Into The Red - Trackdays


		Ringside dueling
	Triple turns into duo when Audi burns turbo The highly anticipated duel between the 230 horsepower leviathans of team manager Per Einarsson and Søren Bærholm was called off just before kickoff. En-route to the Nürburgring the Audi 200 20-valver had to pull over with a howling turbo and no puff. Bærholm quickly established that the turbo was burnt; blue smoke gave the fact away. But the 'Fortschritt'-man dared a relaxed return trip, and the car came home without further damage.

			The Green Hell; as seen from the tight and very difficult Wehrseifen bend
Gert Sterner, however, did come along. And what a coming-along! He had fitted 'Toyo Triple Eight' tires onto the black Alfa Romeo 145Q and easily outperformed the 3-litre Alfa Romeo of the team boss using sheer grip and handling. The Alfa 166 had new Pirelli PZero Nero rubber, and even though it stuck much better to the tarmac in the rain (and quite well in the dry also) the grandpa suspension and weight of the limosine was utterly inadequate in comparison to the nimble 145Q. At no time during the two-day period was the North Loop un-blocked; eternal armco-repairs forced the drivers to slow down on every lap. But despite that, Gert Sterner managed to lower the ITR laptime record to 9min27sec; Per Einarsson almost on a par with 9min30sec. Michael Ryhl came along for his first ITR trackday abroad and was visibly satisfied and felt at home among the 30-odd danish petrol heads participating in the Pilgrimage. Next time he will rent a Suzuki Swift - bursting with energy!