When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Section training with Scuderia Hanseat Unfortunately the vacuum pump broke down on my Cayman S - puting some oil on the ground. So lonely - no one to play with.
Manthey could help me on short notice this time so wife and I towed the car to another garage which sourced a used vacuum pump and replaced the old one within 2.5 hours.
Normally you have to get the engine out to change pump but somehow our miracle mechanic fixed it - maybe he's got very thin arms and hands.
Repair went from pretty expensive to really cheap and best of all I could continue do the Scuderia Hanseat.
Wife getting feedback in sectiontraining We got to drive these AMG's - it is part of the course. Looks best without cars in it. Seriously fast car and driver
Section training Schwedenkreutz One of the best instructors at the Scuderia Hanseat. Notice the cross in the background - Schwedenkreutz Section training Schwedenkreutz Wife driving in the wrong direction. From Breidsheid to Wehrseifen.
will you do VLN8? I will be with the Schmickler Team on Friday as I might try to follow your path to drive 24h once in my life...big task for 2019/2020 indeed!
will you do VLN8? I will be with the Schmickler Team on Friday as I might try to follow your path to drive 24h once in my life...big task for 2019/2020 indeed!
Sometimes even the sky above Nürburgring is magical. Anyone recognise where this is? Such a good car.
Now back with black wheels. Got myself a set of used OZ Superleggera.
I have a set of OZ Superforgiatas but unfortunately the rear rims are oval.
Our second VLN race. This time we drove another E36 325 from the same team as the last time because the car we had the last time was badly money shifted during the RCN race the weekend before.
Purpose of the race was to finish and get enough laps for both drivers so we get Permit A license which gives us the opportunity to Cat A cars (max 4.5 kg/hp) in VLN and also the opportunity to do the 24H of Nürburgring.
The sun was really low on the horizon during the morning qualification 08.30-10.00. This made it really difficult on some places on the track. If you combine this with a not perfect cleaned windshield it gets rather scary.
The track was dry except from after 3-corners-left after Bergwerk: On Kesselchen it was wet for maybe 750 meters. This in combination with low sun resulted in several crashes in this very fast corner. (200+ kph).
Basically it was Code 60 here during the complete session.
To be honest it is really scary driving with the sun this low.
We did our mandatory qualifications laps with the car in one piece - no need to be brave since we are driving for the permit A.
And the car is still too slow for its class. You have no chance against the BMW 325 E90's.
My co-driver did the first stint and I did the two last stints.
My co driver did a good job and left the car to me after about 1.5h of driving. Now it was 2.5h left for me to drive.
The car was a bit slippery in the rear due to worn slicks when I went out. Besides this I never got any real confidence in the car. The car last time was much more stable. Difficult to really tell what the difference was-
Driving VLN in a slow car is something everyone should try sometime. It is very interesting and hard work. There is so much to learn.
It is scary and wonderful at the same time.
An example: You learn after a while that when you approach Schwedencreutz the whole car vibrates from all the rubber pickup and eventually with the speed increase it all comes loose with a series of loud bangs in the fenders.
Sometimes you are not sure if it pickup or a puncture. The thought of puncture and going at 180+kph thru a corner is not good for self confidence
There are so many examples of situations that after the race it is just a blur.
Anyway I did fairly well but couldn't get the car going as fast as the last car we had. Don't know if it was car or my head.
I spun the car and rode backwards into the gravel trap in Aremberg. Intervention car was fast there to pull me out of the gravel so I could continue.
The next lap I was a bit more careful with the clutch
After pitstop I got new rear tires and manage to spin in the first corner on the GP track - a true beginner error. Weird was that braking was really good but cornering not so well. Did a 360
The last three laps I was really happy with: I was fighting with a Megane, a GT86 and third car that I don't remember what it was. We had similar speed but the other ones where faster in straight line.
I overtook them one by one during these three laps. I had to exploit their weaknesses and use my own strengths.
The final overtake I did in the braking zone in Aremberg. I noticed that the car in front of me generally was slower than me thru this corner.
So we go into the corner side by side, me on the inside, him on my left - I knew for a fact that there will be a lot of gravel on his line (after my visit to the gravel trap, Moahahaha) and I decided to just hold on and not back off. Success!
I all this excitement I shifted from 4th to 3rd instead of to 5th. Failure!
On the way up thru the Foxhole I felt the loss of power and started to drive carefully with the engine.
I made it almost all the way to the checkered flag. The car died 1 minute from the finish line.
In hindsight I should have pulled over when the car was loosing power. But, it was a race!
The good thing is that this was a E36 325 and not a E46 M3. Much less $.
I was a bit disappointed that we DNF:ed and that we wouldn't get our Permit A.
Then our team chief told us that we would most likely get the license even though we DNF:ed.
Beer time it was!
Learned so much in this race.
Me and co-driver has been thinking about which car to drive next year in VLN. BMW325 e90, BMW e46 M3, Porsche Cup car...
We have realized after these two races that we need more experience, there is so much to learn. That experience is probably best to get in a e90.
10-04-2018, 06:09 AM
