| Track Length: | 3.968 km |
It's twisty circuit with few overtaking opportunities and getting off the perfect driving line will be rewarded with little more than dust on the tyres.
The first corner is a treacherous one as it is off-camber, and with the braking zone being downhill, the car feels light and the gravel trap is closer than appears. Because of the negative camber the throttle is full on early for the second corner which is approached at 180km/h and fourth gear before changing down to second and just 65km/h. Tipping the brakes is enough to get through turn 3 at 160km/h before accelerating to 250km/h towards turn 4 which requires to get down to 160km/h before going uphill towards turn 5.
Turn 5 is another long right-hander at 110km/h, it is exited at 150km/h before entering a right-left chicane in second gear and up to 60km/h. From then on it is downhill towards turn 8 which is negotiated in third gear and 110km/h, turn 9 is taken with pretty much the same speed, turn 10 is flat out at 200km/h, turn 11 is down in fourth gear and 155km/h before changing up to 220km/h while approaching turn 12. Turn 12 is always dusty which requires a good balance of the car, it is taken in third gear at 125km/h, turn 13 is approached at 200km/h in fourth gear.
The last turn, Turn 14, is another long right-hander. It is approached at 160km/h and just third gear and, despite 1.3G, full concentration is required as this corner determines what speeds can be reached on the start-finish straight.
Address:
Hungaroring, Pf 10, 2146 Mogyorod, Hungary.
Tel: (+36) 628 330040
Fax: (+36) 628 330080
Location:
The Hungaroring is situated 20 km north-east of Budapest, the capital of Hungary.
| Cars Entered by Chamberlain | Chassis C16 and Chassis C19 |
| Drivers | Ni Amorim & Toni Seiler -
C16 - Car Number 18 Christian Glasel & Christian Vann - C19 - Car Number 19 |
| Qualifying | Car Number 18 - 8th Car Number 19 - 13th |
| Race | Car Number 18 - 4th Car Number 19 - 8th |
| Brief Synopsis
of events (official) |
With temperatures
soaring into the 90's the Chamberlain cars of Ni Amorim/Toni Seiler and Christian
Glasel/Christian Vann started the race in what for them were a modest ninth and thirteenth
positions but, with well-prepared cars and much experience, hopes were high for good
finishes. The strategy for Car 18 was to use Toni Seiler first to consolidate a good position and then to use the speed of Ni Amorim later. This worked reasonably well but both drivers became caught in traffic (Hungaroring is a very difficult circuit on which to overtake) and Ni had to work very hard to gain third place by the end of his stint. After the pit stop Toni was in ninth place but other teams had to make their second stops, so all was not lost. There was then the most tremendous battle between him and the Porsches of Ahrle and Kaufmann. This raged for most of the last hour with rarely more than two seconds between the three cars. On the very last lap of the race (lap 104), Toni managed to get in front of the others and claim fourth place behind the winning Chrysler Vipers of the factory ORECA Team and the Porsche 911 of Konrad Motorsport (Franz Konrad/Bob Wollek). The second Chamberlain Motorsport team car (No 19) had mostly a quiet time. A one-stop strategy had been decided upon prior to the race, but this was expected to work only if the Team Principal had done his maths correctly, if the drivers carried out his instructions and if the drivers could survive in the heat for 90 minutes each. Much work has been done to reduce the cockpit temperature over recent weeks, but it still runs over 110 degrees F in high ambient temperatures. The race strategy appeared to work as Christian Glasel completed his half-distance well within the fuel allocation and handed over to Christian Vann with the car having been in fourth place before this stop. The second stint seemed to further indicate that the strategy was justified because the car duly climbed back up the leader board until, with an hour to go, it was again fourth just ahead of the other car and it's huge battle with the Porsches. However, it was not to be. The flag came out to welcome the winning car, but a distraught Christian Vann was left on the circuit, out of fuel a mile short of the post. Cruel but true. The screaming hoards came past, the other team car took the fourth place and Car 19 was classified in 8th position; still a credible result. So it was that Chamberlain Motorsport came fourth (when it should have been fifth, Amorim/Seiler) and eighth (when it should have been fourth, Glasel/Vann). The team are now looking into why Car 19 did not have quite the fuel available to complete the final lap. |
| Brief Synopsis of events (unofficial) | Another character-building day!! |
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