American Car - November 2015

ACM

race

report

55

A Teutonic Tonic



Andy Willsheer joins the British contingent in Germany for the biggest, loudest, craziest meeting on the

European drag calendar.

Words & photography: Andy Willsheer

Were The Sun newspaper to publish

in Germany, the headlines on the

Saturday edition coinciding with the

FIA/FIM NitrOlympX drag race would

undoubtedly have read “Phew! What

a Scorcher!” Temperatures at the

venerable Hockenheimring topped

well above 100 degrees Fahrenheit

on the sizzling Friday, and although

it was certainly better than having

it rain, people were wilting in the

furnace-like warmth, with Finnish Top

Fuel driver Anita Mäkelä commenting

that she’d never raced the car under

such conditions and felt that it was

almost impossible to do so. But as

matters thankfully transpired, the

ever-popular event was not only run

through to a successful conclusion

on Sunday but also drew a sell-out

crowd for the unique two-hour

Saturday Night Show.

Much to everyone’s relief, the

thermometer did dip into the double-

digit F zone over the weekend,

although it stayed very warm. The

prime consideration for this, the 30th

anniversary affair, was that the racing

surface did not deteriorate under the

sweltering climes. It didn’t, thanks

primarily to the work undertaken by

Santa Pod’s track prep specialists,

all of whom spent weeks grinding

and grooming the asphalt to ensure

there would be no repetition of the

two unfortunate occasions (2012

and 2014) when parts of the strip

were power-washed to comply with

Formula One requirements. This

had the unforeseen side effect of

rendering the strip pretty much

unusable for the high-horsepower

hockenheim.indd 55 21/09/2015 11:40:16