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<body> <Table Width="550" border="0" style="border-collapse: collapse" cellpadding="0"><TR><TD Width="35"><IMG SRC="//www.totalmotorsport.com/images/spacer.gif" WIDTH="35" HEIGHT="1"></td><td> <CENTER><Table border="0" width="100%"> <TR><TD width="100%" align="center"><B><FONT FACE="Tahoma" SIZE="5">BELCAR</FONT></B></TD></TR> <TR><TD width="100%" align="left"><B><FONT FACE="Tahoma" SIZE="2">28/09/2001</FONT></B></TD></TR> <TR><TD width="100%" align="center"><B><FONT FACE="Tahoma" SIZE="4">Henrik Roos & His Viper</FONT></B></TD></TR> <TR><TD width="100%" align="center"><B><FONT FACE="Tahoma" SIZE="3">At Spa</FONT></B></TD></TR> <TR><TD width="100%" align="center"><img border="1" src="Storage/iperAt%20SBEL.jpg"></TD></TR> <TR><TD width="100%" align="center"><FONT FACE="Tahoma" SIZE="1">  </FONT></TD></TR> <TR><TD width="100%" align="left"><FONT FACE="Tahoma" SIZE="2">Henrik Roos first came to the attention of this site when he appeared at Spa for the second of the Privilege Championship races there, in 1999. He was driving a converted GTS (road) Viper then, and although he had more power than anyone else, he also had considerably more weight. That didn't stop him putting on a sparkling display - on slicks, in tricky conditions. He finished seventh overall, behind five GT1s and the Euser / Lockie LM600 Evo. (which he trailed by half a second).<BR> <BR> Joost Custers caught up with him (and co-driver Arjan Van Der Zwaan) at Spa last weekend, for the Belcar race at the Spa Festival.<BR> <BR> The Chrysler Viper is owned by the Viewsonic team, a Swedish team managed by Henrik Roos himself. Henrik won the Swedish GT Championship in 2000 and 2001. <BR> <BR> The car they drive now is chassis number #14 and is actually the ex Parr Racing Viper. But as the Swedish championship consists of only short sprint races, neither the car nor the team are prepared to do long(er) events. At Spa, the refueling was brand new for them and tire tactics caused headaches.<BR> <BR> The choice of not changing tires was clearly a wrong one. During the second half of the race, the car became very difficult to drive, as expressed in slower lap times. An oil leak from the gearbox made an end to the race.<BR> <BR> The Swedish GT championship is a sprint championship, for mainly Porsches<BR> (993, 996...), but also a Camaro, a Ferrari 355, a Mercedes CLK and ...a BMW M1. More info for those who understand Swedish at this <A HREF="http://www.motortorget.se">link</A>.<BR> <BR> Henrik Roos loves to compete in international races, to compare his car to others. He was very surprised by the level of Belcar and would like to come back - perhaps to Zolder, the next race. But Daytona, the Kumho Euro-GTs or even FIA-GTs are his eventual target.<BR> <BR> Until 1999, the Dutch Van Der Zwaan brothers were Formala Ford regulars in the Benelux championship, with good results in both F.Ford 1600 and 1800 categories. Roos' co-driver Arjan Van Der Zwaan, only got into GT racing last year. He drove in the Belcar championship in an Audi TT, just to learn about GT racing. This year Arjan and his brother Rob drove the night race at Spa in June and several Euro-GT races in a Marcos LM 600. <BR> <BR> If the gearbox of the Roos' Viper has survived, Rob will do another Euro-GT race in Berlin next week and Arjan will be back in Zolder together with Henrik. <BR> <BR> Next year is a question mark for both Arjan and Rob as their sponsor is noted on the stock market and due to the international events earlier this month, could cut budgets.<BR> <BR> </FONT></TD></TR> </TABLE><BR> </CENTER> <BR><CENTER><font size="1" color="#808080" face="Tahoma">Copyright ©2000-©2023 TotalMotorSport</font></CENTER> </td> </tr> </table> </body>