The race: DOLMETTE vs. Abt Audi AS 400

In an exciting speedway duel Andi Feldmann on the DOLMETTE loses by a hair.

On 4 September 2004 the EuroSpeedway in Lausitz was the setting for a gripping race between Andi Feldmann on the DOLMETTE and racing driver Christina Surer in her Abt Audi AS400.

Because the start of the race had been fixed for 5.00 p.m., and Christina Surer was running on a very tight schedule, there was only a 20-minute time slot in which to run the race – and that included the time needed to get the DOLMETTE’s multiple engines powered up for the start. The intense pace and pressure soon told on the charming pit crew, the ladies’ handball team from Süderbrarup, who only managed to get 20 of the DOLMETTE’s 24 engines running. So Andi Feldmann had to make do with the power output from just 20 chainsaw engines – a “mere” 142 PS.

The drama and stress took their toll of DOLMETTE rider Andi Feldmann too. During test runs in Schleswig and on the Lausitz Eurospeedway, for which unfortunately only two days were available, it became clear that the torque delivery from the 24 engines, even in second gear, is just too much for the back wheel to handle. Consequently the bike suffers from massive wheel-spin. For this reason Andi Feldmann left the starting line in third gear, and with power output already down by four engines he simply couldn’t get the standing-start acceleration necessary.

And then there was his opponent. Christina Surer is a highly experienced racing driver with ice-cool nerves.
At the starting gun she needed only a few milliseconds to put down all the Audi’s 400 horsepower onto the tarmac. Andi Feldmann, on his 142 PS DOLMETTE, needed nearly half a second more. With his engines revved up to full power Andi managed to make up some lost ground, but he was unable to prevent Christina Surer from snatching victory by a whisker.