Sport-Auto German Tuner Grand Prix Every
year the German car tuning industry gets together and the best tuning firms compete
against each other against the clock…..best lap time wins. Held at the famous
Hockenheim circuit (home of the German GP) the event (now in its 12th year) has
become the main event for the tuning industry to show off its wares. In part as
preparation for our own UK version of this event (the Milltek Sport Car Tuner
Grand Prix – www.tunergp.co.uk) we went along to see how our race prepped VX220
Turbo would fare against the German tuners.
Friday
arrival greeted us with a paddock which would shame BTCC; they took this event
VERY seriously. All the larger teams (Cargraphic, Gemballa, AMG, Techart) had
enormous race transporters and hoards of people, we’ve been before (as a spectator)
but never really appreciated the sheer scale of the event until you drive down
the paddock in an X5 with a marquee in it and a diminuative VX220 on a trailer.
We
were met with lots of very friendly German people all speaking German. Typically
for Brits abroad we stumbled our way through another peoples language with wild
arm gestures and empty expressions to be met with the first of the trips issues,
no German TUV = no entry into our designated class (the fact our class was called
the ‘Fun’ class should’ve prepare us for the World we entered!) German TUV (think
of the UK MOT then multiply x1000 for technical inspection) also covers all car
tuning so all the entrants had to be approved by TUV to enter into the categories.
We did know this was likely to be an issue but we didn’t quite realise what this
would mean to our group, so we were bumped into the ‘Offene Klasse’ – open category.
Offene Klasse we soon learnt meant anything goes so our list of competitors read
thus:
Porsche GT3 RSC 3.8
Gemballa GTR EVO
Mitusbishi Evo 8 MR
Lamborghini Murcielago
VW Golf 3 VR6
996 Turbo Type FAZ600 GT
Donkervoort D8R5
Opel Speedster
BMWE30 325
VW Golf Turbo
VW Golf bi-turbo
Impreza WRX Sti
Porsche GT2-R
Porsche GT3 RS
Nissan Skyline GT8
Porsche GT2 R
Vauxhall VX220 Turbo
As
it turned out most of these cars were full FIA spec race cars of some nature,
the German TUV is so tight that when the tuners chose to ignore it they tend to
go all out on race car preparation, hence we were competing with full race cars………….we
started to sweat.
Friday was set up day and an hour of free practice where I was keen to actually
drive the circuit. I’d competed here once before but that was in an Audi RS4 and
4 years ago so to say I didn’t know it well was an understatement so I was keen
to get out on track and see how the times compared to last years winner.
Three
laps in and disaster, mid way through the chicane (a fast left/right leading to
hard braking for a tight right hander) the top radiator hose blew off covering
the windscreen with coolant! After avoiding the wall I nursed it back to the pits
and we set about sorting it). The good news was that it was a simple fix (but
time consuming enough that I missed all of the rest of practice) the bad news
was that it may have caused or been caused by a head gasket failure. We had oil
blowing out of the top cap so our heads dropped. This attitude lasted about 5
seconds until we adopted the classic “screw it, we’ll run it until/if it blows”
mentality so we set about preparation for the next days event (drinking beer).
The following morning we opened the curtains to be met with torrential rain, now
on the one hand this meant some of the power differential would be absorbed but
on the other hand Hockenheim short circuit is not one you want to come off at
speed so my nervousness raised a little and add to that a new adjustable ARB and
front splitter neither of which had been tested in the wet made the weather a
confusing factor.
The
days schedule had 45 mins of free practice at 9am then all the classes competing
in 30 min stints on the track with the Open Class the finale before the drift
challenge, by the time the first classes were racing (10am) there was a crowd
of 20,000. We’ve not got final figures yet but total crowd when we went out to
race was almost 40,000 people! No pressure then.
The first bit of sad news was that the other Opel Speedster competing (Klasen
Motors 300bhp Speedster Turbo) got half a lap into practice, lost it on the exit
of the final turn and slammed it into the wall on the pit straight. I didn’t get
a good look at it but it looked nasty, driver was fine though which was good.
It would’ve been nice to see how they compared on track.
The conditions were treacherous; pools of water everywhere and grip a priority.
In preparation for the conditions we decided to stick with the Yokohama tyres
(I actually find them quite predictable in the wet) but run the car on full soft
settings (we run Nitron 3 way remote reservoir suspension), lower the tyre pressures
and completely disconnect the front ARB. It seemed to work, braking was predictable
and the car would happily drift through corners with all 4 tyres breaking grip
predictably and in unison, I was pretty happy. The hard bit was actually using
the power as the conditions meant 2nd gear was spinning up the rears and 3rd not
quite geared enough to get good exit speed, every corner I cursed myself for not
chasing up the 6 speed close ratio box the car is due to have installed. It felt
like I was pushing hard going into corners (a fact reflected in the video against
the porsches) but let it all slip away by not being able to exploit this mid corner
speed to due lack of available power – pretty frustrating.
The
weather continued to rain on an off all day, at one point it looked like a dry
line was appearing and then the heavens opened again. A conversation with the
eventual GT class winners Cargraphic showed just how important this was in their
preparation – they had spent at least 4 days testing at the track in the weeks
previously to get both a wet and dry set up for the cars absolutely perfect, Hockenheim
is known for being very different dependant on the weather.
So 1.30pm loomed up and we were waved out onto the circuit. The race itself is
run like qualifying, best lap time wins, no rules on overtaking whatsoever, every
man for himself but as time was the important thing getting in each others way
wasn’t a good policy. I made sure my mirrors were set up.
I’ve
driven track days for 10 years but have never raced before (a fact I’m changing
in the Milltek Sport BMW Challenge this year) and had certainly never driven in
front of a crowd so the sheer sight of coming round into the Motodrom and facing
100 seat amphitheatre seating containing 25,000 people is something I shall never
forget. Once I’d got over the spectacle of it all I set about seeing what we could
do, it transpired that half my time was spent avoiding being run over by 700bhp
Porsches and the rest of the time trying to piece together a decent racing line
on a track I’d only driven 20 laps of. The rain had stopped by now and a dry line
was starting to appear (especially in the braking zones) which made our car set
up a bit of a lottery. No front ARB (we disconnected it for the wet) makes for
interesting cornering and full wet suspension helped grip but dropped the mid
corner speed.
How
did we do? Well we came 12th out of 17 with a lap time of 1:18.391. Considering
the make up of our competitors and the level of expenditure they committed to
the event (some of the cars were valued over £300k a piece) along with extensive
testing and circuit knowledge I think we did very well. Almost all the drivers
in the open Class were professionals hired for the event (some DTM drivers) who
knew and competed on the circuit for years so our lack of local knowledge alone
would’ve hampered us.
Conditions
between the Fun class (our supposedly designated class) and the open category
we drove in were a little different in that our best times were on the drying
line at the very end of our session but we would (in theory) have won our class
by 6 seconds had we been allowed to enter so we felt good about that.
Will
we enter next year? Yes, I think so, the event is so large and frankly such a
laugh that we’d be daft not to, however this time we’ll be going with a bit more
support and a whole lot more knowledge of what to expect. A 1:18 lap time in the
wet of the Hockenheim short circuit was something we were quite proud of and a
12th place something of an achievement considering the competition. In the meantime
we have the UK Tuner Grand Prix to organise so that should be as much fun. As
usual we couldn’t have done this without the support of our sponsors, Grand prix
Racewear supplied the suits and equipment, Pi supplied and supported us with their
new Pi Express datalogger/dash display and of course our usual partners on the
development of the car; Vauxhall, Nitron, Speedline, AP Racing and Milltek Sport
with final thanks going to Keith for translating all the entry forms and Ian Rush
who acted as chief language consultant and mechanic.
The
event had an alternative point of testing all of our new software and mechanical
upgrades we’re now planning to introduce to owners, we’ll keep you posted.
Every
year the German car tuning industry gets together and the best tuning firms compete
against each other against the clock…..best lap time wins. Held at the famous
Hockenheim circuit (home of the German GP) the event (now in its 12th year) has
become the main event for the tuning industry to show off its wares. In part as
preparation for our own UK version of this event (the Milltek Sport Car Tuner
Grand Prix – www.tunergp.co.uk) we went along to see how our race prepped VX220
Turbo would fare against the German tuners.
Friday
arrival greeted us with a paddock which would shame BTCC; they took this event
VERY seriously. All the larger teams (Cargraphic, Gemballa, AMG, Techart) had
enormous race transporters and hoards of people, we’ve been before (as a spectator)
but never really appreciated the sheer scale of the event until you drive down
the paddock in an X5 with a marquee in it and a diminuative VX220 on a trailer.
We
were met with lots of very friendly German people all speaking German. Typically
for Brits abroad we stumbled our way through another peoples language with wild
arm gestures and empty expressions to be met with the first of the trips issues,
no German TUV = no entry into our designated class (the fact our class was called
the ‘Fun’ class should’ve prepare us for the World we entered!) German TUV (think
of the UK MOT then multiply x1000 for technical inspection) also covers all car
tuning so all the entrants had to be approved by TUV to enter into the categories.
We did know this was likely to be an issue but we didn’t quite realise what this
would mean to our group, so we were bumped into the ‘Offene Klasse’ – open category.
As
it turned out most of these cars were full FIA spec race cars of some nature,
the German TUV is so tight that when the tuners chose to ignore it they tend to
go all out on race car preparation, hence we were competing with full race cars………….we
started to sweat. 
Three
laps in and disaster, mid way through the chicane (a fast left/right leading to
hard braking for a tight right hander) the top radiator hose blew off covering
the windscreen with coolant! After avoiding the wall I nursed it back to the pits
and we set about sorting it). The good news was that it was a simple fix (but
time consuming enough that I missed all of the rest of practice) the bad news
was that it may have caused or been caused by a head gasket failure. We had oil
blowing out of the top cap so our heads dropped. This attitude lasted about 5
seconds until we adopted the classic “screw it, we’ll run it until/if it blows”
mentality so we set about preparation for the next days event (drinking beer).
The
days schedule had 45 mins of free practice at 9am then all the classes competing
in 30 min stints on the track with the Open Class the finale before the drift
challenge, by the time the first classes were racing (10am) there was a crowd
of 20,000. We’ve not got final figures yet but total crowd when we went out to
race was almost 40,000 people! No pressure then. 
The
weather continued to rain on an off all day, at one point it looked like a dry
line was appearing and then the heavens opened again. A conversation with the
eventual GT class winners Cargraphic showed just how important this was in their
preparation – they had spent at least 4 days testing at the track in the weeks
previously to get both a wet and dry set up for the cars absolutely perfect, Hockenheim
is known for being very different dependant on the weather. 
I’ve
driven track days for 10 years but have never raced before (a fact I’m changing
in the Milltek Sport BMW Challenge this year) and had certainly never driven in
front of a crowd so the sheer sight of coming round into the Motodrom and facing
100 seat amphitheatre seating containing 25,000 people is something I shall never
forget. Once I’d got over the spectacle of it all I set about seeing what we could
do, it transpired that half my time was spent avoiding being run over by 700bhp
Porsches and the rest of the time trying to piece together a decent racing line
on a track I’d only driven 20 laps of. The rain had stopped by now and a dry line
was starting to appear (especially in the braking zones) which made our car set
up a bit of a lottery. No front ARB (we disconnected it for the wet) makes for
interesting cornering and full wet suspension helped grip but dropped the mid
corner speed. 
How
did we do? Well we came 12th out of 17 with a lap time of 1:18.391. Considering
the make up of our competitors and the level of expenditure they committed to
the event (some of the cars were valued over £300k a piece) along with extensive
testing and circuit knowledge I think we did very well. Almost all the drivers
in the open Class were professionals hired for the event (some DTM drivers) who
knew and competed on the circuit for years so our lack of local knowledge alone
would’ve hampered us. 
Conditions
between the Fun class (our supposedly designated class) and the open category
we drove in were a little different in that our best times were on the drying
line at the very end of our session but we would (in theory) have won our class
by 6 seconds had we been allowed to enter so we felt good about that. 
Will
we enter next year? Yes, I think so, the event is so large and frankly such a
laugh that we’d be daft not to, however this time we’ll be going with a bit more
support and a whole lot more knowledge of what to expect. A 1:18 lap time in the
wet of the Hockenheim short circuit was something we were quite proud of and a
12th place something of an achievement considering the competition. In the meantime
we have the UK Tuner Grand Prix to organise so that should be as much fun. As
usual we couldn’t have done this without the support of our sponsors, Grand prix
Racewear supplied the suits and equipment, Pi supplied and supported us with their
new Pi Express datalogger/dash display and of course our usual partners on the
development of the car; Vauxhall, Nitron, Speedline, AP Racing and Milltek Sport
with final thanks going to Keith for translating all the entry forms and Ian Rush
who acted as chief language consultant and mechanic. 
The
event had an alternative point of testing all of our new software and mechanical
upgrades we’re now planning to introduce to owners, we’ll keep you posted.
