TV Actor Norbert Heisterkamp (57) is a committed friend of motor racing. In 2001, he actively took part in racing in the VLN, the endurance championship at the famous Nürburgring long circuit, with a Vauxhall. On the first weekend in August 2019, he was seen at the ADAC Racing Weekend in the Motorsport Arena of Oschersleben, Germany. In the starting grid of the „Touring Car Legends“ he met Thorsten Stadler (tst sport + technik), sitting in the AMG-Mercedes-Benz-C-Class of the ITC-season 1996. He asked only one question: „What do I have to pay so that you get out now and I can get in?“ Both participants gave the answer on March 14, 2020 on Bilster Berg | Driving business – for a memorable appointment. Carsten Krome reports.

Saturday, March 14, 2020, Bilster Berg | Driving business. In springtime-like sunshine, top-class racing engines warm up in building C17 – finally. But it is nothing like normal whilst the first recording of the interview and talk format „Bilster Berg Cars ’n‘ Faces“ of the opening 2020 season. The global corona crisis is also the dominant topic on the most beautiful test and presentation racetrack in Europe. For example, the official regulations do not provide for on-site spectators on this day. A few hundred had announced themselves. It had been known for weeks already, that various participants in the racing series „Touring Car Legends“ would arrange private test drives – among them the Bottrop tv actor and racing driver Norbert Heisterkamp (57). After almost 19 sabbatical years, he puts on the fireproof gloves again. Thorsten Stadler (tst sport + technik) has provided him with a quite special racing device for the comeback: an original Mercedes-Benz 190 E 2.5-16 EVO 1 of the 1989 model year built up as a „statement car“.

Thorsten Stadler on the background: „In the 1989 DTM season, Günther Schons and racing driver legend Jochen Mass used two of these vehicles in their MS-JET racing team, Roland Asch and Manuel Reuter were the contracted drivers. We helped build our replica, we are based as closely as possible on the model relevant to the sport history. “ A 315-horsepower in-line four-cylinder racing engine with four-valve technology drives the newly built four-door sedan – and this can also be clearly heard when Norbert Heisterkamp first gears up on filming the almost 4.2 kilometers long, demanding circuit. „The old feeling is back,“ reports the 1.97-meter giant after the first laps, „although of course I have the job of not taking any chances here – it is all about curling up.“ After the first serious practice session the world looks different – also verbally: „It is a real challenge when the rear axle suddenly becomes very light in the ‚mousetrap‘ – and then the boss is nearby and eye-witnesses everything! “

Thorsten Stadler is in the „Guided Driving“-role as a coach within easy reach. He pays homage to the returnee in the racing business: „Norbert approached the matter very professionally and has continued to improve.“ Heisterkamp himself reports: „It is not easy to master the Bilster Berg after a few laps, especially it is physically demanding a lot. But I feel fit to start a first race with the ‚Touring Car Legends‘ – afterwards the diary decides how to proceed! “ And that is currently spinning a lot, because most of the forthcoming motorsport events have either been postponed or canceled altogether. „However, we firmly believe that things will continue in the foreseeable future,“ said Stadler. He also believes that with the construction of the Mercedes-Benz 190 E 2.5-16 EVO 1, he has opened a door to the future: „It is an affordable, relatively close-to-series Group H vehicle that embodies the spirit of real touring car racing. It takes up racing in the original sense and is currently for sale. This makes high-quality sport feasible on a somewhat broader basis. With the ‚Touring Car Legends‘ and the regularity runs of the older Touring Car Revival, the appropriate areas of application are available, and we can also provide our service packages on request. “

Those interested in purchasing can obtain information about the vehicle using the following contact details:

tst sport + technik
Owner: Thorsten Stadler
Hedemündener Str. 1
34346 Hann. Münden

Tel .: +49 5541 999 088
info@tst-sport.de

Information about the racing series „Touring Car Legends“ can be found here:

Responsible for the content: Carsten Krome Netzwerkeins

Gallery: ten selected pictures from Bilster Berg | Driving Business, taken up by Carsten Krome – please use the white arrows left and right to continue clicking!