Crew Chief (Klaus KÄFER)

Country: Germany
Racing Age: 64
Occupation: Officer German Air Force (retired)
RAAM-Experience:

• RAAM 2009: Crew 4 Person Team Mixed 50+
• RAAM 2011: Racer 4-Person Mixed 50+ (Winner with record)
• RAAM 2012: Crew Chief Solo Racer 18-49 (Christian Mayer)
• RAAM 2013: Team Captain & Deputy Crew Chief 8-Person Team 50+
• RAAM 2014: Team Captain 4-Person Team 1 50+
• RAAM 2014: Team Captain & Crew Chief 4-Person Team 2 50+
• RAAM 2016 Team Captain & Crew Chief 8-Person Team
• RAAM 2017 Team Captain 4 Person Team 18-49
• RAAM 2017 Team Captain & Crew Chief 8 Person Team 50+
• RAAM 2018 Team Captain & Crew Chief 4-Person Team 50+
• RAAM 2018 Team Captain 4-Person Team 70+

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Deputy Crew Chief (Axel FEHLAU)

• Country: Germany
• Racing Age: 51
• Occupation: Banker
• RAAM Experience:

RAW 2013: Crew 2-Person Team Male
RAAM 2014: Racer 2-Person Team Male (Winner)

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Crew 1 (Bettina BAACKE)

• Country: Germany
• Racing Age: 44
• Occupation: Industrial Designer
• RAAM Experience: Rookie

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Crew 2 (Hans-Jan BAKKER-Owe)

• Country: Norway
• Racing Age: 61
• Occupation: Merchant
• RAAM Experience: Rookie

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Crew 3 (Kristian-Meinich BAKKER OWE)

• Country: Norway
• Racing Age: 30
• Occupation: Student
• RAAM Experience: Rookie

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Crew 4 (Silvia FERLEMANN-STEFANIAK)

• Country: Germany
• Racing Age: 36
• Occupation: Physiotherapist
• RAAM Experience: Rookie

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Crew 5 (Fritz GEERS)

• Country: Germany
• Racing Age: 25
• Occupation: Professional Roadbiker
• RAAM Experience: Rookie

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Crew 6 (Sabine KELLER)

• Country: Germany
• Racing Age: 50
• Occupation: Software Engineer
• RAAM Experience: Rookie

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Crew 7 (Eva MÜLLER)

• Country: Germany
• Racing Age: 51
• Occupation: Doctor
• RAAM Experience: Crew RAAM 2017 & 2018

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Crew 8 / Back Up Racer (Tom Christian AASEN)

• Country: Norway
• Racing Age: 43
• Occupation: Fleet Manager
• RAAM-Experience: Rookie

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Crew 9 (Hans Nielsen HAUGE)

• Country: Norway
• Racing Age 72
• Occupation: Medical Doctor
• RAAM-Experience: Rookie

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Media 1 (Ingar STORFJELL)

• Country: Norway
• Racing Age: 64
• Occupation: Photographer
• RAAM-Experience: Rookie

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Media 2 (Dag GRUNDSETH)

• Country: Norway
• Racing Age: 68
• Occupation: Photographer
• RAAM-Experience: Rookie

Three months after the last update and almost seven months before the team start for RAAM 2021, it is time for a new presentation of the current state of play.

We have not yet been able to record any successes in the refund of our flights planned from Frankfurt. Booked we had at UNITED AIRLINES. However, the flights should be carried out by their cooperation partner LUFTHANSA. In the meantime, I have handed over the case to my legal protection insurance. This cooperates with the customer portal Flightright.de. After several unsuccessful attempts, the request has now been filed in court.

Even when booking our motel  in Oceanside, it doesn’t go smoothly. First, I managed to rebook the motels at the start in Oceanside and in the finish in Annapolis via the booking portal of my trust. From my previous stays at the motel in Oceanside, I personally know the manager there. I have now learned from her that the motel is for sale and is to be converted into a retirement home in a timely manner. Probably still in the first half of 2021. As a result, our booking would be void. Because of this friendly warning, I have now booked an alternative. This is of course much more expensive and also not so suitable in terms of location. That’s why I will keep the old booking upright for a while and wait for further development.

Even when booking the motorhomes, not everything went according to our expectations. Our ideal idea was to rent two C-30 campers from CRUISE AMERICA. This company is inexpensive and the pick-up station is located in the south of Los Angeles, which means a relatively short journey time between there and Oceanside. If you do know the rush hour conditions in Los Angeles, you will know about this advantage. Unfortunately we did not receive any offer there at all. We have now moved to the provider EL MONTE. Here we were able to book two campers of the slightly smaller type C-28. The pick-up station is in close proximity to cruise AMERICA. However, as we did with RAAM 2020, we will have to hand them over after RAAM 2021 in Denver. That’s just the way it is. Just one thing of planning.

As things stand, all team members are still available for RAAM 2021, which I am extremely pleased about. The sponsors have also fully confirmed their commitments for 2020 now for 2021.

The team material has already been purchased for RAAM 2020 as far as possible. There is little need for action here. No problem at all.

The biggest concern we have are the upcoming flight bookings. From a realistic point of view, we must also address the idea that RAAM 2021 must also be cancelled. No one can say reliably at the moment how the situation around the Corona pandemic will develop. That is why I will start booking flights as late as possible.

In addition to the administrative work, it is now time to refresh the team knowledge regarding regulations, procedures, tactics and road traffic regulations.

Whether we will hold another team meeting remains to be discussed. I am very much in favour, but I am also aware that this is a significant cost factor.

But now we just hope that everything turns for the better and that we will be on the beach of Oceanside in a good 230 days.

It is not worth mourning RAAM 2020. This is complete for us. Only the refund of the flights that should be operated with UNITED AIRLINES is still open. Here, the airline stubbornly refuses. Nevertheless, we assume that this chapter can also be brought to a good end.

We cannot foresee at the moment to what extent COVID-19 will also affect the plans for 2021. We will proceed with due care with respect to binding reservations and bookings.

Now, however, and taking into account the COVID problem, we are now focusing together on participation in RAAM 2021. The most important thing in advance: Fortunately, we can assume that all team members will participate in principle in 2021 as well.

The start of the teams RAAM 2021 will take place on Saturday, 19^th of June 2021 in Oceanside.

We leave the travel dates unchanged. This means that the complete team will arrive on Sunday, 13^th of June 2021. The departure will also be based on the planning for 2020. The exact data depends on the delivery station for the motorhomes.

The Motels at the Start in Oceanside and the finish line in Annapolis are booked.

I have already started a request for the rental of two motorhomes at the agency of my trust. Here I am waiting for the result. It should be available in the next few days.

Already during the planning for the RAAM 2020 it became obvious that there are hardly any more One-way-rentals from coast to coast, which are financially justifiable. The price is almost three times higher than a round trip. Most companies don´t offer any One-way-rentals at all. The compromise in 2020 was to hand over the campers in Denver. Let’s see how it can be done for 2021.

RAAM 2020 was cancelled by the RAAM-Organization. Not a good news for us at all. However the decision is comprehensible and absolutely the right one. No doubt.

The in that time potentially cancellation of RAAM 2020 was already an issue at our team meeting one month ago. There was a mutual understanding, to postpone all efforts to RAAM 2021 for the case of cancellation RAAM 2020. All team mates, racer, crew or media spontaneous emphasized their intention to be a part of the team, then in 2021. Another expression of the particular spirit in the team.

The bookings for the Motels at the start in Oceanside and the Finish Line in Annapolis, as well as the three vans, preplanned as Follow Vehicles and Media Vehicle could be cancelled without any fee. The two RVs could be cancelled by paying a low cancellation fee. Kind of bother, but not really vital.

Cancellation of flights is still an open issue. Could be, that we have to face severe losses in that case.

All personnel, material and logistic planning will be transferred to 2021 without too many changes (so far). Besides the mental realignment not a too big business. We lost an great adventure in 2020. We gained one more year time for preparation.

We now all hope, that the Corona-Virus will reprieve our team, friends, acquaintances and whoever. Furthermore, we do hope, that all our team mates will overcome that issue in a manner that will still enable them to participate, now in RAAM 2021.

From Friday, march 6th to Sunday March 08th it was meeting time. The meeting was held at our Crew Chiefs location in Germany. The focus was on:

• Promotion of mutual understanding
• Impartment and discussion of the RAAM-Rules, the US traffic rules and specific means of behavior in the US
• Determination and Discussion of organizational and tactical issues
• Fitting of the Team clothing
• Analysis of the current state of affairs

With the Team Meeting held this is already done:

• Team building is completed (4 Racer / 10 Crew / 2 Media)
• An official Team Name (DRIVING THE WORLD) is found
• All official registration issues are done
• all official Appointments are booked
• All vehicles (3 Vans / 2 Recreation Vehicle) are booked
• All Flights are booked
• Team Material is almost complete
• Fitting of Team clothing is completed
• Team Mates are aware of the Processes prior, during and after the Race
• Team Mates are familiar with the RAAM-Rules & the specifics of the US Traffic Rules

What is still to do until our departure June 14th 2020:

• Finalizing the Applies for Visa Waiver Programm (ESTA-Status)
• A Plan for the proportional distribution of Team Material and Team clothing for the flights has to be finalized
• Concerning the Corona-Issue, a Backup Plan for 2021 has to be discussed and finalized

Some more miscellaneous impressions of the Meeting:

Dag GRUNDSETH joined the team. He is an expert on media. Together with Ingar STORFJELL he will be responsible for the documentation of our adventure RAAM 2020. Welcome to the Team – Dag. Good to have you here.

Racing Mode

We decided, to work in two shifts. One shift will be called Racing-Shift, the other will be called Resting-Shift. In addition, we do have a Media Crew, in general operating independent from the both mentioned shifts before.
The race route is divided in 54 stages with a length of average 80 Kilometers. End and start of the stages are named “Time Station (TS)”. Knowing, that Time Stations do have an at least minimum of infrastructure (Parking Space, Phone Coverage, Toilets, Fuel, Shopping possibility etc.), we, when ever possible, will try to make changes of shift at a Time Station. In general, each shift will last 8 hours plus the time to reach the next Time Station. In exceptional cases a shift can last up to 11 hours.

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Racing Shift

The Racing Shift consists of 2 Follow Vehicle (FV) both manned with 1 Driver, 1 Navigator and 1 Racer. The two racers do race responsively. The length of one stint is on the discretion of the racers. A duration of 45 to 60 minutes is recommended. Exceptional circumstances as like severe rain, strong wind, extreme temperature may shorten the stints. The academic duration of a shift hat does not affect the load in 24 hours. This never changes. The load on four 6-hours layers is the same as for three 8-hours layers or two 12-hours layers.

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Resting Shift

The resting shift consists of 2 racers, 6 crew members and 2 RV. The term “resting shift” is a little misleading. Here is an example:
It takes about 30 minutes from the end of the previous shift change to the departure to the next shift change point. The shift change point is usually about 250 kilometers away. Experience has shown that the journey time is about 4 hours. From waking up to the next shift, it takes about 60 minutes for hygiene, breakfast and race preparation. This means that as a rule, only 2.5 hours remain to rest per shift. The times for various tasks as there are shopping, dining, maintenance and small repairs are still to be deducted from this. The longer the shift, the longer the resting time and the sleep.

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Racers

Peter WIELAND

Country: Norway
Racing Age: 54
Occupation: Computer Scientist
RAAM-Experience: Rookie

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Kjell TEIGLAND

Country: Norway
Racing Age: 56
Occupation: Datawarehouse Business Intelligence Consultant
RAAM-Experience: Rookie

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Jürgen GOOS

Country: Germany
Racing Age: 57
Occupation: Professor for Design
RAAM-Experience: Rookie

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Sjur MIDTSKOGEN

Country: Norway
Racing Age: 46
Occupation: Sales Manager Car Dealer
RAAM-Experience: Rookie

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Vocabulary

The use of the following terms is intended to facilitate communication.

Team Captain (1)
He leads the overall personnel and material organization of the team
During the race, as the Crew Chief, he is a member of the crew.

Racers (4)
They drive the race with their bikes.

Replacement Racer (1)
He is available for the possible failure of a designated racer. If none of the racers fails until the start, he will be a member of the crew during the race.

Crew Chief (1)
He leads the team during the race and is the official contact person for the members of the RAAAM organization. He is part of the crew. His major tasks are

• leading the team
• human ressource and material planning
• to make tactical decisions concerning the progress of the teams race

Deputy Crew Chief (1)
He is the deputy of the Crew Chief. He is part of the crew

Crew (10)
They do support the racers in many ways. Their major tasks are

• driving Follow Vehicles (7-Seat Vans) and Support Vehicles (Recreation Vehicles)
• navigating the racers
• supplying the racers with food, drinks, clothes
• communication matters
• purchase of nutrition and material
• bikes preventive maintenance and small repairs

Media (2)
The accredited Media-Team is to escorts the team for photograpic documentation.
They do operate with an own Support Vehicle (7-Seat Van).

Tests

We decided, to make no practical test prior to the US-Phase of our project.

Travelling Concept

We have to decide the terms of travelling during this year. Team start will be at Saturday, 20th 2020, 12:00 p.m. (PDT). The concept is that the advance-party consisting of the four racers, the reserve and three of the crew members, will arrive at the team’s basecamp in or around Oceanside six days prior to the race team start. This will be Sunday, 14th, 2020. They will pick up the RAAM and Race Supplies in the RAAM-Office and accomplish the initial setup by

• get acclimatized (racers & reserve!)
• collecting the rental cars (Follow Vehicles & Media-Vehicle),
• assemble the bikes,
• buy equipment.

The rest of the team will arrive Tuesday, 16th, 2020. Their main tasks will be

• collecting the Recreation Vehicles (RV)
• attending a Crew Chief Meeting (Mandatory for the Crew Chief)
• preparing and attending the Team Inspection (mandatory for the crew)
• prepare the Follow Vehicles and Support Vehicles (inside & outside)
• buy supplies, food, nutrition & drinks for the race
• attending the photo session (mandatory for the racers)
• attending the team presentation (mandatory for the team)

Destination Airports

There are three airports possible for travel. The first choice is Los Angeles (LAX). Alternatives are San Francisco (SFO), with the disadvantage of longer travel time to the start in Oceanside, or San Diego (SAN) (no frequently departures from intercontinental airlines from Norway). Direct flights from Europe to Los Angeles (LAX)are preferred in order to avoid stress through transfer immigration.
All flights will be arranged by or in close contact with the Team Captain.
Most likely, we will fly back from the airport in Washington. The Return of the Recreation Vehicles may force us to designate other airport, e.g. Newark (EWR) or Denver (DEN).

Follow Vehicles (FV)

The primary task of the Follow Vehicles is to support the racers by

• navigating on the race route
• provision of fluids, nutrition, clothes and equipment
• shielding from upcoming traffic

We will rent two Follow Vehicles (7-Seat Van). Usually they are DODGE TOWN&COUNTRY or CRYSLER GRAND CARAVAN. Almost perfect for our needs.
When renting a car, as many crew as possible will registered as drivers to each car. This keeps us flexible to the maximum extent possible.
The car rental firms usually allow registration of up to six drivers per vehicle. Sometimes more. When registering drivers for a vehicle, the drivers have to be present in person. After-registration is possible, but the drivers must be present in person as well and that takes additional time.
We will hire for similar vehicles as following cars. Not only similar car classes but also the exact same vehicles. The advantage is that the drivers can swap vehicles without the need of getting familiar with a new vehicle. The vehicles will preferably be in different colours.
One mandatory exercise during preparation for all crew members will be in the exchange of tires. Because the active following car usually drives halfway on the emergency lane, flat tires are daily business during the race.
Each following car has seven seats. All seats behind the driver/co-driver are retractable. Enough space for a madras. This madras enables people to rest (primarily the racers, if spare, also other crew members). The madras can be replaced with the 4th seat if needed (one of the jumpers gets into the car and all 4 persons in the car wish to sit).

Recreation Vehicles (RV)

The Recreation Vehicles will be used by all team members to

• transport personell, equipment & luggage along the race route
• accommodate the resting crew for sleeping-, eating- and personal hygiene purposes

We will rent two RVs US-Type C-30. They can be driven with the regular drivers Licence Class “B”.
The advantage of this Type RV is, its space is suitable to accommodate all equipment, personal belongings and supplies. Still enough space to accommodate the resting crew in an almost convenient manner.

Mobile homes also have a few disadvantages. The RAAM-Organization does not allow mobile homes as Following Vehicles. The onboard toilet gets full after one or two days. The use of the cooking facilities is time consuming and reducing valuable sleeping time. The waste water (black & grey) can only be disposed on a campsite. Recreation Vehicles are clumsy on the road.

Media-Vehicle (MV)

We will rent one Media Vehicle (7-Seat Van). Usually it is a DODGE TOWN&COUNTRY or CRYSLER GRAND CARAVAN. Almost perfect for our needs.
When renting a car, besides the media-crew, as many crew as possible will be registered as drivers to each car. In addition the inside & outside setup will be similar to the Follow Vehicles. This keeps us flexible in the case of unwanted brake down of a Follow Vehicle by just changing the vehicles.