NitrOlympX
Rico Anthes Quarter Mile, Hockenheim, 17th-19th August 2018

Saturday



Click on any picture for a large image. Click here to return to the Event Index.



Super Gas racer Rene Kloss said 'The weekend has gone well for us after testing at the Public Raceday last weekend and recording a 9.96'. At the NitrOlympX Rene recorded a 9.956 to go sixth and Andrea Villi is leading qualifying with a perfect 9.900 ET.

Super Gas racer Marcus Himmler is in fifth with a 9.953 in his cool Chevy Bel Air with its 598cu in engine.


Super Pro ET racer Dominik Reinhardt had problems getting down track and is in 28th place. His altered has a chassis built by Victory Race Cars and a blown 540cu in BBC.

Super Pro ET racer Gerhard Dold has a 494cu in Chevy Corvette and is one of the few paraplegic racers in the sport. He achieved 8.864 on a 8.85 dial in to go fourth by the end of session three. As well as racing in Germany, he attends the Hills Race in Italy.


Super Pro ET racer Claude Knopf from Switzerland, driving a Chevy Camaro '84 with 598 cu in engine with 1100hp, is two seconds off his 8.2s dial in to go 27th.

Super Pro ET racer Christian Frei has a Woody Gilmore Slingshot from 1968 with an injected Mopar 500cu in engine and Coan torque convertor. He ran a 8.05 on a 7.90 dial in to go 19th.


Super Pro ET racer Glenn Pallant with wife Lisa and crew person Katie, are enjoying the event and Glenn is qualified fifth with a 8.996 on a 8.98 dial in, the quickest of three Brits qualified in the class.

Super Pro ET racer Jürgen Schubert Power Race Graphics ran at Mantorp Park recently and although based in Germany, rarely races here and this is their first NitrOlympX. Jürgen's car is a Chevy Nova bought in Denmark originally built by All In Race Cars, with fibreglass body with wrap design by Power Race Graphics. The engine is a 632cu in BBC with nitrous and Powerglide, with a best of 7.38. In this event he is aiming for 7.51 and has run a best of 7.827 to go 22nd.


Super Pro ET racer Elodie Dubois is running in the class for the first time this year and is qualified sixth with a 7.847 on a 7.83 dial in. She is in her tenth year of competition, having started in Junior Dragster here in 2009, with brothers Clement and Fabien.

Super Pro ET racer Jutta Winter is in the Heartbeat Racing Ford altered (with ex-Herb Andrews chassis), and ran a 9.21 on a 8.7 dial to go 24th. The team's new car, a Willys Coupe driven by son Michael, is expected to be out on track today in the final qualifying session.


Super Pro ET racer Thomas Haas with wife Natalie, is in 20th with 8.369 on a 8.20 dial in, the spread between no.1 and no.16 for eliminations being under 0.1s. Thomas said 'We have been

DMSB Drag Racing inspector Frank Wambach has been racing at the NitrOlympX for several years with the ex-Spencer Tramm VW Corrado, and has been carrying out scrutineering at other race events in Germany and Czech Republic with the 1 On 1 drag racing organisation.


Super Pro ET racer Martin Schlegel runs a 1937 Chevy Business Coupe with a Dart BBC of 638 cu in on E85 fuel and Powerglide, and here he ran a best of 8.658 on a 8.65 dial to go no.2 at the end of qualifying. Thanks to crew member Randy for supplying information.

Super Pro ET racer Franz Aschenbrenner has a 1970 Ford Mustang which he has owned for three years and was originally built in California by PMR Race Cars. It has a 620cu in BBF engine with carburretors and is naturally aspirated, running a PB of 8.08 and qualifying 12th with a 8.141 on an 8.11 dial in.


Top Fuel Dragster racer Kenni Neergaard ran a new personal best of 4.195/355.17 on a pass in the car previously driven by Stig, who has built a new car for this event. Kenni improved further to a 4.124/390 in session three.

Super Pro ET racer Billy Gane has his crew in weather-appropriate (but otherwise dubious) Hawaiian skirts. In the more serious aspect of racing, he is qualified eighth with a 8.529/260.47kph on a 8.50 dial-in.


Competition Eliminator racer Ingo Eckert who raced at Mantorp Park in July, has a new 'distressed' wrap and the car is now running in the six second zone. With a best time of 6.93 in session one, team member Kirsten Krause said 'We suffered tyre shake in the second session and couldn't improve'. Ingo suffered shake again this morning, with a lengthy pedal. Kirsten said once the team can run mid-sixes, a move up to FIA Pro Modified will be looked at.

Top Fuel Dragster racer Jndia Erbacher was delighted with a new PB of 4.039/479.92 (298.21mph) in Q2. She said 'The car is showing me what it can do and I'm happy. We have some of our previous US crew here helping us running two cars this weekend which is great and helped our performance. My target today is a three second pass and we will also be running at the night show'.


Top Fuel Dragster racer Stig Neergaard constructed the chassis for his new car which has 'I am the Stig' on its side. An initial 4.304/332.05 looked promising but in session two the Electromotive system failed and the car couldn't start. He said 'The track prep is good and the car, which has the latest management systems and six disc clutch (which we tested at the Main Event), works well".

Top Fuel Dragster racer Anita Mäkelä admitted yesterday was not one of her best days. 'Maybe we had a lack of power and we need to move forward step by step. It's hard to tell but things like that shouldn't happen and we must be careful'. She was referring to her second pass when the car went right and took out the reflectors with Urs Erbacher in the other lane. The car also lost a side panel which has been taped up for this morning's session. Anita was pleased with the track prep though: 'When we heard Ian and Dave are doing the track prep, it gave us confidence and thanks to Jerry Lackey for hiring them'. Anita is pictured with chief head man Ville.


Top Fuel Dragster racer Duncan Micallef was joined by a group of Maltese friends and fans. He said 'It was a very quick run recording a 3.94 on my first pass of the event, but I noticed a problem at the finish line and it turned out there had been an engine rod failure, so we have had to put in a completely new engine. It wasn't a tuning failure although it happened after ten runs and they are only supposed to be in danger of breaking after twenty runs'.

Top Fuel Dragster racer Liam Jones was delighted to run 3.943/500 after his first run of 3.978/498.97. He said 'The track is good, the temperature is at around 110 degrees, 100 degrees is perfect and the other year with air temperature of 43 centigrade the track was 120 degrees and too greasy. We are looking to run the same as Q2'. Liam's team remarked the track prep to 1000ft rather than the full quarter is preferable for the fuel teams as the tyres start to chunk if the chutes are pulled on a prepped section of track'.


Top Fuel Dragster racer Antti Horto ran a new PB speed of 501.17 coupled to a great ET of 3.990 in Q2. He said 'The car ran well and felt good, the first run was careful after problems in Alastaro which we fixed after finding a problem in the clutch. In the second run the car was flying'.

Top Methanol Funny Car racer Jürgen Nagel ran a best of 5.803/396 this morning. He said 'The car lost power on the first pass when a switch came off, but in the second pass the car worked properly and we ran a 5.909/389. The track is good and we haven't had problems with shake'. Jürgen's 5.80 this morning is just a hundrenth off his PB.


Top Methanol Dragster racers Timo and Dennis Habermann ran 5.383/425 and 5.470/423 in session one, but in session two only Dennis ran, a 5.549/419 with shake. Timo said 'My engine had a scuffed piston after session one, we think the problem happened on the warm up, so we changed a sleeve and piston and missed session two'. Both cars ran in the third session and improved with a couple of fantastic runs, Timo going 5.315/425 and Dennis 5.358/434 to place them in no.1 and no.2 positions once again. Dennis is running a new Miner Bros Racing engine.

Top Methanol Dragster racer Jonny Lagg said his 5.39 run yesterday was on soft settings. He said 'The best runs always feel more comfortable, you don't think the car is going that fast. On the second pass the engine lost a coupld of pistons due to a fuel system issue which we have cured. We want to repeat or improve'. In session three he ran 5.393/432.61 and so Dennis became no.2 qualifier.


Top Methanol Funny Car racer Sandro Bellio ran a best of 5.663/400 in yesterday's second session. Team owner Danny Bellio said 'The car is running good but we are having a problem with sprags breaking in the Lenco three speed transmission. In Finland we checked them and they still broke on the next run event after the checks, and we have had brand new parts break which is not good. After talking to a lot of US teams We changed to getting sprags from Schneider Motorsports'. Driver Sandro said 'The track is slippery at the top end and I have had to shut off early as the car got loose after 1000ft'. Sandro is pictured with Crew Christiano Bellio'.

Top Methanol Funny Car racer Micke Larsson is out for the rest of the event with engine damage. Crew chief Ed Kastreva (from the US but based in Sweden) said 'A rod bolt broke which led to the rod itself breaking, putting a window in the oil pan. We have the parts to repair although the spare block is in Holland being machined and hope we will be ready in time for Tierp. Sadly we won't be at Santa Pod which would have been too much of a financial strain'.

Reports and pictures ©Eurodragster.com