Britcar 24hr - 968

[w00044]

Following on from Paul's post over in the Motorsport section https://www.porscheclubgb.com/forum/tm.asp?m=865422 i'm pleased to say that it's official a 968 will be running:

4 great drivers all with a connection to the marque and the particular car.

Paul Follet who raced the car in the Club Championship
Jonathan Evans who bought the car from Paul and raced in a number of Series's
Ben Demetriou who trained both of the above and as many will know had many successful seasons in the Club Championship including winning class 1 in a 968
Alex Ecock from EMC, a seasoned racer who was one of the drivers who first raced this car in the 24hr race in 2007 (The Top Gear year).

The car will be supported by EMC and we all know there isn't anyone better in that respect.

So get the date in your diaries and come along and support us, more details here: Britcar 24hr

I've offered my services to the team...... surprisingly that was declined for anything to do with driving or mechanical [] but I will be looking after everything media for the team.

More detailed information to follow, hopefully we are looking to get as many 968 owners (or other Porsche owners) names on the roof for a small donation, It's also looking like Porsche World will be doing an article on the team and also the Caymans that are running.

This could well be in some respects the 968's final hurrah in this level of Motorsport so I hope all 968 owners will get behind the team and as many in person at the race.

Andy

 

[w00044]

A little more information slowly filtering through: http://www.chfed.org.uk/events-and-fundraising/chf500-dunlop-24hr/ Car is being painted/wrapped soon:

Will also be an opportunity to win a track day at silverstone in the race car likely to be for 4/5 winners/drivers on the day but still plenty of laps and some free training with a race instructor by your side, again will report back when I have more info. Hope some 968 or other Porsche owners can make the day/night as I think it's going to be a great 24 hours!

 

[MarkK]

This is a great opportunity to see a full blown 968 endurance racecar competing in a 24 hr race,lets hope they raise some money,have fun and bring the car back in one peice,its a great car that will be totally rebuilt for the occasion piloted by some of the best 968 hands around.I am going to try and attend for a little while and view from the grandstands,might be a good opportunity for a register meet!? Would be great to see the 968 do well again they make such good racecars,Good luck to the team and car!

 

[paulf968]

Ben D has told me that the mechanical work on the car should be finished at the end of March by EMC, then a shakedown + run in, before we map the fresh engine on a dyno against the fuel supplied in the race. ........... so plans developing nicely for the car. A gentle nudge about our fundraising effort. Can I appeal to you all to think about making a donation through JustGiving towards our ambitious charity total. 2 donations so far on our way to a £24k total -- The Children's Heart Federation is such a worthy cause and needs little introduction. Giving link here, your proceeds from JustGiving and any Gift Aid uplift goes direct to the charity : https://www.justgiving.com/Team-CHF500

 

[MarkK]

Best of luck Mr F!! I am positive the folks in our huge club will be able to raise a bit for you,many hands make light work etc!

 

[spyderman]

Entry tickets are discounted until 14th March as follows: RRP £45 Single ticket discounted to £35 Pair of tickets discounted to £50 https://www.britcar24hr.co.uk/home/24-hour-2015-tickets/ Note that you can park inside the circuit for £10 - handy if you want to sleep in the car! Chris.

 

[paulf968]

Hi, donations are starting to roll in for our 'Team CHF' charity fundraiser in a Porsche 968 Thank you to everyone who has helped so far, almost at £400 but a long way to go yet: If we can encourage you to make a donation to the cause that would be just great, donating is simple via this link: https://www.justgiving.com/Team-CHF500 More information in an online booklet form here: http://issuu.com/jessicalittlewood/docs/justgiving_package Come and say hi at the race.........

 

[paulf968]

It might be 1st April! ... but someone has made a massive donation to our JustGiving page, so it must be true, topped £2000 now, with 3 weeks to go. Can I urge any more of you to help our total along for this worthy children's charity, it is easy via: https://www.justgiving.com/Team-CHF500 ....... thank you.

 

[Carrera]

hi Guys can I briefly mention have arranged a visit to EMC Motorsport SAT 20 TH JUNE in the morning for the register at their premises Adderley Rd Saltley B'ham B81DX Ken Coad PS EMC prepared the race car

 

[Big Dave]

Flippin heck. I hope Kevin has had a bit of a clean up...Its a proper working garage....[][][][]

 

[paulf968]

Update as posted this morning in the motorsport section: ................... Apologies not been around here of late .......... #patheticexcuses !! Quick update with a week to go, the race starts on Sat 25th at 16:00 hrs. NB day quali Friday at 13.35 and night quali at 19.45 also on Friday The car had a gentle shakedown at a damp Silverstone on April 2nd - Ben, Alex & Paul ran the engine in and when drier later with some higher revs was slotting in regular 2m 35's which will be close to our target time in the race. The only issue was the ABS, this did not seem to work at all - despite having a re-set switch in the dash, so we all drove without it -- just like the old days! Thank you so much RMA for giving us an FOC slot to exercise the old girl. The car was then wrapped, see a decent picture on my facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/paul.follett.940 NB. Kev at EMC has made a really nice job of fitting the dump churn socket & breather valve in the car for refuelling, you can see it in the photo. Lots of little things left to do on the car eg extra lights, illuminated number back-panel, fit live position panel, sort driver ventilation out, add all the race decals, add rear window glare reduction, new steering wheel, fit shorter wheel studs to save time at pit stops etc etc AND the latest is that we will be at Donington on Monday 20th for our second and final shakedown before bringing the car to Silverstone on Thursday evening, ready for quali sessions on Friday Prov entry list here: http://www.britcar24hr.co.uk/home/provisional-entry-list/ be informed that we will be one of the slowest cars in what is a rather small field - I predict that we will be one of the slowest 5 cars in the race. We are developing a 'tortoise v hare' strategy ........ did you notice that Ginetta are fielding one of their new LMP3 cars with Chris Hoy as one of the drivers, wow! we are in illustrious company. (think they will be lapping +30 seconds per lap faster than us !!) Tickets !! This has been a journey with Britcar that has led us absolutely nowhere. In previous years races, batches of 50 could be bought from Britcar by teams for a small amount of money. This year if we need more we have to pay full public price for extras....... so sorry, no general 'deal' available here for forum users All I can say is that if i find a few tickets going spare at the circuit later in the week, I will personally distribute them as best I can. So PM me by Wed night 23rd April if you might be interested in getting a late ticket or two and I will see if I can pull a rabbit out of the hat! ........ all I can do is my best in the circumstances. I will not mention fundraising here in detail, as can offend the forum code. Fundraising update for TEAM CHF500: Suffice to say we have raised almost £2.5k for the children's charity through: https://www.justgiving.com/Team-CHF500 , thank you. AND breaking news is that Jonathan Evans who himself donates a lot to this charity, has done the most amazing thing through his contacts in the business world ---- he has been able to add £00,000's to the TEAM CHF500 charity total, more will be revealed as and when this goes public....... Any questions at all? just fire them in here .............

 

[paulf968]

Getting very close now: ... the car arrives at the circuit at lunchtime tomorrow, bit of scrutineering for it and driver sign on for us. We will practice driver changes and wheel changes to minimise time in the pits during the race. first track action on Friday, with warm up. day quali and night quali. most of the track action can be followed with live timing by following this link, which also includes a timetable, so you can map out your weekend! http://www.tsl-timing.com/event/151763

 

[paulf968]

We finished & had a great race .........!! Results pack here to support a brief story below: http://www.tsl-timing.com/file/?f=EERC/2015/151763b24.pdf We qualified 28th slowest in a 29 car field, and went on to finish 12th of 14 classified finishers .... and the only Porsche to be classified in the results as the two 911's entered did not finish. Not a scratch on the car despite some very challenging conditions during the wet night running, no off's and our only unplanned pitstop for mechanical issues was for a weeping flexible brake hose (braided) to the FNS caliper, fixed with great style by the EMC pit crew in about 5 minutes. Fastest lap times for all the cars in the race varied from 2m 02s for the Ginetta LMP3 car to 2m 40s for the Fiesta that also finished. We posted a 2m 32s in the race and as mentioned were the second slowest car in the field. So to battle it out with all that other exotica, finish as strong as we started and grab 12th was amazing. Knowing that we were so slow, our only option was to adopt a 'tortoise and hare' strategy -- and how nicely it worked out for us. Also, the consistency of the 4 drivers was a great help, it meant a decent average on lap times and we all had proven ability to cope with race traffic. We used no engine oil, temperatures and oil pressure stayed where they should for the whole time and Kev and Alex at EMC are to be commended for making the whole of the car so bullet proof for the race. NB. In quali we did change the rear dampers as the relatively old shocks on the car had a seized adjuster on one side and a suspicion of degassing on the other. Some stats: Just had a look at the results in more depth, sad I know! 459 laps was travelled which is 1680 miles (or 2688 km), over the whole 24hrs we averaged 70 mph (112 km/hr) including stops! Fastest lap went to Jonathan Evans on lap 437 in a time of 2m 32.3, which is almost exactly 80 mph average speed on the 3.66 mile circuit (128 km/hr). I am liking those stats ............. Lots of pictures on my facebook page, sorry too many to post here: https://www.facebook.com/paul.follett.940

 

[spyderman]

I've posted a gallery of photos of Team CHF500 on Flickr - just click the photo: