Alain DeBlandre: "Never too late to chase your dreams"

Beautiful Indycars
Alain has two beautiful Indycars at his disposal. He has an emotional connection with both cars. Alain lived in Canada for almost 20 years. That being said, it’s not too strange that he bought the Lola T8900, sponsored by Canadian brewer Labatt, for the Canadian driver John Jones. “John finished in 11th position in the illustrious Indy 500 race in 1989”, reveals Alain about his stunning blue-white car with starting number 65.



Fire
Alain was unlucky that his Jones-car caught fire during the BOSS GP qualifying at Zolder. Fortunately, the jovial Belgian had a back-up racing car with him and he was able to continue the racing weekend. “The car with starting number 22 also participated in the Indy 500 in 1989. This one even finished in fifth position with Scott Brayton behind the steering wheel.”



Original livery
Alain DeBlandre is pleased that his beautiful cars are still driving around with their original livery. We did decrease the number of horse power in the T8900 Lola Cosworth Turbo engine though. “This car weighed some 700 kilograms in 1989 and was equipped with an 840 HP engine. That ’s only 650 hp these days. We adjusted this because the car’s engine should last longer this way and the annual racing budget is not getting out of hands. Also interesting here to note that these cars still run on methanol, even if they are not exactly ‘green cars’.”

Nice history
The enthusiastic BOSS GP participant is very much interested in history. “The CART Series was considered to be the American equivalent of the more European orientated Formula 1 until the mid-nineties. The CART Series raced both ovals and road tracks. They were racing around in Indycars accommodated with a V6 of V8 turbo engine”, explains Alain. “Halfway in the nineties, the Cart Series split into two different racing championships. It led to the Champcar Series, racing mostly road courses with turbo driven cars. At the same moment, the Indy Racing League (IRL) was also created, for which ovals, also called Speedways, were mostly raced with V8 cars with atmospheric engines.”



From simulation to the real job
His growing passion for the Indycars during his period in Canada made his dream to start racing himself even more alive. “I was starting to get fed up with occupying myself with racing simulations behind the computer. That was the moment when I decided to pursue the dream of racing myself. Subsequently, I bought the two Indycars from 1989.”

Cars in, what’s next?
Possessing a racing car is one thing, but actually driving in it at a racing track is a different story. “That’s when the questions started coming: how do these methanol turbo engines work? How do you race with these heavy and powerful cars? How do you maintain these older cars?”, says Alain.



Outstanding help
”I’m extremely grateful to the kfZ Ryska team for all their help after three years of hard work. These guys were patient enough to find out how the cars work. They turned the T8900 into a very reliable car and that’s a great thing. Additionally, VDS Racing in Indianapolis has rebuilt the Ford Cosworth 2.7 liter turbo engines in a very professional way. The use of the AIM Data Acquisition System is really paying off, too. That has played a big role in our more consistent performances this year”, says Alain. “We only managed to finish in three out of ten races in 2009 and that was rather painful. Ahead of the trip to Zolder, we had improved that number to six finishes in eight races. There are even a number of podium places in the Masters Class among those results. We’ve clearly made a lot of progress and we’re getting more and more experienced. This shows in our results and we’re very happy with that development.”