The 2012 PCGB Club Championship

[StuartR16]

Yes Baz they are great guys and I am sorry but I should have posted a big thank you to them for working on my top mount until 11pm on the Friday night before the race day at brands and it only cost me a couple of boxes of beer. Even Ben was helping and he had his reward in race 2 the next day. So thanks to you and your team, keep up the good work. Stu,

 

[964RS]

Old Hall tightens up but I was blind with the gaggle of cars and being 3 or 4 cars abreast there was little room to move to the right. Sodden grass doesn't take any prisoners. [] Thankfully I didn't collect anybody. Had a clearer track and made some progress afterwards. []

 

[spyderman]

ORIGINAL: rsy944 Yes, he was using Druids to practice his spinning and it came in very handy for him on the first bend at the start of race 1. ( see vid )

That truly was a brown trouser moment!

Race 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DyKnREtmRy8

Fabulous to watch! I was on the edge of my seat (my computer chair doesn't have a harness) watching. The gear ratio differences are obvious between yours and my 3.2. Its obvious the Strasse 964 (?) has more power but you were right up there with him in the corners.

 

[Steve Brookes]

ORIGINAL: rsy944 I have the smallest engine out there, 25kg overweight, this was my fourth ever race meeting and the track day on Tuesday was the first time at Oulton so I am chuffed to bits with the result of 5/10 in class and wheel to wheel with some class 1 cars. Had a great time at Brands but learnt so much more at Oulton. Like Paul, I am a one man band with Elaine to help out where she can and also like Paul, ever improving.

Hi Stuart, I didn't realize that you were on here too. Here's one I snapped of you []

p.s. Great opportunist overtake on the last lap! [8D]

 

[Neil Haughey]

Well done Stuart as well, your making great progress with that little car. Does anyone know if Lee is OK? I presume that was him in the boxster that spun off behind mr F and spanked it good and proper after Cascades? Just been watching Ben D's vid on youtube. Did someone drop oil or something down there?

 

[paulf968]

Neil Is there a link to Ben's video? Lee was I believe OK, he was actually behind me just as it happened, really pressing on out of the corner and right on my bumper, then he pulled to the left quickly in what i thought was an overtaking move. Then I just lost him from my mirrors, only to see his car next time round having attacked the tyre wall. ........ it won't be cheap.

 

[964RS]

ORIGINAL: paulf968 Neil Is there a link to Ben's video? Lee was I believe OK, he was actually behind me just as it happened, really pressing on out of the corner and right on my bumper, then he pulled to the left quickly in what i thought was an overtaking move. Then I just lost him from my mirrors, only to see his car next time round having attacked the tyre wall. ........ it won't be cheap.

[link=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjDypNukDJs&feature=channel&list=UL]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjDypNukDJs&feature=channel&list=UL[/link]

 

[vitesse]

And there were we all thinking you are an engineer-when all along you are a trumpet player.[][]

 

[Neil Haughey]

Vid of Lee's crash is up http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IsjunNmej4

 

[Steve Brookes]

ORIGINAL: Neil Haughey Well done Stuart as well, your making great progress with that little car. Does anyone know if Lee is OK? I presume that was him in the boxster that spun off behind mr F and spanked it good and proper after Cascades? Just been watching Ben D's vid on youtube. Did someone drop oil or something down there?

I watched him go off while I was standing at the bottom of Cascades. My initial thought was that he put two wheels on the grass on the exit but Ben's video doesn't bare that out. I didn't see any of the following cars having trouble there so don't think it was a problem with the track. I also saw Ben go off (as shown in the video) at nearly the same place as Lee on the first safety car lap but looking at the footage he seemed to have a problem with the car already that started as he went round old Hall. Out of intererst, does anyone know why the 3.2 boxsters don't have spoiler? All the 911s with automatic spoilers have to have it in the fixed position. Maybe having no spoiler could have contributed to Lee oversteering on a very high speed exit?

 

[Neil Haughey]

I did think similar Steve, it sounds and looks from the vid like he made a couple of sharp lifts to avoid running into the back of mr F and this caused the car to bite hard in a very rapid lift off oversteer mode. Really scary if true as it looked unrecoverable as soon as the car stepped out of line. Scarily familiar in fact [&o], in my case at Brands I heard the inside wheel spin up, started to lift and then the outside right gripped hard very suddenly and kicked the car round rather than it sliding round.

 

[MarkK]

Points are up on the motorsport site,plus some pics in the gallery[]

 

[paulf968]

Link to points for conveneince http://www.porscheclubmotorsport.co.uk/sites/default/files/files/02%20Porsche%20Club%20Championship%20Points%20after%20Oulton%20Park%2002_06_12.pdf

 

[StuartR16]

At Brands I had just passed the apex of paddock hill when Karim braked and I lifted, the back stepped out too quick for me to catch and ended up against the barrier but recovered. When these Boxsters go past a certain point they spin like a top. As with the spoiler the 2.5 can have the boot mounted type but class 1 Boxsters can only have the extendable one either fixed up or down

 

[Steve Brookes]

ORIGINAL: rsy944 As with the spoiler the 2.5 can have the boot mounted type but class 1 Boxsters can only have the extendable one either fixed up or down

Thanks Stu. It looks like they all run with it fixed down. If I were them I would have it fixed up. Porsche put spoilers on the boxster for a reason, not to look pretty (in fact they look pretty ugly when up []). My reasoning for this is that once on a trackday (in my 964) I had a very unstable rear end in high speed corners and found out that it was because the auto spoiler mechanism had broken and therefore I was running with the spoiler down. They might only be small spoilers but they certainly play an important roll.

 

[964RS]

ORIGINAL: Steve Brookes

ORIGINAL: rsy944 As with the spoiler the 2.5 can have the boot mounted type but class 1 Boxsters can only have the extendable one either fixed up or down

Thanks Stu. It looks like they all run with it fixed down. If I were them I would have it fixed up. Porsche put spoilers on the boxster for a reason, not to look pretty (in fact they look pretty ugly when up []). My reasoning for this is that once on a trackday (in my 964) I had a very unstable rear end in high speed corners and found out that it was because the auto spoiler mechanism had broken and therefore I was running with the spoiler down. They might only be small spoilers but they certainly play an important roll.

I had a very unstable rear end at the first corner of the first race I can tell you! []

 

[MarkK]

I did a full double 360 at Druids in Quali,was very close to gravel!

 

[bazhart]

The problem we have is that with the spoiler up the cars are obviously slower on the straights and some of our main rivals (996 and 993) have a power to weight advantage that enables them to pull away – while we have not yet done anything to tune up our cars (within the regs) so if we ran with spoilers up we would be slower on the straights and run lower lap times and don't have the torque they do to benefit from the extra rear grip exiting the corners. From all my analysis the 964’s are OK (just driven so well and particularly by Mark Sumpter – no complaints there) plus – although the cars are relatively new to them - their teams are more experienced than us. I have made my case to the organisers about the power to weight anomalies before the season started and they have proven to be right from all the evidence of the first races – but not yet with the results (for a variety of reasons) so I doubt any action will be taken. But I am not doing anything more about it because it is seen as bad form and anyway I don’t want to fall out with everyone over it – we must try and win despite the rules and ratios and just hope it is corrected one day. The main error this weekend was my lack of race craft experience as I didn’t think to get our new wet tyres scrubbed in or our spare new dry tyres scrubbed in - before we thought we needed them for the last race and I think this is why Ben slid off. Not having the right tyres on for qualifying put Ben further down the start line than he wanted and in trying to pass all those ahead I think he finished off the old tyres on the car. We need to get away nearer the front in future. However he also had an off avoiding another car (see video – nothing else he could do) on the preceeding lap and this slide may have damaged the rear tyre tread further or caused the inner wheel arch liner to shift and catch the front wheel and influence his later spin - don't think we will ever know now. Either way I need to think more about some of these smaller issues and prepare better in future. I think our thoughts have been concentrating more on bigger issues like suspension geometry and settings, tyre pressures and keeping these new cars running and these have been our main focus with such a new car and Marcus's first race event remember (and only Ben's second). We will try not make those tyre mistakes again – although I suspect there will be others we have not yet had to experience that will form part of our learning curve that many others have already been through.. Mind you many others had bigger problems - so we have not been unlucky - just learning as we go - there is no other way to accumulate experience - as annoying as that fact is. Overall we are very very happy with our results but I am personally annoyed with myself for not having enough brain power to think about those other issues and also think out that whole tyre scenario. Baz

 

[paulf968]

Mark, --- yes, the grip at Druids was poor all day long, I could not believe how 'light' the steering wheel went as soon as I passed onto the lighter coloured tarmac just before the first apex. Baz, it is so refreshing that you are giving us insight into some of the issues that are revealed as you get further into this racing lark. So many things can and do happen, bit like trying to complete a jig-saw whilst someone is occasionally shaking the table quite violently! Good luck, need both your cars to do very well at Donington [][]

 

[bazhart]

Thanks Paul, the problem is we have found that everyone else (however well intentioned) gives us a different picture of the puzzle - so we realised we have to develop/make up the picture ourselves while being inthe middle of trying to complete the puzzle at the same time. We will try to do better at Donnington. Baz