Racing 944 turbos

[Andy97]

Was at Snetterton last sat racing my Fiat Uno (far better than it sounds!!) and the Porsche Club Championship and Porsche Open were there. (Great racing BTW). But there were no 944T's in evidence. I have had a very brief scan of the regs and there is no mention of the 944T being eligible for the Club series. Have I missed something? I thought that the 944T was a Class A car and ran alongside the 968 CS & 964RS. None in the Open series, either. A great shame.

However, there is a 944 Turbo Cup entered for the GT90 Revival race at Silverstone on the 4-6 May. Can't think that it will be competitive amongst the McLaren F1's and Porsche GT1s etc but its good to see it out.

 

[Diver944]

Last time I scanned the Regs it is not eligible for the Club Championship but it can enter the Open (anything can) but it has to go in one of the three the appropriate classes for it's power to weight ratio.

Officially it has been omitted from the Club championship due to difficulties in policing the boost and power settings but reading between the lines of some comments I have seen, the 944T racers feel it's because te car is too competitive and so has to go up against the very expensive machinery in class 1 or 2 of the Open

 

[Andy97]

ORIGINAL: Diver944

Last time I scanned the Regs it is not eligible for the Club Championship but it can enter the Open (anything can) but it has to go in one of the three the appropriate classes for it's power to weight ratio.

Officially it has been omitted from the Club championship due to difficulties in policing the boost and power settings but reading between the lines of some comments I have seen, the 944T racers feel it's because te car is too competitive and so has to go up against the very expensive machinery in class 1 or 2 of the Open

A shame that politics has to get in the way.

 

[chrisg]

Andy

I saw some of the Uno's heading back along the A14 on Sunday night. I've always thought these looked like good value. Where can one find out information about the race series ? How much for a good competitive 2nd hand car /

C

 

[Andy97]

ORIGINAL: chrisg

Andy

I saw some of the Uno's heading back along the A14 on Sunday night. I've always thought these looked like good value. Where can one find out information about the race series ? How much for a good competitive 2nd hand car /

C

Chris my car is not a a car from the Fiat Racing series, although you can find out about this at http://www.fiatracing.com/. Should not be at all expensive to buy and race one of these. I saw one for sale on ebay very recently and I'm not sure that it sold. They are about and should be very cheap to run (in racing terms).

My car is a bit more developed than a Fiat Challenge car and was previously used by a guy called Neil Smith to win the Auto-Italia series in 2002 (now the LMA EuroSaloons series). Neil is a seriously quick driver & humbled many more exotic cars in it. It has a 1372 n/a engine, is very light and stiff (with an impressive Rollcentre Cage) and handles well - it just grips & goes. Great fun but a bit scruffy. I paid £2K for it & that included a new set of tyres, new belts and extinguisher & a hire fee for one race before I decided to buy it was waived. I am not that quick in it yet as I am still getting used to it & am not as good as Neil!

I race the car in the Classic Sports Car Club's "Tin Tops" series for 1 or 2 drivers. 40 min races with a compulsory pit stop. These are good value in racing terms with RELATIVELY low entry fees (which I share with a team mate). We were pretty competitive at Snetterton 21/4 despite a problem in practice that restricted us to just 4 laps (engine mounting bolt came out & dropped the engine 2 inches & pulled a drive shaft out!). I started 27th and last on the grid but had a good start & overtook 5-6 cars in the first few laps (all 1600-2000 cars such as Pug 205s, Metros GTis & MG Maestros). We eventually finished 15th out of 20 finishers & second in class.

Some photos of the car in action at Snetterton can be found here:

http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u224/Andy97_photos/dl210407069AY.jpg
http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u224/Andy97_photos/dl210407072uno.jpg
http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u224/Andy97_photos/dl210407076intochicane.jpg
http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u224/Andy97_photos/dl210407077holdingtheline.jpg
http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u224/Andy97_photos/dl210407081uno.jpg

The black & orange 2 litre Maestro, No 25 and I had a great battle. He was one of the cars I managed to overtake early on but he kept coming back at me. He would catch me up under braking but I seemed to get better exit speed & he could not get passed me on the straight before the next corner. When my team mate took over he gradually pulled out a gap until the finish.

Apologies for hijacking this in to non porsche territory but he did ask!!

PS & just to get this back on track, The Classic & Sports Car Club are introducing a new series later this year for "Future Classics" - same idea: 40 min, 2 driver races for road based Sports & GT cars, with the emphasis on enjoyment (no turbos). I reckon a 944 S2 would do well in this series. See details here:
http://www.classicsportscarclub.co.uk/FutureClassics.htm

Note the good value entry fees, for an introductory period - £99!!!!!

 

[Diver944]

ORIGINAL: Andy97

Apologies for hijacking this in to non porsche territory but he did ask!!

No worries, I always love reading about peoples racing antics. It looks a good fun series and excuse me for being simplistic but just the varied colour schemes gets my attention []

I hope the Future Classics series gets off the ground - could be interesting.

 

[Andy97]

I'll be out in the Fiat at Brands Hatch on sunday, if anyone wants to come along and say hi. A good opportunity to talk to the club about "Future Classics", too. I am sure that the series will get off the ground.