dbRacing - Race Report Spa Francochamps 9/10th October 2004

Porsche Club Race Report Spa Francochamps 9/10th October 2004

Car - 924 Carrera GT

Practice

Going back to Spa was like going back home for me. I was in a familiar area, having travelled on a familiar boat, with a familiar hotel and had the opportunity to meet up with some former work colleagues. ( I didn't get familiar with them !) The Belgian food was superb. Absence certainly makes the heart grow fonder, and that's without considering the beers.

However we were here to race and the first order of the day was scrutineering. There was much chatter in the paddock about the scrutineering procedures, particularly as they seemed to believe we were racing to FIA regulations on seats and belts. This was news to me, and I was to be one of the cars told that my seatbelts were unacceptable because the expiry date (which only applies to FIA events) was 6 months ago. Big thanks are due to"Chunky" who was carrying a spare set and was willing to lend them to me for the weekend.

Out on circuit the feeling of being at home was immediate, at least it was until I came round to the new Bus Stop. For the first couple of laps I took a few interesting lines and thought I was going to end up in the Grand Prix paddock a few times. The car seemed to be going well, and temperatures were cool but though one of the quicker Club cars out there, I was unable to get down to my times of two years ago on the Friday. Qualification took place on Saturday lunchtime and though with each lap I took a quicker line through Eau Rouge the overall times did not seem to improve. It was going to be a long race and myXXXXXXX thirdXXXXXXX in class qualification was a good place to start from. The gap to Richard Lambert was a huge 6 seconds. I followed him on for one lap and simply could not seem to find out where all that time came from. Certainly mid corner speeds were the same, but the 911 just seemed to have much better exit speed from XXXXXXXXXleft hander downhillXXXXXXXXXX. Talking to Pete Morris after the session he had found exactly the same situation in the 968 compared to the 3.2 Carreras., neither of us could understand the reason

Race 1

It's a long green flag lap at Spa, and with the Open cars gridding up first it is almost like having two starts. I was behind Mike Clapham as we moved down to out slots. As the lights turned green I made a hash of the start, but still managed to get ahead of Adam Egar. I carried more speed up Eau Rouge and caught Mike Clapham up who soon demonstrated how wide a 968 can be at 120mph. At the end of the straight there was tyre smoke as Marcus Holden overestimated the braking abilities of his 3.2 carrera and locked up, overshooting the corner. He fought back and managed to retain his position which also gave Adam the opportunity he needed to slip by on the inside at XXXXhairpinXXXXXX. So early into a long 45 minute race I knew that the suspension changes I had made were not helping, but I nevertheless stayed with the pack in front for the remainder of the lap and was almost in position to outbrake Adam at the entrance the La Source.

Lap two began and the five of us were in close formation, Adam clearly being held up by Richard, but with very little difference between the five of us over the course of a whole lap. From my perspective there were parts where I was quicker, parts where I seemed to lose ground. Adam sneaked through at The Bus Stop but the greater power of the 3.2 showed on the run to La Source and Richard in his class 1 car took his place back from Adams class 2 SC. Lap three started the same way, except that we were already catching the slower Porsche Open cars. I checked my mirrors and my nearest rival Colin Ingram was a good 150 yards behind and falling back. Half a lap on and we all got overtaken by the Peter Cook and Richard Chamberlain, but not before Adam took the tighter line at XXXXXXXXXXfirst part of essesXXXXXXXXX and passed Richard again. The timing of the move, and the subsequent lapping, meant that he got enough of a lead to retain the place and start to pull out a gap.

Over the course of the next lap I gradually closed on Richard as Adam pulled away to close on Charles Winterhalder his Open class 4 944, Tthe GT seemed to be losing some straight line speed and I fell back as the GT3's came through. I was now having a lonely race with no one behind and Richard too far away to be worth chasing. Something about the car was not right as I was getting some vibration through Pouhon so I drove to preserve the car, secure the 4th in class and ensure a finish to retain my grid slot for tomorrows race. Adam meanwhile had finished third, but had failed to complete the slowing down lap. After driving round for the last 10 minutes waiting for the race to be over I now really wanted the race to have been for 5 minutes longer. Some people have all the luck !

Post race I changed the brake disks which had been vibrating quite badly, made some suspension setup changes to try and give me some more confidence through teh fast bends, particularly Blanchimont, and changed the fuel filter which was showing signs of contamination. Where was all this coming from I wondered ?

Race 2