Formula Easter
The Formula Easter was a motorsport championship in the countries of the Council for Mutual Economic Aid and was considered the Formula 1 of the East. The Easter formula or E 1300 (later E 1600) was the successor to Formula B8, which was brought to life as a replacement for the too expensive and technically too far developing Formula 3 . It was driven for many years in the real socialist states as a monoposto racing series in international comparison as a trophy for peace and friendship of the socialist countries, which corresponded to an Eastern European championship. The participating countries were the GDR, the USSR, the ČSSR, Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania.
The regulations
The regulations included formula-free single-seat racing cars with 1300 cc engines (later 1600 cc). For the mostly self-made racing cars, only parts from the production of the RGW were allowed to be used, which soon showed that almost exclusively Lada engines were used. The gears were initially used by the Saporoshez ("Sapo"). In the course of time, the gear housing of the Wartburg 311 or even better of the Wartburg 312 turned out to be almost ideal . All innards were produced in-house or incidentally in state-owned factories. The last transmission series were built by the Dresden racing drivers Henrik Opitz and Stefan Perner . In the other countries gearboxes from the Wartburg 353 , Škoda and Dacia were also used. The tires initially came from Barum . These were so tough that, in contrast to today's popular racing series, they usually lasted over several racing seasons. The grip level was correspondingly low . At the end of the 1980s, Prostor tires of Soviet production (Dunlop license) were added. These were tougher and softer. In order to be internationally competitive, tires from western production (mostly Michelin) were increasingly used from the 80s, which was actually forbidden according to the regulations, but was tolerated. Since the late 1970s, this restriction was only enforced by the GDR sports functionaries, the athletes from other socialist countries were not barred from these paths, so the Soviet, Czechoslovak, Romanian etc. cars had long been adorned with stickers of western tires, shock absorbers and other accessory manufacturers.
The racing cars
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In the GDR there have been since the self-made racing cars of the post-war period and a. from Paul Greifzu and the AWE factory racing cars from Eisenach, new successful in-house developments by resourceful inventors like Heinz Melkus or Hartmut Thassler with their Formula Junior and HTS racers. Opposed to this were the SEG racing cars (SEG = Socialist Development Community). The most successful should then be the joint development of Ulli Melkus and Hartmut Thassler, the SRG MT 77 . Many national and international victories have been won with him. Ulli Melkus won the 1985 Cup for Peace and Friendship. The MT 77 cleared almost everything from the beginning to the mid-1980s. It was not until the high-tech racer Estonia of the Soviet national team that the MT 77's triumphant march in international comparison ended. No wonder that the development of this racer was carried out on a large scale with the corresponding state support of the USSR and exotic materials were used for the time, such as wishbones made of titanium. In addition, the Soviet Union interpreted the regulations a little differently than it was intended ( special parts made directly in the Lada plant , which only externally corresponded to the series part).
The Czechoslovak MTX racers were also good and not to be underestimated racers, but they too saw no country against Estonia at the end of the Formula Easter period, which was replaced by the Formula Euro from 1991 and was now completely international.
In 1987 a small group of racing drivers around Tilo Börner, Artur Röhlich and Hartmut Gerstberger built the WK82-88 based on the model of the wing cars by Formula 1 designer Willi Kausen. Their idea and initial development began back in 1982. Despite promising approaches, the WK were never fully developed and the upheaval in Europe put an end to all further efforts.
The developers
A group led by Ulli Melkus , which included many racing drivers and mechanics from Dresden (including Frank Nutschan, Jens Smollich, Henrik Opitz , Stefan Perner, Bernd Kasper, H.-J. Vogel, Nils-Holger Wilms , Holger Galle) , developed (on behalf of and with money from the IFA Passenger Cars Combination ) with the ML 89, a completely new racing car prototype based on the Formula 3 regulations of the time. This turned out to be not competitive. The experience gained was to flow into the successor model ML 90, which was to have above all changes to the wheel suspension and an improved weight distribution (slightly offset engine with dry sump lubrication ). The political turning point in the GDR finally ended the project, the existing frames were fitted with BMW engines and the cars under the designation MB 90 by Ulli Melkus and Bernd Kasper were used a few more times. The development was stopped with the tragic accidental death of Ulli Melkus. Ulli Melkus' MB 90 is owned by the Dresden racing driver Nils-Holger Wilms and, like the ML-89 prototype by Henrik Opitz, is used very successfully by him in the historic HAIGO racing series.
The classes
In addition to the E 1300 class, there was also the E 1600 class in the GDR from 1989, which was introduced in the other socialist countries from 1986, also known as Formula Mondial. Almost all top drivers in the GDR switched to this class in 1989 (the drivers of the national team were allowed to use these engines in international competitions as early as 1987), the GDR champions in this class were Bernd Kasper in 1989 and Henrik Opitz in 1990. In addition, there was also the E600 with Trabant technology, which was planned to a certain extent as a junior racing series and was affectionately known as the “Jan and Tini class”. However, these were only driven on the mountain and there were never any large starting fields here. The E 1300 is completely different, where there were around 50 to 60 active riders at peak times, divided into performance classes (LK) 1 and 2. LK 2 was the entry-level class that everyone had to go through and could only be promoted to LK 1 if successful. In LK 1, the GDR championships and the cup runs were contested, with LK 2 only carrying out a GDR best determination. Only pure series engines were allowed to be driven in LK 2, and the second stage of the standard Lada carburettor had to be deactivated.
The racetracks
At the beginning of the season there was the compulsory spring training on the Schleizer Dreieck , during which the annual technical inspection of all racing classes in the former GDR road racing was carried out. The GDR championship races included both circuit races and hill climbs . This also applied to all motorcycle classes.
The circuit races were all still driven and approved circuits, the Schleizer Dreieck, the Sachsenring and the Frohburger Dreieck . At the end of the 1980s there were plans for a permanent race track in Lusatia according to the current FIA regulations, similar to the Hungaroring in Hungary and the Automotodrom Brno in Czechoslovakia . The race track was to be built in a former open- cast lignite mine and extensive plans were already forged in the ADMV . The financing, which would have to be provided primarily by the state, would have used up all the funds available for the maintenance of the last three remaining circuits in the GDR, solely for the construction of the new route. For this reason, the project was not carried out.
The mountain races counting towards the championship were the Kyffhäuserberg race near Nordhausen , the Heubergrennen in Friedrichroda , the Glasbachberg race near Bad Liebenstein , the Rödertal race and until 1988 the Naumburg vineyard race .
For several years now, the Historic Automobile Racing Interest Group East Germany (HAIGO) has been organizing a classic car racing series for Formula Easter cars. Touring cars of the former A600 and A1300 can also be seen in the HAIGO. In addition, some of the vehicles start in regularity tests on the old racetracks.