The company STL in Windeck

How did the idea of developing a full-motion simulator come about?

This idea came about through the hobby of motorsport. Thorsten Lingnau was already enthusiastic about motorsport when he was a child. At that time it started with “telegames” on the home television, which quickly no longer satisfied the needs.

The next step was then a kart and driving for hours on various kart tracks in Germany. When a motorcycle was bought when he came of age, Thorsten was able to continue to prove his skills at various track days. Then came the Nordschleife and, for safety reasons, the switch to the car with long years of “tourist drives”.

At the same time, the topic of virtual motorsport and virtual reality was never neglected. With his own IT company, Thorsten focused on VR glasses as early as the late 1990s. At this point he had already built a prototype that is still fully functional today. The company STL Windeck emerged from this DNA.

The network connected to SimRacing Center is constantly being expanded and is the largest network in Germany.

Enthusiasm for motor sports and inventiveness

Unfortunately, at that time the technology was not yet ready to implement Thorsten’s vision at the time, so the VR topic was put on hold for an indefinite period of time. However, virtual motorsport continued to accompany Thorsten. Thorsten initially screwed a steering wheel to his desk, which was quickly replaced by a fixed seat with a steering wheel and pedals.

However, Thorsten missed the “real” driving experience that he experienced in his countless laps on the Nordschleife.

This was the starting point for motion systems. After initial testing of the systems that were on the market at the time, it quickly became clear that these systems could not convey the driving experience Thorsten had imagined. There was only one solution, to plan and implement your own concept for a motion simulator. That was the starting point for the ACTORACER® simulator. After around ten years of sales with constant further development of the components and software, the ACTORACER® is one of the most popular full-motion simulators on the market.