MPM-driver Marc Meihuizen covers Rico Anthes Quartermile in smoke

Hockenheim (Germany), August 11, 2014 – MPM-driver Marc Meihuizen had a difficult weekend at the German Hockenheimring. Track conditions at the Rico Anthes Quartermile were so bad, the 3,000+ bhp MPM ’68 Pontiac Firebird had no traction at all and disappeared in a cloud of white tyre smoke. The spectators loved it, but making good and fast runs was impossible in these difficult conditions. After qualifying Meihuizen was in tenth position and eliminated in the first round.

Two years ago, track conditions at the Rico Anthes Quartermile were so bad, the Pro Modified-drivers cancelled their Sunday eliminations. At this year’s third round of the FIA European Drag Racing Championship the Hockenheim-track was not much better. Despite teams taking out as much power as possible and changing chassis set-ups, there still was no traction and numerous runs went up in smoke. Marc Meihuizen’s JWR Racing ’68 Pontiac Firebird is one of the most powerful Pro Mod cars, so tuner Joeri Woudenberg had a difficult job to fulfil. “How much power you want to take out to avoid wheel spin? We have our limits”, said Meihuizen’s experienced crew chief. The start of Meihuizen’s first qualifying pass looked like a burn out and because the MPM-driver stayed with it, the Rico Anthes Quartermile disappeared in a 400 meter long cloud of white tyre smoke. The German crowd loved it, but the lack of traction was a reason for Meihuizen to skip the second qualifying session. The team hoped track conditions would be better at the second day of qualifying. But they were not. In run three and four the MPM-driver had wheel spin again. After four sessions Meihuizen’s best run was a 7.223 sec., and that was the number ten qualifying position. At Tierp Arena and Santa Pod Meihuizen made 5.9 sec. passes without any problem! A Pro Mod unworthy 6.3 sec. was enough to be the number one qualifier at Hockenheim. With his tenth qualifying position Meihuizen had to face his MPM-colleague David Vegter in the first round of eliminations. Almost at the startline Meihuizen went up in smoke again, had to abort his run and cruised to the finishline. A frustrated Meihuizen after the race: “After Alastaro this is the second consecutive race the track is so bad, we are not trying to make the car run as fast as possible, but to take out as much power as we can. Unacceptable. A 400-meter burn out and drifting is fun, but not how drag racing should be.” The fourth round of the FIA European Drag Racing Championship will be August 22-24 at Tierp Arena, the track where fast runs should be possible. “After the last two races the championship race is over for us. We’ll now focus again on running as fast as we can. We want to see a low 5.8 sec. The Pontiac is race ready again and perfectly okay to go fast in Sweden”, says Meihuizen.
Author
Photographer
Remco Scheelings
Dragracing FIA European Championship Hockenheim Main event Marc Meihuizen MPM Racing MPM Sports Pro mod

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