 On Feb 18-19 GT's will fill the grid of Big Blue, the flat King of the København Minirace Klub host of the 2006 Danish Nationals. The Pre race testing has kept our Danish friend busy for most of the past month. It has been almost as intense, and at times silly, as 1:1 racing pre season testing! Some went for out and out lap records every time, while others dispite testing endlessly where getting nowhere, few were just plain lost! Pål Hanson gives us the latest update on the Danish Silly Season.
The Nats
Organised by the DMCA (Danish Model Car Association) the Danish Nationals is an open 2 day event with prelimanaries on Saturday and finals run on Sunday. The Nats are open for GT cars ranging from "old style 90's GT1's" to "modern" FIA GTS. All production chassis are allowed and must use handout Fox motors.
The DMCA, which by the way I´m a part of, did not want to use hand out tires, something which in my opinion was a big mistake, but heck, were all in the same boat! But I'm afraid it will result in utter anarchy conserning, tires and goop!
The great thing about these Nats is that there will be 12-15 very good drivers fighting for the 8 finals spots, so there is bound to be some very good fights, both during qualifying and the heats. And it is going to thake very litle good or bad luck to be either in or out of the finals.
The Track
Big Blue (the name of the track the Danish Nationals are run on) is not an ordinary Blue King, it is a very special FLAT blue King. Normally a King track has a banked 180º corner at the end of the straight that is taken flat out (a.k.a. its just an extention of the striaght). But on Big Blue at the end of the straight there's a huge unbanked corner for which you need a very special setup compared to a normal King.
On top of that the track posseses very litle grip without glue, and thats the way we will be racing on it, well unless of course you use the right tires, conditioned with the right goop!
 "Big Blue" The Flat King of the København Minirace Klub
The Testing
Right now the "Testing Season" has been won fair and square by Keld and Christian Hoefler, who has continously been the quickest at all tests so far. Next up has been Henrik, with a pletora of 8 or 10 drivers right on their heels. Quickest lap so far, on a track close to race conditions has been set by Christian Hoefler with a 7.6 secs time! By now all their test cars look quite beaten up, but it looks like Keld is building new bodies for the race, which will give him a chance to incorporate all the test results he has accumulated during the past three weeks
The beauty of testing though is the posibility to "sandbag", and I´m quite sure a lot of the cars doing their testing rounds were not 100% legal! Unfortunately Keld and Christians cars were legal, but the lets see what happens on race day!
I now have four cars ready on the work bench, setup and preparation by White Mouse Racing, for Michael Hudige, Søren Henriksen, Jens-Peter Christiansen and myself. We have allready supplied the chassis for Rolf Naehr and all he needs to do is fit the body.
The "Blue" Corvette C6R Pål Hanson is most likely to use during the Danish Nats
My own prefered setup, has now been refined and adjusted, based on a Excel chassis. I have tires and rims ready, so wednesday is only going to be kind of a shakedown test for both my own and all the other cars I have built.
The Favourites
The heat is on, who will be able to stand up to the preasure? 2H crumbled at Neumunster last October, Christian felt the preasure there as well, Keld was nowhere, and Martin Borch (best Dane at the Neumunster Euro nats) is not competing!! Some of the other Danes at the IMCA race could have finished higher if they had been better prepared, but that will not happen at these nationals.
According to Danish Nats favourite 2h, getting your prioreties right is essential ..
.. which is probably why 5 days before the race his girls are ready ..but the car's not !
On experience, race strategy and preparation, it ought to be my good friend Henrik (2h), on a good day he can beat us all!
Then there is young Christian, who considering his testing performances, has to be a strong, strong favorite. For him it all depends on wether he can handle the preasure of being a favorite!
Next up is one of the Big Blue members Allan "Buller" Mouritsen who has been incredibly fast during testing, and the fact that he can run lap after lap around the track with his eyes (I´m not kidding!!) closed, makes him probably the biggest home favorite.
Then there is also Anders Nilsen, who has gone very swiftly in testing, but who has also crashed left, right and center. Will he keep it in the slot??
And we have all the young dudes, from Esbjerg and the rest of Jutland! We know absolutely nothing about them or their cars, but we do know that they have been in constant contact with Tamar, I still cant quite figure out why.....
Myself, well I go for a top qualifying, and then everything can happen.
The Entries as off february 6th. 2006.:
1. Henrik Hasager, VSC, Ferrari 550 Maranello, Plafit SW Pro
2. Pål Hanson, VSC, Corvette 6C GT1, Plafit Excel Pro or Metris Mk.II
3. Søren Henriksen, VSC, Nissan Skyline R34 GT/R, Plafit Excel Pro
4. Rolf Næhr, VSC, Nissan Skyline R34 GT/R, Plafit Excel Pro
5. Jens Peter Andreassen, VSC, Nissan Skyline R34 GT/R, Plafit Excel Pro
6. Rasmus Johansen, VSC/HMC, TBA, Slotvision
7. Kai Bach Andersen, HMC, Toyota Supra, Plafit Excel
8. Leo Andersen, HMC, Toyota Supra, Plafit Excel
9. Keld Høfler, HMC, Ferrari Enzo, PlaFit
10. Christian Høfler, HMC, Ferrari Enzo, PlaFit
11. Jørgen Rigtrup, HMC, Jaguar XJ220, TBA
12. Ole Andersen, ELMC, TBA, TBA
13. Per Dyrholm, RfO, TBA, TBA
14. Erik Mathiasen, RfO, TBA, TBA
15. Jakob Andersen, Esbjerg, TBA, TBA
16. Michael Klarskov, HMC, TBA, TBA
17. Gorm Nørgaard, PMR, TBA, TBA
18. Per Steen Nielsen, Gimle, TBA, Metris Mk. II
19. Niels Brammer-Olsen, HMC, Ferrari F40, Plafit Excel
20. Oliver Andersen, VSC, TBA, Plafit Excel Pro
21. Rene Andersen, VSC, TBA, Plafit Excel Pro
22. Anders Nilsen, HMC, Porsche 911 GT1 Evo, Metris Mk. I
23. Mark Sander, PMR, Jaguar XJ220, Plafit Excel Pro
24. Hroar Olsen, HMC, TBA, TBA
25. Henrik Bering, PMR, Mercedes CLK GTR, Slotvision
The list is by order of entry for the Nationals. The chassis and bodies noted above are what people have used during testing .
There are some 25 other drivers who have made a preliminary entry but have yet to pay their entry fee.
All of the above racers are confirmed and paid entries.
Pål Hanson, Vikings Scaleracing Club, Denmark
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