An american in the CVGPi :.. GrandPrix4.org

For my last interview, I was in Canada with our friends Stéphane and Richard. We spent good times in forest and lakes. I had two choices, go back to Europe or staying in north America to meet Bernhard Boesch in California. I choose the second option.
Five hours flight from Montreal to San Fransisco, a taxi and I’m at Bernhard’s house. I ring, he opens the door. I’m quite tired with this travell. Just a shower, a drink and we can start talking about him.

Bernhard the american

"Hi Bernhard, it’s a pleasure to meet you in America. First of all, can you talk about you, where do you live? how old are you? what’s  your job ? what car do you have? Why did you come to America?

Hi Xavier, it’s great to have you here in the US. As you can see I’m 40
years old and live in San Diego, California. I am an Architect and drive
a V8 Ford Explorer and also a little Ford Escort ZX2, unfortunately not a Ford Mustang Cobra, ha, ha, ha. I moved from Switzerland to the US when I was 30, because it was always my dream to move somewhere else and I just found here the right conditions to make the move.   …  

Bernhard, GP4 and the CVGPi

"Great! Let’s talk about GP4. How did you start with this game? Do  you use a laptop or a classic tower PC? What wheel do you use? Is  it a Momo? What do you have in your feet when you drive? Socks?  Shoes? Something else?

I used to drive a little bit in Switzerland with GP2 and then in 2002 I was searching the internet for racing and found out that GP4 will be released that year. At the end of that year I joined the RTT team, after I realized, I was seconds behind everybody. I thought they must do something different and they did, ha, ha, ha. They built setups and practice!! I do my racing with a classic tower PC and used to have the red momo wheel which broke a few month ago. Now I’m driving with the “black momo” which is not so good, but it has to do. It corrects itself a lot and the rubber on the wheel is peeling off when you do a 100% race, where as by the red momo the wheel was the finest leather….. I used to race with bar feed, but with the (worse) pedals of this wheel I need to wear socks, to make them slide as they are fixed on the top and don’t adjust the angle. And yeah, I wear something else……..shorts, ha, ha, ha, ha….  …  How did you found our league? What do you think about it? Do you like this system? And how about the level of competition?

I’m a team manager myself in some other leagues so I was trying to
find new leagues in the GP4 community as more leagues are getting
smaller and smaller or disappear totally. When I found this league I noticed the big interest of many drivers and I could see right away that this league is very much alive. That was the reason to sign myself up, especially as I couldn’t wait until the other leagues and the “real” F1 starts, ha, ha, ha…
I like the system of short race, but I noticed that I have more problems in short stints versus long races because I’m not fast, but consistent and when others make big mistakes and I can come through clean and I can make points. But also on the other hand the competition here is enormous with great, great drivers and everybody seems to be happy for the other guy’s win, which is great. (I hope I’m correct on this one, then I don’t understand much French) I just had a great feeling here, as everybody I talked to was very helpful and friendly, AWESOME! I think everybody just wants to have fun and be as fast as possible, but still can cheer for others as well, to make this league stronger and stronger. Besides the short stints I do have also problem with the multiple chances to submit hot laps and races, but that’s also my fault because of lacking time on my part as I (have to) race in a few other leagues, 2 with 100% race and 1 with 50%, but totally different physics, ha, ha, ha.. So to finally answer your question, I think you have a great league and system here with some of the best drivers.

"Keep going the way you do it all!!  …  Can you compare the CVGPI with others leagues? According to you, what’s missing to have more English-speaking people? Is it easy for you to navigate the website?

Mmmmh, that’s a difficult question. First, I don’t think it’s very easy
to navigate through the website for Non-French speaking people, as a
lot of words in English are missing, but on the other hand, it’s not
impossible if you really have interest, as you can see by me. I would
compare the league with the GPC and their former FRenault (25% race
length) league, but there you have a time limit, 2 chances to do the qualifying and 1 for the race. Setups are also free. So the difference is the hot lapping style in the qualification and race. The other leagues I compete in are way different with real physics, management, politics, testing etc, just like real F1; with 2 races in 1 week and weather like real F1. I’m a manager and driver in the F1 and GP2 league there. To get more English speaking drivers here, spread the word about this great league…..  …  What are your ambitions for this season? Is the time shift an advantage or a disadvantage? 
My goal was to be just having fun, but then it shifted to top 10, but now to be realistic, top 15 would be great. Unfortunately I don’t see do good for the team as I’ve been alone for a while now, but you said you’ll get me an new mate, ha, ha, ha….which you did. Thank you and a warm welcome to my new teammate, which is similar fast as I am, which makes it really fun. I don’t know why I’m always thinking team. Maybe because I’m a manager first and only want to see the team to succeed then if it does, both drivers must be succeeding as well, maybe that’s the explanation. I don’t feel that the time difference is an inconvenience here, as you have an entire week to race. The only thing is if I want to respond to a hot lap on Sunday, I have to be at home at day which is not always easy, but again, by that time I should
have my best possible lap in and for the race, the results are hidden, so no problem at all.

Bernhard and Motorsport

" …  Thanks. Let’s talk about motor sport. Do you prefer Formula 1 or Champcar? Who are your favorite drivers in NASCAR, IRL, ChampCar and F1?

I prefer F1 over Champ Car, but because I grow up with it. I sometimes watch the Champ Car series and it’s very entertaining because all drivers are so close together, and almost everybody can win. I wish I had more time to watch all races on TV, ha, ha, ha, but I can’t. My favorite driver in NASCAR is Mark Martin, Jeff Gordon, Michael Waltrip, Tony Stewart; in IRL: DANIC PATRICK, Al Unser Jr., Tony Kanaan, Dario Franchitti (my wife’s favorite), Ed Carpenter; for the ChampCar: Neel Jani (doing great), Paul Tracy, Katherine Legge, Oriol Servia and finally for the F1: KIMI, Kubica, Heidfeld and Sato and if my wife would be here, she would make me say Hamilton. In the F1 it’s mostly Kimi though. In the other league I have more favorites, as I don’t follow them very often and when I do I always change my favorite, as I only judge on the one performance of that particular race and not because of mistakes, interviews, etc. …  

"What do you think about Danica Patrick? Have you ever been to see a F1 Grand Prix? If yes, which one? If no, which one would you like to see? Have you ever been to Indy 500 or Daytona?

I love Danica. She’s very brave and very smart I think as she’s admitted that it’s not bad to realize that the men get crazy about her looks more than racing and that it’s OK to do some hot picture shots and make money out of it. I think it’s great to play all your cards then just your wish card, but besides that all she’s doing is really great and I hope she gets soon a great team and can scare them all! Unfortunately I never made it to an F1 event. I wanted to go to Indy a couple of years ago, but it was just too much money. The race was exactly on my birthday and now Bernie doesn’t even want to come
here no more. What a shame, as there was always drama and excitement here and he was talking about we need 2 races in the US and now none….
But back to your question, I’d love to see Monaco, Montreal, Brazil, Spa and of course also Indy 500 or Watkins Glen. Maybe one of the years I make to Long Beach and see a Champ Car race, I hope, but next year is already planned with a Europe trip, so maybe 2009…..  …  

"What do you think about Scott Speed in F1? Is he famous in the USA? And what about Sebastien Bourdais in ChampCar?

I think Scott was doing a great job, but he seemed to be lost and had no support from the team, which also goes for Tonio. I’m a little bit shocked and disappointed from Gerhard Berger as I always liked and respected him, but maybe I don’t get all the correct info, living here and only reading the news from the internet. And now Scott won’t be racing anymore for Toro Rosso which is a shame. Regarding Sebastien, he’s doing an outstanding job in the Champ Car, but he knows himself, it’s not F1 and you can also see that it’s very tough even for him to get a race job in the F1 even with Spyker, which in my opinion would be a big step backwards for him, but F1 is the dream for all open wheel drivers I suppose! I wouldn’t say no, ha, ha..  …  

"What’s your favorite team in F1? Who will be world champion this year? Not an easy question!!

I’m a big fan of BMW Sauber, because of Sauber, but in the last years
I was hopping McLaren would win because of Ferrari’s dominance and
Schumi, and now I’m rooting for them to catch up and because of Kimi. So after all it was always where Kimi is and before that Mika.  …  

Bernhard and the rest

"Great, let’s talk about ridiculous things now! Do you prefer frog thighs or snails? With your French fries, do you prefer ketchup or mayonnaise?

I never had frog thighs, but I had some really, really awesome snails
in garlic sauce…..yummy!!!! I like my French fires plane, maybe
some ketchup sometimes, but rarely.  … 

" To drink, your favorite beer is Bud or Miller? Or something else? Do you like wine? American? South African? Australian or European wine?

When I moved over here I drank Bud Light because it tasted like the
beer I knew and it was CHEAP. But now I like heavier Beer like
Sam Adams or my favorite, Sierra Nevada; of course there are some
local micro breweries with some great stuff. But now mostly I drink
wine. Mostly of course the California Cabernet, but also Pinot or Merlot, so mostly red wine. I drink white wine only with fish or cheese or to appetizers.
  
"  Wich european country would you like to visit? And do you know Belgium?

I would like to see them all, as they are so different to each other, and
so unique. I’ve seen a lot of Italy and some of Spain, Austria, Holland,
Germany and France. But I’d love to see more of France (maybe next year I’ll go to Paris for the first time), Greece, Finland, Scotland, Ireland, Sweden!!, Denmark and of course Belgium; like I said all of it.  

"…  It’s very interesting for us to have your point of view about all  that, thank you very much! It’s really a pleasure for me to meet you. Do you have something to say to all our drivers and team managers?

Well first I want to thank you for your interest in me, Xavier. It’s by far
the longest interview ever and I hope somebody will have the patience to read it all, but then again we’re all racers and know how to fight through a tough situation and a race for that matter. To all the drivers and managers I’d like to say: “It’s only a game, so have fun and DON’T cheat, again it’s only a game and we all should have fun. I wish you all good luck.”
A big thank you to the great league administration and keep all the good work up. See y’all on track.

It was Xavier Maes reporting for the CVGPi under the californian’s sun (it’s a hard life !)

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