dbRacing- Open Race Report Castle Combe 15th September 2002

Race Report - Porsche Open 15th September 2002

Practice

During the week before the race Strasse discovered a broken inlet manifold on the engine. At very short notice a replacement manifold was found and fitted along with a new head gasket. This unplanned work meant that I did not get the opportunity to test and so the Porsche Open practice was my first time at the circuit for almost exactly one year. Getting used to the track was not a problem, but I was still chasing the suspension settings that had worked so well before the accident at Silverstone. I took to the track on soft settings and the car felt reasonable but with the time for only about 8 laps the best time I posted was a 1:23, some 3 seconds slower than my best last year. I had however out-qualified a couple of 964's and the cars in front were close enough that I should have an opportunity to have a go at them during the race.

My next visit to the track was the Porsche Classic practice, read about that by following this link.

Race

I lined up on the grid and tried to plan a way to make up a couple of places at the start. This was to be a complete waste of time as the cars in front were all 911's except for David Clarke in a 944 turbo. He would have exactly the same problem as me except he was running on slicks and had at least 40 hp more than me.

The run up to Quarry was rapid, and though I got a good start I ended up being balked by a couple of cars and was the final car to get round the first corner. My first target was the 911 turbo of Rob Morley who was taking an opportunity to give his car a run out on the track. He was suffering from a lack of power and I soon passed him and the next two cars in sight were 964's. By the end of the fourth lap I had passed these two cars and was closing on the 2.4E of fellow classic competitor Ian Oliver. I had made some further suspension modifications before the race and they were not proving to be a good choice as my lap times were 2 seconds off the times I achieved in the Classic practice. It was proving a little difficult to catch Ian but with just two laps to go I strung together a couple of quick laps was close enough to make a passing attempt. Meanwhile we had both been catching a white 993 driven by Tony Baxter and I took an aggressive line through Old Paddock Bend and passed Oliver on the run towards Tower. I had sufficient momentum to pass the 993 but he had been keeping an eye on his mirrors and took a defensive line into Tower, forcing me to brake. Ian then had the opportunity to go round the outside of me at Tower and, mindful of the Classic race in just 20 minutes I gave way and so we exited Tower in the same places we had been 20 seconds earlier. I made a last minute attempt to beat Ian Oliver across the line as we rounded Camp Corner with the finishing line just 40 yards ahead. Ian beat me by just 0.2 seconds.