They are still there, the enthusiastic private drivers participating in motorsport events and in the VLN just for fun. Amongst them is the crew of the family Groß in a BMW. Franz Groß, his son Maximilian and Thomas Müller of course also want to win but a victory does not have priority for them. “In class H4, we have to compete with partly superior teams. So it most important for us to achieve our maximum performance and to try to even enhance, if possible”, explains Franz Groß. Things will be different with the Porsche 996 GT3 RSR which is scheduled to be entered by the Groß family later this year.
However, it was the BMW M3 which was used for the launch of the 2011 VLN season. During winter, the car was serviced by a new team. Since a few months, Greenhell Racing is charged with the preparation and the support at the race track. The result at the power test bench a few days ago showed that this had been the right decision – the engine performance achieved by Greenhell Racing has increased by 77 HP. The reason: the control unit in the BMW was not correctly programmed. “Now, the car is finally running as we would have liked it to perform last year”, admits Groß. Already at the test and set-up session, the lap times of the BMW M3 were 20 to 30 seconds faster.
The opening race of the 2011 season which was running under almost perfect weather conditions and in summer temperatures made not only the BMW of the Groß family want to go for more. The three drivers made almost no mistake, apart from a small off in qualifying. But all of the three took this as well with a sense of humour, quickly indicated the bodywork damage on the left rear side and continued. In all the tough competition, the family in the BMW appeared to be the most relaxed one at the Nürburgring.
“This completely matches with what I have hoped for: Arrive, get into the car and be happy”, said Franz Groß happily. Hereby, he never lost track of his ambitious project. The Porsche 996 GT3 RSR in the home garage is scheduled to be entered later in 2011. “The car is ready for race”, says Groß, but they have no drivers so far. “As soon as someone is interested in driving the Porsche, it will be here on-site.”
Until further notice, Groß this will thus continue with the BMW M3 in which he and his family had so much fun at the first race.
