Report: Speedweek Oschersleben 2008

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Report: Speedweek Oschersleben 2008
Jahn

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Report: Speedweek Oschersleben 2008

Report: Speedweek Oschersleben 2008
Eight into the night

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Karl Marx already advocated dividing the day into three: 8 hours of work, 8 hours of free time, 8 hours of sleep. In which category does the new 8-hour race fall within the framework of the newly conceived Oschersleben Speedweek?

Markus Jahn

09/17/2008

Eight into the night

Whether Marx would have viewed racing as exploitation, sleep or meaningful leisure time, of course, remains unanswered. Nonetheless, all-round communication is definitely tough work. On Thursday, which is now taking place for the eleventh time “German Speedweek” In Oschersleben, a slightly perplexed visitor asked: “Excuse me, is it really true that there is no 24-hour race this year? The program booklet says something about the endurance world championship on Saturday over eight hours?” – “And the Schumi then rides in this IDM on Sunday?”

Even if slight irritations and disappointments were foreseeable: The answer was – yes! So that this confusing puzzle can also be resolved for those who stayed at home, now a few illuminating little things. What every employee still discusses extensively at the coffee machine these days also affected the brave organizers around Ralph Bohnhorst and Ottmar Bange: costs, costs, costs. Let’s not kid ourselves, the Speedweek was and is on the brink. So snap, 24 hours away, divided by 3, makes 8 like in Suzuka. Put the end of eight hours of the World Endurance Championship on Saturday evening. Light a fireworks display, throw a complete German racing series into the pot on Sunday. Garnish with classics. Blow up the bouncy castle, give the stunt show burnouter a lot of smoke material. Saddle the electronic bull, give the KTM Super Duke Battle a run, stuff all the parking spaces and hope for lots of participants, sponsors and – above all – spectators. A sizzling thing: You can compare two racing series, both of which are defiantly fighting for their standing. But here, too, a brilliant solution emerged: What if the fast IDM teams also took part in the long-distance race in addition to the regular process? Then everyone can see right away who is pulling the cable and how. Ui, ui, ui, ui, Bange and Bohnhorst had kicked off something. The skeptics jumped out of all cover holes: “The eight hours put the small, slower endurance diesel locomotives at a disadvantage anyway.” – “The IDMers just want to occupy the pits, make the wave and then drive out.” And so on and so on.

For Matthias Schroter, who also pulled the strings of the PS-LSL team and foreman, the situation was extremely comfortable. With the pimped up, formerly noodled Renngixxer, see the following story, the troop was created under Black Forest technology chief “Ketchup” a classic Denglish hooded one “win-win situation”. The solid and crisis-tested drivers Tim Rothig, Pascal Eckhardt and Steve Mizera, for example, opened up the prospect of spanking the two KTMs or the two racing boxers in the open class. Fresh, pious, happy, free into battle, make the most of it and see what comes out at the back. Long haul can be that easy. But let’s get back to the very entertaining question of whether long-distance drivers are worn out cream puffs or the IDM drivers are not all galaxy super dupemasters just because of the unfavorable star constellation. Both theories have their advocates. Oh, because it just fits so nicely: How can you, blindfolded, distinguish a top team from, let’s say, character-deformed successors?

480 minutes of concentration


Report: Speedweek Oschersleben 2008


Jahn

Run like God in France: the Le Mans start is a good tradition in Oschersleben.

Concentrated silence dominates the box for the top team. In the second to last grade, the roared triple word chain. “Away, away, away!” or “Fast fast fast!” An endless list from the toolbox would also be possible here. But silence also means concentrated concentration that is almost tense. Every refueling stop is ritualized choreography, Suzuki France even takes the bump in the entrance to the pit lane with a speed as if it were a long jump world record. In order to avoid any condemnation, we would like to take this opportunity to thank the Yamaha Austria team boss Mandy Kainz and his humiliation for a blunt and diplomacy-free assessment of the overall situation after the end of the training. “Look, I’m completely disappointed with the IDM drivers. They should be oolle vuul schnooller. Well, the Teuchert set the fastest individual time, but for us it’s about aaaweritsch” (Eastern English for “average”). “When the going gets tough, the first three teams in the endurance world championship really go for it. After an hour at the latest, the IDM teams are all gone, and Suzuki, Kawasaki and we are leading the way.” (Author’s note: Due to the instinct of self-preservation in the paddock and the protection of minors, the most amusing passages were subject to self-censorship.) “You write fine!” But what does an arm wrestling show-off training course count??

The wheel is round and 8 hours have 480 minutes. Track spokesman Tommy Deitenbach let La Ola run in the audience, and at 3 p.m. sharp the start drivers hopped from the sward on one side of the track to the mopeds on the other side. Howling engines shredded the silence, routine busyness took its course at the express pace. The amazing thing about a long-distance race is its predictable unpredictability: There are only a few millimeters, falls, almost falls, safety car. But in spite of everything, certain things happen; there are plans and strategies that can be adhered to or thrown overboard. If we were mean, we could write now: Buells and MV Agustas don’t usually see the checkered flag. But we don’t need it because it happened anyway. As Mandy Kainz said: The three top teams took over the reins. If Suzuki France crashes while in the lead, they’ll screw themselves back to third place with hammer times. If Yamaha-Austria has problems changing the front wheel, Kawasaki just pulls past the pits and then drives home the victory in a controlled manner in front of Yamaha. Depending on the driver, PS-LSL was more or less attacking, had no problems except for excessive fuel consumption and the resulting additional refueling stop. 15th place in the overall standings and third place in the Open behind the two BMWs, but ahead of KTM.

The conclusion of the orange: “A somewhat indifferent overall package” [sic!]. The racing boxers, with whom Thomas Hinterreiter in particular plowed incredible times, ran significantly faster than the RC8. Overall, BMW contested the race more relaxed and with less flame than last year; the boxer’s time is up. Allegedly, the new superbike is already doing a few laps in Magny-Cours at the last endurance race. Respectable: RMT 21, the only German permanent long-distance team in 8th place. Evers-Zab-Endurance triumphantly arrived at the finish. Oh yes, the IDM teams: Jorg Teuchert gave Yamaha Germany a lot of gas in the first few laps and then let it roll out with a “defect”. The next morning, however, Teuchert’s neck was so thick that he had difficulty closing the station wagon because Martin Bauer and Michael Schumacher used the Endurance World Championship for the longest chassis test of all time and posted a new record with over twenty pit stops. In addition to being questionable from a sporting point of view, it was probably also counterproductive, because anyone who knows Jorg Teuchert knows that he draws motivation from such games: with two IDM Superbike victories on Sunday, he is still keeping the championship open until the finale in Hockenheim. The IDM Sunday was quite a sweep. Cloudy weather, sparse backdrop. Unimpressed, supersport driver Arne Tode from G-Lab-Racing wins the German championship ahead of schedule with his Triumph; a third seat in the pouring rain was enough for him. What will happen next year in Oschersleben? Maybe another 24-hour race, but without a World Championship title, who knows? Until then, restful work, meaningful sleep and strenuous leisure time. Or something like that.

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