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Five years ago, two guys had a dream - to build a Slot Car track in the basement and go racing - not uncommon.
What is uncommon is that Herbert Paulus and Gerald Barg’s dream involved a VERY big basement and possibly the smoothest, flat, banked King Track on the planet !
Blue King Minden was born and they held the first German Masters in 2001, around 30 racers attended from Czech Republic, Germany, Switzerland, UK and Holland. Herbert contacted me and invited me to race and every year since, I have gone back to see the event go from strength to strength.
On the first visit to Minden I was blown away not only by the track, but with the venue and the whole ethic of the event, being the perfect combination of Racing, fun and the opportunity to meet, talk and make new friends with racers from other countries.
Well supported from year one and promoted largely by racers “word of mouth”, this Years “Masters” event saw 46 racers assemble from the following Countries ;-
Switzerland, Italy, Denmark, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Holland, Belgium, France, England, Germany and even Canada - Ernie Mossetti having come to “watch” last year and having been suitably impressed, returned to race this year.
The weekend is a 2 class, 1/24th scale event racing G12 Eurosport and Open Eurosport with the Friday as open practice, G12 on Saturday and Open Eurosport on the Sunday. The racing format for both classes is the same ;-
Qualifying - 1 minute fastest lap - top 4 straight to the semis.
Segmented Heats for all other drivers with the fastest 20 meeting the fastest 4 qualifiers in Semis.
Semis consist of 3 segmented races with the fastest 8 going to a segmented final.
A class field of top racers ensures that getting to the final at this meeting is no easy thing!
G12 Eurosport Race ;-
The fastest 4 in qualifying who got their sit out to the semis were T.Q. Thomas Mortenson, Andea Valle, Paolo Trigilio & Jiri Micek snr.
Drivers made it to the semis from all of the heats and the top 24 did battle for the Final. Fastest guy in the semis was Jiri Micek jr. On 289.93 with Paolo Trigilio 3 laps back on 286.14.
The Final saw Paolo dominate from the first segment on lane 3 with a 50 lap run. He only dropped below 50 laps on lane 6 with a 49 but made up for it on lane 5 with a 51 giving him a perfect total of 400, just under 18 laps quicker than 2nd place man Jiri Micek jr.
Eurosport Open Race ;-
This saw an entry of 38 Drivers and Paolo Trigilio T.Q’d in 3.743 hotly pursued by the other 3 top drivers, Petr Crcil, Andrea Valle & Vlado Okali, leaving the rest of the field to fight for a semi’s place in what can only be described as “heats of attrition” with more than a few massive accidents and retirements. Martin Borch and Burkhard Werner being the only “full run” survivors from the first heat to make it to the semis.
The Final was an Italian, Czech, Slovac and Canadian Feast with Paolo on pole and Ernie Mossetti bringing up the rear, qualifying 8th. Once again Paolo romped away from the start and with some superb runs on all lanes, finished some 13 laps ahead of second place man Petr Krcil, hotly pursued by Claudio Battistini and Vlado Okali.
Prize giving this year ran from 16th place on up with prizes donated by the race’s supplier sponsors. Trophies were awarded for to top 8 drivers in each class + a total cash fund of 1,234 Euro split between the top 3 drivers in each event. As always at The German Masters, good looking bodies are rewarded and the Concourse in each class was won this year by UK Driver Mark Wattam for some very nice Air Brushed bodies.
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