A rally ace from Austria
Gerhard Aigner lives the rally sport. The Upper Austrian born in Vorchdorf is usually much slower on the road, as he is a self-employed coach entrepreneur, in everyday life. However, his relationship to gasoline and metal is already present from childhood - old cars and engines ‘have always impressed him’. As a teenager, he then completes the training to become a car mechanic - by doing so, he comes a bit closer to his passion.
It is not only the profession and his personal passion for classic cars that make the topic of welding a standard repertoire for Gerhard. The fascination with rally sport, which he has been allowed to experience starting with his early childhood and up close in his hometown Vorchdorf, also makes welding indispensable. For Gerhard gets actively involved in the competition in the future!
A Fronius welding machine has been part of the family inventory for decades. So Gerhard shortly rebuilds a 20-year-old Mazda to a fire-ball that is fit for a rally: He welds the vitally important steel tube cage into the interior by hand. But even years later - by now Gerhard has reached the top of Austria’s rally in the state championship as a semi-professional driver with professional equipment - the racing routine for the team is always a major challenge: The chassis, the shock absorbers and the shock absorber mounts are exposed to extreme loads. Exhaust, transmission and differential - generally everything that is on the under chassis of the vehicle is under threat to be torn down, occasionally.
In the last race, for example, Gerhard misses the track, gets into skidding and flies backwards into the embankment. The rear bumper tears off, the exhaust bends it at the end pot by 180 °. The Rally team is being challenged ... between the individual race sections, the mechanics then have 30 minutes to repair the car: Profound welding skills and mobile welding input are therefore essential - not seldom, the area of application for professional welding tools.
In the live demonstration on the Product News Day, it is demonstrated with the help of a TransSteel 2200 how to respond to this real-life situation adequately: The exhaust is welded - a norm in fast racing practice. The multi-process capability of the TransSteel can demonstrate its full potential here, as the TIG welding process is ideally suited for welding the different types of sheet metal used on the car.
