Rainer's race
As a matter of fact not a bad sign, since he began the season with more points than his first Crosslé season last year.
The first race on the calendar took place on the 16/17 may at the Grand Prix racecourse in Nürburg, Germany. Like always the beautiful race course was the height of love/hate, fantastic infrastructure competing against the moody weather of the region. One minute it can be 23°C only to pour down 2 hours later with a temperature of 12°C. This is exactly what happened this time round, the second race turning into a wet-race. The lap times could be improved in comparison to last year; however the gear system suffered problems in the last third of the race.
Rainer profited enormously and was awarded many points with 3rd and 2nd place, thanks to the position battles between the front racers.
Race 3 and 4 took place on June 19th and 20th in Hockenheim (Germany), this time round with wonderful weather and great atmosphere. In the first race Rainer’s car suffered gear problems again- the source of which is still unknown. It might have been the magnetic gearbox or the air pressure pump of the Sip and Puff system. Pascal, Rainer’s team mechanic, was unable to find the origin of the problem and in the second race Rainer was only able to change gears with a time delay.
The race did show massive overall lap-time improvements, despite the technical problems. Nevertheless Rainer was unable to challenge his best time from the previous year. The opposition drove with 1.2 seconds faster than Rainer, who had a constant speed improvement compared to 2008 on almost every lap. Thanks to a motor failure of one of his race opponents, Rainer drove second place and landed 2nd in the overall Championship table.
Next on the calendar was the race weekend in Spa-Francorechamps. A course with its Eau-Rouge curve rivals Monza for the fastest race track in the world. Spa doesn’t belong on the SCC-Race Calendar; however it is a huge event for historical race cars, young-timer and the extra-ordinary. 12 English and Irish Crosslé drivers came across the Channel with their cars for the weekend.
It was a firsthand opportunity to measure up against the hard as nails racers from the UK. All the Swiss Crosslé Drivers were nervous, with a total of 17 racers and the fastest three-cannon in the world, as Ueli Schüppach says. For Rainer many components were a new experience, especially the almost 8kilometer long race-track, which required a lot of training in order to master the curve combinations perfectly. He qualified in 10th position and won 3 positions thanks to the flying start. Unfortunately the race was stopped and a restart ordered, this time round Rainer wasn’t so lucky and lost 3 places. The race was not only a technical but a physical test. 61minutes race time with box stops. Rainer decided the best way to go was “As long as I’m not last!” and ended 9th with lots of new knowledge.
In the meantime the gear-issue had been solved; a problem with the air pressure pump of the Sip and Puff system.
Three further races and two results took place after the race in Spa-Franceorechamps, Rainer however was unable to compete. Due to this he fell further and further back in the championship landing on the last place. Hopefully he will be able to change this with the upcoming two races on the 25th-27th September in Königspark (Monza Italy) as well as the season finale on the 16th-18th October in Hockenheim.
Let’s hope that Rainer can make great strides and good results! His Mission Impossible is still open and only a win will accomplish his long term project.