RPR Racing gets noticed in RCN

Another Cup for Ole Petersen and the Hungry Hornet in RCN 3.

25 May 2014

Somewhat unusually, the team suggested to Ole to meet at Team HQ in Tamm, rather than at the circuit, so with the ever efficient Swiss and German trains, Ole and his son Kevin met up there with Carsten and Julius on Friday afternoon. HH was already being loaded onto a trailer; and was resplendent with its RCN stickers.

A leisurely 100 kmh drive up to the Ring, with the inevitable fuel stop for the drivers and car (its not quite clear whether the Subway & cigarettes or the gasoline was less healthy) and the team arrived at around midnight in Meuspath for the night. Up bright and early for a surprisingly efficient documentation session, Ole was assigned to the red section; the second start group.

Instead of a Chinese parliament on running order, we had a quick one on tyre choice. HH was still on wets from the previous, um, wet race; but although it was spitting with rain, the various weather forecasting sites and taking a highly technical look up at the sky, led Ole to be brave enough to go for slicks straight away. Slicks applied, Ole puddled down to the usual Devil’s Diner park: 40 minutes later, Ole’s composure was beginning to fade, so he hopped out for a quick pitstop. Back in, helmet on, six point harness done up: oh bother, said Pooh, the door is still open, which isn’t an ideal starting configuration. Belts off, close the door, belts on again – we all do it once…

1315hrs and Ole is underway, as the cars from the first group hammer past at full race speed, balancing cold tyres, trying to get a decent laptime and remembering that it might rain later, so not to go too fast. Set time is a 10:30, which should be easy to repeat later, wet or dry, and Ole gets stuck into the meat of the race. Traffic is heavy and there are a lot of yellows and double yellows as the laps pass, but Ole is reeling them off between 9:25 and 9:35; then remembers the confirmation lap, but can’t get the timer going. Unperturbed, Ole pulls out his iPhone; then remembers that iPhones don’t work through gloves. Off with the glove; and our brave driver clicks the iPhone stopwatch just in time and manages the confirmation lap easily within the 10 second window.

Back in the pits, Kevin is waiting with teenagers standard non-alcoholic drink of Coke and even some water. Julius crawls all over the car, and mutters that the other drivers in V3 are a “bit faster” as he fuels HH up for the second stint. The man is a master of psychology when it comes to drivers.

In the second stint, Ole comes out behind a Porsche 928 who goes like the devil in a straight line, brakes halfway down the straight and minces round the corners. After a couple of near misses, where Ole simply can’t believe he’s braking so early (HH is like that), Ole squeezes by and really gets stuck in. The times tumble until he posts a 9:10 lap with a few Polish curses and MC’s “throttle, throttle, throttle” ringing in his ears; but then his laps are done and the race is over only too soon.

In parc fermé, Julius and Kevin are full of congratulations: 2nd place in V3, 8pts ahead of p3; and the 2nd cup for the team. Great stuff, Ole, it will soon be time to graduate to VLN!

Thanks to all track-side photographers for great pictures; watermarks are preserved for identification and rights protection.