This Wednesday we got word in the offficial announcements, that ERA picked their 6 drivers for the 1935 season! Siegfried Happe will drive for Bugatti!

Curse or blessing? The Bugatti on the Nordschleife

While Happe is unhappy with the decision of ERA, he still gets ready to warm up the Bugatti for the race on Saturday. “We can’t sulk and be disappointed here, we have to do the best out of it. The Nordschleife features some pretty interesting turns and some might even benefit the Bugatti and not the ERA”

The weather forecast is clear: RAIN on Nordschleife for the weekend, so Happe will have to train for a rain strategy: “we are set in terms of setup, we just have to make a good lap and be carefull in the race. An issue on the car in the beginning of the lap, takes about 15 minutes – depending on the nature of the issue, before we can fix it AND we would have to drive the whole track bringing the car home – we have to be gentle and fast at the same time to make some points and the ERAs look quick.”

Does Happe even have a chance? ERA as the favorite

As it stands right now, the ERA might be about a minute, if not more faster than the Bugatti – it’s what you expect from a car that is 3 years more advances. Happe assured us, that this is not the case and that the actual time difference is more slim: “we have not pushed the car to the limit, yet due to the rain, so we can find more time – what is really unfortunate is the straight line speed, we are missing about 10 to 15 kilometers per hour on the straights and that shows.”

Survival of the fittest | Can the Bugatti keep it together?

The biggest question is: Can the Bugatti make the full 7 lap race on Saturday without breaking down? Every driver lining up for the start on Saturday will have that question deep in their mind: “Will my car hold?” As we get closer to the actual race, the rumors about who wins get louder and louder.