From the racetrack to the screen and back again - the W&S Motorsport racing simulator as a unique added value for drivers

"It is very close to real motorsport and no longer has anything to do with a computer game," explains Team Principal Daniel Schellhaas. "During the installation phase, I spent a few hours in the 3motion simulator myself and realised that simracing is an important part of the future for drivers and technicians. The idea came up because our drivers didn't know some of the tracks on the calendar and wanted to familiarise themselves with them, but didn't have a sim rig themselves."

"As well as learning new tracks, we can practice quickly and cost-effectively in constant conditions and without tyre degradation. That was the plan that we implemented and which contributed to race wins and winning the team championship in the ADAC GT4 Germany last season," he reveals. "We succeeded in replicating the Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 one-to-one, both as a CS and as an RS Clubsport. The team put in countless hours of great work to achieve this." 

"Of course, it doesn't replace training sessions or test days on real tarmac. But it is very time-efficient and flexible, and we bring the drivers really close to reality. The consequences of a mistake are nowhere near as great as with a real racing car. We are therefore delighted that our drivers can improve their skills even faster and more effectively. This is an absolute added value that we can offer them. Our thanks go to KW automotive and TrackTime for supporting the project!" emphasises the W&S Motorsport team boss. 

The KW automotive group itself has been focussing on simracing for many years now and has united three strong brands under its umbrella: Ascher Racing, TrackTime and RaceRoom. The figurehead of the simracing department is DTM rookie Tim Heinemann, himself a former simracer. "I have been using TrackTime's simulators as a training tool for years, both privately and at race weekends. For example, a TrackTime 3motion has accompanied me on every DTM weekend. This enabled me to prepare perfectly for the races," says Heinemann.   

In Ofterdingen, the TrackTime 3motion simulator will be available exclusively for the drivers of the real racing cars, while the W&S Motorsport eSports Team competes extremely successfully in series such as the Digital Nürburgring Endurance Series (DNLS). NLS drivers Marius Rauer and Niclas Wiedmann, as well as ADAC GT4 Germany driver Finn Zulauf, regularly took up the offer. Zulauf was also actively involved in the installation of the hardware and software in an advisory capacity. Rauer also completed some long runs and was able to significantly improve his lap time on the Nordschleife. 

"It's a lot of fun and comes very close to the real driving experience," explains Marius Rauer, who completed his second season in the AVIA racing Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 CS in the NLS in 2023. 

He continues: "The many hours of training in Ofterdingen had an effect early on in the season and I was able to improve by around nine seconds per lap. I am sure that this also had a positive effect on my outings in the real Green Hell. The direct exchange with the engineer helps immensely and we can quickly make changes to the setup and analyse them. It's definitely a very cool idea to offer the high-quality TrackTime racing simulator for us drivers and to support us in this way. This shows once again the ambition and professionalism of Patrick Wagner and Daniel Schellhaas' team!"

Finn Zulauf has been spending a lot of time with virtual racing for several years and has already celebrated success in sim racing. He shared his experience with the team in terms of hardware and software as well as the installation of various modules. "The setup was very exciting and it was a lot of fun to accompany this ambitious project," says Zulauf. "Thanks to the Force Feedback and Motion Drive, the driving experience comes very close to reality and setup changes are clearly noticeable. I think that the 3motion simulator is a great help for beginners from karting to get a feeling for a GT4 racing car and to prepare for real test drives. But the TrackTime simulator is also an ideal tool for amateur and professional drivers to try out different set-ups before the race weekends and prepare perfectly for them. With the race simulator, W&S Motorsport offers us drivers great added value for training and race preparation." 

The W&S Motorsport simulator is available to all interested W&S Motorsport drivers and is always supervised by a race engineer. This means that up-and-coming young talents as well as experienced drivers can prepare intensively and cost-effectively for their outings in the series and exchange ideas with each other. The W&S Motorsport team is always available for any enquiries regarding the TrackTime 3motion simulator.