The weather gods were not very gracious on the weekend of September 7, 2019. The rain dominated almost the entire race and put the participants under a lot of pressure, turning the race course into a whitewater course. Nevertheless, the organizers can look back on a generally successful event.
Sacrifices were made early on
With the sixth round, the VLN Endurance Championship Nürburgring has now entered the home straight. Half of the season is already behind the drivers and fans, and the first decisions in the classes are already being made or at least clear favorites can now be identified. Time for us to take another look at the Nordschleife, naturally with a focus on the older participants in Europe's largest popular sports series. On Friday, the sun was shining once again and it was possible to follow the action on the track in a T-shirt in pleasant temperatures.
But the race day looked very different again, as the weather gods did not play along. Fortunately, however, it was not so bad that it would affect the schedule. The cars started the morning qualifying session on time. However, the wet and sometimes still quite dark track claimed victims early on, who had to give up a start even before the race began. One of the victims was the E36 from the Destree Motorsport team. Its driver Fabian Pirrone, the meeting leader of the DSK-Stammtisch Hamburg, now has to postpone his race premiere in the VLN again, as the car had already crashed early in a very wet practice session at the last race.
Exotics and crowd favorites
Almost all of the remaining interesting cars from a historic perspective started in the H2 class again this time. Racing cars that are no longer allowed to compete in the VLN Specials or the production classes due to their year of construction find their motorsport home in Group H.
H2 is limited to petrol engines with a maximum capacity of 2000 cc. Newer cars such as the Renault Clio are now also competing in this class, but we are concentrating on the real exotics in the field. One of the best-known cars and the absolute crowd favorite in the entire VLN is certainly the Opel Manta of Peter Haas, Olaf Beckmann and Volker Strycek.
However, this Manta no longer has much in common with the original road car; the 2-liter engine produces just under 250 hp at 8200 rpm. In this day and age, that doesn't sound very impressive, but the Manta also weighs just 950 kg in the VLN. In the 24-hour race, however, it had to be loaded up to 1020 kg due to regulations.
In order to be able to push into these regions, almost all removable parts were replaced with a carbon or Kevlar version. Equipped with a 100-liter tank, the venerable Manta then had a range of 325 km, including the formation lap and 11 race laps as well as a reserve lap. The current car has been used with this bodywork in the VLN since 1999 and has now completed almost 130 VLN races and 14 participations in the 24-hour race. This alone adds up to around 80,000 km of racing, not even including the training sessions.
Many donations and assistance after spectacular accident
Unfortunately, the XXL Racing Team's VW Jetta is still a long way off such distances. The old Jetta crashed in qualifying for VLN1 in a spectacular multiple rollover in the Brünnchen section of the track. Many supporters and sympathizers of the team quickly came together and made it possible for the team to return to the Nordschleife quickly with large donations of money and goods.
The accident at the end of March spelled the end for the racing car, but by early September the rebuilt Jetta was already in the pit lane at the Nürburgring. In the course of the rebuild, the opportunity was seized to make direct improvements. The engine output was increased to 235 hp, and instead of 15-inch rims, the Jetta now has 17-inch rims. While the old Jetta still had a manual 5-speed gearbox from a diesel, the gears are now changed via a sequential gearbox. Only the fuel filler cap was carried over from the old Jetta; unfortunately, more parts could no longer be used after the serious accident.
The first race for the new car was seen more as a test. Driver Norbert Mehling explained that, due to the new technology in the familiar car, they first had to see where they stood on the track. Higher engine power and a different gearbox mean that old data is no longer important and you now have to reorient yourself. But fate was not kind to the likeable team, who were able to complete a few cab laps with sponsors on Friday but had to miss the start on Saturday. The gearbox bell housing had cracked. On the one hand, they did not want to risk the gearbox itself, on the other hand, they did not want to take any unnecessary risks for themselves and other participants, which would be caused by possible loss of operating resources.
A lot of effort and just as much bad luck
A total loss and a resulting rebuild is unfortunately also nothing new for the next representative from H2. Jürgen Freiburg's VW Corrado was involved in a multiple accident in the Fuchsröhre at the end of the 2017 season. Compared to the Jetta, the car would have been repairable at the time. However, the decision was made not to. The accident was severe and caused extensive damage. The repair would have been very costly and it was not known how the car would behave on the track afterwards. So the decision was made to build a new Corrado because of the "headache" and also to realize new ideas that could not easily be implemented in the finished car. Since 2018, this vehicle has been back in the VLN. Jürgen Freiburg has been racing in the VLN since 1997 and returned in 2007 after an interruption, but now only races sporadically, albeit always in a VW, as he has done since the beginning.
Unfortunately, the current season is not going as planned. Back in June, a minor defect cost him a finish. Unfortunately, the current race didn't look any better, the cold and wet weather was a problem and it took time for the intermediates to get up to temperature. Shortly before the planned pit stop, he also came to a halt in the entrance to the pit lane with no fuel. The race was successfully restarted, but with the rain setting in again, all it took was a small driving error in the Metzgesfeld and the Corrado made a rough contact with the track barrier and the race unfortunately had to be ended prematurely. However, the damage is limited and nothing stands in the way of the team's scheduled end to the season at VLN Race 7.
The garage is also well stocked, the old car that was involved in the accident has been stored away, but a new project has also already been received. This time, however, the brand will be changed. Despite the change of brand, the Audi 80 is not too far removed from its predecessor. The Audi is also due to compete in Class H in the VLN next year, but is currently still at a very early stage of construction. As soon as it is completed, it will enter the race track in a contemporary Audi livery and give its best.
Also active away from the VLN
Another representative of the H2 class is the E36 Compact from the Fun-Motorsport team. Frank Unverhau is both driver and team owner. He himself has been active for 10 years, his driver colleague at the weekend was Günther Hartwig, who can already build on a considerable 30 years of experience in motorsport. Together they drove the aforementioned E36 Compact, the 4-cylinder engine under the hood of the small 3 Series develops almost 250 hp at a weight of just 1000 kg. The car is shifted via a sequential gearbox. The team is also active outside the VLN.
In the Youngtimer Trophy, however, they opted for the brand with the lightning bolt and drive 2 Opel Kadett GSI cars there. A former WTCC BMW is also used in endurance races, such as the Creventic Series or the NES 500, but the team is also planning to enter a second car in the upcoming VLN season.
Big challenge for individual starters
We previously reported on Konstantin Wolf and his E30 M3. The Bavarian's E30 has been the only E30 in the VLN field for some time and is already the second-oldest car in the entire field after the Manta. The race was an even bigger task for him, as he took on the challenge of competing as a single starter. So he was in the car for the full 4 hours, drove off in the wet and was able to slowly get used to the drying track before the heavens opened the floodgates again at the end of the race. It was no easy task to drive the car across the finish line in one piece.
Top cars do not belong at the top
Two thirds of the season are now behind the VLN drivers, so there are still three exciting races to go until the end of the season. Due to the complex points system and the motto "much enemy much honor", it is not the absolute top cars that are at the top of the standings but, as expected, cars from the classes with the most participants. The current leaders are the duo Yannick Fübrich and David Griesner with their M240i from the CUP5 class, followed by the trio Norbert Fischer, Daniel Zils and Oskar Sandberg in the Porsche Cayman from the V5 class, followed in third place by Nico Otto and Lars Peucker with their BMW M240i, entered by the well-known Scheid Motorsport team. In 31st place are Daniel and Tobias Overbeck, the first representatives of the H2 class, driving a Renault Clio 3.
The next race is scheduled for September 28. It remains to be seen whether the VLN will be able to enjoy a race in the best conditions this year.
