The Renngemeinschaft Bergisch Gladbach e. V. im ADAC celebrated the 40th anniversary of its season finale with ten racing series in one weekend on September 28-30, 2018. Outstanding motorsport with impressive starting fields on the Nürburgring Grand Prix circuit - without a drop of rain from Saturday onwards! But there was one fly in the ointment, because this full program would have deserved a corresponding crowd.
Dwarves choose their champion
The traditional track once again showed its typical weather side on the last weekend in September. A foggy and damp Friday made it difficult for all participants at the start. As early as qualifying, it became clear that the British Car Trophy (BCT) participants once again dominated the overall lead. In the end, it was Rainer Klockenhoff who took pole position. Detlev "Faxe" Wassong followed in second position ahead of Herbert Wein jr. who had already been crowned BCT champion. Fred Abeling in his Fiat 128 was the first participant from another division to start in fifth position.
The race, which started in the afternoon, had to be started behind the safety car due to very poor visibility. However, the fog cleared quickly and the safety car was able to enter the pits after 2 laps and the start was cleared.
There were many battles on the permanently damp track. At the front, it was the Minis who fought thrilling duels and where the new champion Herbert Wein jr. ultimately took the overall victory.
However, the other divisions were just as strong. Thorsten Babon in a Fiat 128 fought his way up from 19th on the grid to 9th overall and won the 1300 Histo Cup. Fred Abeling, guest starter in a Fiat 128, was the only one in the field to start on slicks and dominated the division until shortly before the end. He then had to retire with a broken drive shaft. The winner of the NSU TT Trophy was Roland Müller, who also made it onto the overall podium in third place. The Abarth Coppa Mille was won in the first race by Hubert Nagl in a Fiat Abarth 1000TC.
Race 2, which started on Saturday, took place in late summer temperatures on a consistently dry track. Detlev "Faxe" Wassong, who started from 21st place, fought his way through the entire field in his Mini and was finally waved off as the winner. In the meantime, however, there was a "Full Course Yellow", as Ingo Leiberich had overturned his Fiat 128 in the gravel bed of the NGK chicane. Guest starter Fred Abeling, who had dominated Race 1 of the 1300 Histo Cup, was able to finish the race this time and was waved off as the winner in his division. The Abarth Coppa Mille was won by Hubert Nagl, as on the previous day, while Roland Müller was once again able to celebrate his victory in the NSU TT Trophy.
Champion of the 2018 Battle of the Dwarves was thus Herbert F. Wein jr. on Mini Cooper, from Team Mondo Sports in the British Car Trophy.
Martin Wahl took 2nd place overall and thus division champion NSU TT Trophy. 3rd place overall and division winner of the 1300 Histo Cup went to Michael Weißenborn in a Lada 2101, while Christof Hürter in a Fiat 127 from the Abarth Coppa Mille was delighted with 4th place overall and the division title.
The final result for this fantastic series could hardly have been fairer.
Porsche double victory in the FHR Endurance Cup
Heinz Schmersal's face mask could not hide a certain skepticism before the start of the FHR Endurance Cup race. Although Mike Stursberg had put the Rüddel Escort on the front row of the grid next to Felix Haas' Lola T210, the cylinder head gasket was leaking alarmingly. Oil in the water: that was the brief diagnosis after the radiator cap was removed. Schmersal's timetable, however, provided for continuous speed-preserving activities on the track, where he is known to "warm up" first.
Since the pole position congenial Felix Haas, as a multiple starter, did not want to undergo the ordeal of a three-hour solo run, he had brought Britec boss Michael Delaney on board. Michael owns his own Lola T210, which is adorned with the names of prominent former drivers in the cockpit, including Willi Kauhsen, Dr. Helmut Marko, Gérard Larrousse and John Love. The second row of the grid was shared by Michael Wittke and the "Sanchez" brothers "Pedro" (Peter) and "Luca" (Lukas). Sensationally fast in qualifying, Markus Niestrath and his GTAm finished on the third row ahead of the Porsche 914/6 GT of Hans-Ulrich Kainzinger and Michael Roock.
Felix finished the first lap with a huge lead over Michael Wittke, Olaf Neunkirchen and Heinz Schmersal. Due to his - as always initially cautious - driving style, Heinz Schmersal was soon only in seventh place, but then stepped on the gas so that Markus Niestrath's Alfa bit into the Escort behind him. The first pit guest - for a longer repair phase - was Luxembourg's Armand Linster. His Mustang was suffering from a notorious brake problem. A defective cylinder head gasket then forced Markus Niestrath to retire. The Porsche 911S/R of Kersten Jodexnis now filled the rear-view mirrors of the Rüddel Escort. A few minutes later, however, a V-belt rock'n'rolled in the car because an alternator screw had broken off.
A new picture emerged on lap 17: Haas - all alone - ahead of Wittge, Roock, Sanchez and Jodexnis. While Felix Haas had already lapped the entire field once, the first Ford followed after seven Porsches: the Mustang of Roel Korten and Tom Kuiper. Behind them, the Pole Mariusz Kubis (Alfa Romeo 1750 GTAm) and Felix Kolb (Austin Healey 3000) had established themselves. As Vincent Kolb did not want to compete between two VLN races - much to the benefit of the Healey brakes - and his brother was enjoying his vacation on the Iberian Peninsula, Thomas Kuttruf drove with Kolb sen.
Before handing over the Zahnenbenz-Alfas to the senior member of the team, the GTAm had spun out and also drew attention to itself acoustically with misfiring during acceleration. In the meantime, the Rüddel Escort was running again, albeit already ten laps behind the lone leading Haas-Lola. Almost simultaneously, Kersten Jodexnis handed over his 911 - after a spin in the Mercedes Arena - to Fricadelli driver Dr. Edgar Althoff and Jochen Wilms handed over his Alfa to Christian Dannesberger. After a spin, presumably on its own oil, the end was announced for the Rüddel Escort.
Night-time engine change in Hochfeld
To preserve his chances of a class win in the HTGT race the next morning, Robert Rüddel had the Escort loaded up as quickly as possible and taken to the workshop at home. There, Sebastian's car was ready for an overnight engine transplant. The Escort was back in its pit at the Nürburgring at around 6.30 am. Heinz Schmersal praised: "Even if it wasn't exactly fun for our mechanics, they did a super job. After all, you give your all when you're leading the championship and want to win it, of course."
At the halfway point of the race, the Lola T210 of Felix Haas was already four laps ahead of the Sanchez-911 ST and the Kainzinger/Roock-914/6 GT. Pedro Sanchez was totally exhausted after the handover to his brother: "The Roock really gave me a hard time." Surprising fourth place: the Korsten/Kuiper-Mustang 289. Michael Wittke's mid-engined Porsche, which was right behind, stopped with a broken valve spring. 10,000 revs is simply not manageable, which is why the manufacturer recommends changing the springs after every race. Wittke: "How are you supposed to manage that!" Shortly afterwards, Hans-Ulrich Kainzinger's 914/6 GT also stopped: "A spark plug has gone bad!" In the end, he only managed 15th place overall.
Lead, gravel bed, no fuel, tow hook, class victory!
Suddenly the news that Felix Haas' Lola was out of fuel in the Mercedes Arena. Felix: "It didn't bother me that I hit an oil slick while braking for the Dunlop bend and ended up in the gravel. I had the situation fully under control. But when I ran out of fuel, I was just swearing because my stop should actually have been one lap earlier."
After just under a quarter of an hour, a tow truck brought the Lola to the back of the pits. Michael Delaney acted immediately, had the Lola refueled, swung into it and went into the race to take the class win. And it worked. However, the Luxembourg Mustang, which had also been reactivated, was 24 laps short of being classified at all.
The Wilms/Dannesberger combination finished a strong third behind the Porsche of the Sanchez brothers and the Jodexnis/Althoff pairing. Fourth - and thus the best 914/6 - was the car of the Dirk Baumann/Thomas Weiske/Olaf Neunkirchen trio. They were followed by Mariusz Kubis, Korsten/Kuiper and Gustav Edelhoff, who drove his massive Mercedes-Benz 300 SEL surprisingly well.
Class victories for Kolb/Kuttruf - tenth overall - Benjamin Richter BMW 1800 TI), Kai-Uwe Harth (Porsche 911), the Bellersheims (Escort 1300 GT) and Dr. Matthias Schenzle: "I could theoretically drive back to Ulm even after a weekend with several races on the road, but you have to carry a lot of accessories and spare parts that don't fit in the 450 SLC."
Ladies' choice: from the A30 to the E-Type
Dutchmen Michiel and Frits Campagne and their compatriot Armand Adrians were left speechless. The flying Dutchmen with their beefy "American hunks", Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport and Ford Falcon Sprint, were blown away by a lady from Germany. Rhea Sautter, driving a Jaguar E-Type from the Gotcha Historic Racing Team together with Briton Andrew Newall, had already attracted admiring glances at the Goodwood Revival: in a beige Austin A30 with eyelashes glued over the headlights, happily flapping in the wind. Rhea outdid the entire competition on the Nürburgring GP circuit. When asked why she didn't also compete in Goodwood with the Jaguar, she smiled with a wink: "Turquoise wasn't a popular car color there."
Heinz Schmersal and Mike Stursberg ended their outing with the Rüddel Escort Mk2 in the Youngtimer Trophy 1 with a clear victory ahead of the BMW 2002 of Alexander Köppen and Uwe Klapproth. In Trophy 2, the Porsche 911 RSR of Sebastian Glaser dominated in the absence of its owner, who was celebrating his birthday in Munich. Michael Joos, whose company looks after Sebastian's Porsche among other things, got behind the wheel and put in a brilliant performance. With the second fastest time in qualifying, 100-Mile Trophy man Ronny Scheer had already indicated that he would be a strong contender in the pack of five Porsche RSRs. However, he had a mishap on the starting lap of the race: "I made a mistake before the first corner and got a 'fine contact' on the left front. The old racing adage that you can never win so early immediately popped into my head."
HTGT: Lola double
Visually, the front row of the grid looked like David and Goliath side by side: Felix Haas (Lola T210) in pole position and Michael Funke's Ford GT40 on his left as the starting driver. Behind the Haas-Lola - also white with red fender stripes - lurked the T210 of Michael Delany. He had just dried his overalls, which were soaked with sweat from the previous evening, with a hairdryer. Next to the Britec man was a "wolf" - Wolfgang Henseler - in his Crosslé C9S. Heinz Schmersal's Rüddel Escort with the "sister car" engine under the hood lined up after this open top row. While Michael Wittke and Karsten Schreyer, who were next in line, were unable to compete, Hans-Ulrich Kainzinger was able to save himself from the BMW 2002 faction with Christian Jacobswen, Steffen Moll and Köppen/Klapproth.
It was obvious that Hans-Ulrich coped better with his 914/6 GT than with the not so good-natured 911 ST. The Ford GT40 was only able to flex its muscles for one lap, after which Felix Haas easily smoked past. By the third lap, Michael Delaney had also left the Ford behind. Behind him, there was already a small gap to Wolfgang Henseler, Hans-Ulrich Kainzinger and Christian Jacobsen. When Heinz Schmersal handed over to Mike Stursberg at 10.15 am, the Rüddel Escort was in tenth place overall. Schmersal was happy: "At least I overtook Jochen Wilms. Our borrowed engine runs a little differently, but quite well." Wilms waved appreciatively to Heinz Schmersal from the passing Alfa in the pit lane. Better than balm!
Rush hour in the pit lane
Compulsory stops with or without driver changes: at the halfway point of the race, there was a bit of a rush in the pits. In the middle of it all, the Delaney-Lola T210, which Markus Schenkl had taken over, had to be pushed on as it was stuttering to get going. Michael Delaney grinned with satisfaction: "I was next to Felix twice and even passed him once, that was really fun." After 17 laps, the following picture emerged behind the two Lola drivers: Henseler sandwiched by Steffen Moll and Christian Jacobsen, and Mike Stursberg was pulling out all the stops to catch up. Ten minutes before the end of the race, he was only seven seconds behind fifth-placed Christian Jacobsen. It was foreseeable that he would finish around four seconds ahead of the BMW in this par force ride. "As long as he doesn't run into the back of me - like Bernd Langewiesche in practice - because my brakes are damn good, that's okay," said Christian Jacobsen. For him, it was the first race after his serious mountain bike accident in which he broke his collarbone. "That happened two weeks before Assen - a messed-up season in which I actually wanted to fight for the championship."
Hans-Ulrich Kainzinger also passed the 2002, but then stopped in the pits. The front tires were battered by understeer and - even worse - the tank was fart-dry. No more fuel: Hans-Ulrich was bitterly disappointed. Felix Hass had to tremble until he crossed the finish line because his Lola was leaking fuel somewhere. During his mandatory stop, he had already asked which button he had to press in case the Lola started to burn when fuel was blown onto the hot exhaust pipes. Despite an 80-second penalty for a pit stop that was too short, Wolfgang Henseler still took third place. Once again, the Japanese lettering on his helmet, which means "good luck", had helped its wearer. Markus Dünkelmann also had to live with a time penalty - albeit only a paltry five seconds. Ropbert Krug (Lotus Elan R26), Gustav Edelhoff (Mercedes-Benz 300 SEL 6.3), Thomas Christian Buchbinder (Marcos 1800 GT), Nolte/Funke (Ford GT40) and Kabuth-Metzger Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint GTA) were delighted with their class victories. Afterwards there were sausages from butcher Horst Metzger for the second breakfast. They were quickly consumed - it was all about the sausage!
Markus Jörg on his own
True to the motto "the last will be first", pole position setter Markus Jörg only arrived at his pre-start position at the last minute. As soon as he strapped in, the journey to the first race of the "Gentle Drivers Trophy" got underway while Julius Brandt was still trying to get to grips with the harness in his TVR Grantura.
A time-consuming undertaking that resulted in a start from the pit lane. Markus Jörg stormed off so brilliantly that he soon had a gap of several hundred meters between himself and his pursuers, Oliver Hartmann (Lotus 17) and Erich Stahler (Marcos 1800 GT).
Stahler, for his part, had Christopher Stahl (TVR Griffith) breathing down his neck. Stahl versus Stahler: This duel for second place behind the fading Markus Jörg lasted until the end of the race and went in favor of the TVR driver. Also involved in a fight to the finish: Robert Krug (Lotus Elan R26) and Oliver Hartmann (Lotus 17) on the one hand and Thomas Christian Buchbinder (Marcos 1800 GT) and Markus Schenkl (Crosslé 7S) on the other. Frank Romo (Lotus Cortina) was the best touring car, just ahead of the Mustang 289 GT driven by Bartels/Weber. The small and the big Ford were separated by just one second.
Gentle Drivers Trophy: Jörg once again
While Christopher Stahl's TVR and Gerwalt Muhle's Porsche 356A rolled into the pits, Markus Jörg had - as usual - already pulled out a considerable lead on the first lap of the second race. Behind Jörg, the field had spread out from the seventh lap: Stahler, Krug, Schenkl, Hartmann, Buchbinder, Langewiesche and Romo.
The battle between Markus Schenkl and Oliver Hartmann was intense. Schenkl: "Oliver slid in on the inside of the Müllenbach bend and pushed me to the outside. To avoid going over the curbs, I held back." With success: Schenkl finished fourth behind Jörg, Stahler and Krug but ahead of Hartmann. Frank Romo and Bernd Langewiesche also had a "hot number" in the battle for seventh place overall.
"As I had problems with second gear, Langewiesche was sometimes closer than I would have liked," said the Lotus Cortina driver. Dr. Christian Werner in the Volvo P120 had two "aha moments": his first spin and overtaking the Lotus Elite of Klaus Weber. However, his 15th place was not enough to remove the black cross on the rear of the Volvo. This, in England on a yellow background, signifies a novice racer in the learning phase.
Scheer's M1 wins the FHR 100-Mile Trophy
Classic car racing professional Felix Haas put his Cheetah G601 on pole position alongside Ronny Scheer's BMW M1 Procar with Piquet outfit in only its third outing. "Once you get used to the fact that the Cheetah feels harder and more compact than my Lola, you can move it faster," said Haas - and how: four seconds on the Nürburgring GP circuit. Of course, Felix's red racer immediately took the lead - initially ahead of Harald Thönnes' Swift, but shortly afterwards the latter was overtaken by Ronny Scheer's M1. Between the Swift and Wolfgang Henseler's Crosslé C9S, the newly built De Tomaso Pantera GTS of the Sanchez brothers had slipped in on the fifth lap.
This beautiful red racer, which only had a few test kilometers under its belt, had one flaw: a broom had to be used as a replacement for the missing tailgate support. At least it could have been painted red! The starting field was also enriched by a NASCAR bruiser: Christophe Schwartz's Dodge Charger, which, however, had to make an involuntary pit stop after just two laps.
On the sixth lap, constant misfires forced the Swift DB2 to retire. Harald Thönnes prepared to take over from Dennis Rönz in the Reynard 123. This happened exactly half an hour into the race. At the halfway point, the ranking was as follows: Haas, ahead of Scheer, Biehl, Schmeyer, Schenkl, Henseler, Sanchez, Thönnes and Neunkirchen.
When Marcel Biehl handed over the Tiga SC84 with Union Jack design - the car once belonged to Mike Wilds (now 73 years old) - to Roberto Cocciarelli, he confessed to having spun twice. " On the second lap, I slipped up for the first time in the Mercedes Arena. I'm beginning to think I'm the king of spins, because this year was no exception." To get straight to the point: Cossiarelli/Biehl nevertheless took an excellent third place overall and won their well-staffed class. 15:21 Ronny Scheer made his mandatory pit stop, surrounded by the enterprising Heup Motorsport team from Monschau, who look after his car.
The Dresden native is delighted: "They simply do everything professionally and perfectly, I arrive and just have to sit in the M1." Shortly beforehand, RA Harald Schmeyer, Chairman of the DMSB Sports Tribunal, had pulled into the pits in his Lola T492: just for a drink break. The reigning HRA champion - his fourth title, by the way - had already considered using the "Saints" advertisement from back then on his Lola as an opportunity to register in London: "This company still exists." Schmeyer finished fourth.
Fuel crisis
Markus Schenkl had barely handed over the Lola T210 to its owner, Michael Delaney, when Britec received the bad news that Felix Haas had stalled. Felix was furious: "Gasoline is a good substance, but it should somehow reach the engine." While Markus Schenkl was preparing for his next race, the Delaney had returned to the track in fourth place with his Lola and crossed the finish line in second place. Shortly before the end of the race: excitement in the Sanchez/Pütz pit. Pedro reported that the fuel gauge was at "0". The Pütz boys hurriedly dragged in two fuel cans and a funnel - due to a lack of fuel pumps - to feed the greedy De Tomaso. 86.5 liters of fuel in just 55 minutes: an incredible drunk who finished sixth!
No longer in the race: Anton Münch's Lola T590: " My brakes were totally shot, so I came to a halt in the gravel. A tractor then pulled me out of there." Also stranded: Wolfgang Henseler's Crosslé C9S. This time, the lucky slogan on his helmet didn't help him. Seven men and two women - the entire Heup Motorsport squad - had gathered at the pit wall to celebrate Ronny Scheer crossing the finish line. Once again, Dr. Matthias Schenzle came back from seven laps down to win his class and finish ninth overall.
