5 replies to this topic

[n.elmholt]

A rather late entry for the annual Le Mans race at the beautiful track in Neumünster, Germany, meant that I had to build a complete car for this race in a very short time.
The rules says a Le Mans type car from 1998 to 2005 and only one car with a certain livery is allowed. I therefore choosed the Bentley that my fellow Dane Tom Kristensen & Co used to win the 2003 Le mans race.

My friend Fola makes a 2003 Bentley grp body and he also helped with decals and details and also helped out with the Metallic Green paint for the car as I was running out of time.
The decals and paint (and chassis)only arrived last friday and adding a couple of days battling with the flu I suddenly got busy. I also experienced som problems with my carbon decals which wrinkled when exposed to my normal Acrylic clear coat, forcing me to do some work more than once :-(

But the result was OK:









The interior is very detailed, but unfortunately you cannot see it inside the very small cabin:




Originally I planned to use my Fola NSF-TX chassis for the Bentley, but there was too little room in front, so I obtained a special model from Fola, the SFLM 1999, which I modified a bit to lower the weight and to get more weight out in the sides of the chassis.



There are many more pictures of the building process here: Picasa Bentley

and more pics of my other cars here: My Picasa Album

I will race the car this weekend in Neumünster together with Jan Juul and Gorm Nörgaard, two old friend, so I look forward to a nice weekend. As it is only the third time we are driving on this track and first time with foam rubber tires, we are seeded in the last third - but lets see :-)

The first test shows that the car is extremely stable, now we only have to find that elusive super-motor :-)

Here is report from last years race (in German but with many photos): 2009 LM Race and here is the link to the track: SRC-Northland

Niels, DK

[GearBear]

That is just amazing! Excellent work! When you are tired of it, you can send it to me!

[spudboy]

Terrific model! Excellent track! Looking forward to your race report Niels. Good luck to you and TomK.

[n.elmholt]

Back from the LeMans race in Neumünster (and knee surgery yesterday) here is a small report:

We struggled in the practice sessions to get more speed and tried several motors and gearing before finding something that was satisfying.

The car handled great in spite of only been driven a few laps before the race and the driver setup was great also. It was our first race with foam tires and third race in total and with an impressive opposition our aim was to be in the best 10 teams.

Jan drove a fast qualification which landed us in the 8th starting position. In the race itself our position changed all the time as the competition in the mid section was very tough. Actually we were as high as 6th and as low as 10th, before ending 8th, less than a lap after no.7 :-)

This was highly satifying for the team as Jan had brake problems with his controller which cost us 4-6 laps or more. Also I met my chat-buddy Fola in person. After months of nightly conversations it was nice to meet him in person and finding out that he was as pleasant "live".

Here is a race report (in German) with photos: Le Mans Race 2010 - you can use the google translator to get an impression in english.

and our "new" team member Gorm in deep thoughs - the Bentley resting beside him


I'll post some pics later

Niels

[spudboy]

Niels,

Thanks so much for the report! Congratulations on achieving your goal. Exciting stuff.

[Alchemist]

Niels,

The driver detail is amazing!!!!!!!! The car looks exceptional also!

Thanks for sharing - looking forward to more pictures.

Ernie