I don‘t know if there will be a foam class this year. But last year there still was one. The rules are constantly changing, but the foam class somehow survived. I was club champion and runner up in this class. Gregor is the reigning foam class champion as far as I know. When did you race there?

This weekend will show if my car concept can deliver the performance I expect it to do.
In preparation I disassembled the car, cleaned and checked everything, rebuild shocks and differential and serviced all ball bearings.



This took a whole day. Sometimes I wish to have a mechanic just to prepare my car
Well the shocks and the diff are very smooth now, so I guess it was worth it.



Wish me luck

And now the race report from Erlangen



The weather forecast predicted a rainfilled weekend. Saturday I got up early to cover the 2.5 hours driving time to the track. Until half past twelve it stayed dry, but it was cloudy and cold. Chris and I sat together for this training day. We managed three runs until the rain stopped our quest for fast laptimes. On one run we changed cars. It showed, that Chris already had a very good setup. His car was benevolent and fast. Mine in comparison pointy and snappy. Later I discovered, that I set the rear ride height wrong and had a lose screw in the front suspension While the rain continued and prevented the track from drying, I used the time to correct these mistakes and to change the oil to 350cst. The temperatures on sunday were forecasted with 6-10 *C. I arrived early in the hotel and spent the rest of the day watching 1:1 racedrivers doing their job (ADAC GT-Masters and F1 qualifying).





On sunday I arrived early at the track. The rain didn’t stop and a wet track welcomed us. Now it was time to protect the electronics with a lexan tub and lots of tape. At least the expensive rain tires weren’t bough in vain. After some chaos and discussions with the organizer about the procedure, the first qualifier started at 9:30. My car behaved great in the rain. I had a lot of fun, could dominate the other drivers and was fastest overall. Now that the rain has stopped, the wet got less. I also dominated the second qualifier and was happy with the performance of the car in the wet. For the last qualifier we already had dry spots on the line. This made it very difficult to drive. I had several spins and couldn’t improve my time. The second group of my class (GT-Sport) had a nearly complete dry track for their run and so I lost my pole position to Marc (club member), because of his faster run.
Somehow I start to despise this qualifying rule. If there are three qualifiers and you won two, then shouldn’t you get the pole position instead of for example one guy who just attends one qualifier and then is faster...
Whatever, the starting position were marked with chalk with different distances to each other. My position two was on the inside to the first corner, meaning that I need to accelerate for two meters, then brake to make the apex on to the straight, while the third position guy could stay on the throttle...



I had a good reaction at the start to the first final and could pressure the pole man in turn two already and pulled up to his side in turn four. I slipped through and the drivers in position two and three started to battle. They also rubbed and I could pull away fast in the first five laps. Then I concentrated on finding a secure rhythm. It showed after some minutes, that I couldn’t pull away more. Nothing more happened and I won with ease, but with knowing, that the other two were as fast as I.

Their speed showed in the second final. My times were a tenth slower and on the second lap already I started to slip and slide. I had my hands full with the third place driver (Sascha), while Marc pulled away in front. After some minutes I could open a gap to Sascha, but never got near Marc again. So on the second run my tires already lost grip. I ran with Sorex 28 on a 20*C track. Sascha ran the Sorex rain tire and seemed to have more than enough grip.

This wasn‘t an option for the last final. The sun finally came out. The track temperature climbed to 26*C. I prepared one new set of Volante hybrid. I made a good start again and was all over Marc in turn two already. As hometown hero he stayed cool and didn’t miss one apex. With the tire additive slowly fading, my car developed snap oversteer in the corner middle and exit. Suddenly I had my hands full with my car. I was still very close to Marc with Sascha also in close pursuit. Marc was slow in one corner entry, I went up his side and we touched and ended in the grass. We both weren’t sure who was at fault. After being marshalled, we both waited for each other. Sascha in the meantime gained 5-6 seconds. Marc and I started the chase. I could follow for several laps with my problem, but spun several more times until the raceend. Later I discovered that the rear rims rubbed on the upper ballcups under load Volante rims are so much smaller than Sorex rims. I am very angry at myself for not having doublechecked this. This cost a possible win, as I did the fastest laptime with this set of tires (11.4s) and was faster than Marc, who in the end caught up with Sascha and even overtook him for his second final win.



In conclusion this was a difficult weekend. In the wet weather I didn’t want to drive my sunday racecar. So maybe I should build a wet race car to have fun on saturdays, too. My setup isn‘t good enough, yet. I still need more steering and a stable car on the exit. Over huge bumps and curbs, this car is great. The track in Erlangen is very very bumpy. With a little droop adjustment I never had to avoid these bumps, like other drivers needed to. Also, fast corners are dominant to drive and whenever I accelerate, it is visible that I have an advantage. Last I learned a lot about tires and temperatures.



For the upcoming weeks I want to work on the steering, turning and to get rid of the pointy behavior.

I will let this idea sink in. Especially for the front I would like to generate more downforce through winglets. Not sure though if the rulebook allows attachment parts...



The new points standing is online:

No, I didn‘t try them.
The ULP shocks are worthless without the short shock shaft tuning. With it they work flawless smooth and great. As you can read above, they even did a great job on the very bumpy track in Erlangen. Right now I am happy with what I have.