Right after the Lausitzring Jim Clark Revival, our Dodge Charger got interesting coverage in the media. Click on the links to read what DasAutoBlog, Motoraver and Motorsportfreunde wrote about us. It appears as if the big B-Body Mopar was one of the major crowd pleasers. We're very happy for that, as it is always great to please the fans with a good show on the track. We want to go back to the Lausitzring in 2010 and we're pretty sure that the number of fans will be even bigger then!
Did we have great week-end? You bet! Our race at the 2009 Jim Clark Revival was absolutely fantastic. Even though it started with a couple of fried caliper seals, the Oly Express crew once more worked wonders, so that we even finished second in class behind the Porsche 911 RSR of Daniel Schrey. Along the way, laping the 3.4 km roadcourse in 1.50s, we had great battles with Mathias Beetz and Bernhard Voslamber's BMW 2002 tii as well as Urs Müller's absolutly beautiful Aston Martin DB4 GT. Add to this a few demo sessions on the big oval alonsige Stefan Oberndorfer's Skoal Bandit Lumina, where Bjoern drove the Charger and you can imagine that we had great fun. Our thanks go to Ronny Bredhauer and his crew who did a flawless job and used all the advantages of the Lausitzring track! We'll be back for Jim Clark Revival 2010.
We are happy to announce that the MOPARSHOP of Germany will be servicing our racecars during the 2009 season. This assures excellent preparation and of our racing machines! One of the MOPARSHOPs skilled mechanics will also be travelling with us to the races as part of our crew.
Our trucking partner KFZ-Transporte Erkrath is thinking about investing in a new 7.5 ton hauler. Would'nt it be just too cool to have one, decorated like these good old OLY beer trucks?
After a cancelled Nordschleife Test due to snowfall (!) on Tuesday, we came back to the Nürburgring on Sunday to participate in the FHR racing series session on the GP-track. The testing conditions were just perfect, because it rained most of the day and the track was really wet and slippery. Just what we needed to sort out the MOTUL Charger!
Big news at Team Oly Express for 2009. First of all, we'll start racing the dayglow orange and slate grey 1972 Charger instead of the white and gold 1974 Dodge. Our OLY racecar is taking a well deserved break after two Le Mans Classics, two Monzas and two Nürburgrings. Click below for the race dates and locations!
We are very happy to announce that the Oly Express will again be able to rely on MOTUL's great lubricants. MOTUL will continue to support us for a fourth season in a row! Like their great products, MOTUL is a company that you can rely on.
You all know that our Olympia Dodge is not the original car that Doug and Hershel McGriff ran at Le Mans in 1976. It is Paul Feldner's ride from 1976 and 197, when it was owned by Gary Wutke. Thanks to Aero426, a member of Randy Ayers Forum (in my view the best NASCAR knowledge base around), here a two great pictures of Paul Feldners 1977 USAC National Stock Car Championship winning season!
We are happy to announce that NITRO Magazine will sponsor our Team Oly Express for a fourth conscutive year. Being one of our very first sponsors and mentors since the start of our Olympia Dodge project in December 2003, having NITRO on board is a great asset for the team. Once again, we'll proudly bear the NITRO logo on our team shirts and have great stuff to read in the pits!
Now that the new year has begun, comes two most important questions. What colors should our 2009 team shirts be and where and when shall we go racing? Where and when do you want to see the Oly Express Dodge or its little cousin the Chrysler France Hemicuda on the track? Let us know by posting a comment here!
What a thrill to see another 115" MoPar racecar come back to life! This former USAC Charger is based on a Nichels chassis and could have even been bodied as a Superbird, when it first hit the track. You can see more pictures of this Nichels Charger by clicking here.
It has once more been quite a year! We did exactly the same number of laps in the Le Mans Classic race, as Hershel McGriff in the Le Mans 24 Hours of 1976. Now is time for some peace and quiet, while thinking about where and what to race in 2009! We wish you a merry Christmas!
One of our greatest fans from Germany, Karl-Heinz Roggendorf sent us two pictures of the Oly Express at Le Mans in 1976. The above is from Tuesday scrutineering at Place des Jacobins. Below is when the car was refueled before the race. As you can see on the pumps, only road type gasoline was available at Le Mans!
Hershel McGriff, driver and team boss of the original Oly Express Dodge Charger , will be celebrating his 81st birthday tomorrow. He might not jump in and out of a stock car as seen here in Le Mans in 1976, but we all can be sure that he can still drive a car faster than most of us. His first major win was the Carrera Panamericana in 1950 at age 20 and his last wast the NASCAR Autozone West race in 1989 at age 61. I'll never forget the one lap of the Bugatti that I did riding shotgun in my Dodge while Hershel drove. Happy Birthday, Hershel!
François Breton just sent me this new old picture of the Charger next to the Torino being readied for the Le Mans 24 Hours race in 1976. To read the story on how it got there, click right here!
While surfing the web, I found this picture of our Dodge when Cuck Shafer had it in his collection and was racing it at Portland. It wears its original Tru-Cut Sanding Discs paint scheme, as when Paul Feldner won the 1977 USAC National Stock Car championship at its wheel. Shall we paint it back to its original colors for Le Mans Classic 2010?
Our faithfull fan François Breton sent us this great screen capture from a little amateur film of Le Mans 1976. It shows Hershel McGriff at the wheel of the Oly Express Dodge Charger after sidelining his racecar right after the Mulsanne corner. Read more about the whole story by clicking here.
Gilles Vitry, reporter and photographer for French vintage and racing magazines interviewed team Oly Express during our Nürburgring CER race. The result is a cool one page report on our car and the whole crew in this month issue of Retrocourse. It has also an interesting article about the whole CER race and our competition there. Get your copy now!
Spiegel Online, one of Germany's biggest newsite overall, has a great article about Le Mans Classic, in which the Oly Express Charger gets a big share. Our team photographer Dick Behlau supplied Der Spiegel with Le Mans Classic pictures. You can see them all by clicking here!
Even though our race was over during the night stint, we still got good press of our racing at Le Mans Classic 2008. Retrocourse, France's monthly vintage racing magazine, shows the Dodge in action with Jean-François Chiron at the wheel. Some sharp eyed readers of the Oly Charger blog should notice that something was forgotten before the Charger went out on the track...
Now this is awesome! Markus from Germany's MPZ Racevideos made one film just on the Olympia Charger at this years Classic Endurance Race at the Nürburgring! Sit back and enjoy!
We just can't help it: our Dodge Charger is one of the most popular vintage racers around! After the 2007 fans most favourite trophy, here is one more proof: the 2008 MOTOSO readers vote sound trophy. Hold by Germany's premier vintage car parts market website MOTOSO, our Dodge won runner-up honors in the race car category!
Southern Germanys V8 website South Blocks features our Nürburgring race. Click here to see the pictures and read the story writen by Yvonne Walter! Great stuff!
After our DNF at Le Mans Classic 2008 due to a broken driveshaft, we are very happy to have finished 21st overall and 9th in the GT category at this week-end Nürburgring Classic Endurance Race! Despite a transmission change, we had one of the best races with the Dodge since 2006! See the start in the video above!
After that Hilmar had an extra driveshaft made, Bjoern put everything back together and Christophe got some extra Michelin tires, we are now all set for the coming Nürburgring Classic Endurance Race, where we hope to see many of our German fans. Looking at the weather forecast, we might not need the news slicks... Since we never had a CER race in the rain, the coming week-end might be interesting!
German watchmaker Bergmann will provide a specialy built Stopwatch to our team in order to keep good record of our lap and pitstop timing. Combinig a vintage look and an extra long armband that allows to wear the stopwatch over the drivers suit, we'll make sure not to spend more than the mandatory one minute at standstill in the pits during the race.
Dirk Behlau, world class car photographer and author of "Speed Kings", joined Team Oly Express for LMC08. You'll see his great work in the coming issue of Germany's Motoraver Magazine. You can already get an idea by viewing the Le Mans Classic slideshow featured by Stern.de! Click here!
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