The road to hell -Part I

Thomas JackermeierThomas Jackermeier Member
in Blog
At the Simracing Expo I met a great guy and he inspired me to make an old dream come true: Participating in the famous 24H race on the Nürburgring.

The guy I met was Dale Lomas, the famous driver of the Ring-Taxi, blogger and one of the most experienced Nordschleife experts in the world. He is doing 2000 laps per year!

He is also a simracer and so we teamed up and he will help us to make this dream happen. The plan is to get a team and car ready for the race in 2018. We need to start from scratch and learn how to race, make licenses, how to build up a car and how to survive without damaging ourselves or others. Our target for 2018 is not just to be an driving obstacle, we want to compete.
The team will consist of 4 Drivers. At least two will be Endor employees but we will also recruit one or two drivers from the community. If it is a success in 2018 then we will do it every year and bring more drivers to the best track in the world.

Our first step was to take a full track day with Dale. The track was reserved for participants of this Event and we were able to make 20 laps (=400km). My product designer, Bernhard, was with me and both of us were driving two laps with Dale as coach and then we changed. Dale taught us all those little tricks you need to know and while he was talking and talking our brains tried to save all that Information and at the same time keeping the car on track.
We had a modified BMW 228i with roll cage and sport tyres but the engine was standard. It was a great car to start and have fun and we gave several Porsches and GT-Rs a hard time with it. The McLaren P1 was a bit faster though. ;)

We finished the session by letting Dale drive a lap and that brought us back on the ground and we realized that it is still a long way to go for us. Thanks to Dale for this fantastic day.

Next step will be to make the National license A and to build up a car during winter time. I will keep you posted!

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Comments

  • Antoine GoossensAntoine Goossens Member
    Wow, Thomas...that's huge !!! Good luck with making the dream come true !
  • Brett ClarkeBrett Clarke Member
    nice work, hope it all goes well for you
  • Alexander WinterAlexander Winter Member
    A beautiful dream ..... keep my fingers crossed that everything works as well ;-)
  • Lorrell WaddellLorrell Waddell Member
    Nice!!! My wife always tells Me we should go to the 24hr Lemans 1 year... i wait all year just for that Race!!! Seems like i May be planning a 2018 24hr Lemans Vacation!!!
  • Natalie BNatalie B Member, Moderator, Betatester
    edited October 2016
    This is truly inspiring :smiley:

    I will be following this closely, and I hope Thomas can find a way to stream the event from inside his garage (twitch/YouTube etc) It would be great to follow the team live and watch behind the scenes etc.

    It would also be great if the team documented the journey too, a few little bite sized videos leading up to the event would be great, or a documentary (The Road to Hell) would be a great watch :)

    This is great news and an amazing story to tell :)

    Good luck guys :)
  • Herrmann MichaelHerrmann Michael Member
    Kann ja nur besser werden ,-) 

  • Toon KerstenToon Kersten Member
    Great news Thomas! I wish you a lot of fun taming this track! (you sure picked a challenge! ;) )

    I love the track, and I must say it's amazing to drive in Assetto Corsa with the CSW V2! (best Force Feedback to date)
  • Joseph GossenJoseph Gossen Member, Moderator
    edited October 2016
    The only difference between a dream and reality is a date and you've set one ! Congrats Thomas and looking forward to watching this unfold. p.s If you need another driver just say the word :-c
  • Alexander PrusAlexander Prus Member
    You guys really should try to use one of your Fanatec wheels in the actual car.

    I can't wait to see Thomas on the podium!
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