Test days Ambri: Practice until you drop

EITEL FREUDE Instead of the traditional slalom, the Equipe Bernoise held two test days at the Ambri airfield last weekend. The participants have never had so much time to ride. The task for Equipe Bernoise with "race director" Walter Kupferschmid at the helm was not an easy one. The official requirements in Ticino were strict, and the OC [...]

Editorial - October 15, 2020

Groups were formed regardless of the vehicle models. This meant that "foreign" opponents could also be observed during sector training (Photos: Rami Hänggi).

The task for the Equipe Bernoise with "race director" Walter Kupferschmid at the helm was not an easy one. The official requirements in Ticino were strict, and the OC took great care to ensure that all participants - a maximum of 100 divided into several groups - adhered to the regulations. This was the only way to ensure that the distancing and hygiene rules could be met without any problems.

Until the rubber smokes
The feedback from all the riders, around 60 per day, was unanimous afterwards: under the given circumstances, it was a top event that was well worth taking part in. In the morning, there were three different practice sectors, followed by two small slaloms in the afternoon and finally the large course, which was roughly the same as the SM race or should be in the future.

As three groups were allowed to ride uninterruptedly and freely, the hard-working riders covered around 200 kilometers at speed in good weather conditions. For some, one set of slicks was not enough.

René "Aebi" Aeberhardt really put the spurs to his Kadett 16V. Let's see if he will be even faster in 2021...

No rankings
If official times had been measured, either Thomas Zürcher in the modified Tatuus-Abarth LRM would have been the fastest, as he was at the TCS event in Lignières in September, or slalom record winner Philip Egli in the Dallara EPR-3.

But that is speculation and irrelevant, because there was only permission to use the airfield area for test drives and not for a timed event.

GP3 Dallara not yet fit for slaloms
One driver who also has ambitions for 2021 was particularly pleased about the opportunity. Yves Hängärtner made his first appearance at an event with the newly acquired GP3 Dallara from Jenzer Motorsport.

Yves Hängärtner: "The car itself ran perfectly for two days. It just didn't steer where I wanted it to. On a circuit it drives like it's on rails, but here it drives straight ahead first. If I'd only started a slalom in 2021 without this test, I would have been born in a good way..."

More than one pylon flew off at Hängärtner. But test days are for practicing and testing the limits.

Bosshard's "bomber" will soon be ready for testing
Together with the team from Lys, Hängärtner now has to work on the chassis and balance of the racing car, which is unique on the national scene, over the winter. The "tame" Renault turbo engine with around 300 hp was still installed.

The first "hot" engine developed by Jenzer's neighbor Egmo with a good 200 hp more is currently being installed in Markus Bosshard's GP3 chassis, after which it will be the turn of the "Red Bull" - the car will remain in its original Red Bull colors - from Biel.

Yves Hängärtner: "I'm excited. It's already really moving forward with 300 hp. But we'll get there."

Conciliatory end to the season
In the gallery you will find action shots by our hard-working photographer (and racer himself) Rami Hänggi.

For anyone not still racing in the Wangen SZ slalom on October 25, the test days in Ambri - which will take place again in the spring as preparation for 2021 - were a successful end to a season that never really began...