Race an X-Bow in Europe
Well we’ve created track day driving experiences at Winton, Wakefield and Sydney Motorsport Park, then of course we had the privelege of having Mount Panorama this year too. Although what about getting onto a world class, Formula 1 standard, race track in Europe?
We made it possible via our association with KTM. Michael and Dean flew over to Austria to take part in the KTM X-BOW Rookies Challenge which is similar to our Lotus Only Track Days with a mix classes with Practice, Qualifying and Racing. The series travels around Europe to Brünn, Red Bull Ring, Slovakiaring, Salzburgring, Pannoniaring and Misano /IT with full support from KTM.
Here is Michael & Dean’s story with some photos in the gallery below;
Dean and I flew over to Austria for the second round of the KTM X-Bow Rookies Challenge at the Red Bull Ring on recommendation from Lee and Mark. We had a number of practice sessions with two qualifying sessions and two races each over a two day program. Our stay at the Landhotel Schinberghof overlooking the track made our stay, highly recommend this venue for track access and views.
Make no mistake this was a full arrive and drive race experience, KTM were very well organised and the Red Bull Ring itself is an impressive facility in an incredibly beautiful part of the world. Birgit from KTM greeted us as soon as we arrived and we were stepped through registration and scrutineering immediately.
Hannes Huber our dedicated mechanic and translator assisted us through all the track formalities in each session and kept the car race ready. Race engineers and pro drivers were on hand to review data, give helpful guidance and important track intel.
Their best advice…. ‘don’t use the brakes’! The Red Bull Ring is an extremely fast track with a series of long straights and mostly right hand corners of which most can be tackled with throttle control rather than heavy braking, accept turn two and three. Needless to say I used the brakes too much on all corners!
The level of driver skill was high with many participants having completed multiple seasons, the racing was intense and the comradery high. We had a mixture of rain and sunshine in the sessions with track temperatures around low to mid 20’s.
We left with a sense of achievement, experience and value. KTM do a great job it was well worth the journey.
Regards,
Michael
