The 2012 Porsche Club Championship

[964RS]

So the new season is nearly upon us.

May 5th Brands Hatch Indy Circuit
June 2nd Oulton Park International, Cheshire
June 30th Donington Park, Leicestershire
July 21st Croft, N. Yorkshire
August 11th Oulton Park International, Cheshire
August 27th Castle Combe, Wiltshire
September 21/22 Silverstone (Grand Prix), Northants (triple header meeting)

I hope you can join me for some of the events during the year. I'll get you free entry tickets where I can. The tickets get you into the infield and the pits area. It's pretty much all areas access. Silverstone is the season finale and we share the weekend with the BritCar 24hr boys. The competition is serious but the banter is all but.

This year will be more interesting than ever as we have Boxster S's and 996s' joining us!

I'll be campaigning a 944 S2 this year. (The 964RS and the 968CS are taking a well-earned rest this year!)

I'm sure that lots of you have done track days at these circuits - now you see how fast the cars go when they've been stripped bare!

 

[Melv]

Hey Paul -will gladly support May 5th.

 

[Hacki]

Paul,

long time no see.

Fingers crossed here for a good season. Keep us posted, please!

Hacki

 

[964RS]

Full race report for the Oulton Park round now up on the Strasse team and the races on www.porschesport.com

I managed to complete both races without damage despite an 'off' in Round 1 in the poor conditions. My 944 S2 is putting up a good fight against the might of the ex-Class 1 boys in their 968's!

 

[Melv]

Nice one Paul!! And appreciate your attendance at a very damp Harewood!!

 

[carreraboy]

How are you dealing with the 968's[]

 

[964RS]

ORIGINAL: carreraboy

How are you dealing with the 968's[]

Friends, John Holstead and his wife, joined me for the day at Oulton Park and they had a great view of the racing action at The Avenue despite the rain. It was great that Steve Brookes also joined us.

The qualifying session was horrendous - in the rain. I had 3 spins and I over-shot Knickerbrook chicane twice. I was called to see the Clerk of the Course and The Senior Clerk of the Course and I got a severe rap on the knuckles for not controlling my car sufficiently in the conditions. Oops. I had to promise to drive within my abilities and with respect to the poor conditions.

The first race started badly with 4 cars abreast going into Old Hall and my car stepping on to the grass and subsequently spinning across the track. Thankfully - I didn't collect anybody. I was expecting another call to the Headmaster's study. Richard Ellis went off track to avoid colliding with me. I recovered and I managed to get a few places back and finished 6th in Class 2.

In separate incidents: a number of cars collided including Richard Higgins and John Maculloch and Richard Higgins collided with Richard Ellis due to brake failure. John Macullogh rolled at Foulston's chicane. John was okay but the car needs major repairs. I had to avoid 3 loose tyres, from the tyre wall, rolling across the track at Lakeside in the aftermath of John's accident.

The second race was better for me. Paul Seagrave span off in front of me at the same corner I did, Old Hall, and crashed but managed to return to the track. My final position was 7th.

The races were recorded and should feature in a motorsport racing magazine programme on Motors TV. We should be receiving a DVD of the aired video.

No podium places for me but the good news is that I'm now in 5th place in the Class 2 championship and 10th in the overall Championship - out of 29 competitors. Let's hope I can maintain this place or even improve on it. I haven't a hope of keeping up with the 968's. I've voiced a complaint to the race organiser that the 968's are not handicapped sufficiently but I was told to race faster! The Class 2 968's carry a 30kg penalty over the Class 1 968's but they have 240BHP compared to the 211BHP of the 944 S2.

I'm delighted to announce that I've been offered a place in the 'Strasse Racing' team. The other team drivers Chris Dyer, Richard Ellis and Dave Botterill are all very experienced and I'm looking forward to learning from them.

My next race is at Donington Park on Saturday 30th June. This event includes truck racing - in a separate race from mine hopefully!

 

[964RS]

ORIGINAL: Melv

Nice one Paul!! And appreciate your attendance at a very damp Harewood!!

We enjoyed the day. You always have our support. It was a (cold & wet) pleasure! []

 

[spyderman]

ORIGINAL: 964RS
My next race is at Donington Park on Saturday 30th June. This event includes truck racing - in a separate race from mine hopefully!

At least if you spin there in qual, you can say to the CofTheC "it was diesel on the track, boss!"

#88 Chris.

 

[carreraboy]

How do they calculate the handicap with the 968's it seems to be a bit punitive .... and so early in the contest, you are certainly driving the nutz of that 944, as I saw at Brands maybe you could have shaved .5 second at best, but you seem to be driving at the limit of the car. Well done with your new teamates[]

 

[Steve Brookes]

ORIGINAL: 964RS

I'm delighted to announce that I've been offered a place in the 'Strasse Racing' team. The other team drivers Chris Dyer, Richard Ellis and Dave Botterill are all very experienced and I'm looking forward to learning from them.

That's great news Paul. []

 

[ChrisW]

30 Kg's difference --- so that's less than 3% in weigh terms, and a round 15% in power terms ?

Well done at Harewood Melv [] !

 

[Neil Haughey]

Well I did say it as well to Steve and before on here over in the similar thread in the 968 section. The fact that the 2.7 boxster has the same power gap to the boxster S yet has a 185 Kg advantage sticks out like a sore thumb in comparison as its basically double the weight difference. Maybe when all the 68s have finally moved into class 2 they will change it [].

 

[964RS]

The season is now finished.

The wet season meant that I never even touched on the true potential of the car until we got to Silverstone. I took a confidence knock at Croft with the suspension failure and the dread of wet races moved me into depression. Castle Combe was so bad, particularly Race 2 in torrential rain, that I nearly retired the car.

Fair play to Stuart Ings he came good at the last rounds at Silverstone to beat me to 4th place overall in Class 2. My starts were all poor and I had to fight hard to get any places back. I managed to get a 6th and 2 5th places against the mighty 968's. To place 5th is ok I hope for my first full season as a solo entrant. Overall 12th in the Championship.

I even beat my target lap time for the Bill Taylor Memorial Trophy by several seconds and one of my lap times was within 0.15 of the target. Even the Porsche model in a fish tank trophy was elusive.

Next stop the award ceremony - albeit nothing for me.


Thanks to Chris W, my friends and colleagues who joined us at the track during the year. It was great for morale!

Big thanks to Team Strasse who invited me to join their team this year and to race their 2010 Championship winning car.

 

[carreraboy]

Well done Paul ..... maybe the 68's will have more ballast next year![]

 

[Hacki]

Thanks for keeping us posted, Paul!

Racing is a dirty, thankless job, but someone has to do it. What´s the plan for 2013?

Best,

Hacki