VLN RACE ONE IN THE 997 GT3 RS, WITH WALTER ROHRL...
Article by Chris Harris, Evo magazine
(30 March 2010)
So, race one is completed, and the car is still in one piece. It sounds odd to consider such low-level achievement as a great result, but this weekend was all about seat-time, gremlin-hunting and not, emphatically not, sending the car into the wall at Breidscheid.
The weather over here is unpredictable at the best of times, but at this time of year it’s mostly terrible and so we only ran a couple of wet laps during Friday practice. Our race engineer was the legendary Roland Kussmaul, who masterminded Porsche's dominance of sportscar racing in the 80s. In fact he's such a legend that I'm not going to say any more about him here because he needs a blog of his own - to come later this week.
Anyways, Walter went out on an exploratory mission early in qualifying on Saturday morning, but it was the usual mayhem with wet/dry/shunts/general insanity.
The best traction and stability control system ever invented: Herr Rohrl.
In a VLN event, all three drivers must complete a lap to qualify for the race, so once Walter was done, I did one lap, then Horst von Saurma followed. Simple stuff, but even with no desire to qualify in any particular position, we still need to know what’s possible with the car. So, on a drying track, with some damp patches, Walter went out on slicks and did 9 min 17sec, which was pretty stunning given the circumstances and the type of car. The VLN lap is around 1min 40sec to 1min 50sec longer than the Nordscleife lap. It gave us 30th on the grid.
Achtung! Vorsicht!
I’ve never seen so many very, very fast cars here. There are two works BMW M3s, four Audi R8 LMSs, two GT3 Cups S, several RSRs (still the sexiest racers on the planet), the stunning GT3 Rs (making their debut) and then there’s the long list of special, fast racing cars, from Corvette to Viper to Ferrari 430 GT2s – the list goes on-and-on. Oh, and there were 22 Porsche 997 GT3 Cup racing cars too. In light of which, 30th was fine by me!
The race itself was dry, and I’m delighted to be able to say that there is nothing much to report. Horst took the start and worked us up to 26th, Walter ran with spooky consistency to 24th position, and when I crossed the line we were 22nd overall.
Behind the Manthey GT3 R, which won the race
The car is a complete honey. It’s far less physical than the Cup car I used to drive, it feels less precise and lazier in direction changes than the racer, but the big surprise comes at high speed. It doesn’t have anything like the wing of the Cup car, but the stability is superb, and there’s a hint of downforce too: something I hadn’t expected.
Look, it's even got red wheels now!
One day, when I’m old and weeing through a tube, someone might ask me to recount a memory that I’ve always cherished. Having Walter Rohrl step out of a racing car, then lean towards me to deliver some advice, and be bolted into the same seat he vacated will probably be near the top of the list.
I don’t ever want to come down from this trip. Honestly – I don’t.
Next-up: VLN 2 in 10 days time...
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"Just did my first public-day lap of the Ring in years. Circuit mostly wet - and mostly empty. Most pleasant ( and slippery)" -- Chris Harris
"I did it in this. My perfect car." -- Chris Harris
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