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1ST PANAM
PLAFIT NATS -
CHICAGO (USA), OCTOBER 4-5, 2008
(IOC-EVENT
LEVEL 2) |
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AKIRA BANNO/NOBUHISA
KUDOU WIN BY 3 LAPS |
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RADISICH/HOOD 2ND-
CHARMING AUSSIES ROESTORF/WALEKIN/BARTHOLEMEW 3RD |
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October 7, 2008 - This week-end, by organising the 1st
Panam Plafit Championship in Chicago, Mark Campbell put
model car racing with hard plastic bodies on America's map. Sure
that there is still a long way to go, but now American and Canadian
racers learned at least where they can find shops selling the most
successful model car chassis in history. Campbell also succeeded to
bring a Japanese works team at the start together with an Australian
team, five American teams, two Canadian teams, two mixed Canam teams
and the famous Fred Hood (USA)/Chris Radisich (NZ) tandem. We have
to go back to the 1987 Nations Cup at Profondville to see the same.
Bringing such teams together was certainly no small performance. And
yes some famous subscribers could not show - I mean Herman James
(USA), "Gugu" Bernardino (BR) and the Danish team of Gørm Norgaard/Martin
Borch/Søren Thomsen - but that's a quite normal thing in
international racing. Of the twelve entered teams eight were
racing the famous Porsche 911 GT1 body (so famous in Plafit DPM and
DKPM racing), but some Canadians opted for the Corvette C6-R.
Concourse was won by the Corvette of Brian Meharry (USA).
Racing went on the wooden 8-laner in the shop of Roger & Laura
Schmitt where good old Andy Wasserman did the race
direction. Press covering of the race was done by Mick "MG" Brown
of SARN. It's perhaps good to remember that SARN's John Ford
organised already in 1988 the IMCA Model Car Worlds at Broadview
near Chicago, at Jerry Kulish's place. At the
Qualifications Nobuhisa Koudo (J) - runner-up at the 2007 DPM
where he realised the pole - was the fastest man in 8"081.
Second place on the grid went to the famous racing duo Fred Hood
(USA)/Chris Radisich (NZ). On the American continent they are
the lonely ones having survived with success the technical
revolution of 2003-2008. Indeed, laminated bodies, use of carbon
parts on the chassis, camber front wheels: all that originated up
from 2003, making the entry level for newcomers much higher than in
the period 1985-2002 where nobody raced such sophisticated model
cars as now. Especially Radisich - a typical all-rounder, racing
wing cars, ISRA scale cars and model cars with the same success - is
one of the most feared model car racers in the international
circuit. He reached three times the main final of a Model Car 124
World Championship: in 2001, 2007 and 2008. At the qualifications
Chris realised 8"201. Third best time was realised by Jan
Roestorf, originally from South-Africa, but living in Australia.
Last year he won at Durban the South-African Model Car Nats, ahead
over Paul Erlo and Craig Strydom. Now he clocked a fastest lap in
8"253. Already before the start I wrote that the
Japanese and Australian teams, together with the Hood/Radisich duo -
should dominate the Panam Plafit Nats, just as happened. All others
were thus struggling for the fourth place. At the qualifications
that fourth place went to Colin Schmitt (USA)/Mike Stahl (USA)
with 8"374, letting Mark Campbell (CDN)/Jeff Goldberg (USA)
behind on rank 5 with 8"453, and Roger Schmitt (USA)/Terry
Dalton (CDN) on rank 6 with 8"462. Already at the 20th
IMCA Worlds Dalton, having made the wrong set-up of his car - proved
that he was an excellent newcomer, what he now confirmed at the
Panam Plafit Championship. |
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Those are the
winners of the 1st PANAM Nats with top qualifier Nobuhisa Kudou at
the left and Akira Banno at the right. They entered earlier a couple
of times the Deutsche Plafit Meisterschaft where Kudou already
finished once on the podium. If things go well we may them expect to
drive the #46 Fmying Lizard Porsche at the 2009 Toronto Worlds: it's
the car which organiser Mark Campbell reserved for the winners of
the PANAM Nats. You can see the car
here. In the
IOC-ranking
Kudou counts already 36 points, Banno 20 points. |
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As at all PlaFit Championships the eventual race goes over three
sections of 8 x 7 minutes. Racing goes with handout Bison Mk3 motors
being raced at 19 Volts. In the first section we
witness an unbelievable close combat among the Japanese team, the
Australian team and the Hood/Radisich tandem. What nobody had
expected is that the Aussies are tremendously fast, proving that
Australian model car racing is a high level business. That was
earlier proven at the 20th IMCA Worlds where Tim Tyler - this
other all-rounder - was among the best racers. Without the accident
with his rear tyres (someone gave him a pair of used tyres!!!) he
should certainly have been one of the finalists. In international
racing one always forget that Europe is not the lonely model car
continent, but that Australia has also a long tradition in model car
racing. At the Panam Plafit Championship Jan Roestof & Cie
succeeded even to win the first race section, beating Hood/Radisich
and Kudou/Banno by ... half a lap. It was a splendid racing
spectacle and the best thinkable promotion for model car racing.
At the first section the leading trio took more than seven laps over
the SARN team of Mick "MG" Brown & cie, fifteen over Colin
Schmitt/Mike Stahl and twenty over Mark Campbell/ Jeff
Goldberg. In the rear Bob Bainborough/Tim Schnyder -
two subscribers at the 2009 Toronto
Worlds, where they'll race a copy of the #45 Flying
Lizard Porsche, having finished second in GT2 at last Saturday's
Petit Le Mans 1000 miles -
suffered serious problems with their orange Corvette. The car had to
come into the garage where some 140 laps were lost. Problems too for
the Corvette of Laura Schmitt/Bill Cycko, loosing nearly
hundred laps. Another subscriber at the 2009 Toronto
Worlds being present at the Panam Plafit Championship is Terry
Dalton, who'll drive the #71 Tafel Racing Ferrari F430 GT
(having finished third in its class at last week-end's Petit Le
Mans). Teamed with track owner Roger Schmitt he was involved
in a close combat with Campbell/Goldberg. At the end of the first
race section Dalton & Schmitt were ten laps down to Campbell &
Goldberg, a handicap that they hoped to undo at the two following
sections. Everybody seemed convinced that the first place of the
Aussies at the first section was perhaps a lucky shot, but
spectators could hardly believe their eyes when they saw that those
famous Aussies were winning ... again at the end of the second race
section. Now they took again a half lap over Hood/Radisich and Banno/Kudou.
That implied that after the two first sections three cars were hold
in just one lap. Now Colin Schmitt/Mike Stahl could take eight laps
over the SARN racers, finishing fourth. Unfortunately that was not
enough to pass them in the provisional standings, as after two race
segments they were still one lap down to Mick "MG" Brown & Cie.
In the struggle for the sixth place Dalton/Schmitt lost again ten
laps from Campbell/Goldberg, so that, without major technical
problems the new IMCA president and his team mate were sure about a
sixth spot on arrival. In the rear Bainborough/Snyder lost
more laps and could avoid the last place only since DiRubbo/Mehary
didn't enter their beautiful and colourful Corvette C6-R at the
second race section. We have no information on what were the reasons
for their forfait. |
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Fred Hood,
despite his age, is up to now the best American model car racer. As
well at the 2007 IMCA Worlds in Mechelen and at the 2008 IMCAZ
Worlds at Herentals he proved that he can compete with the best
model car racers of the world. By finishing second at the PANAM Nats
he climbs in the all time IOC-list from rank 98 to rank 88. Chris
Radisich (NZ) is since years the best model car racer of New
Zealand. Just as Hood he's a typical all-rounder racing wing cars,
scale cars and model cdars as well. Chris reached already three
times the main final of the IMCA Worlds (in 2001, in 2007 and in
2008). Since he's living in the States he became one of the best
racers of the World. In the IOC-ranking he's now 53rd. |
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At the second race section the three leading teams had increased
their speed over 8 x 7 minutes by five laps. At the start of the
third section everybody was curious if that average speed could
still be increased. Something seemed obvious: the Japanese, being
only seven segments down to the second place, were running the two
first segments on reserve. It was doubted that they could go even
faster. But what with the Aussies having already won the two first
racing segments? Soon after the start it became obvious that ànd the
Aussies ànd Hood/Radisisch should have problems to follow the
unbelievable high speed produced by Nobuhisa Kudou. Already
after the first segment he took half a lap on Hood/Radisich. They,
however, could maintain their second place in the overall standings
as the Aussies lost two laps in one segment. The third race section
was thus an all-Japanese speed festival. The Plafit Works Team
achieved now 391 laps, four more than at the second section and nine
more than at the first section. Hood/Radisich could just
maintain their average speed of the second section: they did only
five small segments faster. For the Aussies, having given a
spectacular demonstration during the two first sections, it was all
drama now. They finished only fifth in the third segment, loosing
thirteen laps from the Japanese. Nevertheless Roesdorf/Bartholemew/Wakelin
could maintain in the overall standings the third place. Behind
them there is a merciless combat for the fourth place among the SARN
team and Colin Schmitt/Mike Stahl, being less than one lap
apart in the overall standings after two race sections. During the
complete third section both teams are racing nose to tail.
Eventually Colin and Mike can pass the SARN team, winning the third
place of the section, but ... only a half lap ahead over the SARN
racers, not enough to pass Moser/Azarraga/ Brown for the
fourth place overall. Behind them Campbell/Goldberg (6th) and
Roger Schmitt/Dalton (7th) maintain their position. There is no
struggle for the last IOC point as Kelley/Worden have enough
laps in hand over Arno Grazie/David Grazie and Laura
Schmitt/Bill Cicko to secure their eight place overall. Back in
town were DiRubbo/Mehary, achieving 360 laps, and reaching
rank 8 of the third section, however not enough to avoid the last
place in the overall ranking. The Panam Plafit Nats were a great
promotion for model car racing on the American continent. We saw
spectacular close racing among the three first team, and again among
the teams fighting for the fourth place. Let's hope that next year
Brazilians and some Europeans will show for the second edition! And
when there will be an Australian Plafit Championship: the Aussies,
they charmed anyone by their nice performances at the Nats!
[JPVR] |
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Concourse winner
Brian Meharry shows proudly his very nice Corvette C6-R. In the
background we see the new track of Schmitt's shop. |
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The Aussies
proved that there are other excellent model car racers than only Tim
Tyler down unter. Let's hope that there will be an Australian team
present at the 2009 Toronto Worlds. We see at the left Jan Roestorf
(earlier winner of the South-African Model Car Nats), Laura Schmitt,
Simon Wakelin and
Andrew Bartholemew. Roestorf already subsribed for the Toronto
Worlds. All three join now the IOC-ranking
with 12 points. |
Mike Stahl (left)
is an ISRA American scale racer, but proved that he's more than an
average model car racer. With his team mate Colin Schmitt - son of
Roger and Laura Schmitt -he caused a stir by fibnishing third at the
last section. Mike Stahl and Colin Schmitt finished fourth overall
at the Panam Nats. Let's hope that we see them back at the 2009
Toronto Worlds. Both join now the
IOC-ranking
where Colin counts 6 points, Mike 8 points. |
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| All
cars at the technical control: 8 Porsches 911 GT1 and 3 Corvettes
C6-R |
Mister Plafit himself - Nori Ono - was of course present at the 1st
PANAM Plafit Nats |
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RACERS |
TEAM |
Qualification |
Section 1 |
Section 2 |
Tot 1 + 2 |
Section 3 |
Total laps |
won IOC-pts |
|
1. Akira Banno (J)/Nobuhisa
Kudou (J) |
Plafit Works Team |
8"081
(1) |
382.71 (3) |
387.60 (3) |
770.31 (3) |
391.43 (1) |
1161.74 |
20 pts |
| 2. Fred Hood
(USA)/Chris Radisich (NZ) |
Crash Kids |
8"201 (2) |
382.77 (2) |
387.62 (2) |
770.39 (2) |
387.65 (2) |
1158.04 |
15 pts |
|
3. Jan Roestorf (AU)/Simon
Wakelin (AU)/Andrew Bartholemew (AU) |
Ausforce |
8"253 (3) |
383.34 (1) |
388.24 (1) |
771.58 (1) |
378.42 (5) |
1150.00 |
12 pts |
| 4. Kurt Moser
(USA)/Mark Azarraga (USA)/Mick "MG" Brown (USA) |
SARN Racers |
8"509 (7) |
375.68 (4) |
375.79 (5) |
751.47 (4) |
380.33 (4) |
1131.80 |
9 pts |
|
5. Colin Schmitt (USA)/Mike
Stahl (USA) |
2 Stooges |
8"374 (4) |
367.27 (5) |
383.33 (4) |
750.60 (5) |
380.72 (3) |
1131.32 |
6 pts |
| 6. Mark
Campbell (CND)/Jeff Goldberg (USA) |
Jay Gee Racing |
8"453 (5) |
362.37 (6) |
372.26 (6) |
734.63 (6) |
370.30 (7) |
1104.93 |
3 pts |
|
7. Roger Schmitt (USA)/Terry
Dalton (CND) |
Canam Racing |
8"462 (6) |
345.59 (7) |
362.60 (7) |
708.19 (7) |
370.79 (6) |
1078.59 |
2 pts |
| 8. Larry
Kelley (USA)/Bill Worden (USA) |
K & W Racing |
8"761 (9) |
345.43 (8) |
346.14 (8) |
691.57 (8) |
338.46 (9) |
1030.03 |
1 pt |
|
9. Amo Grazie (CND)/Navid
Grazie (CND) |
Nizztex Racing |
8"967 (10) |
308.76 (10) |
325.77 (9) |
634.53 (9) |
308.40 (11) |
994.98 |
- |
| 10. Laura
Schmitt (USA)/Bill Cycko (USA) |
Psycho Racing |
9"409 (11) |
291.44 (11) |
323.16 (10) |
614.60 (10) |
321.56 (10) |
936.16 |
- |
|
11. Bob Bainborough (CND)/Tim
Snyder (CND) |
Hello Wall Racing |
9"533 (12) |
240.59 (12) |
291.64 (11) |
532.23 (11) |
303.66 (12) |
835.89 |
- |
| 12. Larry
Dirubbo (USA)/Brian Meharry (USA) |
DiRubbo Racing |
8"633 (8) |
342.58 (9) |
0.00 (12) |
342.58 (12) |
360.45 (8) |
703.03 |
- |
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4TH
SUMMERNIGHT 5 L RACE - NEUMÜNSTER (D), AUGUST 29-30, 2008
(IOC-EVENT
LEVEL 3) |
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KAI KIVEKÄS/MATTHIAS
PARKE WIN IT ALL |
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KAI'S FOURTH
IOC WIN OF 2008 - DISCOVER THE OTHER WORLD OF DSC RACING |
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September 14, 2008 - The Summernight L Race is new on the IOC
Calendar and candidate to be upgraded next year to a Level 2
IOC-event. It's organised since 2005 and is a confrontation between
1/24th model cars of the Ferraris 512 and the Porsches 917. Number
of entrants is steadily growing and it is the most international of
all DSC races. This year 32 teams of 2 racers showed. Among them
Kai Kivekäs (SF), Patrick Studer (CH), Ernst Oertli (CH), Peter
Bichsel (CH), Uwe Frühbauer (A), Ole Andersen (DK), Karsten
Frederiksen (DK), Jakob Andersen (DK), and Mehmet Sirsek (TR).
Except for the European champion Endurance Racing - Kai Kivekäs
- those racers are all typical DSC racers, not earlier seen in
international competition. The 5L Summernight Race is contested
on the wooden 5-laner of the SCR Northland over four sections of
five segments. There are two day sections and two night sections.
The Qualifications determine the order of the heats. In the famous
Werksteam of Mathhias Parke Jürgen Stüdemann (D) was replaced
by Kai Kivekäs since he moved from DSC racing to SLP racing. Parke
himself was not happy with his former team mate since, last year, at
the 5L Summernight Race, Jürgen lost 5 or 6 laps at the night
section, and 3 at the day section, so that the Werksteam failed to
win the 2007 edition. Although it was generally expected that the
race should start with one minute of silence in honour of Stefan
Wiesel who passed away last year, this was not the case as his
wife, Beate Wiesel, insisted not to do so. At the
qualifications none of the two favourite teams could realise the
pole. The #25 Porsche 917L of Dieter Jens (D) and Peter
Berg (D) realised only the fourth best time in 6"319,
whilst the #5 Ferrari 512 Coda Lunga of the Werksteam was only fifth
in 6"330. Pole position went thus unexpectedly to the yellow
#12 Ferrari 512S Frank Hermes (D)/Dieter Sommer (D) - two
excellent DSC racers having earlier won the Dieter Jens Le Mans
Challenge - in 6"268. Second best time went to the other
yellow Ferrari 512 of Memet Simsek (TR)/Frank Schauf (D) in
6"281. The Swiss duo Patrick Studer/Peter Bichsel made
it a 1-2-3 for the Ferraris. They drove a copy of the Filipinetti
Ferrari 512M which I bought in 1989 in Monaco at scale 1/1 and with
one I won a couple of races at the Ferrari Club meetings of 1989 and
1990. First Porsche 917 was thus the one driven by Dieter Jens. |
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The Ferrari 512M Coda Lunga of
Kai Kivekäs (SF)/Matthias Parke (D), having won the four race
sections dominated the race despite a rather weak qualification
time. |
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The first day section was won by Matthias Parke (D), letting
Frank Hermes (D) and Patrick Studer (CH) 2.5 laps
behind. The top 7 were all Ferraris with Frank Schauf (D),
still second on the grid, having dropped into sixth place, nearly
five laps behind the leader. First Porsche 917 was the #25 of
Peter Berg (D), having lost seven laps after gear problems.
Another Porsche 917, of the Jens Brothers, lost more than 20
laps after electrical problems, and dropped in the one but last
position. David Rietz (D) with the Junior Werksteam Porsche
lost 13 laps and was 19th. Everybody was curious if, at the
second day section, Kai Kivekäs (SF) should be able to
maintain the first place his team mate Parke conquered at the first
day section. Indeed, Kivekäs has absolutely not the same track
experience as Parke, and is no DSC racer as the rest of the field.
But Kivekäs, having won this year two of the three rounds at the
2008 EEC, having won the EEC championship, having been third at the
Sprint EuroNats and fourth at the Endurance Worlds, is an
all-rounder. Deslotting only once or twice he wins easily the second
day section ahead of Dieter Jens (D) and Peter Bichsel
(CH). The yellow Ferrari of Memet Simsek (TR) looses 8
laps and falls back from sixth into ninth position. After the two
day sections top-5 positions are: 1. Kivekäs/Parke (Ferrari) 372.2
laps, 2. Studer/Bichsel (Ferrari) 368.8 laps, 3. Hermes/Sommer
(Ferrari) 367.2 laps, 4. Schäfer/Reimer (Ferrari) 366.8 laps, 5. D.
Jens/Berg (Porsche) 365.5 laps. The Werksteam Juniors are 22nd, the
Jens Bros 25th (after a fine ninth place in the second day section).
At the first night section Kai Kivekäs (SF) holds the wheel
of the leading Ferrari and wins again, now with Frank Hermes (D)
as second, one and a half lap behind, and Patrick Studer (CH)
as third. The team of Simsek (TR)/Schauf (D) realises
that they made a mistake, announce it to the race direction, and
receive a 30 laps penalty, dropping them in 31st position.
Starting the second and last night section most positions are
definitively acquired. Parke (D) wins four and a half lap
over Bichsel and Sommer. By finishing only seventh in
the last section Hanel/Schröder drop two places in the final
ranking. So final ranking gives:
1. Kivekäs/Parke (Ferrari - MoMo
MP-X) 744.53 laps, 2. Studer/Bichsel (Ferrari - MoMo MP) 733.21 laps,
3. Lars Scheifer/Jan Reimer (Ferrari - MoMo MP) 731.63 laps, 4.
Hermes/Sommer (Ferrari - Schöler Striker 5513D) 730.76 laps, 5. D.
Jens/P. Berg (Porsche - Eigenbau) 728.62 laps, 6. Peter Hanel/Nils
Schröder (Ferrari - MoMo MP06) 721.03 laps, 7. Krieger/Badenkopf
(Ferrari - Schöler Striker 5513D) 719.57 laps, 8. Uwe Frübauer/Michael
Wilke (Porsche - Schöler Striker 5513D) 717.66 laps.
First SLP
chassis was found under the Ferrari of Gerd van de Wiel
(D)/Joachim Welsch (D) finishing eleventh. The Werksteam juniors
finished as 19th, the Jens Bros as 20th. There were 32 cars at the
finish. The Porsche of Beate Wiesel and newcomer Frank
Leib (D), mounted on a MoMo MP
chassis, finished tenth overall. |
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First Porsche 917, and main
favourite before the start, was this 917L shared by Dieter Jens (D)
and Peter Berg (D). They finished fifth overall. During the first
day section, however, Peter Berg lost six laps in the pits with gear
problems. That made them dropping into eight position. But even
without those problems the Porsche 917L, mounted on an experimental
chassis, should never have finished much higher than the fifth place
as the new MoMo MP chassis was outstanding. Top-3 finishing cars all
used that chassis. An older MoMo MP06 finished sixth. The Schöler
Striker 5513D finished 4th, 7th and 8th. First PlaFit chassis was
11th. First Slotvision Mk3 chassis was 13th. |
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One question is
unanswered up to now. Why international top racers - having been
massively present at the SRC Northland track in 2005 - never
returned? It's a very nice race location, reception is done in the
most friendly way, there are enough working benches, catering is
perhaps not la haute cuisine française and very German but
fair enough, entry fee is rather low: so why nobody of the top
racers returns to SRC Northland? It's a bare objective fact that
even the best German racers stay away, I mean: Michael Niemas,
Philipp Kremer, Ralph Seif, Christian Schnitzler, Christof Kremer,
Caroline Schnitzler, Sebastian Nöckemann, Thomas Nötzel, Kurt Petri,
Andreas Laufenberg, Norman Grund, Jan Uhlig, Manfred Stork,
etc. This year even Jan Schaffland, Dirk Wolff, Dietmar
Schmeer, Peter Oberbillig, Uli Schumacher, Alexander Ortmann,
etc. all didn't show despite the fact that there is always a prima
race organisation in place. Why no top racers - apart from Kivekäs
and Dieter Jens - show at the 5L Summernight Race? I see three main
reasons, having nothing to do with the so called "Amish" character of the
meeting. (1) In normal international model car racing one uses
since 1985 aggressive motors with strong accelerations. Last
venue was the ProSlot PS4000-IMCA, very reliable, and
accelerating much faster than e.g. the former Bison Mk3.
Mastering perfectly the brutal accelerations by such motors is
only given to real top racers. In DSC racing such motors were
replaced since the beginning by smooth Fox or Sakatsu motors with
slow accelerations. If a top racer has to drive such smooth motors
he has no longer any advantage of his driving abilities. He knows
that with such slow motors he never will deslot, but the others
deslot neither, so the master is at once no longer a top-racer,
having to fight on typical home tracks which local racers know much
better than him. In the words of Michael Niemas: "For me
DSC racing is rail racing with slowish Märklin locomotives never
deslotting. So tell me, what I can do there!" (2) Normal
international racing goes always with handout sponge tyres
being the same for all entrants. In DSC racing everyone makes his
own rubber Wiesel Ortmann tyres. International racers have
not the smallest experience with rubber tyres, they don't know how
to treat them. Going to Neumünster is for them entering an unknown
world where everything is else than on other places in the world.
Even the track (5 lanes) is something they never see somewhere else.
(3) International attendance at races as the 5L Summernight event
should be a lot higher if DSC racers did an effort to show ALSO at
international races as the DPM, EPM, DKPM, IMCA, Panamericans, etc.
That principle of mutuality - racing at least once under DSC rules
and once under international rules - doesn't exist. DSC racers know
that they have no winning chances in big international events, thus
they stay home. International racers know that they have no winning
chances in DSC racing, thus they stay home either. The biggest
handicap in all this is that one needs at least two complete
different chassis, with a complete different chassis, if one
wishes to do DSC racing as well as IMCA racing. In international
racing the PlaFit SLP chassis - for next year the SLP 02 - and the
Metris Mk3 chassis are THE chassis one needs if one wants to win.
Those chassis, however, are not made for small old-timer bodies as
the Ferrari 512 or the Porsche 917. Here one needs the new MoMo MP
or the Schöler Striker 5513D, chassis not working properly in IMCA
racing. Take the car Kai Kivekäs built for the 2008 IMCA Endurance
Worlds, a nearly perfectly tuned MoMo. At a technical track as
Michel Thoumieu's MTT that chassis didn't work. Kai and Piki
finished only fourth. Their car was continuously dominated by three
others with a PlaFit SLP chassis.
So what could be
the solution to make the 5L Summernight race more popular? It's
quite simple: let the best DSC racers invite a top IMCA racer as
team mate, just as Parke did with Kivekäs. Result will be: more
nations at the start, better racers, and closer combat among the
top-teams. I think that such solution is the best for all racers.
[JPVR] NOTE: The IOC-list
(International Overall Classification) was updated. |
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EEC 2008
FINAL STANDINGS AFTER 3 ROUNDS - May 25, 2008
(IOC-EVENT
LEVEL 2) |
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KAI KIVEKÄS/HENRI
ESKMAN EUROPEAN CHAMPION |
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Citation Cup to
Remco van Waaij despite great show by Chris Bunenberg |
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Kai Kivekäs and Henri Eskman are
the 2008 European Champions in Endurance Racing. We hope to see them
back in 2009 to defend their title with LMS cars. |
Michael Niemas seems on his way
to be the Raymond Poulidor of model car racing. He finished second.
Team mate Philipp Kremer - absent at #2 - finished seventh OA. |
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Kristof Huys and Björn van
Campenhout - taking profit of less concurrence in GT2 - finished
third OA. Curious to see what they can realise in 2009 with LMS cars? |
Remco van Waaij was the best at
the Citation Cup. Here we see him with team mate Gert Klinge.
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June 4, 2008 - Organising a European Endurance Championship was my idea. The execution of the idea was left in hands
of Tamar Nelwan. Neither the idea nor the execution were good. I
explain. THE IDEA - The idea was wrong for several
reasons. (1) The idea was only workable if there should have been an
equal number of cars, both in GT1 as in GT2. Now there were
not enough cars in GT2, resulting in an unrealistic final standing.
The lack of competition in GT2 showed favour to the GT2 racers above
the GT1 racers. (2) It was a big error that the differences
between the Maseratis MC12 and the other cars could be undo by
weight sanctions. The PS4000-IMCA motor is so strong that weight
corrections missed their goal. Cars with an overweight were faster
instead of slower. Cars with a smaller spur (e.g. Seif's car
or Niemas's car) were faster than cars with a wider spur. (3) The
inequality among the cars was much too big to ensure a fair
competition. The Aston Martins DBR9 were tremendously handicapped,
just as the Corvettes (I mean, if built by normal people, not by
such a wizards as the Plastikquäler). (4) My
original idea to let 32 cars be raced (16 in GT1 and 16 in GT2) was
ridiculous. It's not workable. Fortunately Tamar could convince me
to reduce the entry to 24 cars per race THE EXECUTION -
The execution was not good. Sure, Tamar Nelwan did a great and very
ungrateful job. But I forgot the main point, i.e. that Tamar
Nelwan is a great admirer of Denis Diderot (1713-1784). Just
as was the case for the French philosopher Tamar's highest pleasure
is to write encyclopaedias. As organiser he transformed IMCA's art.
7, published a new one on his own web site, changed dozens of
details. The issue was a pearl of an encyclopaedia, theoretically
perfect. But completely unworkable. Tamar is too creative, too
enthusiast to be just an executor. He wishes to control everything,
wasting lots of time.
In 2009 the EEC
cannot continue with too unequal FIA GT cars. A switch to LMS cars
is an absolute must. All those cars have exactly the same width and
nearly exactly the same height. There is no longer a difference
between LMP1 and LMP2 cars, so the attribution of points can be
restricted to the 10 best finishers overall. Since it cannot be
exclusively top-racers at the start the Citation Cup should
be maintained, but no longer for racers having collected less than
10 IOC-points, but for racers having collected 25 or less
IOC-points. Already 23 racers subscribed for the EEC 2009.
We hope that Kai Kivekäs and Henri Eskmbrd
their title in 2009, but also to find Ralph Seif and
Alexander Ortmann at the start, just as Remco van Waaij,
Norman Grund, Jan Uhlig, Sebastien Nockermann,
Børge Haug, Glenn
Wennerberg, Chris Bunenberg, Ingo Mango, Mike
Wagner, Mark Sander, Henrik Hasager, Paal
Hanson (!), Jürgen Stüdemann, Gert Klinge, Oscar Hernandez,
etc, etc. Subscriptions are open until the end of 2008.
More...
The EEC 2009 will again go over 3 meetings (Herentals, Oslo,
Alsdorf) during the first half of 2009. No meeting will last longer
than 12 hours. 16 cars will be allowed at the start in Herentals, 18
at the start in Oslo and Alsdorf. It's possible to subscribe for
only one event (but only for Oslo and Alsdorf, with a maximum of 6
racers. Minimum racers per car is restricted to 2, maximum to 3.
Technical rules can be found under art.
|
|
FINAL
STANDINGS EEC 2008 |
|
1. Kai Kivekäs (SF)/Henri
Eskman (SF) |
#50 Ferrari F430 GT2 |
64 pts |
|
2. Michael Niemas (D) |
#11 Maserati MC12 |
59 pts |
|
3. Kristof Huys (B)/Björn van
Campenhout (B) |
#52 Ferrari F430 GT2 |
41.5 pts |
|
4. Nick de Wachter (NL)/Emily
Kuipers (NL) |
#1 Maserati MC12 |
41 pts |
|
5. Norman Grund (D) |
#11 Maserati, #99 Porsche |
40 pts |
|
6. Roy Bråten (N) |
#99 Porsche, #53 F430 GT2 |
38 pts |
|
7. Philipp Kremer (D) |
#11 Maserati MC12 |
37 pts |
|
8. Tamar Nelwan
(NL)/Gabriel Inäbnit (CH) |
#28 Lambo Murciélago R-GT |
30 pts |
|
9. Christoph Kremer (D) |
#7 Lambo, #99 Porsche 997 |
24.5 pts |
|
10. Rolf K. Andersen (N) |
#53 Ferrari F430 GT2 |
24 pts |
|
11 ex. Marcel Oosterling(NL)/Henri van Gool(NL) |
#15 Maserati MC12 |
22 pts |
|
11 ex. R.Seif (D)/J.Uhlig(D)/S
Nockermann (D) |
#5 Corvette C6R |
22pts |
|
13 Børge Haug (N)/Glenn
Wennerberg (N) |
#16 Maserati MC12 |
20 pts |
|
14 ex.
Tom Solberg (N)/Kai Tørgvær
(N) |
#99 Porsche 997 GT3-RSR |
16 pts |
|
14 ex. Dirk Baele (B)/Gerry de
Rpeck (B) |
#97 Porsche 997 GT3-RSR |
16 pts |
|
16. Peter
Krogstie (N) |
#53 Ferrari F430 GT2 |
14 pts |
|
17 ex. Wim Kloppenburg(NL)/Onno Griepink(NL) |
#4 Corvette C5R |
12 pts |
|
17 ex. René Andersen(DK)/Olivier
Andersen(DK) |
#62 Ferrari F430 GT2 |
12 pts |
|
19. Fola Osu (NIG)/Stephan
Baudach (D) |
#33 Aston Martin DBR9 |
11 pts |
|
20. Henrik Hasager (DK)/Gorm Nørgaard (DK)
|
#63 Ferrari F430 GT2 |
10.5 pts |
|
21. Günther Riehl (D) |
#7 Lambo Murciélago R-GT |
8.5 pts |
|
22 ex. Gert Klinge (B)/Remco
van Waaij (NL) |
#12 Maserati MC12 |
8 pts |
|
22 ex. Morten Hagen (N)/Rune
Ytterdahl (N) |
#97 Porsche 997 GT3-RSR |
8 pts |
|
22 ex. Nando Corral (B)/Louise
Valkenborgh(B) |
#76 Porsche 997 GT3-RSR |
8 pts |
|
25 ex.
Christer Bunström
(S)/Leif Nilsson (S) |
#74 Porsche 997 GT3-RSR |
6 pts |
|
25 ex. Armin
Reichelt (B) |
#2 Maserati MC12 |
6 pts |
|
25 ex. Chris Bunenberg (D)/Ingo
Mango (D) |
#22 Aston Martin DBR9 |
6 pts |
|
28 ex.
Jøstein Vandås
(N)/John Øystein Andersen (N) |
#51 Ferrari F430 GT2 |
2 pts |
|
28 ex. Frank Schüler (D) |
#7 Lambo Murciélago R-GT |
2 pts |
|
30. Michel van Bernheim (D)
[10th] |
#22 Aston Martin DBR9 |
0 pts |
|
31. Kr. Høttran (N)/Fr.Rødahl
(N) [11th] |
#19 Corvette C6R |
0 pts |
|
32. Ph Laudet(B)/Ph Destrée(B)
[12th,13th,14th] |
#3 Corvette C6R |
0 pts |
|
33. Mark Sander (DK) [13th,
16th, 18th] |
#36 Aston Martin DBR9 |
0 pts |
|
34. Francesc Reyes(E)/A.
Sarabia(E) [15th] |
#5 Corvette C6R |
0 pts |
|
35. Peter Kristiansen (DK)
[16th] |
#36 Aston Martin DBR9 |
0 pts |
|
36. Jürgen Stüdemann (D)
[17th] |
#33 Aston Martin DBR9 |
0 pts |
|
37. O.Hernandez(VEN)/Andy
Flitz(D) [18th, 19th] |
#23 Aston Martin DBR9 |
0 pts |
|
38. Pål Hanson (N) [18th] |
#36 Aston Martin DBR9 |
0 pts |
|
39. Stefan Kuhn(D)/Marcel Kühn(D)
[19th] |
#18 Corvette C5R |
0 pts |
|
40. Robert Massart [22nd] |
#2 Maserati MC12 |
0 pts |
|
41. Hubert Jacob (F) [disqualified] |
#2 Maserati MC12 |
DISQ |
|
|
STATISTICS - In total 65 racers of 13 different nations
entered the EEC 2008. They used 33 different cars, especially built
for the Series. Of the 65 entrants 27 racers could win points for
the Citation Cup. Before the start of the last round Hubert
Jacob was in an excellent position to win the Citation Cup, but he
lost it all by his stupid reaction during the night. He looses all
collected points, both at the Citation Cup as at the overall EEC
Ranking. Remco van Waaij won the Citation Cup, thanks to very
regular and consistent racing. At Alsdorf he could finish just
behind Chris Bunenberg enough to hold him off for winning the
Citation Cup.
Kivekäs/Eskman won the EEC 2008
with a MoMo SW04 chassis, ahead of a majority of racers using the
PlaFit SLP chassis. Other chassis such as the Schoeler Stryker, the
M-Racing C1 and the Slotvision were not competitive. Kivekäs/Eskman
won the 2008 series not only by being so wise to avoid the murdering
competition in GT1 but also because the two of them are EXCELLENT
racers. At Merlijn they were even leading all GT1 cars until the
three last segments. Michael Niemas was until the end of the
first Day Section at Alsdorf a very serious candidate to win the
title, but he had twice back luck. A first time since his tactic
plan failed: the Grund/Kremer Porsche 997 was unable to beat the
Kivekäs/Eskman F430 GT2. From the other side no one expected that
Seif & Co could win the last round with a brand new car having never
raced before. Nick de Wachter/Emily Kuipers slightly
disappointed, being at no moment out on the lead. In the overall
standings they are headed by Kristof Huys/Björn van Campenhout,
taking profit of the lack of though competition in GT2.
Five racers won a €
500 entry ticket for the Publiapplic pagoda during the 2008 Spa
race. Unable to show Kivekäs and Eskman offered their ticket to the
youngest Alsdorf racer (and his dad). Remco van Waaij offered his
ticket to team mate Gert Klinge. So Niemas was the only winner
holding the ticket for himself. [JPVR] |
|
FINAL
STANDINGS CITATION CUP |
|
1. Remco van Waaij (NL) |
42 pts |
|
2. Chris Bunnenberg (D) |
36 pts |
|
3 Onno Griepink (NL) |
32 pts |
|
4. Armin
Reichelt (B) |
23 pts |
|
5 ex. Philippe Laudet
(B) |
22 pts |
|
5 ex. Philippe Destrée (B) |
22 pts |
|
7 ex. Henri Eskman (SF)* |
20 pts |
|
7 ex. Frank Schüler (D) |
20 pts |
|
7 ex. Ingo Magon (D) |
20 pts |
|
10. Michael van Bernhem
(D) |
16 pts |
|
11. Rolf K. Andersen (N) |
12 pts |
|
12 ex. Kristian Hottran
(N) |
10 pts |
|
12 ex. Frank Rødahl (N) |
10 pts |
|
14. Mark Sander (DK) |
9 pts |
|
15. Peter Krogstie (N) |
9 pts |
|
16 ex. Tom Solberg (N) |
6 pts |
|
16 ex. Kai Tørgvær (N) |
4 pts |
|
16 ex. Peter Kristiansen (DK) |
4 pts |
|
16 ex. Andy Flitz (D) |
4 pts |
|
20. Gorm Nørgaard (DK) |
3 pts |
|
21 ex. Stephan Kuhn (D) |
2 pts |
|
21 ex. Marcel Kuhn (D) |
2 pts |
|
23 ex. Louise Valkenborg (B) |
1 pt |
|
23 ex. Fernando Corral (B) |
1 pt |
|
25 ex. René Andersen (DK) |
0 pts |
|
25 ex. Olivier Andersen(DK) |
0 pts |
|
27. Urbain Jacob (F) |
DISQ |
|
|
|
EEC 2008 Rnd
#3 - SPA 24 HOURS, ALSDORF (D) - May 23-25, 2008
(IOC-RACE
LEVEL 2) |
|
SEIF/NÖCKERMANN/UHLIG
WIN ON CORVETTE C6R |
|
Best EEC 2008
Meeting - Niemas's GT2 trick fails - Kivekäs/Eskman win GT2 |
 |
 |
|
Jan Uhlig, Ralph Seif and Peter
Nockermann won EEC #3 at Alsdorf. They are con-gratulated by EEC
organiser Tamar Nelwan. In the background JPVR and Willem
Kloppenburg. |
Henri Eskman and Kai Kivekäs won
for the third consecutive time the GT2 class. At the EEC Henri
Eskman won 75 IOC-points. Never before a rookie won that many points.
Best all-time rookie before Eskman was Gilles Dohogne who collected
57.5 pts in 2003. |
 |
 |
Nick de Wachter, Ralph Seif,
Gabriel Inäbnit, Philipp Kremer, Kai Kivekäs and Henri van Gool are
ready for the last section. Emily Kuipers is watching.
|
The winning car was built in six
days time by wizard Sebastien Nockermann; The car TQ-ed and was leading the
race from start to finish. It was the first IMCA entry of the famous
Plastikquäler Team.
|
|
June 4, 2008 - The
last round of the EEC 2008 was undoubtedly the best of the three.
Organiser Tamar Nelwan did great efforts to create a typical
Spa atmosphere. During the night section there was even a fog
machine. Location was excellent, as always, with plenty of room for
all racers.
THE ENTRY - Of the announced 24 cars two were missing, nl. the #62
Scuderia Ecosse Ferrari F430 GT2 of René and Olivier Andersen and
the #74 Ebro Porsche 997 GT3-RSR of the Swedes Christer Bunström and Leif Nilsson.
Or better: the cars were in place, but the racers didn't show.
A last minute entry was that of the Plastikquäler Team with
Ralph Seif, Jan Uhlig and Sebastien Nöckermann.
They came with the #5 Carsport Corvette C6R, a car which originally
should have been driven by Francesc Reyes. Unfortunately he
retired from competition after EEC #1 and the car was not seen at
Merlijn for EEC #2. André Colson and Armin Reichelt, scheduled on
the #51 Motorola Ferrari F430 GT2 didn't show. Two new cars were
found at the start: the #76 IMSA Matmut Porsche 997 GT3-RSR for
Fernando Corral/Louise Valkenburg and the #99 Tech9 Porsche 997
GT3-RSR (initially scheduled for Hugo and Desmond Dekker), but now
surprisingly driven by Christoph Kremer/Norman Grund. That
was a good trick of Michael Niemas, being at the start of the race
only one point behind Kai Kivekäs/Henri Eskman. If the #99
Porsche 997 could beat the #50 Motorola F430 GT2 of the Finns, not
they, but Michael Niemas could win the EEC 2008 Series!
Eventually 22 cars showed for the last round: 16 in GT1 and (only) 6
in GT2. Since the car of Kumpen/Longhin - main sponsors of the EEC
2008 - was in the wrong colours, and since both the Scuderia Ecosse
F430 GT2 and the #74 Ebro Porsche 997 GT3 were there without racers,
all hope to recuperate a part of the initial sponsoring money was no
longer allowed. Tamar really did what he could, but if the racers
don't respect their given word, a conditional sponsoring contract is
of not the smallest value.
QUALIFICATIONS - Since
Niemas/Philipp Kremer had to start with a 0.6 ohm restrictor (as
they won EEC #2) and since De Wachter/Kuipers were free from
restrictor (as they finished only 4th in GT1 at EEC #2) everybody
expected that Nick de Wachter should realise the pole. His
8"935 was a sharp time, sharper than the 9"023 of
Marcel Oosterling (also free from restrictor), but Philipp
Kremer showed why he's world champion by realising, despite the
restrictor, a better time than De Wachter:8"898. But then
came Sebastian Nockermann - having won already this year the
German SLP Series. Indeed, with a brand new car, never
raced before, he clocked the best time: 8"739. Spur of his
car was ... 10 mm less than that of the Maseratis MC12, proving that
the whole "weight calculator" is no more than an illusion on a track
as Alsdorf's. Moreover so much time was lost at the technical
control by adapting the weight corrections as given by the weight
calculator, that after some cars it was commonly decided to
forget that unworkable rule for all cars. [Correction on the
Plastikquäler car - Sebastian Schulz mailed me: "Teamchef
of Plastikquäler is Sebastian Nockemann. For Alsdorf he built, like
normal, the car for the team. In Alsdorf he drive the best
Qualification time. On Friday Nockemann and Uhlig made the setup.
Ralph Seif showed only on saturday for driving."]
After all qualification
runs for GT1 cars order was: #5 Corvette (Seif & Co), #11 Maserati
(Niemas/P. Kremer), #1 Maserati (De Wachter/Kuipers), #28 Lambo
(Nelwan/Inäbnit), #15 Maserati (Oosterling/Van Gool) and #22 Aston
Martin (Bunenberg/Mango). Fola Osu disappointed again by realising
only the 8th best time in GT1 and missing the highest heat. In
GT2 the Niemas trick seemed to work: Christoph Kremer/Norman
Grund were with their 9"017 faster than Kivekäs/Eskman
(with restrictor!) in 9"103. Third in GT2 were Kristof
Huys/Björn van Campenhout (with restrictor) in 9"369 (too
slow to realise the second best heat for cars having qualified from
7th to 12th). |
THE RACE - At the qualifications Niemas won one bonus point
(by qualifying as second in GT1), just as Kivekäs/Eskman (by
qualifying as second in GT2). That means that at the start of the
race difference between them was always one point. At the end
of section #1 (the first day section) Kivekäs/Eskman, having started
in heat 2, succeeded to realise more laps than Grund/Chr. Kremer,
having started in heat 1 (with the 5th best time overall), what
resulted in a radical switch of the situation; now the F430 GT2 of
the Finns could move into the highest heat for the Night Section,
whilst the German Porsche 997 of Grund/Kremer dropped into heat 2
for the night section. Especially for Niemas/Philipp Kremer that was
a sad situation, since their plan failed. Moreover their Maserati
missed (due to the restrictor) enough speed to follow the
Plastikquäler Corvette C6R setting the pace. For
two cars Day Section 1 was disastrous. The #7 Lambo of Riehl/Schüler
suffered from transmission problems, so that they lost their place
in heat 2 for the Night Section. Even worse was the
situation for the Jetalliance Aston Martin of Fola Osu and
Jürgen Stüdemann, victim of all kinds of woes and dropping in
heat 3 for the Night Section. During that Night Section the lights
were not working properly due to a braids problem, and the car lost even more ranks, being
more in the pits than on the track. It seems as if Fola builds his
car always in a hurry, neglecting small details with big
consequences. The same was remarked by "Piki" testing a Fola
F430 Challenge for the Worlds. In less than 100 laps the motor came
off, then the pinion came off, then some inner parts came off: if
such would happen at the 20th Worlds the race should already lost before the
start. So keep it cool, Fola! He builds beautiful cars, but his
biggest problem is that he's already thinking on a new car to build
before the first is good and well finished. The troubles of Fola made that
Kristof Huys/Björn van Campenhout could move into heat 2 for the
Night Section what gave them outsight on a 3rd OA in the EEC 2008
(if they could maintain that position after the night). During the
night there was a painful incident among Hubert Jacob and
race director Jean-Marie Tillen. When the last maintained
that Jacob's car started without its 4 wheel inserts (what was NOT
the truth) the hot boiled Jacob lost control over his nerves and
committed grave manual violence. Since it was night, with most
racers sleeping, Jacob was not immediately sanctioned. After the
race I contacted Raymond van Campenhout, Tamar Nelwan, Jean-Marie
Tillen and Bob Demeyer what to do with Jacob. Tillen wished to
forget the incident after Jacob apologised for his violent
behaviour. The others were thinking on a suspension from all IMCA
racing until the end of the year. After IMCA Worlds on July 25,
when I'll lay down all my IMCA functions, the final
decision should then be in hands of my successor, Mark Campbell.
I wished to avoid that he had to take the difficult decision what to
do with Jacob, and I found the correct sanction myself, explained on
another place. Once it became
obvious that Niemas/Kremer could not win from the Plastikquäler
(Seif Uhlig and Nockermann) ànd that Kivekas/Eskman were stronger than Grund/Kremer
in GT2, all suspense was gone. The only undecided point was who
should win the Citation Cup. Indeed Chris Bunenberg/Ingo
Mango had a great race, ensuring Chris that his total of points
for the Citation Cup should rise from 14 to 34. That implied that
Remco van Waaij should stay ahead over Onno Griepink, Laudet/Destrée
and Frank Schüler if he wished to win the Cup. Well helped by
Gert Klinge his Sarafree Maserati - struggling the whole race
with the Maserati of Haug/Wennerberg - could stay ahead over
Griepinks Corvette, Schüler's Lambo and the Laudet/Destrée Corvette. Eventually
nothing changed during the Second Day Section (a shortened one), and
Seif/Nockermann/Uhlig had an easy win over Niemas/Ph.
Kremer and De Wachter/Emily Kuipers. In GT2 Kivekäs/Eskman
were 19 laps faster than Norman Grund/Chr. Kremer and 134
than Huys/van Campenhout. At the prize diving Tamar Nelwan
broke all records, letting it take nearly the complete time of
the Monaco F1 Grand Prix, before it came to an end. When everybody
had received their trophies the GP was indeed already finished. [JPVR] |
|
racers |
GT1/GT2 |
qualifications |
car |
chassis |
laps |
EEC |
IOC |
|
1. Ralph Seif (D)/Jan Uhlig (D)/Sebastian
Nockermann |
1st
GT1 |
8"739
(1st GT1) |
#5 Carsport Corvette
C6R |
PlaFit
SLP |
1550.41 |
22 pts |
20
|
|
2. Michael Niemas (D)/Philipp Kremer (D) |
2nd
GT1 |
8"898
(2nd GT1) |
#11 Sarafree Maserati MC12 |
PlaFit
SLP |
1531.96 |
17 pts |
9
|
| 3. Nick
de Wachter (NL)/Emily Kuipers (NL) |
3rd GT1 |
8"935 (3rd GT1) |
#1
Vitaphone Maserati MC12 |
PlaFit SLP |
1519.40 |
12.5 pts |
6 |
| 4.
Marcel Oosterling (NL)/Henri van Gool(NL) |
4th GT1 |
9"023 (5th GT1) |
#15 JMB
Racing Maserati MC12 |
PlaFit SLP |
1511.97 |
10 pts |
2 |
| 5. Tamar
Nelwan (NL)/Gabriel Inâbnit (CH) |
5th GT1 |
9"012 (4th GT1) |
#28
Lamborghini Murcielago R-GT |
PlaFit SLP 3° angle |
1488.99 |
8 pts |
- |
| 6. Kai Kivekäs
(SF)/Henri Eskman (SF) |
1st GT2 |
9"103 (2nd
GT2) |
#50 AF Corse Ferrari F430
GT2 |
MoMo SW04 |
1486.35 |
21 pts |
15 |
| 7. Chris
Bunnenberg (D)n/Ingo
Magon (D)n |
6th GT1 |
9"105 (6th GT1) |
#22 BMS
Italia Aston Martin DBR9 |
PlaFit SLP 3° angle |
1474.66 |
6 pts |
- |
| 8. Christoph Kremer
(D)/Norman Grund (D) |
2nd GT2 |
9"017 (1st GT2) |
#99Tech9 Porsche 997
GT3-RSR |
PlaFit SLP 3°
angle |
1467.21 |
18 pts |
12 |
| 9. Børge Haug (N)/Glenn
Wennerberg (N) |
7th GT1 |
9"325 (10th
GT1) |
#16 JMB Racing Maserati
MC12 |
PlaFit SLP 3°
angle |
1422.96 |
4 pts |
- |
| 10. Remco van Waaij (NL)n/Gert
Klinge (B) |
8th GT1 |
9"204 (7th
GT1) |
#12 Sarafree Maserati MC12 |
PlaFit SLP 3°
angle |
1396.40 |
2 pts |
- |
| 11. Wim Kloppenburg
(NL)/Onno Griepinkn(NL) |
9th GT1 |
9"302 (9th
GT1) |
#4 PK
Racing Corvette
C5R |
PlaFit SLP |
1395.35 |
0 pts |
- |
| 12. Kristof Huys (B)/Bj van Campenhout (B) |
3rd GT2 |
9"369 (3rd GT2) |
#52 Edil
Cris Ferrari F430 GT2 |
PlaFit SLP |
1373.24 |
12.5 pts |
3 |
| 13.
Günther Riehl (D)/Frank Schüler (D)n |
10th GT1 |
9"347 (11th G1) |
#7
Amm-Inkl.com Lambo Murciélago |
PlaFit SLP 3° angle |
1352.34 |
0 pts |
- |
| 14. Philippe Laudet (B)n/Philippe Destrée (B)n |
11th GT1 |
9"574 (12th
GT1) |
#3 Luc Alphand Corvette
C6R |
PlaFit SLP |
1342.94 |
0pts |
- |
| 15. Rolf Andersenn/Roy Bråten
(N) |
4th GT2 |
9"632 (4th
GT2) |
#53 Edil Cris Ferrari F430
GT2 |
PlaFit SLP |
1332.71 |
10 pts |
1 |
| 16. Peter Krisiansen(DK)n/Mark
Sander (DK)n |
12th GT1 |
9"642 (15th
GT1) |
#36 Jetalliance Aston
Martin DBR9 |
M-Racing-C1 |
1332.35 |
0 pts |
- |
| 17. Fola Osu (NIG)/Jürgen
Stüdemann (D) |
13th GT1 |
9"246 (8th
GT1) |
#33 Jetalliance Aston
Martin DBR9 |
PlaFit SLP 3°
angle |
1322.87 |
0 pts |
- |
| 18. Oscar Hernandez (VEN)/Andy
Flitz (D)n |
14th GT1 |
9"595 (14th
GT1) |
#23 BMS Italia Aston
Martin DBR9 |
PlaFit SLP |
1319.48 |
0 pts |
- |
| 19.
Stefan Kuhn(D)n/Marcel
Kuhn (D)n |
15th GT1 |
9"589 (13th
GT1) |
#18
S.R.T. Corvette C5R |
PlaFit SLP 3° angle |
1273.25 |
0 pts |
- |
| 20.
Fernando Corraln
(B)/Louise Valkenborgh (B)n |
5th GT2 |
10"245 (6th GT2) |
#76 IMSA Performance
Porsche 997 |
Schoeler Stiyker |
1242.82 |
8 pts |
- |
| 21. Dirk Baele (B)n/Gerry
de Roeck (B)n |
4th GT2 |
9"949 (5th GT2) |
#97 BMS
Italia Porsche 997 GT3-RSR |
Slotvision Mk2 |
1155.85 |
6 pts |
- |
| DISQ
Hubert Jacobn
(F)/Robert Massart (B)n |
16th GT1 |
9"849 16th GT1) |
#2
Vitaphone Maserati MC12 |
Schoeler Stiyker |
DISQ |
0 pts |
- |
|
EPC 2008 Rnd
#2 - 10th
DPM, ERZHAUSEN (D) - May 1-3, 2008
(IOC-RACE
LEVEL 1) |
|
R.SEIF/A.ORTMANN/CAROLINE SCHNITZLER ONCE MORE |
|
Top Success:
192 racers spread over 64 teams at the start! Upgraded to
level 1. |
May 3, 2008 - The 10th
edition of the DPM was a splendid success story. Indeed no
less than 192 racers from at least 12 different countries came at the
start. Apart from a majority of German racers we ,noted 21
racers from Spain, 3 from the USA, 3 from Canada, 3 from
France, 3 from Switzerland, 3 from Italy, 3 from Denmark, 3
from Japan, 3 from Austria, and single racers from Holland
and Luxembourg. Of those 64 teams 24 had to contest the
semi-finals, giving the 8 first the right to enter the
eventual race with 48 teams.
Racers having not
survived the Semis could have among them a kind of
consolation race on a wooden four laner.
New for 2008
was that the race could easily be followed at the internet
with the so-called Slot Race Life Ticker. If we are
well informed this system was introduced by Keld Høfler
of Racefun from Denmark. The system lets see each x
minutes the computer screen with the standings after
each segment of each heat. In Germany some-one added short
comments - both in German ànd English - so that the
spectator was always well-informed about the reasons why
some teams lost at once one or more laps. This very
interesting system is still highly unknown among
slot-racers, since at no moment there were more than 92
viewers. Nevertheless it should be interesting to use that
system at the upcoming 20th IMCA Worlds. We should
contact Keld Høfler for more info. It could also be used at
round #3 of the EEC 2008. Here Tamar Nelwan already
contacted Racefun Danmark. |
 |
|
SEMI FINALS
Of the 8 teams surviving the
Semi-Finals the winning team of dr. Slot will later finish
the race in 11th position. Kraner 2, who finished 4th at the
Semis, will finish the race as 16th OA. L.E. Slot, having
finished 6th at the Semis will finish eventually 21st
overall, ahead over NASCAR having finished 2nd at the Semis.
Franken 1, having finished the Semis as 3rd will be 24th OA.
Of the others no team finished among the top-25 O.A.
QUALIFICATIONS At the DPM the qualifications are
extremely important, because they decide in which of the 6
heats a team can start. Ultimate goal, of course, is
finishing among the top-8. Foreign teams coming from the
USA, Canada, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Denmark, Japan and
Austria were free of the Semis. So everybody was curious how
well they could perform at the Qualifications.
However, it became obvious that none of those teams, except
for the several Spanish, was a
potential contender on winning the eventual race. Very
disappointing was the result of the Japanese team. Last year
a Japanese team still finished as runner-up with Koudu
Nobuhisha, Katsnori Sekine and Hideaki Suzuki (having
finished in 2006 already 5th OA). The 2008 Japanese team was
certainly not so professional as the previous years, since
they finished 48th on 48 in 11"891. The USA, France and
Austria did hardly better, since they qualified res. as
46th, 45th and 44th.
Switzerland, Italy and Canada (with Mark Campbell!) did
slightly better, qualifying res. as 38th, 37th and 35th.
Only the Danish (with Keld Høfler and young Christian Høfler)
was competitive, qualifying as 25th in 8"053. Disappointing
was the team of Nick de Wachter (SG Stern): they qualified
as low as 27th. Disappointing to was the time realised by
Manfred and Oliver Stork, finishing with 8"084 as 29th,
being condemned to start in the third lowest heat. Top
qualifiers were Michael Niemas/Philipp Kremer/Christoph
Kremer (Bad Boys). Of them Niemas won already
three times the DPM. They realised an extremely sharp time
of 7"600. Second qualifiers were Sebastian Nockermann/Jan
Uhlig/Lucas Neumann of the Plastiquäler team in
7"609, followed by Kevin Krollmann/Martin Bartelmes/Peter
Oberbillig (No Limits) in 7"619. The very young Dr.
Slot Juniors, who caused last year a stir by finishing 6th
OA, confirmed their brilliant performance. Now they
qualified as 4th. It concerns Maximilian Hollenberger/Armin
Seldmayr/Tobias Munchenberger of Dr. Slot Juniors..
Among the four other teams having qualified in the top-8 we
found (of course) the A.C.R. of Rallph Seif,
Alexander Ortmann and Caroline Schnitzler, having already
won last year's DPM and this year's DKMP. They qualified as
5th in 7"641. This year there was also a second
Plastiquäler team - Plastiquäler 2 with
Jochen Fußmann)/Jan Schaffland/Marcel Wondel. At the 2008
DKPM they finished as 6th. Now they qualified as 6th.
Biggest surprise at the qualifications came from #51
Bahnmeister (Patrick Brau/Ralf Seldmeyer/Jochen Fußmann).
They qualified as 7th, enough to go to the last and fastest
heat. The lonely strangers among the top-8 were the Spanish
racers of CricCrac with Icker Santos and Roger Suñe. |
HEATS #4 AND #3 In heat #4 we
have a Spanish team (Cursa Sport) and the Danish team
of Keld Høfler and Christian Høfler. Interesting too is that
we find here three teams having been very unlucky at the
qualifications: Nascar Slot Racing of Manfred Stork,
X-Rookies of GuRi (Günther Riehl, having won earlier
twice the DPM) and SG Stern with Nick de Wachter
(NL), winner of five world championships and earlier
vice-winner of the DPM. The three remaining teams are
locals. Patrick Meister (Nascar Slot-Racing) is
pulling away like a rocket. After 5 minutes in the first
segment he has already one lap over Nick de Wachter's team
and 5 over GuRi's. At the end of the first segment 94 laps
were achieved, a new record. Nick de Wachter is second, 1
lap down. Then follows the Spanish team at 4 laps. GuRi lost
7 laps and is 7th, Keld Høfler of the Danish team 11.
Meister improved the track record with a fastest lap in
7"553, better than the pole position time of the Bad
Boys. During the second segment Cursa Sport realises
92 laps (just as Stork), moving up into rank 2. SG Stern
looses 5 laps in the second segment and is now 3rd. By
completing 90 laps the Danish Racefun moves from rank
8 to rank 4. GuRi is in problems and looses again 4 laps. At
mid-heat Stork's Nascar Slot-Racing achieved already
... 370 laps, good for 740 in total if they can keep the
pace at the same speed. Cursa Sports is always 2nd,
but already at 8 laps, AG Stern always 3rd, but now
at 15 laps. Danish Racefun (only 85 laps in segment
4) drops in the standings to rank 7, being now 22 laps down.
In front the Storks and Meister still accelerate.
X-Rookies with GuRi are now 3rd after 6 segments, 2 laps
down to Cursa Sport in rank 2 and 23 to the leaders.
During segment 7 X-Rookies loose more than 10 laps in
the pits. With one segment to go Nascar Slot-Racing
has already 22 laps over Cursa Models and 23 over
AG Stern. X-Rookies drops into the last place. This time
no GuRi miracle as so often in the past. Eventually
Nascar Slot-Racing will achieve 740 laps over the 8
heats, that's only 3 laps less than achieved by the winners
last year. They realised a supreme race and several
spectators predict that they'll be the final winners. After
the 6 heats it becomes obvious that this is ... just not the
case They'll be 6th OA. During his final run Patrick Meister
realises a new track record in 7"517. Cursa
Sport from Spain is 2nd at 26 laps, enough for a 19th
rank OA. They are immediately followed by Nick de Wachter's
AG Stern, finishing 20th OA The Danish team, with
Keld Høfler as fastest racer, will finish 32nd overall.
In heat #3 we find 3 Spanish teams at the start: Tim
Comarca with Ivan Basas (last year 11th), Slot
Terrassa (last year21st with the 2006 world champion
Dani "Giesse" Gonzalez) and ALGT Team with Valentin &
Israel Gil, last year 35th. During the two first segments
L.E. Slot, survivor of the Semis, will lead, to being
passed during the 3rd segment by Team Comarca from
Spain. They'll hold the lead until the end of the 7th
segment. But then they are passed by Kraner Racing Team 2,
having achieved (only) 719 laps, 27 less than the Storks &
Meister. They'll finish 16th OA, Team Comarca 18th
OA, ALGT 25th overall and Slot Terassa 28th
overall. With 4 heats gone Nascar Slot-Racing is a
strong OA leader with their 740 laps, followed by
Mittelrhein with 725 laps and Kramer 2 with 719
laps. Now the big guns will come in action, among them 3
famous Spanish teams, one of them being Marina Alta
of the three Checas, having finished 4th OA at this year's
DKPM. |
 |
HEAT #2 In the one but last
heat we find 2 Spanish teams: Marina Alta with the
Checas and Tim Abina with Josep Ruiz/Julio Moya/Miguel
Cortez. Dr. Slot of Trier, with Martin Bartelmes is
fastest away, but will passed during the second segment by
Kraner Racing Team of Duisberg, probably with Andreas
Laufenberg (the eternal student; nobody seems to know what
he's studying). Thomas Nötzel is this year no member of the
team since he drove for Kraner 2. During the same
second segment Kraner 1 improves the track record
with a 7"413. At mid-heat - despite a weak run on
lane 5 - they have already achieved 375 laps, 5 more than
the Storks & Meister did. They seem on their way to make 750
laps, i.e. 7 more than last year's winners. They have
already 7 laps over Dr. Slot and Jäger Team
from Saarbrücken (Joahim Welsch/Pierre Stein/Mark Kiefer).
Marina Alta of the Checas is 5th at 10 laps, followed
6 laps further by Tim Albina. During the 6th segment
KIK Racing (with Dietmar Schmeer) can pass Dr.
Slot for the second place. The following segment
Jäger Team passes on its turn Dr. Slot. Kraner
has now 9 laps over KIK Racing, 14 over Jäger Team
and 15 over Dr Slot, with two segments to go.
Eventually Kraner will win in a fabulous
747 laps, 4 more than last year's winners. KIK Racing
follows at 11 laps. During the last segment Dr Slot
succeeded to pass Jâger Team for the third place.
The Checas come 3 laps short to take the third place.
Eventually they'll finish 13th overall, Tim Abina
17th overall. After the last heat it will appear that 747
laps was not enough for outright victory. Kraner will
finish 2nd overall, KIK Racing 9th overall and Dr.
Slot 11th overall.
HEAT #1 It's 21h40 (9.40 pm) when the 8 fastest
cars align for the final heat. For Bad Boys Michael
Niemas will start, for Plastikquäler Lukas Neumann,
for No Limits Kevin Krollmann, for Dr. Slot
Juniors Maxi Hollenburger, for A.C.R. Ralph Seif
himself, for Plastikquäler 2 Jan Schaffland, for
Bahnmeister the three-long Patrick Brau and for the
Spanish CricCrac team X.X Bad start for Kevin
Krollmann and Ralph Seif, both deslotting a couple of times.
After 5 minutes Neumann and Niemas lead the field, followed
at 1 lap by Seif, Hollenburger and Krollmann, at 2 laps by
the others. |
|
HEATS #6 AND #5 In heat #6 we find the teams of Japan
(New Wave), France (Dream CH'Team), Austria
(Grenzlandslot) and the USA (Nighthawks). During
the first segment the Japanese loose already 15 laps
on Leo Chilli Racing (Frank Schüler/Carsten
Starke/Bernd Starke). At the end of the first segment
we find the foreign teams in ranks 4-5-6-8. Leo Chilli
Racing, last year still 10th OA with 722 laps - but now
victim of qualification woes - takes immediately the lead
and will maintain it until the end, winning heat #6 with 711
laps. The Swiss team will finish as third, but 29 laps down
to the heat winners. The Japanese will come 5 laps
further in 4th position. The French team will finish 6th of
the heat, 59 laps down to the winners. The American team
suffered the whole race from a bad set-up (too much grip)
and finished as 7th at 61 laps. Later it will appear that
Leo Chilli Racing is 23rd OA. The Austrian team will be
41st OA, the Japanese 43rd and the American 46th and the
French 48th. Probably the Frenchies lost 30 extra laps due
to a too low clearing. In heat #5 we have the teams of
Canada (Canam Queens), Italy (Engage Model
Racing), and Switzerland (Slot Connection),
together with 5 German teams, of who Piccomat is the
best known. Indeed, Picomat is since the mid 1960s a
slot-racing shop in Köln. In the mid-1980s I could find
there original Cox kits (of the Lotus 40, Chaparral 2D and
Ford GT) at unbelievable low prices. Now you pay easily $
1,000 US or more for such collection items. The
Canadians, with Mark Campbell, took a real bad start,
loosing 15 laps during the first segment. In front
Mittelrhein (Hans Werner/Peter Juchem/Dirk Wolf), having
finished last year 16th, are pulling away up from the start.
For the Canadians things go hardly better during the second
segment, since they loose again 20 laps. In front of them,
at place 7, we find the Italians who already lost 26 laps in
two segments. Things go better for the Swiss racers, taking
rank 3. Piccomat, with the famous Nascar racer
Nezih Durukanli (winner of several rounds at the Manfred
Stork races in Kôln) had a hoorible segment on lane 8,
making them loosing 18 laps in only two segments. Positions
change no more and Mittelrhein wins with 725.04 laps which
will be enough for a 15th place overall. The Swiss will
finish 4th of the heat, enough to finish 36th overall. The
Italians will finish one but last of the heat, finishing 50
laps down to the winners. They will be 44th OA. The poor
Canadians are last of the heat, finishing 64 laps down to
the winners. They'll finish 45th OA, heading the Americans
by 26 laps. |
Fastest lap after 5 minutes is
for Kevin Krollmann in 7"465 - not enough to improve the
race record. During the second half of the first segment he
will lower his time into 7"424. ?eumann leads Seif, Niemas,
Hollenburger and Krollmann by 1 lap after the first segment.
Schaffland follows at 2 laps, the others at 3. During the
second segment Bad Boys (Niemas, Philipp Kremer,
Christoph Kremer) take the lead, letting nobody on the lead
lap. Dr. Slot Juniors and Plastikquäler follow
at 1 lap. CricCrac (7th) and Bahnmeister (8th)
are already 8 laps down. During the third segment the Bad
Boys, with reigning world champion Philipp Kremer, are
lapped twice by Plastikquäler so that Christian
Schnitzler is now 2 laps aherad over them and the
astonishing very young Dr. Slot Juniors. Caroline
Schnitzler of A.C.R. is 4th, but already at 4 laps.
During the 4th segment Christian Schnitzler of
Plastikquäler looses his rear spoiler ...and the lead.
New leaders are now the unbelievable strong youngsters of
Dr. Slot Junior. Philipp Kremer and Christian Schnitzler
follow at mid-race at 1 lap, Carolinee Schnitzler is always
4 laps down. During the following segment both
Plastikquäler cars loose precious time. The #12 with a
broken spoiler, the #57 after a short cut (5 laps lost).
Both try to make their come back, improving their best lap
times. After 5 segments the #12 is again second, just as
Bad Boys and A.C.R. one lap down to the leading
Dr. Slot Juniors. No limits follows at 2 laps after
having quit the track, falling on the floor, CricCrac
at 5. During segment 6 Ralph Seif of A.C.R.
passes all cars, taking the lead. Bad Boys follow at
1 lap, having passed the Dr. Slot Juniors.
Nockermann/Christian Schnitzler/Neumann of Plastikquäler
are 4th at 2 laps. Final victory will go among those 4
teams and... Kramer Racing with its fabulous 747
laps. CricCrac is 5th, but already at 5 laps. For
No Limits chances on victory seem small after their
crash. They too are 5laps down. In the last but one
segment A.C.R. Racing holds the lead with 654 laps, 1
lap more than the Bad Boys. But Kraner Racing
realised also 653 laps after 7 segments, so that they are
still in the top-3 OA. No Limits and Dr. Slot
Juniors follow already at 4 laps, CricCrac at 6,
the Plastikquäler cars res. at 8 and 10.
Alexander Ortmann - at my opinion the next model car
world champion in Herentals! - will do the last segment for
A.C.R., Niemas the last segment for Bad Boys.
I have no info what happened but 3 minutes later Niemas was
at once 5 laps down to Ortmann, having even been passed by
Kevin Krollmann of No Limits. No 4th DPM for Niemas
thus. Later he'll be involved in a collision with
Krollmann's car. Eventually Seif/Ortmann/Caroline
Schnitzler are the winners with 2 laps more than
Kramer Racing. |
|
BEST
INTERNATIONAL RACE ON THE CALENDAR Although not without a
commercial conotation, I consider the DPM as the best
organised of all international races. Eventually I see only
two things which still can be improved: (1) It takes
always several weeks before the press knows who were the
three entrants per team. That implies that it is not
possible to publish the eventual results. Below one finds
such provisional results. It's not impossible that there are
mistakes in the names of the racers, due to the fact that
the names of the racers having not been published. That's an
easy point to correct for the future. (2) Foreign racers,
having had not enough time to practice, have always problems
to realise a good result at the DPM. Perhaps it should be a
good idea to add an extra day where non-German teams can
practice and do the correct set-up of their cars. Now many
teams complain that they had nearly no occasion to do that. |
DPM
UPGRADED TO IOC-LEVEL "1", i.e. THE HIGHEST LEVEL
The success of the DPM is so overwhelming that we decided to
upgrade the DPM from an IOC level 2 event to an IOC level 1
event. That means that the DPM is up from this year
considered as a race with the same high standards of a world
championship.Top-8 finishers win now res. 30, 22.5, 18,
13.5, 9, 4.5, 3 and 1. ts instead of 20, 15, 12, 9, 6,
3, 2, 1 for former editions. The
IOC-list has been
updated. Niemas has now 393 points on rank 18, Philipp
Kremer 346.5 points on rank 23, Seif 244 (moved from rank 41
to 36), Christoph Kremer 244 (moved from rank 40 to 37),
Laufenberg 109 (enters the top-100 after a move from 103 to
87), Krollmann 90.5 (moving from 119 to 101), Ortmann 82
(moving from rank 162 to 109), Christian Schnitzler 73
(moving from rank 130 to 124), Caroline Schnitzler 71.5
(moving from rank 194 to 126), Oberbillig 61.5 (moving from
rank 190 to 144), Manfred Stork 56 (moving from 168 to 156),
etc. Caroline Schnitzler is now the first female racer on
the IOC-list. After her DPM win she passed tthe legendary
Corinna Gianotti. |
|
DEFINITIVE
RESULTS (ONLY TOP-10 OUT OF 64 TEAMS)
More... |
|
Racers |
Car |
Laps |
Qualif |
IOC
pts |
|
1. Ralph Seif
(D)/Alexander Ortmann (D)/Caroline Schnitzler (D) |
#11 A.C.R. Porsche 911
GT1 |
749.41 laps |
7.641 (5th) |
30 IOC pts |
|
2.
Thomas Nötzel (D)/Andreas Laufenberg(D)/Stefan Bolz
(D) |
#14 Kraner Racing Team
Porsche 911 GT1 |
747.19 laps |
7.811 (9th) |
22.5 IOC pts |
|
3. Kevin Krollmann
(D)/Lukas Hoffmann (D)/Peter Oberbillig (D) |
#16 No Limits
Porsche 911 GT1 |
744.12 laps |
7.619 (3rd) |
18 IOC pts |
| 4.
Philipp Kremer
(D)/Michael Niemas (D)/Christoph Kremer (D) |
#22
Bad Boys Porsche 911 GT1 |
743.40 laps |
7.600
(1st) |
13.5 IOC pts |
|
5. Maximilian
Hollenberger
(D)/Armin Seldmayer (D)/Tobias
Munchberger (D) |
#15 Dr. Slot Juniors
Porsche 911 GT1 |
740.44 laps |
7.638 (4th) |
9 IOC pts |
| 6.
Manfred Stork(D)/Oliver Stork (D)/Patrick Meister (D) |
#18
NASCAR Slot-Racing Porsche 911 GT |
740.34 laps |
8.084 (29th) |
4.5 IOC pts |
|
7. Sebastian
Nockermann(D)/Christian Schnitzler (D)/Lukas Neumann (D) |
#12 Plastikquäler
Porsche 911 GT1 |
739.37laps |
7.609 (2nd) |
3 IOC pts |
| 8.
Iker Santos (E)/Roger Suñe (E)/Armando Timoneda (E) |
#13
CricCrac Porsche 911 GT1 |
739.34 laps |
7.784 (8th) |
1.5 IOC pts |
|
9. Dietmar Schmeer
(D)/Marco Prigl(D)/Christian Eckel (D) |
#17 KIK Racing Porsche
911 GT1 |
736.42 laps |
7.950 (13th) |
0 IOC pts |
| 10.
Justin Pasch(D)/Jan Schaffland (D)/Jan Uhlig (D) |
#57
Plastikquäler 2 |
734.14 laps |
7.727 (6th) |
0 IOC pts |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
EEC 2008 Rnd
#2 - BRUSSELS 24 HOURS, WEZEMBEEK-OPPEM (B) - March 29-30, 2008
(IOC-RACE) |
|
NIEMAS/N.GRUND
(GT1)
& KIVEKÄS/EKSMAN
(GT2)
WIN |
|
Restrictors
half solution for Maserati dominance - PS4000-IMCA not equal |
|
March 31, 2008 - The
second round of the EEC 2008 was enjoyable. Although Michael
Niemas (D) and Norman Grund (D) had not the smallest
problem to win the race, the most stirring result came from Kai
Kivekäs (SF)/Henri Eskman (SF) who succeeded to finish second
with a 78mm wide Ferrari F430 GT beating - except for one - all
those 88 and 89mm wide Maseratis MC12. Another superb result was
reached by Willem Kloppenburg (NL) and Onno Griepink (NL)
with a 82 mm wide Corvette C6R. They had a horrible start in the
first day section, where Onno lost at least 60 laps, struggling with
lanes 6 and 8. But during the night section the Corvette won the
second place one Ono improved a lot on the three outer lanes. In the
morning session the Corvette was leading the session, ahead of
Niemas/Grund until the real last section, where Onno had to go to
the slow black outer lane. Just before Willem Kloppenburg gave a
demonstration when he even moved up into third position overall,
letting the Lambo of Tamar Nelwan (NL)/Gabriel Inäbnit (CH)
up to six laps behind, with the four last segments to go. At those
four we saw a struggle between Onno and Tamar, where despite of
Onno's best efforts, Tamar was the strongest. Ono started his four
runs with nine laps advance over Niemas/Grund in the morning
session. At the end he finished eight laps behind Niemas/Grund, but
could conserve his second place in the morning session. Nick
de Wachter disappointed. His Maserati was not really
competitive. In the day section, and especially in the night
section, there were serious problems with a completely unreliable
motor. Initially the motor was so slow that he lost lap after lap
nearly a full metre on the straight. And then at once the motor was
a real bomb, allowing a fastest lap in 6"301. But some
segments later the motor was again unbe-lievable slow. I saw the
same thing with the motor of Bunenberg/Van Bernheim. Another motor,
the one of Hernandez/Flick, was a pure disaster, failing to work
properly during the complete race. For the rest I saw brilliant
close racing with Hubert Jacob (F) struggling against
Borge Haug (N) during 15 minutes, without the smallest
deslotting of both. Another brilliant passus was the fight between
Philippe Laudet (with his impossible chassis bought from
Napoleon I), Remco van Waaij (NL) and Marcel Oosterling
(NL)/Henri van Gool (NL). There was some great racing at
Merlijn, and what a pitty that there were only five GT2 cars.
Indeed, in GT2 there was no struggle. Kivekäs/Eskman were much too
strong, whilst Huys/Van Campenhout were too strong for Andersen/Krogtie/Bråten.
Sensatiional was the Porsche of Dirk Baele/Gerry de Roeck, on
a Slotvision chassis - a perfect SILENT car - going very fast, but
unfortunately assembled five minutes before the race (or was it
DURING the race?), thus too unreliable. Contrarily to what happened in
Oslo the new ProSlot PS4000-IMCA motors were a pure disaster.
They were unequal in a high degree. Of the 27 motors we received, 8
could not be used, most of them with a blocked armature. That's no
serious business, completely unworthy the great reputation of Dan
Debella. At any rate I refuse to use such unequal motors at the
2008 Sprint Worlds withy the Ferrari F430 Challenge cars. For those
races I'll go back to the old Bison Mk3 motors with closed
can, to be raced under 18.5 Volt with a 44/12 gear ratio. At
Igarashi one can buy 12 dozens of motors (normally used in the
medical sector) with a certificate that they function for 99.50 per
cent equally. I cannot organise a fair world championship with such
unequal motors. At Merlijn I admired such guys like Oscar
Hernandez, Chris Bunenberg, Andy Flitz and Michael van
Bernhem that they even accepted to race such fucking shit motor
as the one they received. I am 45 years involved in slot-racing, but
never ever I saw such a mess of so-called perfectly equal motors.
What we received was PURELY A SHAME! |
Nevertheless I wish to give my good old friend Dan Debella
the credit he normally deserves. For the Endurance World
Championship I'll order 48 motors of type PS4000 IMCA, hoping to
find at least 16 plus or minus equal. Indeed I'll restrict number of
cars to only 16, with 3 racers per car - 8 of them racing 12
continuous hours in GT1 and 8 of them racing 12 continuous
hours in GT2. After having lost € 6,500 sponsoring, due to
clowns - style Hugo Dekker & Cie - subscribing a half year
earlier, and then refusing to show at the real last minute, I wish
by all means to recuperate the lost money. The lonely way is to
subscribe 16 different € 500 sponsoring contracts with 16 different
FIA GT teams anno 2008. It's my intention to let the 8 GT2 bodies
anno 2008 by only one specialist [Nick de Wachter] and
to let those bodies being raced by 8 teams of 3 drivers being less
experienced than the full pros. The 8 2008 GT1 bodies [4 Covettes
C6-R, 2 Aston Martins DBR9, 1 Maserati MC12 and 1 Saleen S7R] should
be assembled by the professional experts themselves. So, for the
Herentals Endurance Worlds I have the following teams in my mind:
| #1
Vitaphone Maserati MC12 |
Børge
Haug (N) |
Glenn
Wennerberg (N) |
Francesc Reyes (E) |
| #3 SRT
Corvette C6-R |
Ralph
Seif (D) |
Alex
Ortmann (D) |
Christian Schnitzler (D) |
| #4 PK
Carsport Saleen 7R |
Jozef
Miskolci (SVK) |
|