A lesson from the winner

Andrea Klainguti, who competed in the uphill race at the Bernina Pass with a 1929 Riley against much more powerful cars, dominated – that is the right word, as he was three seconds faster than his closest rival – in the race on the same route, but driving the eClassic simulator. We asked him to give us a few, very important tips to driving fast virtually:

The eClassic paddock in St. Moritz

Andrea Klainguti victorious in the eBernina Gran Turismo

“The Bernina Pass is steep, wide and fast. Lighter cars or adequate horsepower definitely have an advantage here, in the real race. But with the simulators we all used the same car, a Porsche 911 Carrera RSR.”

This is the route of the race at the Bernina Pass

To go fast, looking and thinking ahead is imperative. The road comes at you fast and you don’t want to ask yourself “what is the next corner”? 

Great view, best result

Some corners lead to a fast section and it’s important to carry as much speed as possible out of these. Sometimes this means sacrificing the ideal line in the previous corner.

Andrea in the race with his Riley drives just as hard in the simulator

A rule that applies always: slow-in / fast-out of the corners often results in better times.

Never get too hard into a hairpin bend. If you make a mistake, you’ll compromise the next climb

Because each driver had 6 runs between practice and race, one can experiment with different lines or different gears and find out what works better.

The race formula allows you to choose the best climb among those completed

Finally, the last tenths of a second can only be found if you know one knows the track by heart. There’s no go-around for this, so training with videos or a simulator is really helpful.

Simulator training means safety and respect for the environment

Thanks Andrea, a great lesson that applies to both simulated and real driving