Slalom-SM: Real and virtual racing
CREATIVE EMERGENCY SOLUTION A shrinking program is looming in slalom racing in 2020. As a result, an alternative Swiss championship involving simulators is being considered behind the scenes. Following the cancellation of the first four slaloms in Interlaken, Frauenfeld, Bière and Bure, only the two shaky June races in Romont and Chamblon as well as Drognens at the end of September and Ambri on the second [...]
After the cancellation of the first four slaloms in Interlaken, Frauenfeld, Bière and Bure, only the two shaky June races in Romont and Chamblon as well as Drognens at the end of September and Ambri on the second weekend in October remain on the Swiss Championship calendar. According to the regulations, four slaloms would be too few for the award of a SM title, two anyway. So what now?
Behind the scenes, a provisional task force from Auto Sport Switzerland is working on this issue and other possible solutions to save the 2020 racing season if the ban on events is lifted or at least relaxed in the second half of the year.
Combination of different disciplines
Wani Finkbohner, founder of RacingFuel Academy AG, and Peter Wyss, sports editor of AutoSprintCH and author of Rennsport Jahrbuch Schweiz, have had their own thoughts on the subject. They have known each other for around 30 years, having worked together as editors.
Their idea: extraordinary times call for extraordinary solutions. And in this case, that means combining real and virtual motorsport. In times of need, both different disciplines should benefit from each other. The RacingFuel Academy has also been successfully organizing the Swiss Simracing Series since 2019, so it has a lot of experience with this.
Simracing on well-known racetracks
Finkbohner and his employees are using track plans from the organizers and onboard recordings of various racing drivers to precisely record the first slalom tracks and their gate combinations. As RacingFuel products can currently only be purchased online and the small company is unable to offer a racing service, the Zurich-based company is taking its time.
Wani Finkbohner: "Two years ago, we organized simulator training at short notice for the Swiss drivers who qualified for the FIA Hill Climb Masters in Gubbio. We also programmed the new Arosa ClassicCar, which we offer customers as a training program. With the slaloms, we could now offer something to maintain this year's championship and expand our future portfolio."
Well-known racing drivers and simracers as instructors
RacingFuel is able to bring ten of the state-of-the-art simulators to the remaining slaloms and make them available there. Prominent racing drivers and simracers are available as instructors.
As the rounds of the Slalom-SM are each held on one day, the national drivers could compete in sim racing on Saturday. As in a real slalom, everyone can take part in a virtual inspection run, two training runs and two race runs.
The classification would be drawn up according to the same rules as in real sport. In order not to disadvantage newcomers and not to favor simracing experienced drivers, only half points should be awarded.
The 2020 championship status is at stake
With a non-stop twelve-hour race, the entire field of drivers could be run through. The aim is to bring together five to six real and digital races in order to achieve championship status in 2020. The entry fee would be far below that of a real slalom.
Wani Finkbohner: "In this way, we can introduce simracing to national slalom drivers in a serious and fun way. There could also be sim racers who would like to compete in a real touring car at the same event or only get a taste for it while watching. That way, everyone would benefit now and in the future."
What is the response?
From April 1, interested parties can register by posting a comment on social media or at info@racingfuel-academy.com report. If the response is overwhelmingly positive, the concept will be finalized and submitted to Auto Sport Switzerland.
