D), AUGUST 5-6, 2011 [IOC Rank 3 - 8 pros]

AUSTRIAN TEAM WINS TRIER 12HOURS

5. LE MANS LEGENDEN, HAMBURG (D), APRIL 9-10, 2011 [No IOC Rank 2 - <8 pros]

DE WACHTER/ORTMANN/LAUFENBERG JAG XJR9 WINS

April 11, 2011 - Kay Ossenbruggen organised for the 5th time his Le Mans Legenden, this time for 1989 Le Mans cars. That's certainly a good choice, because except for the 3.0tt Courage Compétition-March 88S and for the 6.0 Aston Martin AMR1 all top-13 cars of LM'89 exist as 1/24th models. Parkes had the ambition to release for his team the Courage Compétition #32 March 88s, a car which didn't finish at the 1/1 LM. But why not having made the #113 having finished 14th O.A. and as winner of C2. I think that Ossenbruggen is the lonely one who, one day, will organise the perfect model car race. What do I understand when I say perfect model car race? It's a race with N entrants (N ³ 16) where all entered model cars have finished in the 1/1 race at the N first places. At the 5th LL there were 13 starting teams. Unfortunately only 10 models of 1/1 race cars having entered in the top-13 were present: the #63 5.0tt Mercedes Sauber C9 (1st), the #61 5.0tt Mercedes Sauber C9 (2nd), the #9 Joest Racing 3.0t Porsche 962LH (3rd), , the #8 3.0t Blaupunkt Porsche 962LH (6th), the # 201 2.6 rotor Mazda 767B (7th), the #4 Silk Cut TWR 7.0 Jaguar XJR-9 (8th), the #202 2.6 rotor Mazda 767B (9th), the #16 Brun Motorsport 3.0t Porsche 962LH (10th) and the #55 Team Schuppan 3.0t Porsche 962LH (13th). Missing in the top-14 were the #1 Silk Cut TWR 7.0 Jaguar XJR-9 (4th), the #62 5.0tt Mercedes Sauber C9 (5th),  the #18 6.0 Aston Martin AMR1 (11th), the #24 Nissan Motorsport 3.5 Nissan R89C (12th; so why entering the #23 sister car having been retired?).  I hope that in 2012 Kay Ossenbruggen will again organise 6th LL for 1989 cars. Then I can enter a #18 Aston Martin AMR (11th) for "Piki"/Niemas/Dohogne and a #171 Team Mako 3.3 Spice SE88C (16th) for Saunders/Cleave/Stephenson. For pics of ALL 1989 Le Mans cars click here. That should make at least six pros more. Is it not a pity that only seven pros started for such fantastic race as the 5th Le Mans Legenden? Seven pros that is one short (cf. art 1.6 of the IMCA Rule Book) to speak about an IOC event of level 3. Next year it must be possible to go for an IOC event of level 1 if we can convince Hugo Dekker/Desmond Dekker/Marcel Oosterling to enter a car, and some other pro (e.g. Kai Kivekäs) to enter also a car. Races as the Le Mans Legenden come so close to true model car racing, to perfect model car racing, that they deserve the highest level as IOC event.

The 5th Le Mans Legenden race in Hamburg has been completely dominated by the #4 TWR Silcut Jaguar XJR-9. The car was driven by the trio Nick de Wachter (NL), Alexan-der Ortmann (D) and Andreas Laufenberg (D). Already after the first of six sections the brand new Jaguar, having never been raced, even not serious tested before the start, took 14 laps over the #16 Brun Motorsport Porsche 962LH, shared by Matthias Parke, Jens Badenkopf & Rüdiger Krieger; and the #14 Lloyds Cabin Porsche 962C of Gerd van de Wiel, Dirk Strottman & Ralf Rieger. The three Sauber C9 Mercedes cars disappointed. The fastest of them, the #63, driven by Stefan Washow, T. Lemmerman & Mario Gnichwitz. was still fourth after the first section, but dropped in the standings to the sixth place after four sections, to pass during the one but last section the Mazda 767C of Fola Osu, Gabe Inäbnit & Tamar Nelwan, who lost two places during the fifth section, but could take one back during the last section, so that they finished 6th O.A. One Sauber C9, the one of Mario Kreim even did not start. The other Sauber C9, the #61, was continuously among the back benchers and finished one but last.
Already after the second section it became obvious that none of the six Porsches 962C were able to follow the Jaguar setting the pace. So we saw a struggle for the second place among three Porsches: the #14 Richard Lloyd Cabin Porsche, the #55 Team Schuppan Porsche of Joachim Jansen/Jens Herden/Frank Penning and the #16 Brun Motorsport Porsche 962LH. Positions of those three cars switched from section to section. Until mid-race there was good hope that the #16 Porsche of Parke could hold off the two other Porsches. In the last two sections the #14 and #55 Porsches let the #16 Porsche far behind and now the struggle for second place was a brother battle between the Porsche of Gerd van de Wiel and the #55 Porsche of Joachim Jansen. After three sections the Lloyds Cabin Porsche #14 headed the #55 Team Schuppan Porsche by three laps, but at the one fourth section the blue and white #55 Australian Porsche passed the red #14 Cabin Porsche, heading the Lloyds car by ... one lap. During the last two sections, however, the #14 Lloyds Cabin Porsche took four laps over the #55 Schuppan Porsche, finishing as fine second, but 66 laps down to the #4 untouchable Jaguar of De Wachter, Ortmann  and Laufenberg. [JPVR]

OEPS #2 GOTHENBURG (S) APRIL 2-3, 2011 [IOC Rank 2 >12 pros]

NOCKEMANN AND SCHNITZLER AGAIN TOO STRONG

The best Swedish team with f.l.t.r. Torgny Norden (S), Mark Campbell (CDN) and Lasse Torn (S). Normally Lars Harrysson was expected to join the team, but as race director that was quite impossible.

April 6, 2011 - Only 32 racers, spread over 13 teams, showed for the second round of the OEPS Series at the for slot-racers legendary Gothenburg. Indeed, the real first world championship for slot cars was organised in 1978. Winner was Joel Montague (USA), mr. Camen. One team, having announced its entry - the team of Peter Plug and Milko Tenthof - did not show. The race started with one minute silence for Glenn Wennerberg, who passed away in March. Qualifications were dominated by three teams. TQ went in 6"931 to Plastikquäler, ahead over No Limits with 6"938 and Slotfabrik with 7"063. Gabe Inäbnit's Acura/Metris disappointed at the sixth place in 7"243. There were 13 pro-drivers at the start, just enough for an IOC race of level 2. Missing pros were Thomas Nötzel, Andreas Laufenberg, Stephan Bolz, Yannick Horn, Björn van Campenhout and Matthias Parke. In the team of Rolf Andersen Charles Dresberg was missing. The hope that several Scandinavian racers should have shown was not justified: there was even not a team from Finland and except for Old Friends there were no new comers. During practice Inäbnit destroyed his best car, so that the R.I.C.H. team had to start with its spare car.
The new motors, now of make Scaleauto, were certainly no improvement. No less than 24 of them burnt out, so that organisers had to lower power, but then cars had nearly no more brakes. I think that the problems with the ProSlot motors, used at OEPS #1, were due to the fact that one used the version without ball bearings. For endurance races the version with ball bearings is much more reliable than the version without ball bearings.
After the first day section it became obvious what a fantastic chassis builder Sebastian Nockemann is. Add to that the fact that he is an excellent racer, just as his team mate Christian Schnitzler, and one understands that they are just unbeatable with their special DoSlot OEPS chassis. Second was the duo Nick de Wachter/Tobias Münchberger, already 18 laps down. The R.I.C.H. team of Gabriel Inäbnit with the world champions Michael Niemas and "Piki" van Rossem moved from the sixth place on the grid to the third place, at 22 laps. The Audi R15, of Peter Oberbillig/Alexander Ortmann having had very bad luck at OEPS #1, dropped from rank 2 at the start to rank 4, following already at 35 laps. The Pescarolo of the Fola Osu team was fifth after the first day section at 50 laps from the leading Kolles Audi R10 TDI. Difficult start for the duo Borge Haug/Marcel Oosterling, dropping from rank 5 to rank 6, but already at 93 laps.
The night section was quite disastrous for the Patron Acura of the R.I.C.H. team, loosing now 41 laps on the leaders, being passed by the the No Limits Audi R15 TDI, now in third position, 8 laps down to Nick de Wachter's Peugeot 908 being always second, but now already at 45 laps from the sovereign leaders (Plastikquäler) and their Audi R10 TDI. We witnessed some excellent close racing when Piki and Tobias raced full fifteen minutes nose to tail without the smallest deslotting.

Starting the last section top-10 positions were: 1. Nockemann/Schnitzler 2812.95 laps, 2. De Wachter/Münchberger at 45 laps, 3. Ortmann/Oberbillig at 53 laps, 4. Van Rossem/Niemas/Inäbnit at 63 laps, 5. Osu/Lindberg/Munten at 129 laps, 6. Haug/ Oosterling at 178 laps, 7. Jochem/Haase/Moes at 184 laps, 8. Norgaard/Thom-pson/Hofler at 206 laps, 9. Campbell/Harrysson/Nordgren at 237 laps, 10. Andersen/ Bråten/Dresberg at 331 laps.
During the second and last day section motors are slowing down, and the leading car is found at several occasions immobile in the pits. The car setting the pace is now the fluo-green Patron Acura of Van Rossem/Niemas/Inäbnit, where each of the drivers drive the car now at the highest driving skill. Just after Piki had moved up into second position there was again a great fight for second place between him and Tobias. When Piki deslotted Nick de Wachter was alone to shout with joy - not directly very sportmanslike. It was enough to stimulate Piki and to take three laps from Nick's car.
With the last segment to go Piki was still in second, three laps over the Ortmann/Ober-billig car, that had passed the De Wachter/Münchberger car for the third place. Piki was now at the slowest lane, so it seemed impossible for him to maintain the second place against such top racer as Alex Ortmann. Nevertheless he drove the R.I.C.H. car superbly finishing at the chequered flag 26 lap sections ahead over the No Limits car. After having heard from NDW that he's just good at IMCA races he gave full evidence that he can beat anyone if you give him a good car. The R.I.C.H. car was fastest in the last section, taking 10 laps back from the Ortmann/Oberbillig car, 35 from the Plastikquäler car and 22 from the NDW Kimmy Peugeot 908. So, at the finish the R.I.C.H. car was 28 laps down to the winning Plastikquäler car, having been outstanding. Difference between second and fourth was less than four laps.
At the prize giving NDW seemed not happy with his team mate, who lost the second and the third place. Nevertheless it was a congenial happening where only two complaints were heard. The first concerned the new motors, being disastrous. The second concerned the stints. Some racers believed that the OEPS rule book stipulates that all racers have to do an equal number of stints, but that is not true. Equal stints are NOT in the OEPS rules. So the second complaint was not correct.
Bad luck for the Badet team of Haug/Oosterling, loosing its sixth place to the Racing for Julia Team of Peter Jochem, Marcus Haase and Michael Moes. That team had a very difficult start but succeeded to take during the last section 20 laps back from the Haug/Oosterling team, so that it finished sixth overall. The all-Danish team of Gorm Nørgaard/Søren Thompson/Christian Høfler finished 8th overall, heading the team of Mark Campbell and his two Swedish team mates Lasse Torn and Torgny Nordgren. Fine race on behalf of Rudi Munten, who was the fastest racer in Fola's team, having finished as fifth overall. [JPVR] Click HERE for a German report by Gabe Inäbnit.

OEPS #1 SWISSTAL-HEIMERSHEIM (D) FEBRUARI 12-13, 2011 [IOC Rank 2 - 19 pros]

NOCKEMANN, SCHNITZLER, NÖTZLER TOO STRONG

April 6, 2011 - With 82 entrants, spread over 29 teams, the curtain raiser of the 2011 OEPS Series was certainly a major success. There were 19 pros at the start. Should there have been one more it should have been one of the rare IOC events of rank 1, going after 30 points for the winner (instead of 20). Most used chassis is the NDW Kimmy of Nick de Wachter, against 5 Metris MkIV and only 2 Slotfabrik and 2 Plafit SLP2. The starters field can be divided in two groups. The first group consists out of the 12 cars having trusted the 12 first places. The 17 other teams were back benchers, not because they were driven by poor racers, but because their preparation lacked far behind the 12 top cars. One car is so magnificently prepared by Sebastian Nockemann that nobody else could dream even one second about winning. Biggest surprise came from the German amateurs team with Gerd Schumacher (D), Martijn de Kanter (NL) and Heinz-Peter Schumacher (D) as drivers. With their well tuned LRD Int'l chassis they finished as runners-up to the outstanding Plastikquäler team of Sebastian Nockemann, Christian Schnitzler and Thomas Nötzel, driving a Kolles Audi R10 TDI. As the third place went to the Audi R10 TDI of Andreas Laufenberg and Stephan Bolz, we found three German cars at the three first places and, except for Martijn de Kanter, nothing but German racers on the podium. Biggest deception came from the Audi R15 TDI of Alexander Ortmann and Peter Oberbillig. Two teams having been classified under their intrinsic value are those of Gabriel Inäbnit (a Patron Acura with Michael Niemas and Tamar Nelwan as co-drivers) and of Nick de Wachter (a Peugeot 908 with Tobias Münchberger as co-driver). They finished res. 4th at 58 laps and 5th at 65 laps. The two drivers of North-Germany, normally contesting with success the DSC Cup - Mattias Parke and Gerd van de Wiel - finished low among the back benchers. Parke's car, shared with ex-Le Mans winner Frank Biela - could have finished as 11th or 12th without a disastrous last section. Now Parke's car came no further than 23rd, Van de Wiel's one but last: 28th on 29.

The second half of the results table is in broad lines made up by six Belgian cars and three Dutch cars. Struggle for place 13 went between six cars. Here the German Slotcraft team of Gerd Westerhausen was four laps ahead over Campbell's car and the Datstreded car of Rolf Andersen.  Three laps dow we found the Sloefspeed car of rhe Belgians Van Campenhout-Vanspauwen Baele, leading the second Belgian car of Robert Massart by another three laps and the Plug-Tenthof car by six laps.
Some remarks.
1. The results have certainly be influenced by the wrong choice of motor type. The ProSlot without ball bearings is not appropriated for long distance races on a track with heavy braking. Those motors loose a percentage of their power from section to section. For endurance races where there is a long interval between the runs of each section one needs at least motors with ball bearings.
2. A new type of motor has been proposed for rounds #2 and #3. It's the yellow Scaleauto SC0015 Tech 2. Those motors are no longer for sale since 2009. They are not available at the normal distributors. Those who received already a motor to test have a terrible advantage over those who received not such motor. It makes free practice unfair for all those who have not already received such motor. [The new motor has already be used by 13 teams at OEPS #2 in Gothenburg. Teams having been absent there, will have a serious disadvantage at OEPS #3. How to defend this position??? Nobody can prepare a car without own motor. But the new motor is no longer for sale. Crazy, no?]
3. The difference between the twelve first ranked cars with a more complicated set-up than the slower cars with a less complicated set-up is certainly no publicity for model car racing. One risks to loose several of those teams in the two coming rounds. Why not introducing a formula with two types of cars: LMP cars for the teams with a thorough knowledge how to set up a professional OEPS car, and GT1/GT2 cars for the less experienced teams, so that the back benchers can fight for a victory in the subclass.