Mantorp Park race track, 2019

Second time at the race track at Mantorp

Introduction:

Mantorp Park race track is something all old boys and girls knows about who are interested of cars and racing. Our famous Formel 1 race driver Ronnie Peterson raced here in his early career.

At Wikipedia there is more information about Mantorp Park:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/ Mantorp Park
  (Mantorp Park, Wikipedia)

• Or in Swedish version with more information:

  https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mantorp_Park
  (Mantorp Park, Wikipedia)

My friends Roland and Jürg asked me if I want to follow them once again to Mantorp and the 24 hours car race that held in October. Yes I said and I noticed that the weather shall be fine too.

Mantorp 2019:

We arrived at Mantorp Park about 10 am, Jürg who had raced for many years want to have a talk with the race team before they start. The race team is the same as the last time, Team 1.

We didn't see the race team when we arrived but found their caravan. The race team arrived yesterday and had slept in the caravan.

In the tent at the pit stop we find their race car, an Opel. This one is new, the ordinary car is a Volvo, but it had some seroius problems and was left at home.

In the tent they have spare parts and tools to do most of not too difficult repair that can occur during a car race.

No car at the start lane yet and no people either, we are early.

I walked up to the indoor platform to have an overview.

Now I see all the people going to the pit stop, time for me to walk down too.

The trophies waiting for the winners.

All who race have brought some vehicles to sleep in, it's a 24 hours car race and the drivers need some sleep at night.

Helmet waiting for its driver.

Now I found the first car race man in the Team 1 group, ...

A look inside the race car, a warning label tells there is no steering wheel, hmm ... don't they see that the steering wheel isn't there ?

Control switches and speakers, the race team are in contact with the driver all the time. To give instructions or prepare a car repair.

Disc breaks in rear and in front extra heavy duty breaks. To win a 24 hours race isn't only about a good driver, you must keep the car stick together in one piece also under this tremendous stress it is for the engine and the chassis.

Niclas and Robert talks about some important the minutes before start. Robert is the first driver and the plan is to drive 2.5 hours until next driver take over.

Check that everything is ready for race.

Robert take the car out on the start lane.

Slowly driving to the front of the lane.

Other cars and drivers are also preparing for start.

They had open the trunk lid to hold down the temperature. The car is a Opel Kadett, maybe from the early 1990s. This is the first race with this car and they need to learn how it behave during a race.

The plan is to start the race 12 o'clock, 12 minutes left.

Control tower with the camera on top of the roof, it must have been very chilly up there in the cold and winds.

Robert gives a thumb up and Niclas waiting beside, concentrated!

It is two classes that race, one 8 hour and one 24 hour. You see some funny decoration on the cars, it was a demand in this class earlier but not now, some still have it decorated.

Checking the indoor camera. Now it's just 11 minutes before start and all people must leave the area. The cars drive out on the race track and stop at their start position marks.

Car racing starts:

Two minutes past twelve and the race starts. We took our car and drive to the Parish hair nail curve. From there we had an excellent view over the race cars.

After two hours we went back to the restaurant and the view platform. I see one car already in the pit stop, maybe something wrong with it.

Checking the position and see that Team 1 has the 13th position. Each lap takes about 2 minutes and there are about 800 laps to drive. We take a walk around and looking for what others are doing, we could still follow the race through the smart phones.

During the walk I did car driver Robert has been in the pit stop and hand over the car to Magnus. Here he comes in full speed at the straight lane. Magnus has never driven a race car before and for sure he feel some pressure from the team. We once again take our car to the Parish hair nail curve and watch the race from there. Magnus drive the car very fast and advanced from position 13 to 5. Not bad to be the first time behind the race car's steering wheel, actually it's very good Jürg said.

Now it's time for the second driver change and I walk back to the Team 1 tent, but no one is there.

I found them behind the pit stop, they are waiting for the car to come in for a refill of petrol. They have the petrol filled up in two 20 liters canisters, they are connected in parallel to get a faster refilling of the car.

In the opposite direction I see the Mercedes had come into the pit stop, it doesn't look that there is a driver change, some other problem. But a Mercedes never failure, or ?

Still waiting, they are not allowed to fill the car in the pit stop because of safety regulation.

Here the Team 1 Opel comes into the refilling area.

... guide the driver to quick come in correct position, every seconds counts.

A rubber mat under the car that protects in case of any gasoline is spilled.

Robert opens the hood to let the engine cool down and do some check.

And open the door for the driver. Now he must drive to the stop pit for a driver change.

Slowly driving in the pit stop, walking speed.

Now Magnus left over the race car to Niclas.

The car is equipped with a safety cage. Safety is very important, but not so easy to enter the car, especially for Niclas who is tall.

Last instructions from Magnus to Niclas. We go back to the view platform to have a look when Niclas race the car, he does a time lap of about 1.53 seconds, that's good.

One and half hour later we visited the pit stop once again, now Niclas is finished with his first drive. He will drive more later in the night. He said he is very pleased with the new car, only some disturbances when accelerate hard. The Team 1 has now the fourth position. They have installed high performance camshafts in the engine and maybe have 20 more horse powers. Jürg who also race with an Opel car say that this engine is very capable with its four vented aluminum head.

Next driver take over who is ...

Magnus, Niclas and Robert discuss what can be done to have it run even better I suppose. We have to drive back to Stockholm, but we follow the race over the smart phones. The last we hear was that they had advanced up to position two, a winner situation or ?

The day after Roland calls me and inform that the Team 1 came at first position in their class and at second all together. I guess they had a big celebration on Sunday !

END