VLN 10, End of Season ?

ouch ouch

There must be something in the water of the Eifelstadl, it is Wednesday and I still feel the Seasons end Party Fumes after VLN 10..
This year there were more than 15 GT3 cars present for the last Race, so we couldn't really try and get another SP7 overall Victory.  Last year with Gerwin, Manuel and Philipp there were many factors that let us do it, this weekend it clearly was impossible.

But let's start with Friday. As it is Tradition in the Last Race there are a few less Guests and VIP to be taxied around so Black Falcon got the glorious idea to give me a Taxi Ride.. in the Cup SP7 of Carsten with Jürgen driving.. in the Wet.  So out we went at the Start of the Session.

Now the last time I went on the Nordschleife as a Passenger in a Porsche it was in a insane GT2 with Traudl on Semi-slicks , this time with the Wets.. in dry/wet conditions... amazing .. Yes we slid around on the GP Track.. but that is what the GP Track is for.. Warming up the Tyres, getting a feel for the Grip level.

G-Forces, ok.. Acceleration.. nice.. Sound.. very nice .. Braking ..absolutely phenomenal.  The combination of the BRakes with the Wets in these tricky conditions was great.. you could really brake deep into the Corner when you thought that with Slicks there would have been too much water and with Street Tyres there wouldn't have been any Grip to convey the force. Awesome little Lap.. and I would have loved to have driven one with all the Drivers to actually see the difference in speeds/styles and the actual causes of their laptimes.. as for me they have been sector times and Fuel Consumption figures all year :)

Fast-forward to qualifying. Everybody thought that the fog would hold up the qualifying for at least 30 minutes but at 8:18 it was virtually gone and we could start the Session on time. As our Main contenders through the year Frikadelli couldn't repair the car after their crash in VLN9.. we were home free for Pole Position in the SP7 class and a 18th Place overall with the #56. Unfortunately the Car which took me on the Taxi Lap suffered a minor crash at wipperman in qualifying.. but one that couldn't be repaired before the Race. That is Racing, but it hurts everytime.

The advantage was I could focus on helping the #56 to get through the tricky conditions and the tyre change simulations.  We had no competition in Class but Chris Brück was on a Bentley.. so we still wanted to try and be as close as possible to him there.  Alex did the first stint and did a good job through the Start phase with the less profiled Wets, some other cars were on full , high profile Wets and had an advanatage . At the Driver change to Tim we kept him on the tyres as the drying track was now the ideal condition for them.. and this is was were the GT3's and the Cups started to struggle.  Nordschleife in mixed conditions is always tricky.. but when it dries up on most parts and you have these darker corners with no sunshine, they tend to stay very slippery for a long time. Some people tried to change early onto slicks but saw their times rise and rise, the wetness of the track held on much longer than people expected.  But we were on the best possible tyres and at times the fastest car on the Track.

Then suddenly the sky opened up and the sun dried the Track up, so quickly that I got the car in for slicks right away.  Tim pushed the Car to better and better times as did the whole Field... so much incidently that we went out of the 2 stop window and into the 3 stop window.. damned.. but the livestream with Mies/connor, stinkefinger/LanceDavid and Jörg/Menzel was really intense to follow too.. the times plummeted and 26 laps would be the distance to go.

So we had to splash & dash, got the speedy Spaniard in the Car and off we went.. and what did he do ? OFC he fought with the Brück Bentley.. on the livestream.. passing him on the Döttinger Höhe. The advantage for the Pitwall of the Livestream is clearly that I can tell the drivers to do something. I wonder how the big series do it when every car is televised all the time and/or has a livestream from inside the car.

But I trust my drivers to do the right thing and if they don't then they probably have a damn good reason to do it.

6th classwin out of 10, 1 second place.. and a 24hours class and overall victory from the guys sitting next to me. Yeah  it was a Kickass Season.. Black Falcon is a Great Team and I am happy and proud to be a part of it. 

Can't wait for 2017

.. but wait..

in 3 weeks there is Macau .. I will be there.. and Maro Engel too.. he is a Black Falcon Driver.. and Dani Juncadella.. he drove on my cayman this year ..  so I guess.. the Season is not over yet :D