“Lanik crash is under investigation by Renault”

“HIGH IMPACT: Niki Lanik captured on camera crashing into the tyre wall at Oulton Park at 70mph. Amazingly the 20-year-old walked away from the crash unscathed.”

“ASHURST Wood race driver, 20-year-old Niki Lanik, walked away unharmed from a massive 70mph crash at Cheshire’s racing circuit, Oulton Park at the weekend. The team’s 205 horsepower Renault Clio Cup race car’s steering rod snapped on the first corner of the first lap, five hours after having qualified in third place, 0.332 seconds off pole position.”

“The Austrian race driver’s weekend started well, being seventh and third quickest in testing on Friday before disaster struck.”

” ‘I managed to turn the car to a better angle so the impact wouldn’t hurt so much,’ Lanik said after he hit the tyre wall at 70mph, smashing his window, and damaging the left side of the car.”

“Next up for the Austrian-born racer is at Donington Park on July 14 and 15…”

http://www.thisiscourier.co.uk

“Clio ace walks away from 70mph smash”

“NIKI Lanik walked away unhurt from a 70mph crash at Oulton Park in the latest round of the Renault Clio Cup championship.”

“The 20-year-old ace from Ashurst Wood crashed when a steering rod snapped on the first lap. He had qualified thrid but missed Sunday’s races as well.”

“The Youth 4 Human Rights UK Car Racing Team is next out at Donington Park on July 14 and 15.”

http://www.thisissussex.co.uk/

ASHURST Wood race driver, 20 year-old Niki Lanik, walks away unharmed from a massive 70mph crash last weekend at Cheshire’s racing circuit, Oulton Park. The team’s 205 horsepower Renault Clio Cup race car’s steering rod snapped on the first corner of the first lap, 5 hours after having qualified in 3rd place, 0.332 seconds off pole position. This incident, having had no impact or other explanation, is under serious investigation by several engineers and Renaultsport representatives. The current conclusion is that it was miss-manufactured part. “I will need to talk to Renaultsport UK, as they cannot expect me to pay all the damage and pay for all the weekends engineering, and having lost out on a potential podium finish. If it really is what the engineers say, then it is definitely Renaultsport UK’s fault.” Niki said to the press, “If Renaultsport UK ignores this, or doesn’t want to make up the damage, the team and I will consider leaving the championship for 2007 and sue Renaultsport UK.” Renaultsport UK has already had several safety issues with the current race car, and even the road version too.

Another Clio Cup driver, Bradley, encountered nearly exactly the same problem in the other race, also having hit the barrier due to a broken steering component. Due to this, Lanik and Bradley were both unable to attend Sunday’s championship Round, leaving them with no championship points. “The majority of drivers in the 2007 Clio Cup are unhappy with the way the championship is managed since the beginning of the season. All drivers are getting less test time, shorter qualifying sessions, extremely short races, which are very often cut short to 10 minutes instead of 20 minutes, ridiculously low prize money, and so on. Not mentioning the unnecessary test ban before the season had started – again due to a miss-manufactured part from Renault.” Niki argued with back-up from nearly all drivers. Renaultsport sold the registration fees as a 20 Round championship, and now it is only a 10 Round championship, leading to many disappointed drivers and even spectators.

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Award and race winning Ashurst Wood-based motor racing teams, the “Narconon Race Team” and the “Youth4HumanRights UK Car Racing Team” have grown from a struggling 2-car team two years ago and are now running six race cars to forward the message of a drug-free world and a world which observes the Human Rights laid down by the United Nations in 1946. The Youth 4 Human Rights UK Car Racing Team is the first race team in the world to promote and support Human Rights. A Championship win last season, several race wins and podium finishes, numerous fastest laps plus an outright lap record, have brought the teams to the attention of national and international motor racing press.

The Narconon Race Team with lead driver JJ Vannier fields four cars with the aid of his father, Jim Vannier. The other three Narconon race cars are driven by Ian Clark, Richard Asher and Charles Godfrey. These four Narconon XR2 Fiestas promote “Drive-Against-Drugs” and the Narconon drug education and re-habilitation programs and promote Youth for Human Rights International. 22 year old JJ Vannier has has an outright race win and podium finishes, lap records, pole positions, and fastest laps. He is currently running 2nd in the 750 Motor Club’s Stock Hatch Class B Championship. The Narconon Race Team’s next outing is 23-24 June at Pembrey in Wales followed by another double header at Lincolnshire’s challenging Cadwell Park the week after.

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“Nike [Niki] Lanik, race driver of the Ashurst Wood-based Youth 4 Human Rights UK Car Racing Team, qualified in third position in round four of the ELF Clio Cup, …”

“After the race, it turned out that Lanik, even though he had completed only four full laps, had secured second fastest ideal lap.”

http://www.thisiscourier.co.uk

NIKI Lanik, race driver of the Ashurst Wood-based Youth 4 Human Rights UK Car Racing Team, qualified in 3rd position in Round 4 of the ELF Clio Cup, Britain’s most competitive one-make series, last weekend at North Yorkshire’s famous race circuit, Croft - a challenging and high speed 2.1 mile car racing track. After having tested there 2 weeks prior to the event, Niki and the Y4HR team knew they could pull of a decent result.

“Qualifying started really well.” said Niki, “I went out on track with brand new slicks, and 2 laps later I was P1. I only had 6 laps, and I could only get around 5 hundredth quicker. Ed Pead [winner of Round 1] and Stefan Hodgetts [winner of Round 2 & 3] managed to snatch P1 and P2 off me, so I had to settle for 3rd.” Colin Stancombe, Lanik’s race engineer, pulled off a fantastic job in getting the car set-up perfect. Stancombe Vehicle Engineering has won 13 championships.

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