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Welcome to dbRacing
This is a website telling the story of the racing seasons of David Botterill ( hence dbRacing ) and other things Porsche.
Inside the site you can find out about the cars that I own, read my own version of what happened in the race reports, see other competitors with their cars and join our discussion forums. There's even a few video clips.
We're looking forward to the 2008 racing season. Those who visit the website regularly will see a new logo at the top of the page. Following a very successful inaugural event at Snetterton in November 2007, the GT Cup series is to be launched in 2008 for a full season and I intend to be there.
Porsche Club Championship
The Porsche Club Championship is unchanged for 2008. The 964 that I campaigned in 2007 is back in my hands again for 2008 and following nearly a full years development the car is pretty well sorted. For yet another year the 944 turbo is omitted, but developments in the GT Cup offer a promising home for those who want a good series to race them in, though other cars from the Porsche stable may also be drawn there..
There has been little interest in development of the Boxster models for the Championship. One did make a debut, but after some initial problems the car has seen some improvement and has been close to the pace a few times, but ultimately the engine seems to have a very short life in competition.
Here are the race dates for 2008. Following on from 2007 there are some high profile interesting meetings this year, being a support race to the Britcar 24 hour race at Silverstone (without the lads from Top Gear this year), a late visit to Spa and the A1GP meeting at Brands Hatch in May.
| Donington GP | March 24th |
| Snetterton | April 5th/6th - Double Header |
| Oulton Park | April 19th - Double Header |
| Brands Hatch GP | May 2nd/3rd/4th - Double Header |
| Siverstone Historic GP | July 25th/26th/27th - Double Header |
| Brands Hatch | August 16th - Double Header |
| Castle Combe | August 25th - Double Header |
| Silverstone International | September19th/20th - Double Header |
| Spa | October 3rd/4th/5th - Double Header |
Sad to see that Croft remains missing from the calendar, and there's still no return to Rockingham or Thruxton.
GT Cup
Following the inaugural race in 2007, the GT Cup takes the green flag proper
in 2008 with a full race series, aimed at amateur drivers with cars of FIA
GT3 specification or less. The series will be split into three classes,
with Porsche 997 GT3 and Ferrari 430 expected to be in the majority. In
Class two there are the 996 GT3's,993RSR's, Ferrari 360 and an assortment
of other makes such as Morgan, Ginetta and Lotus. Originally scheduled to
have just two classes, regulations still in development have a third class
into which various Porsche such as 944 Turbo, 993,968 and various TVR's
will fall.
Equalisation will be considered particularly of the faster cars which participated at Snetterton with the intention of ensuring all the cars in the fastest class are pegged to the most modern GTC pace, and there is to be a success ballast regime in place to ensure close racing.
Here are the race dates for 2008. They are well spread throughout the year, at good circuits, including a visit to Croft and the Brands Hatch GP circuit.
| Donington GP | April 13th/14th |
| Anglesey International | May 17th/18th |
| Oulton Park International | June 27th/28th |
| Snetterton | July 19th/20th |
| Brands Hatch GP | August 9th |
| Croft | September 27th/28th |
| Silverstone International | October 19th |
| Brands Hatch | November 8th/9th |
All races are double headers, each race being around 30 minutes in length with a free practice in addition to qualifying meaning there is no need to test. Each race is also to be televised.
Northern Sports and Saloon Car Championship
The NSSCC is a race series based around the Croft circuit in North Yorkshire. The series, which is open to pretty much any type of car attracts good fields of competitors. Technical regulations are few and it gives a good chance to compete against cars of very different characteristics.
The calendar for 2008 is very similar to 2007, though with an increased bias towards Croft than in recent years.
2007 was a repeat of the 2006 successes where I won class B , came third overall despite a significant DNF at Cadwell & missed round at the end of the season, and was also the Evening Gazette trophy for the highest placed competitor from their region, so it's going to be a challenge to match that high level of achievement again.
The final race calendar, which has a late start, for 2008 is as follows:
| Croft | May 17th/18th - Double Header |
| Croft | June 14th/15th |
| Anglesey | June 28th/29th - Double Header |
| Croft | July 19th/20th |
| Knockhill | August 3rd |
| Mallory Park | August 10th |
| Croft | August 30th/31st |
| Knockhill | September 14th |
| Croft | September 27th/28th - Double header |
Sadly, though there are no clashes with Porsche Club, there are a number of overlaps between the NSSCC and GT Cup, so I am going to have to miss some rounds.
Latest Update:-
January 3, 2008 18:40
