Come Thursday evening everything was prepared, even the tents were up, but it was not until Friday that the water was turned on and the old timing system resurrected, leaving no facilities for printing entries, speed charts or results. Worse still, with the race director unable to be there Fanny Krasznai who had offered to assist had a very sudden promotion, very kindly stepping in to save the day, and an amazing job she did, having been thrown in at the very deep end. Given the shortage of staff and the need to finish off the technical stuff, training did not start until the afternoon, although there were not too many wanting to take advantage as it was p****g down all day, and cold. It had started raining at 10-30pm on Thursday and stopped at 6.00am on Saturday. The grass mown from the circle had been left on the horsing area and had quietly been turning into silage, some ten barrow loads having to be taken up the hill. Lembit Vaher was was most insistent that the combination of this, and the continual rain rendered horsing too dangerous, although there were a few attempts, including Volker Besang turning his arm for the first time for years. A sudden flurry of wind did for the tarpaulin over the horsing circle, so all was now dependent on the weather?

Covid, the international situation and the inevitable health problems saw just half the entries that there would have been in the past, a reflection of so many disciplines nowadays. A group from Sweden had driven down, including Jan-Erik Falk who decided to make the trip as someone else was prepared to drive. Remarkable to think that he won his first European Championship in 1961 and was competing well before that. He puts his longevity down to constantly thinking about ways to improve the speed of his cars and engineering new parts and models. A good contingent from Italy but unsurprisingly, few from Ukraine, and not as many as usual from Estonia. It was good to see some young faces amongst them as most of the 'Dream Team from 2004 are now significantly older? There are some great photos on speedmodelcar.org of two meetings entirely for juniors in the Baltic States.
 

Ihor Safiyank	Gabor Dobrocsi	Rain Teder FEMA Technical Secretary

Luckily the rain stayed away so that racing could get underway after a short briefing by Fanny and a minute's silent reflection following the death of Mihail Ossipov earlier in the year. Given the continued absence of Andrii Yakymiv, Rain Teder is the man to beat in Class 1, but no one could get within 10kph of him. It was tight for second though with Lembit Vaher and Philipp Meier being separated by just 0.2kph. Florian Baumann was very close behind, but for the others, it was just not their weekend. A very slippery and rough track was not kind to many cars resulting in broken and collapsed suspensions along with significant tyre damage. The OTW Kapusikov had the front suspension trunion snap clean in half. Rain also had a car do the 'sudden silence' routine on him, not the only one of the weekend.

Manu Finn completed the Basel-Kapfenhardt double in Class 2, with Gyorgyi Bondor and Lembit both 10kph slower. 20 kph covered the entire entry, apart from Lauri Teder who had a torrid time with a timing malfunction and a car that refused to run properly. Class 3 saw the return to the track of David Giles, 1979 5cc European Champion who had retired in 2010 but found watching frustrating. We had given his NSC car a twirl at Buckminster so he knew that it would go, just not how fast? In the end, he had two solid runs, the second faster than the first and a whole list of suggestions as to how to make his car faster.
 

David's 3.5cc NSC car	Pushing off	Michael Schmutz horsing

The extended 'mittag's pause' is a great opportunity to discover what gems are lurking in pockets, tool boxes and car boots, of which there were plenty. Entirely new set up for lunch as a cooked lunch was provided by an outside caterer, although served by the volunteers who looked after the canteen for the whole weekend. Marino Vavassori had brought along his beautiful Auto Union that we featured in April, looks even more spectacular in the flesh. He is also building a very large and superbly engineered V twin engine that he passed around to much admiration. One car boot produced three remarkable motors with a British connection. The first was a Nordec that had been converted to a spark ignition four stroke with a head from a Channel Island Special. Basil Miles' single cylinder, four stroke, Black Magic hydro engine from the 1930s, last seen at Gildings many moons ago and the Carter CCS, reputed to have been used by Pete Drewell that appeared in our article. Remarkable coincidences all round

Back to the racing, with a sizeable entry in Class 4 making something of a resurgence. Given the standard and performance of most of the entries it was something of a shock and surprise when 'yours truly' ended up top of the list after the first day, having added 2kph to the record set the week before. Still pressed the button too early, but given the state of the track a decision was made to call it a day and await results on Sunday, which produced the most bizarre results ever and a very nervous wait. Jan-Erik had brought two cars, his fast one that would not run and his problem car that was in third place after the first round. Standing and watching, rather than running as attempt after attempt failed was really strange. Laurin Meier was only there for the one day and did get in a run, but of the others, thirteen no times on the trot. The only other person to get a run on Sunday was none other than Jan-Erik at 301kph, relegating me to second place, but what an honour to stand on the next step to multiple Champion and serial race winner Jan-Erik, with Alberto Adreani close behind on the third step?
 

1.5cc Afanasiev with a Zimmerman	Vavassori 3.5	Marino Vavassori V twin

There is a stark contrast between our meagre set ups and what many of the established competitors bring to a meeting. Two cars per class, several alternative engines, along with a plethora of parts to choose from. The mind boggled at a box with 120 pistons, 24 con-rods in minutely varying lengths, liners by the dozen and heads galore. The chances of getting the choices wrong expand exponentially, and that is without decisions about tyre sizes either?

Plenty of opportunity to buy parts at these meetings, assuming you know what you want, Michael Schmutz providing boxes and boxes of new and NOS parts having taken over the previous business operated by Paul-Otto Stroebel. Michael has also taken over tyre making from Horst Denneler, something of a struggle as the machine was well over three metres tall and weighed a couple of tons, just would not fit where it was intended to. Good news that tyres are now available, but Michael will only be producing the more popular sizes at present. There was also a box of 'memorabilia' material that Michael said was especially for the Brits to root through. Many wallets ended up substantially lighter at the end of the weekend, apart from Michael's that is, which was beyond bursting point. Right: Each of these boxes was filled with goodies, old and new

We all owe Michael a serious debt of gratitude for taking on the supplying of parts and especially tyres, as without these, there would be no racing. Michael did say to us that 'someone would have stepped up having seen the need', but luckily for us all, Michael has, even though it has involved a huge amount of work for him, which must have detracted from his racing somewhat? As the number one horser, helper of lost souls as well as FEMA President and having to work, we must collectively never overlook how much effort Michael is putting in to keep the sport alive, thank you.

As part of the organisation, Fanny asked several of us to be a 'cable master' for a class, Class 2 down to me and one of the strangest incidents probably ever seen. Volker Besang started his car that ran up OK, but slowed when the engine stopped. Michael was bringing it to a standstill at less than walking pace as it came back to the start position. Volker and I prepared to step on to the track to retrieve it, but with the very last turn of the wheels, the motor chimed in. Michael horsed it up again as it accelerated from zero to 245kph. Would not have believed it if I hadn't seen it.
 

Nordec/CIS 4 stroke	Paul Bugl 61	Bohlin gearbox

A massive entry of 23 cars for Class 5 with a very close contest in prospect, which it was between fourth and ninth, but at the top was world record holder Ando Rohtmets and European Champion Tonu Sepp. Bridging the gap to a great round of applause was Carlo Griffanti. Several cars ended up somewhat second hand with one losing the entire needle valve assembly, now how did that escape from a sealed car? It was found a day later though. It would have been very disappointing for many who would have had much higher expectations for their speeds, but it was just not to be. Piotr Jopek was presented with the remains of the mop head that his car had comprehensively demolished, requiring a swift replacement so that the class could be completed. Janis Meier could not quite match his speed from Basel, but was well in the mix and a great prospect for the future, especially as he is developing into a superb horser.

There will be those that disagree with me, but 3b is something of an anachronism now, with one of tethered cars most experienced competitors and regular winners still competing in this class. Ihor Safiyank is a serial winner, usually way ahead of the rest, but has to be congratulated for bringing youngsters into the sport, helping and advising them continuously, as was Hannes Virunurm. Laurin Meier also experienced the Achilles heel of this class when his car turned over mid run whilst set for an impressive speed. Lauri Teder, another experienced driver, was second but 14kph adrift.
 

Race Director Fanny Krasznai	The ladies that fed and watered us Therese. Hannelore. Anette. Lisabet.	Class 1 Rain Teder Lembit Vaher Philipp Meier	Class 2 Manu Finn Gyorgyi Bondor Lembit Vaher

Class 3 Kenth Jansson Michael Schmutz Gabor Peto	Class 4 Jan-Erik Falk Hugh Blowers Alberto Adreani	Class 5 Ando Rohtmets Tonu Sepp Carlo Griffanti	Class 3b Ihot Safiyank Lauri Teder Matthias Mannikov