Did we have a great race week-end? You bet! With Team Oly, win or loose, our races are always great. And so it was again on the famous Nürburgring 1000 km Le Mans Series track. We had it all: sweat, tears, ups and lows. Due to an ejected oil filter, our dry qualifying was ruined and almost the HEMI as well! Luckily, I shut down the big elephant early enough to prevent any serious damage!
After a moist free practice, during which we ran on Goodyear threaded vintage race tires, the first qualyfing was in the wet. The Charger did extremly well in the pouring rain session and we had the 20th time of the huge 53 car field! We shod the Michelin slicks for the afternoon qualifier, which as all dry. The Charger was really flying, but, as said before, could not get any time, due its huge oil spill on the first lap. All other competitors had better times than what we did in the rain soaked morning session. After some serious wrenching on the oil filter fixture, we started on the race last spot. Not knowing for sure if the engine was not hurt a bit, I took it easy on the HEMI and shifted 500 rpm earlier than usual. Starting 53rd on the grid, we still managed to finish 28th overall. More is to come later of this phantastic 2009 Classic Endurance Race. Stay tuned! In the meantime, you can check the results by clicking here.
Part of the field lining up for the qualifying session on the Nürburgring.
The Charger blew by the non-turbo Porsches with ease on the main straight! However, the 935s and M1s where no match on the twisty Nürburgring track.
The Dodge Charger was again one of the main attractions for the fans and got a lot of attention from the Motorvision TV crew.
The best fight of the race was with Stephane Sabates ZL-1 427 powered 1975 Corvette. HEMI power and daring late braking reasoned the bowtie!
The crew of top notch mechanics Hilmar Walter and Michael Bruns worked wonders, again. Thank you guys! No driver could dream of a better team!
Michael ready to rock! Once more, the vintage NASCAR radios from Tex Powell's Copenhagen team, that Dick Pierson brought in 2007, were a precious help!
