Accurate to a tenth of a millimetre: Precision in the ADAC GT Masters

• New DMSB weighbridge in use since Sachsenring race
• Hi-tech instrument for vehicle scrutineering

The competitiveness of the 2012 ADAC GT Masters is impressive: in qualifying for the most recent race weekend at the Sachsenring, the 23 super sports car supplied by eleven different manufacturers were within just a second of each other. In order to ensure fairness and equality of opportunity in such a well-matched field, the Deutscher Motor Sport Bund (DMSB), which is the governing body for motor racing in Germany, now has a new hi-tech device at its disposal for checking up on the 650bhp super sports cars.

Unique weighbridge for scrutineering GT sports cars

Wide, long, flat and jet black – the inconspicuous platform in the scrutineering area contains a mass of technical wizardry. First used during the ADAC Masters Weekend at the Sachsenring, it is a platform with a built-in weighing device and serves as a point of reference for vehicle inspection. Fans who are familiar with the technical regulations of Formula 1 and DTM will already understand the concept. The DMSB has now commissioned and built a weighbridge to its own specifications specifically for GT cars.

The platform is used to measure all the parameters of the supercars entered for the ADAC GT Masters. Constructed from aluminium to ensure maximum robustness with minimum heat expansion and laminated with carbon fibre, it delivers an impressive level of accuracy – two-tenths of a millimetre when calibrated by laser. It has integrated scales for weighing vehicles with different wheelbases ranging from the short Porsche to the ultra-long Chevrolet Camaro.

Weighbridge virtually excludes scope for inaccuracy

“In Formula 1, it is the floor of the vehicle that serves as a reference plane, and the cars are weighed on their underbellies, so to speak,” explains ADAC GT Masters scrutineer Robert Maas. “In a GT sports cars such as those entered for the ADAC GT Masters, it is the vehicle on all its four wheels. The weighbridge allows us maximum control over the scrutineering process and virtually eliminates inaccuracies.”

It is not only the DMSB engineers who benefit from this hi-tech instrument in their work. “The weighbridge is available for teams to check their own readings, and indeed, they make regular use of it,” says Maas.

The weighbridge will next be used for the ADAC GT Masters races which take place as part of the ADAC Truck Grand Prix weekend (13th to 15th July) at the Nürburgring. While the 40 or so super sports cars are fighting to shave tenths of a second off their lap times on the Nürburgring sprint circuit (the shortest on the ADAC GT Masters calendar), the hi-tech weighbridge will be working away behind the scenes to ensure maximum precision.