Ranking of Model Car Racers

Model Car Races 2006

Model Car Races 2005

Model Car Races 2004

Model Car Races 2003

Model Car Races 2002

Model Car Races 2001

Model Car Races 2000

Ranking of model car racers on May 21, 2007

1st GT 12 HOURS GRAND PRIX, OSLO (N) - February 2-3, 2007 (IOC-RACE)

WENNERBERG, HAUG, BRÅTHEN, TORGVAER

April 19, 2009 - During years we assimilated slot-racing in Norway with their best international racer, Egil Aksnes. We had not the smallest knowledge about model car racing in Norway. And then, at once, some guys, totally unknown to the rest of the world, decided to organise ... in the real mid of the winter ... a 12 hour race, the Oslo 12 Hour Grand Prix. Since they announced that their race went under international IMCA rules - i.e. with bodies of actual FIA GT cars, with modern ProSlot Mk1 motors and with handout wheels - racers with international fame were at once interested to make the difficult trip to Northern Europe. From Spain Alvaro Sarabia showed with two team mates, from Switzerland Gabriel Inäbnit was present, from Holland Tamar Nelwan with three team mates, from Denmark Henrik Hasager with two team mates, from Sweden Lasse Jansson with two team mates. That means six different nations present for a first edition. Let's compare with the with much sound of trumpets announced Le Mans Legenden, where hardly 3 nations showed, and that only thanks to the presence of Tamar Nelwan & Co. The first time what happened was discriminating their splendid Jaguars at concourse by refusing them a 20. The second time what happened was giving them a 15 lap penalty before the start on demand of always the same guy, the Chief Rabbi of German Slot-Racing (yes, I hate that guy, in my eyes is the perfect looser).

But what a difference in Oslo: congenial guys not dictating their own rules. No guys only able to win under those own ridiculous rules making them being victorious on their stupid own tracks (a 5-laner, imagine!), but guys accepting an open competition under international rules accepted by all countries except for the aftermath of the Chief Rabbi. Here no yackety-jack of combined race points and pure arbitrary concourse points, but just fair and hard competition on laps and only on laps. So, should it wonder that the Norwegian guys booked success at their real first event, whilst the Le Mans Legenden was nothing more than a local Rundum der Turm race with Bratwürsten und Bier. Compare 4 small strangers at Hamburg with 13 at Oslo, 3 nations against 6 nations.

Organiser was the local Badet Club on a brand new wooden 6-laner, not such horrible home track as you find them in North-Germany, but a fair track for all entrants. Fastest qualifiers were the Honda NSX cars of Wennerberg in 5"947 and of Vandaas in 5"975, followed by the Dutch Aston Martin DBR, the Maserati of Henrik Hasager and the Spanish Aston Martin DBR9 of Alvaro Sarabia. The Dutch came to Oslo with two RTR Astons. Eventually they opted for their Phoenix Racing one, having been already raced at the six warm-up races of the Barcelona Worlds. The fact that the Norwegian racers were faster with their Tamiya bodied Hondas NSX gave full evidence what progress they had made since Les Neuf Heures des Vikings in Copenhagen where they started with the wrong and too heavy Riley & Scott body, finishing sixth out of nine. They also changed their M-Racing C1 chassis for res. a more reliable PlaFit chassis and a faster Schöler chassis.

Fine was that the Norwegian Sports TV Channel was present to make a report on the race. They even interviewed Tamar. The Racing for Holland Team was present in costume, just like it was in the mid-1960s. They were the main favourites. That was at least what was thaught, but the local racers around Wennerberg and his Badet #1 Team and Vandas and his Old Stars Team, proved to have made terrible progress since Copenhagen. At the end of the first day section the Honda NSX of Badet #1 was leading the Ferrari 575 GTC of Vandas and his old stars. Among the Dutch racers especially Henri van Gool had serious problems to go round without deslotting. Their Phoenix Racing Aston Martin DBR9 was in third position, but already 67 laps down to the Honda NSX setting the pace. In fourth position we found the Spanish Aston Martin DBR9 struggling with the old Porsche 911 GT2 of the Swedes.

During the night section - normally the best run for the Dutch racers - the two Norwegian teams could even increase their advantage. Before the start of the last section, again a day section, the Dutch Aston was found with a too low clearance, resulting in a 25 laps penalty. After repair during racing time the screw of the motor mount came off, but the mag-nets of the ProSlot Mk1 - a real motor, not such a toy thing which one mounts in a lady shave as the Fox - are strong enough to hold the motor in place. So Tamar decided that the body should not be taken off, but that the motor mount could be glued to the chassis. While this was done the Swedish Porsche (great race!), having passed the Spanish Aston Martin DBR9 could even move up into rank 3, passing the Dutch Aston Martin with its 25 laps penalty.

When it was obvious that they could no longer win the race the Dutch let come in their Phoenix Racing Aston Martin into the pits to adjust the jet flag. Their ambition was now to go faster than the Honda NSX of Wennerberg/Haug/ Braten/Torgvaer. Towards the end of the race they succeeded to do so but overall win went to four new stars in internatio-nal slot-racing: Glenn Wennerberg, Børge Haug, Roy Bråten and Kai Torgvær. At the finish they had a 69 laps lead over the Ferrari 575 GTC shared by Jostein Vandas/Jan Øystein Andersen/Morten Momsen/Stig-Atle Eriksen. For the moment we are not pretty familiar with their faces, but I think that I am correct when I tell you that the winners are at the highest pic on the right, that their runners-up are at the second pic, and that the three Swedes are on the third pic (above the cars). After the race everybody congratulated Wennerberg and Vandas with their excellent organisation, being one of true professionals. And since no less than ten Norwegians will show at the upcoming Worlds in November, we'll certainly be quick enough familiar with their faces. Tamar forecasts that at least one of them will reach the Main at the 17th Worlds and that Pekka Nurrkanen and Henrik Hasager will have serious problems to beat them at the Mello Yello.

A last note: this race was so internationally well organised that IMCA decided to upgrade it as an IOC-race in place of the 5L Summernight Race contested with lady shave motos. I agree, there can be no place for the Chief Rabi in int'l racing. Too many racers protested by mail to consider his little sprint race with fossi vehicles as an IOC-event. Tomorrow I'll adapt the IOC-list and the calendar. [JPVR]l

Don't worry: after the 17th IMCA World Championship and the 10th Mello Yello I'll be able to tell you precisely who is who on the above pics. At any rate, after the Oslo 12h they enjoyed everybody's admiration.

1. Glenn Wennerberg/Børge Haug/Roy Bråten/Kai Torgvær	Mobil 1 Honda NSX 1998	3399
2. Jostein Vandas/Jan Øystein Andersen/Morten Momsen/Stig-Atle Eriksen	Inno Total Ferrari 575 GTC 2004	3330
3. Christer Burström (S)/Leif Nilsson (S)/Lasse Jansson (S)	Porsche 911 GT2 1999	3203
4. Gabriel Inäbnit (CH)/Tamar Nelwan (NL)/Henri van Gool (NL)/Marcel Oosterling (NL)	Phoenix Aston Martin DBR9 2006	3180
5. Alvaro Sarabia (E)/Rafael Maestro (E)/Jesu Melgar (E)	Hypo Aston Martin DBR9 2006	3128
6. Kristian Hottran/Frank Rødahl/Anders Skar/Rune Ytterdahl	PSI Corvette CR6 2006	3113
7. Henrik Hasager (DK)/René Andersen (DK)/Oliver Andersen (DK)	Vitaphone Maserati MC12	2916
8. Lars Solli/Rolf Andersen/Tom Solberg/Alf Lærum	GLPK Corvette CR6 2006	2715
9. Tor Øvind Andersen/Harald Knutsen/Glenn Bråthen/Roy Johanessen	Raybrig Honda NSX 2001	1031

18th MERLIJN 24 HOURS, WEZENBEEK-OPPEM - March 30-31, 2007 (NO IOC RACE)

P&F Blondiau, Lerat, Martin, Toussaint win

April 18, 2007 - I noted with great pleasure that Slot-Racing Club Merlijn returned to its real roots. In the early 1980s they started to fit hard plastic bodies from static kits to motorised chassis, in a period that pure model car racing was completely death. Now, a quarter of a century later Raymond van Campenhout and his guys organised again their famous 24 hour race for real model cars. At once several racers, having stopped active racing returned. Among them Chantal Aerts, Hubert Jacob, Philippe Destrée, Philippe Laudet, etc. Most Belgian clubs were unaware of that radical change in the club's slot-racing policy, otherwise one could have seen also Speedliners at the start.
Fine too is to see that the 2004 IOC-rookie Gilles Dohogne and his dad Patrick came on the start with a resin Aston Martin DBR9. Fastest qualifier was Kristof Huys with the Ferrari 575 GTC of the local club in 7"587. From the first segment, however, it was obvious that the two Blondiaus, Stéphane Martin, Kevin Lerat and Jean-Philippe Toussaint had the best car, a Corvette C6R. They were dominating the race from start to finish. After 24 hours they had an advance of 189 laps over the Aston Martin from the two Dohognes, Hubert Jacob, Pascal Closset and Armin Reichelt, followed at 21 laps by tht TQ-ing Aston Martin DBR9. The Merlijn 24 hours with a very long tradition is THE candidate to be upgraded next year to an IOC event. Let's hope that they can convince Marc Joyeux and the Frenchies - always loyal entrants at races organised by Raymond - will find their way too to come to true model car racing. [JPVR]

1. Patrick Blondiau/Fabien Blondiau/ Stéphane Martin/Kevin Lerat/J-Ph Toussaint	Corvette C6R	8201
2. Gilles Dohogne/Patrice Dohogne/Hubert Jacob/Pascal Closset/Armin Reichelt	Aston Martin DBR9	7912
3. Björn van Campenhout/Chantal Aerts/K. Huys/T. v Ginderhuyzen/A. VandenBempt	Ferrari 575 GTC	7891
4. René Lange/Cedric Bous/Robert Massart/Didier Vandamme	Saleen S7R	7886
5. Grégoire Hans/Brébois/Brébois/Jamme	Ferrari 575 GTC	7804
6. Patrick Gosset/Louise Valkenborgh/Alain Loyens/Philippe Masuy/Patrick Frère	Corvette CR6	7742
7. Van den Hove Gunther/Jo de Grote/Sélim van der Straeten/Kristof Eneman/J.Stragier	Ferrari 575 GTC	7721
8. Fabrice/Ignace/Michael/Steven/Gunther	Corvette CR5	7601
9. Dirk Baele/Gerry de Roeck	Porsche 996GT3/RSR	7331
10. Philippe Destrée/Philippe Laudet/Adrien Laudet/Pascal Dohy	PSI Corvette CR6	7243

1st LE MANS LEGENDEN, HAMBURG (D) - April 13-14, 2007 (NO IOC RACE)

BÖHLENDORF/KRIEGER WIN ON PLAFIT

April 15 - The SCR Hamburg organised this week-end an interesting international race with legend Le Mans Group C cars (period 1984-1992). There was a good entry with 38 racers from 3 different countries. The two Dutch Jaguar teams came to win, but received even for the start a 15 laps sanction since their front wheels were not regu-lar. After one quarter of the race TQ-ing Jaguar XJR8 was leading the two Dutch Jaguars by 2 laps. Krieger's Porsche was only 7th at 9 laps. At mid-race, however, his 956 was already leading with the Jaguar XJ12 of Nick in the same lap. During the third heat the two Dutch Jaguars lost again from Krieger's 956, so that the difference was already 4 laps. Parke was fastest during the last heat but failed to catch the 956 of Krieger and Böhlendorf. On coming home the Dutch racers were extremely pleased by the subtle sense for humour of their hosts. It's always appreciated if
one na
mes a Dutch camper simply a "Wohn-wagen", even more if one asks a Swiss guy living in Holland how he could be so stupid to do so; especially for Nick they were extremely friendly by telling their public that once he won some world championship. That four other won world titles were forgotten was the pointe of the humour boys. Good humour North-German humour, one should admit! Why? Just so. It's their nature to show the rest of the world that among all Nette Jungs, they are by far the "nettest".

1. Marc Böhlendorf/Rüdiger Krieger	Porsche 956	1003.39
2. Matthias Parke/Stefan Wiesel	Jaguar XJR8	993.16
3. Johannes Breiding/Mario Scharre	Porsche 962C	988.74
4. Jens Badenkopf/Jürgen Stüdemann	Sauber-Merced C9	981.25
5. N de Wachter/G Inäbnit (15 laps pen.)	Jaguar XJR12	972.49
6. Mathias Schwabel/Raimund Frolik	Porsche 962C	966.15
7. Thomas Schröter/Gunnar Horn	Mercedes C9	962.38
8. Jörn Bender/Stephan Wulf	Porsche 956	961.81
9. W Kloppenburg/T Nelwan (15 laps p.)	Jaguar XJR14	960.31
10. Jürgen Janke/Ralph Rieger	Porsche 956	942.14
Since one of my kids is specialist in puzzling it was even possible to publish a "normal" result. All you had to know was that the entry list was on some hidden local place. The very way to please international racers. Organisers were very happy with that excellent international show (3 countries present and that at the very first edition). There can be no doubt that the race will be again organised next year. The formula is interesting since most bodies can be found in simple hard plastic kits. This year some better teams showed with resin bodies. To be followed. But then by others, not by me, cause I nearly died from laughing with such taste for subtle humour. [JPVR]

The two splendid Jaguars of Racing for Holland were assembled a few hours before the start. Although they are looking great, they received only 15 and 16 concourse points from the German jury. Although the rules say nothing that the SLP Plafit chassis should be forbidden, the race direction disagreed with the front suspension of the cars. After it was obvious that the two splendid Dutch Jaguars could not be refused for that, the Germans found another reason to punish them. Although the front wheels of the cars were 5mm wide, they found that the tread of the front tyres was too narrow. So the Dutch cars were sanctioned with 15 laps even before the start. It's always the same problem with German racers. Alone on the world they refuse to follow the internatio-nal rules respected in all other countries. They created their proper rules. Whilst all other nations use the ProSlot Mk1 motor of Dan Debella, the Germans use the powerless Fox motors. Then they fail to understand why no first class internationals show at their meetings. It's a fact that Nelwan & Co showed only at Hamburg to make a deal: "We come to your race, so now we hope that you come end June to our race at Alsdorf to run under international rules." It didn't work, since Parke already said he should pass ...to have a look on it. That shows their hyper nationalist spirit. Tamar & Co try to safe the Euregio track at Alsdorf and count on the Germans to race on it before it's sold or destroyed. It should be wiser to contact the guys for who this track was built: the Germans, Dutchmen and Belgians from the Euregio (Urtrack, Eupen, Diepenbeek, Merlijn, etc). And they, they drive modern cars with real motors.

Meanwhile the winner, Rüdiger Krieger - it was the first win of his long career - maintains on his web site that he never more wishes to enter IMCA races, since all what IMCA does is wrong, is poor, is junk, is worthless. Let Krieger enter a world champion's race with equal arms, and never he'll reach the Semis. So what's the value of such win? Above a pic of Krieger's winning Porsche. It was certainly the best prepared car at the start. Although officially a "work's car" it was not using the MoMo chassis, but a simple PlaFit chassis. [JPVR]

1st SOUTH-AFRICAN MODEL CAR NATS, DURBAN (RSA) - April 27-8, 07 (NO IOC RACE)

JAN ROESTORF IN THE ROLE OF HAWKEYE

May 2, 2007 - Thanks to the efforts of Al Paterson and his friends model car comes in the picture in South-Africa. Up to now only sale racing and 1/32 plastic racing were popular, but after excellent perfor-mances at the Barcelona Worlds (by Paterson himself having won the modeler's world championship, and by Gustav Heymann having won the EuroNats) model car racing is growing in the South of Africa. It's not already the type of model car racing as we know it from the rest of the world since they race lexan bodies instead of hard plastic, resin or GFK bodies. Main reason for that is the weak position of the national cur-rency: prices asked for some resin bodies are completely out of budget of the most racers. A way out could have been racing Tamiya JGTC or Autobacs Super GT bodies having the advantage that they are relative-ly cheap, that they are easy to assemble, and above all that they are fully legal, what's not the case with most handcraft resin bodies on the black market.

South-African racing is above all linked to the country's great past in racing. That past that remains the Springbok Series where top racers from England, Australia, Belgium and Holland were present with very attractive cars as the Ferrari 512M, the Ferrari 330 P4, the Ferrari 250 LM, the Ferrari 250 GTO, the Ford GT40, the Lola T70 Spyder and T70 Mk3 GT, the Ferrari 312P, the Porsche 917, the Porsches 906, 907, 908 and 910, the Ferrari Dino 206S, the Mirage Ford, etc. More info about the former Springbok series can be found here and here. Since most of those cars exist in the cheap lexan version, it was decided that only lexan copies of former Springbok cars were allowed to enter. Then you expect that someone should have entered at least an Elfin or a GSM Dart (typical South-African cars existing in lexan at scale 1/24th), but nothing of that. Instead two top racers showed with the Sunoco Ferrari 512M having been never raced at the Springbok Series. Some other showed with a horrible Mirage M1 in the wrong colours. None of the Porsches 906 was in correct colours. Although two of the four races were called a model car version of the famous Kyalami 9 Hours not half of the cars were true Springbok cars. However it was a first attempt to promote model car racing in the country and it deserves all our respect. Perhaps they should learn how to laminate lexan bodies. Once they manage those technique the quality of the bodies can be strongly improved.

After Rudi Oldendaal won concourse, one started the first of the four races. Coming from Australia Jan Roestdorf was the fastest man on the track, the Paul Hawkins of the meeting, but unfortunately not with Hawkeye's Team Guston Ferrari 350 P4 Canam, but with the Sunoco Ferrari 512 having won ... the Sebring 12 hours. Craig Strydom with the correct Hawkeye machinery was runner-up and Paul Erlo on another Sunoco Ferrari third. Of the other entrants only young Tyrone Strydom on a Porsche 917 could follow the three leaders. Annetje Walburg - also responsible for the catering - caused a stir by finishing a fine fifth at the first race. The second race was again fully dominated by Jan Roestorf, now finishing ahead over Craig Strydom and Paul Erlo. Since Tyrone Strydom was delayed with technical woes fourth place went now to Dave Greer with ... an orange McLaren M8 of the Canam series instead of the Springbok series.

The cocourse winning Porsche 917K of Rudi Oldendaal and the unforgetable Ferrari 350P4 (ex-Canam) of Craig Strydom. With the last car Paul Haw-kins won in 1968 three rounds out of five of the Springbok Series.

Australia's Jan Roestorf - a former RSA citizen - with Ferrari t-shirt receives his prize from Al Paterson. I have no explanation why Gustav Heyman was absent at the meeting. Why he refuses to promote model car racing in his country?

Although Al Paterson was one of the favourites to win this first South-African Nats, he lost all his chances in the first minutes of the first race after a crash ruining his chassis. In the third race he tried a spare car, offering him the fourth place, but the race was won for the third consecutive time by the unbeatable Jan Roestorf. For Craig Strydom, this race was a disaster. A long pit stop made that he dropped from second into seventh posity, so that in the provisional standings he was passed by Paul Erlo, winning the wild card for the 19th IMCA Worlds. The last race changed no more the standings and was again won by Roelof, now with Tyrone Strydom as runner-up. [JPVR]
racer	car	Con-course	#1	#2	#3	#4	Total
1. Jan Roestorf	Sunoco Ferrari 512M	18	20	20	20	20	98
2. Paul Erlo	Sunoco Ferrari 512M	11	16	16	18	14	75
3. Craig Strydom	Guston Ferrari 350P4	14	18	18	8	16	74
4. Tyrone Strydom	Sandeman Porsche 917K	6	14	6	16	18	60
5. Dave Greer	McLaren M8A	5	8	14	10	12	49
6. Carel van Heerden	Porsche 906	6	10	10	12	10	48
7. Annetje Walburgh	Porsche 917K	5	12	12	2	2	33
8. Johan vd Merwe	Lucky Strike Porsche 917K	17	2	5	5	3	32
9. Rudi Odendaal	Gunston Porsche 917K	20	5	2	2	2	31
10. Allan White	Gunston Porsche 917K	5	6	8	6	6	31
11. Mac Oldendaal	Ferrari 312PB	17	2	2	2	4	27
12. Al Paterson	Hippie Porsche 917K	8	2	2	14	2	26
13. Jock Dennill	Guston Lola T70 Spyder	9	4	4	4	5	26
14. Mike Wilkerson	Sunoco Lola T70 Mk3 GT	2	2	2	3	8	17
15. Costa Psannis	Mirage M1 (the horrible)	7	2	2	2	2	15
16. Shane Warburgh	Porsche 908	4	2	2	2	2	12
17. Rusty Hornsby	Ford GT40	2	3	2	2	2	11
18. Alwyn Burger	Porsche 908	2	2	2	2	2	10

1st CANADIAN GRAND PRIX, TORONTO (CDN) - May 12, 2007 (NO IOC RACE)
CAMPBELL, CZERWONY & KOO WINNERS
May 20, 2007 - In Canada Mark Campbell and Ernie Mosetti are working hard to promote model car racing. For the Canadian Grand Prix Mark prepared six identical Corvettes of Carrera on a Schöler chassis equipped with the ProSlot Mk1 motor. Here follows the report on the race we received. It became clear during the one hour team practice prior to the start of the race that the 2007 Corvette Challenge would be extremely close and the Team logistics of who could best drive the more demanding inner and outer lanes at ‘race pace’ may end up becoming the deciding factor. All six Corvette C6R’s (along with a backup car to avoid the possibility of delaying the race) where performing equally, a perfect spec race that would be all about driving the duration with as much consistency as possible. The Villeneuve Road Course is a tight circuit and has little more than 10cm of lane spacing, so the race start going into the first turn and at least the first few laps require a steady hand and some careful handling until the cars start to get a bit of space between them. The opening challenge comes back to the drivers in attempting to lap cars that can often require two to three laps of close following to attempt a safe pass on an inside lane. After the first round of six heats and a full rotation of all team drivers, 5 of the 6 teams remained with 2 laps of each other and three of the teams had best lap times within 2 one thousands of a second. With the cars so evenly matched, the race looked wide open. However by the mid point of the race (heat 18) the three leading teams that would eventually find themselves on the podium surfaced with Team Goodbody (836 laps), Team Plachecki 2 (835 laps) and Team Campbell (834 laps) in first through third positions respectively. Team Walker in fourth place was only seven laps back with their leader Chris Walker the only racer to break 48 laps in a heat to that stage of the race and the racer that would eventually post the fastest lap of the race. By mid race the track surface had also settled in and the Proslot motors where hitting their stride as lap times overall dropped by 2 tenths with the lead racers pushing to go under 6 seconds. Team Goodbody took a two lap lead at the end of heat 22 that they were able to maintain until heat 30 with Team Campbell and Team Plachecki trading second place from heat to heat. With a two lap lead going into the final round of 6 heats it looked as though Team Goodbody had the race, but Team Campbell took back a lap on heat 31 and another on heat 32 to come even with Goodbody going in to heat 34. On heat 34, Team Campbell with Peter Czerwony pulling the trigger on green lane drove a flawless heat as Team Goodbody encountered traffic and deslotted putting Team Campbell ahead by a little more than a lap.
		The last two heats would determine the winner with both Team Leaders, Mark Campbell and Brad Goodbody facing off. On lap 35 Campbell found himself with some back markers and no chance for a safe pass and Goodbody was able to make up the better part of a lap. Going into the final heat, the win was still open as Goodbody found himself on the fast green lane and Campbell was left to drive his last heat on the tight inside yellow lane. Lap by lap, Goodbody was clawing back the lead however Campbell was able to push the yellow lane to within .011s of Goodbody’s lap times. As both racer’s entered the final minute of the heat, it was clear that Campbell needed to continue his pace and not deslot. A collision between some backmarkers in the final few seconds of the heated threatened the result, however Team Campbell hung on to take the win by a little less than 2 meters over Team Goodbody (see image SRC_Corvette_14.jpg). A duel to the finish after 3 hours and 1680 laps of racing! The final place on the podium went to Team Plachecki 2 seven laps back of the leaders. The 2007 Corvette Challenge will go into the record books as great race and a pivotal event. Canadian Model Car Racing has been running for many, many years on a club level however this was the first major event held by Scale Racing Canada to IMCA specifications . . . and also one of the best! The next major SRC event will be the RACE FOR HOPE to be held on Saturday, December 15, 2007. The RACE FOR HOPE will be a special event to race money for the Children’s Wish Fund, a great charity organization that grants a special wish to chronically ill children. LEFT PICTURE: Mark Campbell (right) and his co-driver Peter Czerwony. Roger Kroo is missing on the pic.
Teams: Registration was open to a total of 18 drivers on a first come basis. The top 6 drivers (based on previous racing history) were selected as Team Leaders (indicated below with an asterisks). The remaining 12 drivers where drawn randomly and assigned to each of 6 teams on a sequential basis and without preference as follows, Final Results: 1. Team Campbell Mark Campbell, Peter Czerwony, Roger Koo — 1680.70 laps* 2. Team Goodbody Brad Goodbody, Brant Snow, Jim Toye — 1680.60 laps 3. Team Plachecki 2* Marek Plachecki, Terry Dalton, John Boker — 1673.70 laps 4. Team Walker* Chris Walker, Amo Grazie, Victor Czerwony — 1666.20 laps 5. Team Plachecki 1* Matt Plachecki, Tony Canini, Keven Field — 1665.70 laps 6. Team Paris* Guy Paris, Gary Burella, Bob Bainborough — 1636.70 laps Fastest lap times:* Chris Walker 6.028s Mark Campbell 6.045s Matt Plachecki 6.080		Race Director: Ernesto Mossetti Format: 3 Hour Team Enduro. 36 x 5m heats. Cars remain on lanes. Teams rotate. Controllers provided and fixed to each lane. All drivers in Race T Shirts. Track: Ogilvie wooden 6-laner (delivered Sep 2007), 20m short track road course designed by Chris Walker. Technical Rules for Cars: IMCA for FIA GT Article 7. (variances: Art.7.4.b Gearing 9:45 to accommodate shorter track, Art. 7.5.d Rear Tyres Wiesel to accommodate Raceworld track surface). Car Specifications: Body: Corvette C6R by Carrera Chassis: Scholer Striker 5513D Motor: Proslot Euro Mk1 26,100 rpm Double Sealed Axles: Sakatsu 3mm solid Bearings: Jens Full Race Open Spur Gear: JP 45t Pinion: Sakatsu 9t Guide: Slick 7 Graphite Cutdown Front Wheels: Monza 21mm OD x 20mm ID Rear Rims: Monza 21mm OD x 20mm ID

12th DIETER JENS LE MANS CHALLENGE, SIEGEN (June 23-24) (D) (NO IOC RACE)

12th LE MANS CHALLENGE TO DIETER SOMMER

Something seems destroyed now Spicker is no longer coming

July 21, 2007 - It's pretty late, but not too late to write a short report on the 12th Dieter Jens Le Mans Challenge. Let I repeat that I consider Jens as the founding father of modern model car racing. Although he co-operates closely with the Chief-Rabbi of the Amish people of North-Germany, there is quite a difference among them two. Jens is a full pro, a former wing car racer having contested dozens of international races. Still in 1995 he finished as fourth at the USRA Nats, what's an excellent visit card. Earlier, in 1988 he won the first round of the 1/24th Model Car Endurance World Championship in Chicago. Contrarily to the Chief-Rabbi of the Amish, being a simple-minded peasant, an amateur without connections in the world of pro racers, Jens is highly respected b y nearly all pros of the world. So it remains for me a mystery why his Le Mans Challenge became never an international event. In 2004 I did an effort to bring Nick de Wachter and "Piki", two world champions in model car racing to Siegen, hoping that this could be the start of an internationalisation of the Le Mans Challenge. Their entry, however, was a big deception: in such style of racing without aggressive motors, they could not defend their chances. They had to drive some old cars which I bought at the last minute from Thomas Spicker and from others, and although the road holding was far from good, both counted on the fact that they never deslot, to move up in the rankings. However, with such motorless cars nobody deslots, so there was no way to take any advantage from their professional experience. In 2005 I tried to convince Salvatore Noviello, Dani Gonzalez, Tamar Nelwan and many others to do the Le Mans Challenge - especially now that we had our own cars with excellent road holding - but nobody was hot to show.
Eventually there are two reasons why professional non-German racers refuse to do the Le Mans Challenge. The first reason concerns the Ortmann-Wiesel tyres. That's a commercial trick giving not the smallest guarantee that all tyres are of the same compound. In international racing tricks with tyres are excluded: everybody races since 1995 handout ProComp Scaleauto tyres, where any form of tyre dressing is forbidden. With old cars that principle cannot be maintained, because, dependent on the type of body, the height of the tyres need to be different. The second reason is the motor. I fully understand that using powerless Fox motors is a good protection to avoid damaging bodies on which hours and hours were spent, but professional racers hate such powerless motors.
For those reasons the Le Mans Challenge will probably stay forever to be a pure German event. But even as pure German event the Le Mans Challenge is not longer what it was now that Thomas Spicker and Uwe Steingraber both retired from active racing after the disaster with their Slotvision chassis. With its plastic bolts and nuts the expensive Slotvision chassis was never popular among racers. In international racing nobody uses such chassis. So we even don't know exactly what it is worth in competition. But the fact that Spicker himself practiced with it at the (disastrous) 2005 IMCA Worlds in Aalst, and retired before the race started was some signal that it's not the chassis to buy if one wishes to win a major international race.
Probably disappointed by the bad commercial results of their new chassis, Spicker and Steingraber are no longer racing. But they were the guys giving so much colour in the past to the Le Mans Challenge. Without them the races are perhaps close, but boring. This year 26 racers showed at the 12th edition, among them some Amish as Rüdiger Krieger (no racer, just a back-benching jerk) and Stephan Wiesel (driving with his teeth after he lost both hands). However they are the last you need to have exciting racing.

KLASSE 1: GT & Touring cars older than 1964
1. Dieter Sommer	Corvette Sting-Ray	341.73 (68 pts)
2. Onno Tiemens	Ferrari 375	338.63 (67 pts)
3. Uli Hütwohl	Ferrari 250 California	338.57 (64 pts)
4. Stephan Eder	Ferrari, 375	338.40 (62 pts)
5. Thorsten Kahabka	Alpine-Renault A110	337.87 (61 pts)
6. Harrald Wittke	Ferrari 250 GTO/62	336.30 (55 pts)
7. Rüdiger Krieger	Corvette Sting-Ray	333.29 (59 pts)
8. Kai-Uwe Schott	Corvette N.A.R.T.	330.40 (57.5 pts)
KLASSE 2: Prototypes & Sports-cars cars older than 1974
1. Dieter Sommer	JWA Mirage-Ford 01 (1967)	346.67 (70 pts)
2. Uli Hütwohl	Lola T212 Camel (1970)	345.59 (67 pts)
3. Onno Tiemens	Ferrari 512M (1971)	345.26 (64 ps)
4. Stephan Eder	Ferrari 312T (1969)	344.60 (62 pts)
5. Hanko Völklel	Ford GT40 Coupe (1966)	342.30 (61 pts)
6. Thorsten Kahabka	Ford GT40 Coupe (1966)	341.27 (60 pts)
7. Uwe Drevermann	Porsche 917 Sandeman (1971)	340.29 (59 pts)
8. Sebastian Jens	Chevron B16 (1967)	339.98 (58 pts)
KLASSE 3: Modern Sport-cars and Prototypes (post 1974)
1. Dieter Sommer	BMW M1 (1981)	344.41 (67 pts)
2. Uwe Drevermann	Alpine-Renault A442 (1976)	342.94 (67 pts)
3. Uli Hütwohl	Sauber-Mercedes C9 (1987)	341.43 (64 pts)
4. Thorsten Kahabka	Porsche 911 GT1 (1998)	337.62 (61 pts)
5. Harald Wittke	BMW M1 (1979)	336.30 (59 pts)
6. Ralph Braun	Porsche 936 (1977)	334.61 (59 pts)
7. Stephan Wiesel	BMW M1 (1979)	334.60 (59 pts)
8. Lutz Müller	Porsche 935 (1978)	334.39 (58 ps)
OVERALL STANDINGS (3 CLASSES TOGETHER)
1. Dieter Sommer	68 pts + 70 pts + 67 pts	205 pts
2. Uli Hütwohl	64 pts + 67 pts + 64 pts	195 pts
3. Onno Tiemens	67 pts + 64 pts + 56 pts	187 pts
4. Thorsten Kahabka	61 pts + 60 pts + 61 pts	182 pts
5. Uwe Drevermann	56pts + 59 ps + 67 pts	182 pts
6. Stephan Eder	62 pts + 62 pts + 57 pts	181 pts
7. Harald Wittke	55 pts + 54 pts + 59 pts	168 pts
8. Hanko Völkel	51 pts + 61 pts + 55 pts	167 pts

For the first time in the history of the Le Mans Challenge someone succeeded to win the three classes: Dieter Sommer. As far as I can see it was his first entry in the Le Mans Challenge. In the three races he was outstanding, winning once three laps ahead, once one lap ahead and once one and a half lap ahead over his nearest competitor. So there was only close racing for the three our four following places. Contrarily to former years the three races went over 6 x 7 minutes instead of 6 x 5 minutes. It stirs that most of the so called "modern" prototypes went all slower than the pre-1964 GT & T cars. With the years the Le Mans Challenge got something droll. Among the "modern" prototypes no Audi R10 TDi, no Bentley EX 9, no Pescarolo C60 Judd, even not one actual car, but nearly exclusively cars being a quarter century or more old. The most recent cars, a Ferrari F550 Maranello and an Audi R8 finished ... at the two last places.
Although the entry was higher than in 2006, there were no more some star racers. Last year we saw still Michael Niemas, Christoph Kremer, Philip Kremer and Dieter Jens himself, but except for Jens none of them came back this year.
There must be something wrong with the general formula that drivers, having been at most former editions were all missing this year. No Jürgen Janke, no Emmanuel Vandereyt, no Ralf Schaffland, no Ralf Rieger, no Peter Berg, no Uwe Geißler, no Patrick Fisher, no Pit Schwaar. Of the old glories we found only Dieter Hartmann, but not with the most competitive cars. Three classes are perhaps too much. Why not opting for two classes with in class 1 all the famous cars seen during the famous Ford-Ferrari combat of 1964-1967 and in the second class only Le Mans cars seen since 2003. Now that the French racers are all hot for 1/24th Le Mans racing it could be a good injection of new racers and above all new cars. This year nearly no new cars could be admired at the Le Mans Challenge. It became too much a business for nostalgics. If I see the success of our 124 Le Mans 2007 concept (where we had to refuse more than 60 racers, to hold over 62 of 23 different nationalities) there can be no doubt that Le Mans racing is again popular among model car racers. But please, let them not race with motorless cars, just because the stock of Fox II motors remains so big. And let the swindling with the Ortmann/Wiesel tyres in all kinds of compounds be stopped. On going with modern Le Mans cars one can use handout Scaleauto ProComp tyres, ensuring a much more fair racing. When at 2004 I was in Siegen I remember two racers having received from Ortmann "special tyres". But in model car racing tyres are 50 per cent of victory. If one cannot ensure equal tyres for all entrants there is something wrong. Same with the Fox II motors. In 2005 Pit Schwaar gave Robby Cuppens a very special Fox II for the Le Mans race with oltimers. Cuppens, who never earlier TQ-ed, couuld at onve TQ much faster than anyone else. If the Le Mans Challenge wishes to survive better handout motors and handout tyres will be a must. [JPVR]

DIEPENBEEK 24H OF SPEEDLINES (June 30-July 1) (B) (WAS CANDIDATE IOC RACE)

DE KOK, MINHEERE, VOGEL WIN SPEEDLINES 24

Simple fairground attraction, not deserving any IOC status

July 1, 2007 - Scheduled as the second IOC model car race of 2008, the 9th Diepenbeek 24h absolutely not deserved such status. More than half of the cars should have been refused since model of nothing existing. There were only racers from Belgium and Holland (not of minimum six nations as stipulated by the IOC rules). A decent final result was not available: we even don't know exactly who were the racers; of some entrants only the first names were published, etc. Fully understandable Racing for Holland decided not to enter such race having more and more the status of a simple rural fairground attraction. No wonder that racers from Spain, Germany, Denmark, Norway, etc. all preferred to do some-thing else than smelling the perfume of fatty Flemish frites. The several teams showed even without team shirts, being all but publicity for slot-racing.
Of the nine times that the Speedlines 24 hours were organised, this year's edition was undoubtedly the poorest. If theclub continues that way they can be sure to find no more competent racers for the following edition. The race has been won by the Dutch team of Arthur de Kok, John Minheere and Dennis Vogel, finishing 174 laps ahead over last year's winners. The new model car team of Blondiau/Kuhn with Björn van Cam-penhout and Kristof Huys seriously disappointed by finishing last. No hour per hour standings were saved on the club's web site, only lots of pics fully proving at what degree the Speedlines 24 hours have been downgrated to some village happening without any sportive value. Races of that type are boring and completely off-time. NO IOC-points have been attributed to such non-event. [JPVR]

1. Speed 74	Arthur de Kok (NL), John Minheere (NL), Dennis Vogel(NL)	Ferrari 575 GTC	15,517
2. GPS Racing	Robby Cuppens (B), Michael Phillipaers (B), Soffel Vos (B), Pieter Tytgat (B)	Saleen S7-R	15,343
3. Desmo Racing	Hugo Dekker (NL), Desmond Dekker (NL), Ron Prins (NL), Wilco van de Bree (NL)	Ferrari F430 GTC	14,523
4. Racing for Belgium	Bart Gijzen (B), Lamberto Bosch (B), Quinten Vanspauwen (B), Jan Celis (B)	Aston Martin DBR9	14,513
5. Urtrack	Roger Crol. (NL), Rudi Munten. (NL), Bart O. (NL), Harry Van Averzaath (NL)	Lamborghini Murcielago R-GT	14,493
6. Merlijn	Benjamin Huysmans (B), Stefaan Huysmans (B), Hubert Jacob (B), G. Lamberts	Aston Martin DBR9	13,193
7. Girl Power	Chantal Aerts (B), Joëlle Colson (B), Charlotte Jacob (B), Sjouke Kuypers, etc.	Corvette C6R	12,830
8. B-K Racing	Kristof Huys (B), Björn van Campenhout (B), P. Blondiau (B), Raymond Kuhn (B)	Corvette C6R	12,813

2nd EUREGIO EUROPEAN ENDURANCE CHAMPIONSHIP, ALSDORF (July 26-27) (D) (IOC RACE)

NIEMAS, CHRISTOPH & PHILIP KREMER WINNERS

Very enjoyable race with Fola, Hernández & Stüdemann as revelation

August 1, 2007 - The Spa 124 track, now installed at the Titanic Bowling in Alsdorf, was for the third time in the recent slot history the theatre of an important international race. Early 2006 the track was used for the (Euregio) European Endurance Championship (EEC 2006), a race won by Christoph Kremer/Geert Mertens/Jan Gürtzgen, ahead over Michael Niemas/Philip Kremer and Nick de Wachter/Tamar Nelwan/Gabe Inäbnit. At the end of the year the same track was used for the (too early) Farewell Race of Tamar. Entry was at a lower level than on May 26-27, 2006 at the 1st EEC, so that it was not registered as an IOC-event. Now the Kremers (father and son) won ahead of De Wachter/Nelwan/Inäbnit. Last week-end the track was used for the 2nd (Euregio) European Championship. Venue was excellent with racers from Germany, Holland, Belgium, Spain, Switzerland, Nigeria and Venezuela. It was at the same time the Anniversary Race for Tamar and Gabe. No less than 13 teams showed, all with FIA GT cars of 2007 (4), 2006 (4) and 2005 (5).
Atmosphere was excellent in the spirit of universal friendship among model car racers. Eventually the race went over three segments: a day segment, a night segment and again a day segment. Good news for all racers was that the Alsdorf Spa track will not be destroyed - as was feared - but that Herr Mülln of Titanic Bowling will even intensify the use of the track. That's something that make all of us happy. The more model car tracks in the world the better.
FIRST "DAY SECTION" - Immediately after the start De Wachter/ Nelwan/Inäbnit/Kloppenburg and their Lamborghini Murciélago R-GT took the lead, followed by the Red Bull Maserati MC12 of Niemas/C.Kremer/P.Kremer. But still during the first section the pinion of the Lambo came loose, so that the car lost 13 laps. At the end of the first day section we found the Lambo in second position, 21 laps down to the Maserati. Surprisingly third was the Jetalliance Aston Martin DBR9 of Fola Osu, Jürgen Stüdemann & Co. Fourth after the first day section was the PSI Corvette of the Frisian Team with Erwin Post and Hans Lanting. They were followed at one lap by the Ferrari 575 GTC of Rob de Ridder and Sergiu Houwer (in their team Denis Vogel was - as usual - missing). Three laps further, in sixth position we found the BMS Aston Martin DBR9 of Henri van Gool, Eddy Witkamp and Marcel Oosterling. The Spanish Carsport Corvette C6R of Francesc Reyes had a very difficult start and was only ninth at the end of the first day segment.

This is the Maserati MC12 of Michael Niemas/Christoph Kremer and Philip Kremer (team The Bad Boys). It was not the fastest car on the track, but it was superbly raced by the three Germans. For Christoph Kremer it was already his third win on three outings at the Spa 124 track. Philip Kremer could not do the whole race since he was also expected to defend the team's colours at an RC Race. The Kremers and Niemas are very serious favourites at the upcoming IMCA Worlds in Mechelen. Moreover the team is favourite for the upcoming DPM in Darmstadt, where Niemas can win for the fourth time: an absolute record.

NIGHT SECTION - During the complete night section the Carsport Corvette of Franspeed was the fastest car on the track, proving once more what a superb model car builder Francesc Reyes is. Unfortunately he had two team mates without experience in int'l racing. Nevertheless the team was crawling back from ninth to fourth position. Most laps at the night section were achieved by Tamar's Racing for Holland Lambo: six more than the Maserati being out on the lead. That implied that at the end of the night section the difference between the two cars came down from 21 to 15 laps. A good move was made by the GPLK Corvette C5R of the Frison team, reducing its arrears on Fola's Aston by no less than 15 laps. So positions after the night section were: 1. Maserati MC12 1496 laps, 2. Lamborghini Murciélago R-GT at 15 laps, 3. Jetalliance Aston Martin DBR9 at 89 laps, 4. Carsport Corvette C6R at 112 laps, 5. GPLK Corvette C5R at 113 laps, 6. BMS Aston Martin DBR9 at 114 laps, 7. PSI Corvette C6R at 115 laps, 8. Team Modena Aston Martin DBR9 at 133 laps, etc.
The two Belgian teams of Raymond Kuhn and the two Blondiaus, and of Sloefspeed - new in international 124 Model Car Racing - had problems to follow the pace set by the more experienced racers, but they were far from ridiculous. They came in ninth and tenth position at the end of the night.
Three racers made a great impression: Fola Osu, Jürgen Studemann and Oscar Hernández. Of Studemann we knew since the 2005 EuroNats that he's the best racer of North-Germany, but that he was thàt strong was a revelation. It should be great if we could find him one day at the start of the Model Car Worlds. Fola Osu builds not only very nice cars, he's already now a top racer who deserves his place among the better international model car racers. Moreover he's still progressing. An even bigger surprise for me was Oscar Hernández of Venezuela on the Amoslot BMS Aston. I saw him racing with the allures of a star, making really speed without deslotting. Racers as Fola, Stüdemann and Hernández are always more than welcome at the IMCA Worlds. All three they receive a wild card for the November Worlds in Mechelen.

SECOND "DAY SECTION" - Duration of the second day section was a bit shortened, what made it for the Lambo nearly impossible to undo its 15 laps arrears. Eventually the team could cut six more laps of its arrears on the Maserati of Micheal Niemas/Christoph Kremer/Philip Kremer, but the Germans won the race by nine laps. Since the Jetalliance Aston struggled with several technical bothers Francesc Reyes was really on his way to the podium. He came only five laps short to finish as third. Once more his car was the best prepared of all. Good to know is that at the upcoming Worlds he'll show with the newest MoMo. In the second day section the BMS Aston of AmoSlot lost its sixth place to the GPLK Corvette of the Frisians. Struggle for place 8 went among the Modena Aston of Van Gool & Co, the Sloefspeed Ferrari 575 GPC of Kristof Huys & Co and the very nice Dodge Viper GTS-R of Gert Klinge and Co. They finished in that order.
A very enjoyable social evening, with anniversary presents for Tamar Nelwan and Gabriel Inäbnit was the end of a successful IOC-meeting. Nice to remark is also that fivefold world champion Nick de Wachter has not only a good vision on cars, but also on women. His Elly Kuyper was THE sex bomb of the evening. At a given moment I watched one of the young racers completely confused while, during the race, he tried too look under Elly's mini skirt. That's perhaps the best tactic for Nick to beat Noviello at the Mechelen IMCA Worlds. We all know Salvatores "weakness" for sexy women.
One guy should be extremely happy that he didn't win but finished as second. I mean Willem Kloppenburg. By finishing second he won 15 IOC points, bringing his total on 25, just enough to be still an "amateur" at the Worlds. Should he had won, his total should have been 30, so that he should be unable to start in the Mello Yello. I really don't believe that there is one racer who can hold off Kloppenburg from winning the Amateurs Worlds in Mechelen. [JPVR]

1. Bad Boys	Michael Niemas (D)/Christoph Kremer (D)/Philip Kremer (D)	Red Bull Maserati MC12 (2005)	2,063.00
2. Racing for Holland	Nick de Wachter (NL)/Tamar Nelwan (NL)/Gabe Inäbnit (CH)/Willem Kloppenburg(NL)	All-Inkl.com Lambo Murciélago (2007)	2,054.09
3. Slot Fabrik	Fola Osu (NIG)/Jürgen Stüdemann (D)/Stephan Baudach (D)	Jetalliance Aston Martin DBR9 (2007)	1,942.00
4. Franspeed	Francesc Reyes (E), Jozep Sanchez (E), Paul van de Hurk (NL)	Carsport Holland Corvette C6R (2007)	1,937.05
5. WEAM Team	Erwin Post (NL)/Wietze Oosterhof (NL)/Hans Lanting (NL)/André van der Zee (NL)	PSI Corvette C6R (2007)	1,921.16
6. The Bandit	Onno Griepink (NL)/Jurgen Rossenaar (NL)/Hans van Velzen (NL)	GPLK Corvette C5R (2006)	1,908.13
7. Amoslot	Oscar Hernández (VEN)/Michael van Bernem (D)/Dirk Neuhaus (D)/Ingo Magon(D)	BMS Aston Martin DBR9 (2006)	1,904.04
8. Dutch Age Racing	[Marcel Oosterling (NL)?]/Henri van Gool (NL)/Ronald Zaal (NL)	Modena Aston Martin DBR9 (2006)	1,884.20
9. Sloefspeed	Kristof Huys (B)/ Björn van Campenhout (B)/Benjamin Huysmans (B)	G.P.C. Ferrari F575 GTC (2005)	1,842.42
10. Virage	Gert Klinge (B)/Tom Ooms (B)/Emily Kuipers (NL)/Remco van Waay (NL)	Dark Dog Chrysler Viper GTS-R (2005)	1,817.25
11. Smokey	Sergiu Houwer (NL)/Rob de Ridder (NL)	G.P.C. Ferrari 575 GTC (2005)	1,798.17
12. B-K Racing	Patrick Blondiau (B)/ Raymond Kuhn (B)/Fabian Blondiau (B)	PSI Corvette C6R (2006)	1,751.47
13. GMS Racing	Stefan Kuhn (D)/Marcel Kuhn (D)/Hans-Jürgen Eifler (D)	Ambipur Corvette C5R (2005)	1,698.53

1st DANISH PLAFIT CHAMPIONSHIP (DKPM), COPENHAGEN (Sept 16) (DK) (NO IOC RACE)

CHRIS HØFLER, KELD HØFLER, MARTIN BORCH WIN

Fine & close racing, good organisation, but only 24 entrants: all Danish

September 18, 2007 - In the neighbourhood of Copenhagen, at the new slotracing centre RACEFUN, owners Keld Høfler and Gorm Nørregaard organised a classy version of the real first Danish PlaFit Championship. Several Danish top racers were in place, among them Christian Høfler , Martin Borch and good old Thorkild Hjorth. During years the last named was the lonely Danish racer with international fame. Absent were Henrik Hasager and Pål Hanson, the two best ranked racers, living in Denmark, on the IOC-list. Entry was certainly below expectations, but nevertheless it was a strong field, a national championship worth. At the real last moment a team from Sweden and from Norway cancelled their entry. So we found eight teams at the start. Of them four opted for Carrera's Ferrari 575 GTC, three for a Porsche 911 GT1 Evo and one for the Toyota Supra JGTC.
Race location was classy and splendid. What a difference, e.g. with Speedlines of Diepenbeek, where one enters rather an underworld pub than a real race location. Racing went on a nice wooden 8-laner. Initially two racing days were scheduled for the event, but with only 8 cars at the start, everything could be finalised in one day. At the qualifications not Christian Høfler but dad Keld Høfler took the pole in 6"512, followed by Thorkild Hjorth in 6"607 and Carsten Grønemann in 6"621. [In the below results we put the name of the fastest qualifier of each team in bold face characters] With such small differences among the three fastest qualifiers we received a clear promise for close racing.
And close racing we got. In the first of eight heats Martin Borch on the #23 Racefun 1 Porsche 911 GT Evo was pulling away from the rest of the field, taking no less than six laps on Carsten Grønemann on the Senior Team #44 sister car and three laps more on Robert Castello. During the following heat, however, young Christian Høfler lost three laps on Thorkild Hjorth and two on Morten Iversen. After two heats standings were: 1. Racingfun 1 with 230 laps, 2. Senior Team at 4 laps, 3. Superslot 1 at 8 laps. Racingfun 2, having had bad luck during the first heat moved up from rank 8 to rank 6. Viking was fifth at 15 laps.

Podium with.f.l.t.r. Palle Bering, Carsten Grønemann, Søren Thomsen (Team Senior) – Christian Høfler, Keld Høfler (RaceFun 1) – Finn Thomsen, Lars Jacobsen, Thorkild Hjort (Superslot1).

The third heat was won by Christian Høfler, increasing the advance of the Racefun #23 Porsche at once from four to eleven laps, due to the fact that the #44 Senior Team Porsche finished last of the heat at 15 laps. In the general standings the #23 has now eleven laps over the new second, the #96 Ferrari 575 GTC of Superslot 1. Senior Team follows already at nineteen laps, but maintains its third place one lap ahead over HMC and three more over Viking.
Keld Høfler wins the fourth heath. Now Superslot 1 (second after three heats) runs in troubles what brings Senior Team back to the second place, but already at 32 laps. Difference between the second and the sixth is at mid-race as low as six laps with the following standings: 1. Racefun 1 with 469 laps, 2. Senior Team at 32 laps, 3. HMC at 34 laps, 4. Superslot 1 at 35 laps, 6. Racefun 2 at 36 laps, 6. Viking at 38 laps, 7. Gimie at 50 laps, 8. Superslot 2at 52 laps.
During the two following heats Martin Borch wins easily the fifth, increasing the advance to 43 laps, but during the following heat he runs in troubles so that Søren Thompsen, on the #44, can win the heat, reducing his arrears on the #23 Porsche to 23 laps. Meanwhile Lennart Sørensen succeeds to bring the Gimie Toyota Supra back from seventh into fifth position, one lap ahead over the Viking Ferrari. The two last heats for the last named team are full of drama. After an accinents the car can no longer properly be raced and drops in the standings to the last place. The two lastt heats are resp. won by Christian and Keld Høfler, so that they ensure overall victory for the #23 Racefun 1 Porsche. At the finish their advance over the #44 Senior Team sister car is 25 laps and 38 over hthe first Ferrari: Superslot 1's. A good finish by Per Steen Nielsen on the Gimie Ferrari brings them back in fourth position. End of a fine model car event.
Weeks before the race we received dozens of mails to announce that more than 100 racers from more than 20 countries should show. all mails were written in poor English. A short investigation learned us from where they came: from Amishland of course - Amishland that swears by MoMo, Amishland that hates Plafit. Despite the low entrance it was a very good race and a good trial in view of next year, when the DKPM will be one round of the European Plafit Nats and a prequalification for the DPM of Kurt Petri. At any rate already now congrats for Keld Hofler and Gorm Norregaard. The DKPN is on its way to an IOC upgrading! [JPVR]

1. Racefun 1	*Christian Høfler (DK)/Keld Høfler (DK)/Martin Borch (DK)**	#23 Porsche 911 GT1 Evo	888	6"512 TQ
2. Senior Team	Cartsten Grønemann (DK)/Søren Thomsen (DK)/Palle Bering (DK)	#44 Porsche 911 GT1	863	6"621
3. Superslot 1	Finn Thomsen (DK)/Lars Jacobsen (DK)/Thorkild Hjorth (DK)	#96 Ferrari 575 GTC	850	6"607
4. Team Gimie	Per Steen Nielsen (DK)/Jan Andersen (DK)/Lennart Sørensen (DK)	#36 Toyota Supra JGTC	843	6"925
5. Racefun 2	Gorm Nørregaard (DK)/Morten Iversen (DK)/Henrik Bering (DK)	#27 Porsche 911 GT1 Evo	826	6"719
6. HMC	Jurgen Rigtrup(DK)/Hroar Olsen (DK)/Robert Castello (DK)	#17 Ferrari 575 GTC	823	6"693
7. Superslot 2	Claus Henriksen (DK)/Poul Rønholt (DK)/Lars Thomsen (DK)	#69 Ferrari 575 GTC	813	6"944
8. Viking	Michael Huniche (DK)/Peter Christiansen (DK)/René Andersen (DK)	#28 Ferrari 575 GTC	794	7"229

1st BMW PROCAR RACES (ROUNDS #1-#2) AMSTERDAM (Sept 9) (NL) (NO IOC RACE)

NICK DE WACHTER WINS: HE'S READY FOR THE WORLDS

Nice performances by R. Zaal and K. Huys! Amsterdam is alive and well

September 26, 2007 - We had to wait a very long time, but now it happens at least. Amsterdam has a nice competitive club where the first races of the BMW Procar Series were contested a good week ago. Let's remember that the club let made 25 BMW M1s as raced in 1979 and 1980 on Saturdays preceding a F1 Grand Prix. It were famous racers where nearly all F1 racers of those days were present.
Racing BMW M1 cars was an initiative by Roland Zaal, a former team chief at the legendary Procar races. The 25 cars at scale 1/24th were assembled by Nick de Wachter, winner of no less than five world championships, and one of the top favourites to win the 2007 IMCA Worlds. []An important note in the margin of the 2007 IMCA Worlds is that it is not impossible that Daniel Gonzalez, the reigning world champion, will be unable to defend his title due to tendinitis. This week-end he'll do a last test at the DPM; if the test is not convincing he'll give forfait for the November Worlds in Mechelen.]
The two BMW ProCar races were fully dominated by Nick de Wachter: he was the fastest qualifier and won the two races, once ahead of Gabriel Inäbnit and Erwin Broerse, and once ahead over his dad Mack de Wachter (the close friend of the Amish church leader from Hamburg) and Ronald Zaal. Last named was the great revelation of the meeting. The other revelation was Belgium's Kristof Huys, new in model car racing since last year. He finished twice ninth on 23 entrants. Important absentees were noted from Willem Kloppen-burg and Gert Klinge.
The one make formula is an excellent idea, a guarantee for fair racing. Already two years ago, at IMCA, we had plans to race those cars, but we could find no decent sponsoring money from BMW Belgium. Next year, on the MTT track at Sint-Genesius-Rode IMCA'll organise one make rounds with or BMW M1 or Ferrari Challenge F430 at Benelux level.

racer	car	Qual	Rnd 1	Rnd 2	Total
1. Nick de Wachter (NL)	#76 BMW M1 Warhol Art Car	6"920	147.91	147.27	295.18
2. Mack de Wachter (NL)	#80 BMW M1 BASF	7"192	145.15	145.74	290.89
3. Gabriel Inäbnit (CH)	#91 BMW M1 Pooh Jeans	7"010	146.59	144.19	290.78
4. Tamar Nelwan (NL)	#90 BMW M1 Werks Nedell	7"291	144.84	143.76	288.63
5. Ronald Zaal (NL)	#99 BMW M1 Jan Lammers	7"012	143.43	144.32	287.89
6. Ton Jacobs (NL)	#5 BMW M1 Marlboro Niki Lauda	7"271	143.18	144.32	287.50
7. David De Vos (NL)	#45 BMW M1 Schnitzer	7"190	143.61	143.82	287.43
8. Henri van Gool (NL)	#71 BMW M1 München	7"372	142.33	143.03	285.36
9. Kristof Huys (B)	#77 BMW M1 Gösser Beer	7"191	142.92	141.69	284.61
10. Peter Reijerkerk (NL)	#55 BMW M1 Warsteiner	7"350	141.61	139.75	281.36
11. Bert Fähner (D)	#25 BMW M1 Irmen Werbung	7"280	139.64	141.37	281.01
12. Jürgen Nusser (D)	#19 BMW M1 Wurth	7"360	139.06	140.81	279.87
13. Dirk-Jan De Vos (NL)	#46 BMW M1 H.I.S. Jeans	7"428	138.41	140.39	278.80
14. Onno Griepink (NL)	#81 BMW M1 Denim	7"362	139.00	139.00	278.00
15. Emily Kuipers (NL)	#201 BMW M1 N¨rburgring	7"410	134.31	133.78	268.09
16. Jaap Honingh (NL)	#44 BMW M1 Jim Beam	7"371	131.91	134.05	265.96
17. Appie Lohman (NL)	#26 BMW M1 Werks J Lafitte	7"361	125.29	130.33	255.62
18. Marco Keur (NL)	#101 BMW M1 Castrol	7"497	115.14	124.53	239.67
19. Frans Vörös (NL)	#27 BMW M1 Werks Alan Jones	7"310	120.53	118.19	238.72
20. Erwin Boerse (NL)	#111 BMW M1 Motor Sport Wh	7"010	146.23	30.00	176.23
21. Marcel Oosterling(NL)	#33 BMW M1 Jägermeister	7"497	140.84	0.00	140.84
22. Sharon Tjon (NL)	#70 BMW M1 VSD Lois	DNQ	0.00	136.67	136.67
23. Michiel Romeijn (NL)	#83 BMW M1 Carte de France	7"641	124.51	0.00	124.51

8th DEUTSCHE PLAFIT MEISTERSCHAFT (DPM) ERZHAUSEN (Sept 28-29) (D) (IOC RACE)

SEIF, ALEX ORTMANN & CAROLINE SCHNITZLER WIN

Japanese team second - Niemas & Kremers only 11th - Fola 15th

October 3, 2007 - We wrote it earlier: Kurt Petri is probably the best slot-racing organiser in the world. He organised the DPM for the 8th time and again we hear nothing but positive reactions. Everything goes smooth, no stress, only fun. This year again 48 teams of 3 drivers (144 in total) were at the start, spread over three classes: experts, amateurs and rookies. This year pace was very high since no less than four teams succeeded to beat last years record of 735.18 laps. Among the entrants we found all the best German racers, but also the reigning world champion Dani "Giesse" Gonzalez and the former world champion Geert Mertens. Other notorious racers as Fola Osu, Christian Hofler, Keld Hofler, Pal Hanson, Iker Santos, Ivan Basas, etc. were all present. This year there were racers from such different nationalities as Japan (3), Spain (12), Denmark (3), Austria (3), Norway (3), Belgium (3), USA (1), Luxembourg (1) and Nigeria (1). The rest were German racers.
Fastest qualifiers in 7"530 were the three Japanese racers: Koudu Nobuhisha, Katshnori Sekine and Hideaki Suzuki, who finished last year fifth. They were at least 3/10ths of a second faster than anyone else. The triple DPM winner Michael Niemas - a major candidate to win this year's model car worlds now that Salvatore Noviello (heart problems) cannot show - disappointed with only the sixth time. Last year's winners - Andreas Laufenberg/Christian Schnitzler/Jan Gürtzgen - even missed the top heat with their 14th place. Very disappointing was the Belgian Speedlines team of Geert Mertens, qualifying a full second slower than the pole and 45th on the grid. Big surprise was the second place for the Msc Bishofsheim team. The youngsters from Trier (the club of the Bartelmes Bros) realised the fourth time, being preceeded by the trio Sebastian Nockermann/Jan Uhlig/Thomas Nözel. At the DPM it is extremely important to qualify within the top-8, because that gives racers the best chances to finish high in the overall ranking. Most teams coming from abroad have problems on qualifying, because the time to discover the track is on Friday very short. That implies that a lot of foreign teams start with the wrong set-up. Who wishes to win should find more time for free practice. Best example are the Japan racers. They needed three years to be fully competitive. In 2005 they were still among the back benchers.

This year the DPM has been upgraded as IOC-race and fits now in category 2 (20 points for the winners) and no longer in category 3 (10 points for the winner). Already shortly after the start it became obvious that Niemas's car was unable to follow the pace. Shortly after the teams of Manfred Stork and Bartelmes had to let go the front runners. At mid-race still six teams out of 48 had winning chances: the team of Andreas Laufenberg, of the Dr Slot Youngsters from Trier, of CricCrac, of Sebastian Nockermann and of Ralf Seif. Last year Seif finished second overall, just as his team mate Axel Ortmann. This year they opted for young Caroline Schnitzler as team mate. She is the sister of the 2005 European champion and 2006 DPM winner Christian Schnitzler. Last year she finished already sixth overall. The Schnitzlers are a famous slot-racing family in Germant with Klaus Schnitzler and Manuela Schnizler as other racers of the clan. This year Caroline was more in the picture than brother Christian. Nobody could believe his eyes when they saw that Caroline went just as fast as her team mates. This year Ralf Seif thus opted for two young and promising team mates, together hardly thirty years old. Towards the last quarter of the race number of candidate winners was down to four after both Laufenberg's team and the Trier youngsters lost more than four laps on the pace setters. Up from now it was obvious that final victory should go to one of those teams: CrricCarc's, Seif's, the Japanese team of Koudu and Nockerman's. They were separated by less than three laps.


Ralph Seif (D)	Alex Ortmann (D)	Caroline Schnitzler

Pos.	Racers	Qual	Laps
1.	Ralph Seif/Caroline Schnitzler/Alex Ortmann (D)	8th	743.12
2.	Koudu Nobuhisha (J)/Katshnori Sekine (J)/Hideaki Suzuki (J)	1st	742.19
3.	Sebastian Nockermann (D)/Jan Uhlig (D)/Mirko Weber (D)	3rd	739.12
4.	Bernat Basas (E)/Roger Sune (E)/David Barbas (E)	9th	737.35
5.	Andreas Laufenberg (D)/Thomas Notzel(D)/Christian Schnitzler (D)	14th	733.36
6.	Maximilian Hollenburger/Tobias Münchberger (D)/Armin Seldmayr	4th	732.19
7.	Martin Bartelmes (D)/Kevin Krollmann (D)/Peter Oberbillig (D)	8th	728.45
8.	Dietmar Schmeer (D)/Marko Prigl (D)/Christian Eckel (D)	5th	724.17
9.	Manfred Stork (D)/Oliver Stork(D)/Patrick Meister (D)	13th	723.41
10.	Bern Starke (D)/Carsten Starke (D)/Frank Schüler (D)	12th	722.42
11.	Michael Niemas (D)/Christoph Kremer (D)/Philp Kremer (D)	6th	722.14
12.	Carlos Alonso (E)/Ivan Basas (E)/Agustin Estarellas (E)	25th	714.33
13.	Pierre Stein(D)/Mark Kiefer (D)/Joachim Welsch (D)	9th	713.36
14.	Carlos Checa (E)/Javier Checa(E)/Jose Javier Checa(E)	24th	708.00
15.	Fola Osu (NIG)/Robert Ries (D)/Hartmut Bohn (D)	28th	707.31
16.	Peter Juchem (D)/Dirk Wolf (D)/Hans-Werner Rodenberg (D)	18th	706.24
17.	Günther Riehl(D)/Matthias Eichwald(D)/Michael Schluckebier (D)	15th	701.29
18.	Patrick Brau (D)/Leo Müller (D)/Ralf Seldmeyer (D)	13th	701.20
19.	Jose Luis (E)//Juanjo Moya (E)/Javser Morante ((E)	43th	701.11
20.	Jürgen Großert (D)/Christian Hauke (D)/Markus Keßler (D)	34th	699.35
21.	JDani Gonzalez E)//Miquel Colomer (E)/Marc Lloberas ((E)	16th	699.15
22.	Peter Hartman (D)/Tommy Becker (D)/Uwe Bönisch (D)	33rd	697.15
23.	Andreas Lippold (D)/Christoph Müller(D)/Justin Pasch (D)	41st	694.24
24.	Jörg Klein (D)/Jörg Rieckmann (D)/Thomas Ullrich (D)	29th	693.05
25.	Thomas Hahnel (D)/Peter Schüler (D)/Thorsten Maxeiner (D)	28th	692.09
26.	Nico Karres (A)/Hans Steininger (A)/Vinzenz Forsthuber (A)	26th	692.04
27.	Michael Stalter (D)/Marcel Weeren (D)/Chris Urban (D)	36th	689.33
28.	Georg Balthasar (D)/Lukas Nemann (D)/Michael Ulbrich (D)	17th	689.15
29.	Markus Fessler (D)/Wolfgang Krech (D)/Markus Prigl (D)	9th	687.11
30.	Andreas Hofmann (D)/Lukas Hofmann (D)/Frank Scharf (D)	20th	683.43
31.	Axel Bernhard (D)/Norman Grund (D)/Thomas Resch (D)	19th	682.03
32.	Miguel Cortez (E)//Julio Moya (E)/Josep Ruiz ((E)	23rd	681.34
33.	Martin Borch (DK)//Chrisian Høfler (DK)/Keld Høfler ((DK)	40th	681.16
34.	Nezih Durukanli (D)/Markus Hasse (D)/Ditmar Schortmann (D)	35th	678.78
35.	Israël Gil (E)//Valentin Gil (E)/Oscar Vargas ((E)	37th	677.40
36.	Robert Castella (N)//Jostein Vandås (N)/Gorm Nörgaard ((DK)	22nd	677.00
37.	Karl Daamen (D)/Walter Hollenburger (D)/Stephan Schnurr (D)	27th	675.12
38.	Geert Mertens (B)//Bart Gijzen (B)/Stoffel Vos ((B)	43rd	673.57
39.	Mike Wagner (L)/Christophe Krech (D)/Bob Clark (USA)	32nd	671.36
40.	Klaus Breckheimer (D)/Uwe Henkel (D)/Rainer Neumann (D)	47th	665.11
41.	Alrik Luther (D)/Fabian Luther (D)/Michael Wilkel (D)	42nd	664.25
42.	Ralf Braun (D)/Peter Vogt (D)/Christian Krauss (D)	8th	663.14
43.	David Schneider (D)/Sebastian Vogel (D)/CFrank Zenk (D)	30th	658.30
44.	Helmut Collard (D)/Tom Goldenbaum (D)/Ewald Petry (D)	21st	656.21
45.	Karsten Gütte (D)/Stephan Pauly (D)/Marius Schindler (D)	38th	646.21
46.	Robert Getzner (D)/LMike Reuther (D)/Ralf Samstdag (D)	45th	646.18
47.	Willi Miebach (D)/Heiko Sander (D)/Andreas Ruhe (D)	48th	644.33
48.	Uwe Hartmann (D)/Klaus Schnitzler (D)/Manuela Schnitzler (D)	36th	591.12

Compared with last year racing in front was much closer. Indeed in 2006 Laufenberg/Christian Schnitzler/Jan Gürtzgen won still nine laps ahead over the second. This year the top four was split by less than three laps. The first to 'crack" was ... CricCrac (yes, Shakespeare: what's in a name good old fellow), shortly later followed by Nockerman's (THE revelation of the 2007 DPM). So we found during the last heat two teams in ... the very same lap: Seif's and Koudu's. Most PlaFit supporters were hoping that the Japanese team should offer big boss Noro Ono his first all-Japanese DPM. So we went to a breath-taking final with two cars struggling side by side. The eventual winners were, however not the Japanese, but the Germans. For Ralf Seif/Alex Ortmann/Caro-line Schnitzler it was undoubtedly their most beautiful win. Ralf is now top favourite to win the 2007 Worlds. For next year IMCA invites also Alex and Caroline. We hope that their vacation planning doesn't coincide with July 19-23, because we wish to see them in action against the super pros. A final remark: wze can only publish very provisional results. As soon as we have the official ones we'll update the IOC-list. PS. October 18 - still no official results. [JPVR]

October 22, 2007 - Four weeks after the event Kurt Petri published the complete results on the DPM web site. A look at the definitive results underlines the inter-national character of the DPM. No less than 10 nationalities were present. There were 105 racers from Germany, 21 from Spain, 4 from Denmark, 3 from Japan, Austria and Belgium; two from Norway; one from Nigeria, Luxembourg and the USA. For non-German teams it takes several years before they can struggle for the overall victory: best example is given by the Japanese racers who year by year improved their results. This year they realised the pole and finished second. Of the two world champions at the start - Dani Gonzalez and Geert Mertens - no top-results were noted. Gonzalez came no further than rank 21. Mertens was the one but last stranger's team, finishing 38th.
On the Amish web site it was written that the results which we published on the IMCA web site were full of errors. Now that the official results are known it appears that there was exactly one error (nl. concerning the Spanish racers finishing fourth; this result was published under reserve since we let it follow by "???") That proves once more how hateful the isolated Amishlanders are. For them everything is enough to criticise an IMCA, no longer interested in their would-be events.
If one looks a bit sharper at the official results one remarks that the German youngsters performed excellently. Not only the winners Alex Ortmann and Caroline Schnitzler, but also Maximikian Hollenburger, Tobias Münchenberger and Armin Seldmayr, the young disciples of dr. Slot (Martin Bartelmes). They finished 6th overall. Philip Kremer disappointed, but remains the top-favourite to win this year the Mello Yello Worlds for juniors. Christian Schnitzler, in 2005 still European champion and last year still winner of the DPM, finished this year fifth. He, his sister and Alex Ortmann are among the invited racers for the 2008 IMCA Worlds.
Oldest racer at the start, Manfred Stork, in the miid 1990s still a regular entrant at the IMCA races, proved that he's probably the best of all racers over 60 in the world: he finished ninth overall. His club mate Nezih Durukanli, always good at Stork's NASCAR races, disappointed by finishing 34th, far beneath his racing talent. [JPVR]

6th R.O.C. (SPA REVISITED), ALSDORF (Oct 13-14) (D) (IOC RACE)

NICK DE WACHTER & EMILY KUIPERS TAKE REVENGE

Again a more than enjoyable race but at a very wrong moment

October 18, 2007 - 36 racers from 9 different countries showed for what was called the "revenge race" for the previous race at Alsdorf. With the winners of the first Alsdorf race (The Bad Boys) and the fastest man (Reyes) being absent, there was not a real revenge. The race was a personal initiative by Willem Kloppenburg, who put it on the calendar without worrying about the fact that the date was very unlucky (same date as the ISRA worlds, two weeks before the start of the IMCA worlds). After the Diepenbeek 24h were not recognised as an IOC-event (only Dutch and Belgian racers present) it was agreed to consider the second Alsdorf race as an IOC-event of level 3 (10 IOC-points for the winners) and to consider it as the R.O.C. (not on the international calendar in 2007).
A good initiative was to do the qualifications with six cars on the track on all six lanes. Big surprise was that Tom Ooms (Sarafree Maserati MC12) qualified as first in 8"860 on lane 2. Hotlapper's Ferrari 575 GTC was second in 8"892, Nick de Wachter's Maserati third in 8"894. With the Vitaphone Maserati stating on the smallest lane, it were the Hotslotter Ferrari 575GTC and Ralf Seif's Viexzbuxen 575GTC setting the pace during the first segment. But up from the second segment Nick de Wachter could pass them to go out at the lead until the finish. Both RfH Lambos suffered from front wheels rubbing the body, so Fola's Jetalliance Aston Martin DBR9. was struggling with the two Ferraris for the second place. Eventually it seemed that they should finish as third, but pinion woes made the car dropping two places. A trhird Ferrari 575 GTC - Gecko's - finished as fourth. That makes that we found no less than three Ferraris among the top-4. Nice, but what this has to do with a Spa 24h model car race: there were no 575 GTCs at the start in Spa at the 1/1 race. Next year, at the 2008 EEC only cars having been seen at the Total Spa 24 hours will be allowed at the start. The IOC-list has been updated. [JPVR]

Nick de Wachter and Emily Kuipers won the race with this splendid Vitaphone Maserati MC12

This is the brand new Sarafree Maserati MC12, built by Gert Klinge. Tom Ooms caused a stir by taking the pole position with a car having never been raced earlier.

The Lamborghini Murcielago R-GT by Tamar Nelwan and Gabriël Inabnit could not convince during the race.

The field on its way to Eau Riuge.

Philippe Laudet and Philippe Destrée showed with this Luc Alphand Corvette C6R. It's their first 1/24th model car which they'll race at the 2008 EEC.

This is Rob de Ridder's Corvette C5R, not in the coulours of the Spa 24 hours, but in the colours of the other rounds of the 2007 FIA-GT series.

This is a model car version of the Carsport Holland having won the 2007 Spa 24 hours. This is Ton Jacob's car.

Team Modena Aston Martin DBR9 as raced at the 2007 Le Mans 24 hours, built by Henri van Gool. The car finished ninth on 18.

Line-up with Gert Klinge's Sarafree Maserati ahead of Nick de Wachter's #1 Vitaphone Maserati MC12. Klinge's car was first at the qualifications and last at the finish. At the left Hotlappers #68 Ferrari having finished as second.

1. RfH #1	Nick de Wachter (NL)/Emily Kuipers (NL)	#1 Vitaphone Maserati MC12 (2007)*	779.34
2. Hotlapper	Ingo Magon (D)/Dirk Neuhaus (D)	#68 JMB Ferrari 575 GTC (2005)	758.98
3. Viezbuxen	Ralf Seif (D)/Mike Wagner (LUX)	#61 Baron Racing Ferrari 575 GTC (2005)	756.57
4. Gecko Racing	Michael Van Bernhem (D)/Chris Bunnenberg (D)	#17 JMB Ferrari 575 GTC (2004)	750.14
5. Slot-Fabrik Racing	Fola Osu (NIG)/Stefan Baudach (D)	#33 Jetalliance Aston Martin DBR9 (2007)*	749.38
6. WEAM Team #001	Erwin Post (NL)/Wietze Oosterhof (NL)	#19 PSI Corvette C6R (2007)	742.40
7. RfH #8	Willem Kloppenburg (NL)/Ronald Zaal (NL)	#8 ALL.INKL.COM Lamborghini Murciélago R-GT (2007)*	730.63
8. RfH #28	Tamar Nelwan (NL)/Gabriel Inäbnit (CH)	#28 Sport 1 Lamborghini Murciélago R-GT (2007)*	729.20
9. Dutch Age Racing	Marcel Oosterling (NL)/Henri van Gool (NL)	#59 Team Modena Aston Martin DBR9 (2007)	728.06
10. White Mouse	Pål Hanson (N)/Mark Sander (DK)	#36 Jetalliance Aston Martin DBR9 (2007)*	718.97
11. Sideways	Onno Griepink (NL)/Jorgen Rossenaar (NL)	#34 PSI Corvette C6R (2006)	712.22
12. WEAM Team #002	Wietze Oosterhof (NL)/Hans Lanting (NL)	#4 GPLK Corvette C65 (2007)	664.81
13. Smokey	Rob de Ridder (NL)/Sergiu Hiouwer (NL)	#3 GPC Ferrari 575 GTC (2005)	661.76
14. Fox Racing	David de Vos (NL)/Ton Jacobs (NL	#5 Carsport Holland Corvette C6R (2007)*	658.79
15. Zmachine	Philippe Laudet (B)/Philippe Destrée (B)	#3 Luc Alphand Corvette C6R (2007)*	618.75
16. Amoslot Race Team	Oscar Hernandez (VEN)/Andy Filitz (D)	#61 Modena Team Aston Martin DBR9 (2006)	609.04
17. GMS Racing	Stefan Kuhn (D)/Marcel Kuhn (D)	#22 Ambipur Corvette C5R (2005)	601.68
18. Virage	Gert Klinge (B)/Tom Ooms (B)	#12 Sarafree Maserati MC12 (2007)*	589.70

IMCA'S 20th WORLDS, EURONATS & BENELUX CUP

Click here for complete report

10th VIKING 12 HOURS, FREDERIKSUND (Nov 15-16, 2007) (DK) (NO IOC RACE)

NELWAN, INÄBNIT, OOSTERLING WIN JUBILEE EDITION

December 4, 2007 - 24 racers from 4 different countries showed for the jubilee edition of the Viking 12 hours. The race was easily won by Tamar Nelwan (NL), Gabe Inäbnit (CH) and Marcel Oosterling (NL) having earlier qualified as first in 6"397. Gert Klinge (B), who qualified as second, had a difficult start, but made a superb come-back to 3rd overall. Second place went to Michael Kklarskov (DK), Hroar Olsen (DK) and Jørgen Rigtrup (DK) with a simple Carrera Corvette on a M-Racing C1 chassis. White Point, where Pål Hanson (N) could not start, disappointed by finishing 5th. Notorious absentees were Martin Borch and the Høflers. WQe never received the promised report. [JPVR]

COMPLETE RESULTS
1. Tamar Nelwan/Gabriel Inäbnit/Marcel Oosterling	Lambo Murcielago R-GT	3145
2.Michael Klarskov/Hroar Olsen/Jørgen Rigtrup	Corvette C6R	3025
3. Gert Klinge/Rasmus Johansen	Sarafree Maserati MC12	2986
4. Henning Smed/Jan Juul/Leif Christensen	Corvette C5R	2734
5. Mark Sander/Henrik Hasager/Jørn Birkebæk	Aston MartinDBR9	2726
6. Rene & Oliver Andersen/P Skrotspeed/M.Huniche	Nissan 350Z GT500	2671

1st BIG WHEELS G5 , ALSDORF (Dec 2-3, 2007) (D) (NO IOC RACE)

FOLA OSU, GERT KLINGE & STEFAN BAUDACH WIN

December, 2007 - 36 racers from 5 different countries showed for an interesting G5 meeting at the Alsdorf track. This meeting was scheduled "at the last minute" (not before starting the 2007 season) following a "last minute concept" so typical for Nick de Wachter. Nevertheless it was a good show and an interesting meeting. Twelve teams showed with their "Big Wheels". The race was intended as a kind of Belgium vs Holland with six Belgian teams at the start and five Dutch teams. World champion Afolabi Osu insisted and could enter an international team with Stefan Baudach (D) and Gert Klinge (B) as team racers. He won Concourse and was fastest - with an in-liner chassis! - at the Qualifications. All cars were equipped with a C3 motor, not with the ProSlot Mk1. There was raced at 13 Volts, not at 14.7 Volt as usual, since the cars, with their big wheels, had too much grip, and were beyond control at 14.7 Volt.
Racing for Holland showed with two cars, twice a BMW 320i (and not a Ford Mustang as earlier was announced). Nick de Wachter's car didn't handle very well and qualified as 8th, which implied that he had to start in the slowest heat. For him and his team mates no big problem, since they turned around the rest of the field in their heat.
In the quicker heat the #20 Nigrin Ford Capri LV was pulling away from the rest of the field, whilst the RfH-II BMW 320i of Tamar Nelwan & Cie could let the two Belgian Porsches 935-78 behind. When the Dutch racers blew up a couple of controllers they lost definitively contact with the leader. Here Gert Klinge and Stefan Baudach were very consistent drivers, increasing their advance over the rest of the field. [Already at the 19th IMCA Worlds Klinge gave full evidence that he improved this year a lot, being on his way to become a full pro.]
Eventually Osu/Baudach/Klinge won the race, a full fourty laps ahead over Nelwan/ Kloppenburg/Zaal. Four laps further the two Porsches 935-78 finished nose to tail, with Massart/Vanden Berghe/Corral taking the third spot, followed by Kuhn/Grégoire/ Martin. The G5 specialists Huys/Van Campenhout/Dohogne finished fifth, in the same lap as RfH-II. The Dutch teams Weam and Sideways were never involved in the combat for a podium place and finished as seventh and eighth. A complete report can also be found on the LMS side under:
http://www.slotracinglemans.com/newforum/viewthread.php?tid=1083

1. Slotfabrik (D)	Afolabi Osu (NIG)/Stefan Baudach (D)/Gert Klinge (B)	#55 Liqui Molly Ford Capri LV	10"020 (1st)	719 laps
2. RfH-II (NL)	Tamar Nelwan (N)L/Willem Kloppenburg (NL)/Gabe Inäbnit (CH)	#20 BMW 320i	10"170 (3rd)	679 laps
3. Team R3 (B)	Robert Massart (B)/René Vanden Bergen (B)/Fernando Corral (E)	#30 Momo Porsche 935-78	10"040 (2nd)	675 laps
4. BK Racing (B)	Hans Grégoire (B)/Stéphan Martin (B)/Raymond Kuhn (B)	#43 Martini Porsche 935-78	10"256 (5th)	675 laps
5. Sloefspeed (B)	Kristof Huys (B)/Björn van Campenhout (B)/Gilles Dohogne (B)	#3 BASF Motul BMW M&	10"409 (7th)	664 laps
6. RfH-I (NL)	Nick de Wachter (NL)/Emily Kuipers (NL)/Ronald Zaal (NL)	#22 BMW 320i	10"452 (8th)	664 laps
7. Weam Team (NL)	Erwin Post (NL)/André van der Zee (NL)/Hans Lanting (NL)	Ford Capri LV	10"768 (11th)	654 laps
8. Team Sideways (NL)	Onno Grieppink (NL)/Jurgen Rossenaar (NL)/Sergiu Houwer (NL)	#53 D&R Zakspeed Ford Capri LV	10"351 (6th)	649 laps
9. Effex 24 (B)	Hubert Jacob (B)/Pascal Closset (B)/Alex Vandenbempt (B)	Toyota Celica Turbo Gr. 5	10"547 (9th)	649 laps
10. Z-Machine (B)	Philippe Laudet (B)/Francis Cathénis (B)/Armin Reichelt (B)	@22 Minolta Lotus Europe	10"727 (10th)	646 laps
11. HRT (B)	Jan Celis (B)/Philippe Rutten (B)/Bart Spapen (B)	#72 Belga BMW M1 Procar	10"196 (4th)	622 laps
12. Fox Racing (NL)	Ton Jacobs (NL)/Remco van Waaij (NL)/David Vos (NL)	BMW 320i	11"371 (&éth)	597 laps