Hi boys,
I have some good and some bad news.
The good news is about our second place in class at Zolder about four weeks ago. We had a few problems over the weekend, but could finish without major problems. The engine is still very strong and completely mounted.
The first problem stopped our ambitions in qualifying. My dad had to come to the pits, because the gearbox mounting broke. That caused a huge amount of movement in the suspension and the car was undriveable. After reparing that issue, we started from position 23 and my brother drove the first stint. But just after ten minutes, he came into the pits. The clutch pedal sometimes "stayed down" while braking before a corner and then suddenly decided to come back up, what caused lots of trouble before the tight corners. This problem also caused a quiet big damage of the right front wheel-arch, because my dad almost lost the car and could not avoid a "speed bump" at a tight chicane. The tyre smashed into the arch and broke it on several places.
Unfortunately, we thought the reason for the problem was the adjustment of the clutch cable and some changes there did not help at all. We were not able to sort the reason out before the second driver's change. The brake pedal did jam the shaft of the clutch pedal and after a bit of lubrication, the problem was solved. Because of that, I had a very good beginning of the stint and my first lap of the weekend was already our fastest lap of the race. The second lap was even four seconds faster (2:02 min) and then it started drizzling a bit. After a few more laps, it seemed to get completely dry, but then it started to rain heavier. I told myself that the hunt for the 1:59 min laptime was over and slowed down, but not enough. I spun and the engine stopped. A problem with the starter made it necessary to wait around 12 minutes until the engine started again. I learned a lesson for my life that day and brought it home very carefully. unfortunately we lost 9 positions due to my fault and finished 24th overall.
We have already mounted a new starter and are already looking forward to the final race at the Nürburgring in three weeks time. And because we are the only competitor with two or more races, who has always finished, we are still in the race for the championship in the Two Seater Racing Car-Division. But if the other two competitors (Ford GT40 and the lucky guy, who can choose between Ginetta G12, Daren Mk3 and Chevron B16) are as quick and reliable as usual, we will end up third in this Division. The only difference to the past years is, that we deserve the third place this time and that we are not third, just because only three cars took part.
The Swiss Felix Haas has won all three races with three different cars, so far. The Reglement is not clear, how that is counted for the scoring of the Championship. He entered the Championship with his Ginetta G12. This car won the first race and retired in the second one. But he also raced his Daren Mk3 in the second race and won. In the third race, he won with his Chevron B16. If all points from all cars add up to one "account", he would have 25,67 points and would already be the Champion. But, if they would be seperated to each car (Ginetta: 7 points, Daren: 10,17 points, Chevron: 8,5 points) then he would be third, fourth and fivth at the same time. Or maybe just the points with the originally entered car count for the championship. That would mean only the 7 points for the Ginetta and third place.
![Comfused :confused:](https://www.lotuseuropa.org/LotusForum/Smileys/default/confused24.gif)
What do you think would be a fair solution? All his cars are competing in the same class (TSRC up to 2 Litres). I already asked the promoter, how they will go on with this issue. The only thing I definitely know is that the shortly published championship standing is wrong. They completely forgot Felix Haas in their calculation for the points of the second race.
The other competitors are Ford GT40 (13 points), our Lotus Europa-Team (10,33 points) and a Porsche 906 (6 points).
The bad news is that I talked to the German motorsport association about my chances to get into GT-class and they told me, I have no chance. Although I found an entry list with August Deutsch's car in the GT-class. They want to see a picture of this car with the startno. from this race (29).
![Blow Up :blowup:](https://www.lotuseuropa.org/LotusForum/Smileys/default/blowup.gif)
Best regards
Stefan