Focus on a new Opel

Sachweh back in a Ford, but new Opel on the way.

Returning to the ERC with a different car, Harald Sachweh endured a difficult first day with driveline problems on his ex-Jenssen/Lindefjell/Kuijpers Focus, a car bought in large part because of its transmission system.

“We are still working on the new Opel Astra and I hope that it will be ready later in the summer,” said Sachweh, “I bought this Focus because it has the same Schanche transmission system as the Opel I raced before and there are not so many parts available for it anymore. We had a centre diff problem and then a broken driveshaft, it’s not major stuff but I lost some laps in practice.”

The Norwegian is rebuilding his Astra G Supercar into a newer Astra H [in production terms already superseded by the 2009 J model] shell, a car that has been under construction for a couple of years or more during which time Sachweh has also taken time out from racing to establish a new business. The new car will utilise the MSR transmission system from the ex-Martin Schanche Astra G, later used by fellow Norwegian Glenn Amund Voie, and acquiring the similarly equipped Focus has provided Sachweh with another full transmission, as well as the first Ford he has raced in 15-years or so. “I did drive Fords before, but only in national events before I started with the European championship,” said Sachweh who is not really satisfied with progress so far, “Okay, we finished the first heat and that was better than practice but there were still some small problems and I was making mistakes in the car, things I should not have done. It’s a problem with a new car, you find things that should have been changed, but where do you stop when you check it? You cannot change everything.”

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