TW 1023, the secret heroes of the 1st BEW E-Rally Bergisches Land
It was only a week before the event was due to take place that I happened to read about it online. The date for the e-rally was 23 September 2018 and it was organized by Bergische Energie und Wasser GmbH (BEW) in collaboration with Renngemeinschaft Oberberg, which was responsible for the sporting organization. Many established e-rallies are not in our area. But even in the west, there are now something new every now and then and the Bergisches Land is only about 80 km away from us.
So there was a lot of interest in taking part in the rally with the TWIKE. Unfortunately, the entry deadline had already passed weeks ago and the 36 participating vehicles had already been confirmed. On the BEW website, however, there was a notice that you could still be put on the reserve list if a team had to drop out. So I just tried my luck and wrote an email directly to the organizer. It took less than 10 minutes before I received a reply with a request to call me back. The organizer was happy that not the umpteenth driver with a large series vehicle had registered and gave me good hope that it might still work out with my participation. In the late afternoon, there was another race briefing to clarify our participation. Shortly before seven that evening, I got the call that we were allowed to take part as start number 24.
Our TWIKE with start number 24 at the store
On September 23, we set off early, unfortunately in rainy weather. The participants were welcomed at the BEW site in Wipperfürth from 8 am. The TWIKE was plugged in before we registered with the race organizers. The paperwork was completed and the TWIKE was technically approved. To shorten the waiting time until the riders’ briefing, we were served an exquisite breakfast buffet, which alone was worth the effort.
Logbook and boarding pass
After refreshments, the drivers and co-drivers were briefed at 10:30 am. The rally was a touristic excursion. Each vehicle was driven in teams of two. Using a logbook, which was only handed out to each team three minutes before the start of their vehicle, they had to cover a distance of 88 km using symbol pictograms (Chinese characters). Along the route, so-called tree monkeys (signs with two numbers) and hamlet signs had to be recognized. The numbers and first letters had to be recorded on a boarding pass. Stamps were placed on the boarding card at stamp controls and two regularity tests (GLP) had to be completed. The winner was the participant who reached the finish line with the fewest penalty points. The plan was to cross the finish line at the Metabolon site in Lindlar at around 2 pm. But things turned out differently for us.
Full concentration at the start Let’s go!
The first team took to the track at 11:01. The other teams followed at intervals of exactly one minute. We, starting number 24, set off at 11:24 am. Even though Peter was still not well-disposed towards us and caused high humidity from above, the first few kilometers went quite well. Thanks to the Chinese signs, we found the right way with some difficulty. We passed the first stamping station and were also able to master the GLP quite well thanks to the cruise control in the TWIKE. But then we lost our way a little and got lost. Due to the wet weather, we had to drive with the lights on all the time, windshield wipers and ventilation running and it became more and more of a challenge to make it the rest of the way through the mountainous terrain. What’s more, we were running out of time as we should have reached our destination long ago. So we decided to abandon the rally and take the direct route to the finish. After driving 100 km and with a remaining range of 3 km, we finally arrived at our destination in Lindlar at 3:30 pm.
As we arrived so much too late, everyone had already stopped expecting us. They thought we had given up and gone home. Even though we were at the back of the pack and no longer had a chance of being classified, we of course handed in our logbook after we had supplied the TWIKE with power. There were only a few minutes left before the award ceremony started. True to the motto “the last will be first”, we were the first to be called to the stage with a very detailed announcement. As they thought our performance was so great, they had created a special prize for us and gave us umbrellas and headlamps as a reward for our efforts.
On the way
The organizer of the Oberberg racing community was so enthusiastic about our performance that he mentioned us in his report on the Oberberg racing community website.
The secret heroes
were certainly Dirk and Michaele W. with their TWIKE Type3.
This three-wheeled vehicle has 5kW of power and tops out at 85km/h. If the electric drive is not enough, the driver and passenger can also use the pedals and convert a few extra watts into propulsion. The two of them had to battle with the weather and fogged-up windshields all day. They fought their way to the finish line with a remaining range of 3 km, well after the grace period. Their mood after all the exertions was so positive and happy, as if it had been a perfect day.
This is how we became the secret heroes of the 1st BEW E-Rally Bergisch Land.
It was a really successful day for us despite the poor conditions. We will definitely be back next time.
Let’s TWIKE!
Michaela and Dirk
