Track Focus – Minidrom Ettlingen
Track Name – Minidrom Ettlingen
Club – Mini Car Club Ettlingen
Country – Germany
Location – Ettlingen (SW of the country)
Direction – Anti-clockwise
Surface – Asphalt
No. of ETS Races hosted – 0
Other major races hosted – ENS (2015, 2016, 2017), 2015 1:8 Onroad European C/ship, 2011 Onroad European C/ship, 1:10 2001 1:5 World Championships
The ETS wraps up it’s tenth season with a new venue as drivers descend on the Minidrom Ettlingen track situated in the south west of Germany. A track familiar to nitro racers, it a fixture on the Euro Nitro Series calendar for the past three years, the track is a lot less known to electric racers. Incidentally Ettlingen is the 10th different outdoor track the championship has visited since its creation – this being the 57th ETS race to be put on by Uwe Rheinard and Scotty Ernst. The track is run by the predominantly nitro Mini Car Club Ettlingen who built the track 27-years ago on land owned by the local city which has a population of almost 40,000. The first major change to the track layout over that time was done in 2014 when during a resurfacing of the track it was extended to 265-metres with the addition of a new 25-metre section. It is the asphalt used during that work that has become one of the track’s main features. A very fine/smooth surface, it creates a one of kind unique feeling between the car and track. The other key feature of the track is the banked corners, the end of straight sweeper one of the key points to a good lap time./i
With mixed views from drivers on the track layout/feel, Ronald Volker is a fan saying, ‘I like it but I know others don’t’ – Marc Rheinard one of those who doesn’t. The Yokomo driver described the track as ‘quite special for electric’ adding, ‘I don’t know if that is because of the asphalt or the banked corners but it’s definitely different to what we normally race on’. A driver who has been to the track four times in preparation for this weekend, the World Champion said, ‘if the weather gets hot it’s going to get very challenging’, something drivers experienced on the finals day at the ETS Warm-up race hosted by the local club in June. While Day 1 is proving a cool day, the weather forecast is showing much warmer conditions tomorrow. Asked about the biggest challenge of a lap, 13.9 seconds the fastest Modified lap times so far, he said, ‘the beginning of the straight through to the loop (positioned in the centre of the track directly out of a tight corner). You have to get the banking right and then from the sweeper to the chicane its easy to get it wrong and catch air or go off’.
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