Hi everyone,
I want to start a thread about racing with Europas. Is there anyone in this forum, who is has some experiece in racing these cars? I would love to read about it.
I will start with a little piece of my first experiences (we started racing our S2 in 2011):
Since 2008 my father, my brother and my uncle were racing my uncle's 1969 Porsche 911 T at vintage racing cups. In 2009 my father bought our 1969 S2 as his "weekend-car", but he was allready dreaming about his next own race car. He started racing in 1970 and was driving a few race cars on different competitions since that time. After he bought the S2 it was only a question of time until this car will come on track.
In Winter 2010 we decided to race the Europa. My father, my two older brothers and me would be the drivers.
We talked to some Lotus-"Experts", which said that the Europa is in standard configuration already quiet fit for racing. So we installed the safety measures, semi-slicks and went to Spa-Francorchamps to race.
But after the first qualifying it was obvious that the Europa is not fit for racing...
My father's short conclusion: "No brakes and no power."
In the paddock we were able to improve the brakes by using endurance-racing brake-pads and racing braking fluid. The engine could not be done there. In the race, we did not finish, because the fan wheel collapsed and killed the water cooler.
And after this weekend, we saw another problem. The frame was cracked on some positions.
We had to do "something":
- restore the frame by welding it
- reduce weight
- improve the engine
The frame is completely restored now. It is welded on all cracked positions
and painted in grey.
We reduced the weight from about 740 kg to 680 kg by using light-weight parts (for example the new water-cooler and fan wheel) or removing superfluid parts like the leather-interior, the heater and so on. We also replaced the original door windows with electric lift by lexan-windows.
And the greatest succes was the engine. At the first race it had maybe 100 HP (little tuned 1565cc engine).
Now the engine is "really fit for racing". Racing parts like pistons, rods, crank shaft and cam shaft are used. And also the cylinder head was completely conditioned for racing. Now it has about 150 HP.
It's running great. I still remember a situation from a race on the Hockenheim-Ring:
A 2,0 Porsche 911 is in front of me, both of us are accelerating out of a corner and I overtake him like it would be nothing. This Porsche had no problem and it is a quiet fast 2,0 911. A great feeling :-)
But still the braking is not like we would wish it. It seems like the rear brakes are not working good enough... We have to brake until 70 metres earlier at the hairpin in Hockenheim than some other cars (for example: a Porsche 911 can brake at about 120 metres and I needed to brake around 190 metres before the corner).
Everything else on this car works great now. We replaced the original (soft) coils and dampers by racing parts. We also reduced the cars height until 7 centimetres. When we learned about setting the car up, we could be able to reach top ten positions in our competition. In Hockenheim we reached position 27 of 50 cars and P3 in class.
Our last race in Spa (one year after the very first) ended as early as one year ago: after seven laps the head-gasket blew. But nothing else was destroyed :-)
If you are interested, you can have a look at my website (in the profile and the signature).
I'm looking forward to reading from you!
Best regards
Stefan
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