Track Focus – ‘Modellbau Wels’
Name – Modellbau Wels
Host – ETS
Country – Austria
Location – Wels (200km West of Vienna)
Direction – Clockwise
Surface – Carpet
The Euro Touring Series visits the small northern Austrian city of Wels for the first time as Round 3 takes place as part of the country’s biggest Hobby Exhibition ‘Modellbau Wels’. A host venue for the Euro Offroad Series for the past two years, the large hall allocated to the ETS has allowed for the building of what is the biggest track of the three indoor carpet races that make up Season #9. 34 metres wide, the track has a dept of 24 metres and is also one of the bigger builds of the season. While the hall has a very fresh asphalt floor, service cable tunnels meant it was not possible to race directly on the surface and in order to ensure the perfect flat ground on which to lay the carpet the area was first covered with tongue & grooved OSB boards.
In terms of the track layout, which was changed to run in less common clockwise direction during the Thursday build, joint championship leader Marc Rheinard described it as ‘pretty nice’ adding with the many 180 corners it has ‘a few nice passing spots’. Asked about the surface due to the carpet being mounted on wood, he said ‘I expect less grip than the last round (Mulheim) due as floor being harder underneath. In both Germany and the Czech Republic the track was laid directly onto a rubber sports flooring.
Reigning champion Ronald Volker described the layout as ‘different than the normal’. The German said the difference was not only the direction but also the mix of corners which was ‘something new’ and made it ‘interesting and challenging’. The only slight criticism he had was in relation to the driver’s stand which he said due to the extra 4-metre dept of the track was ‘too low’.
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