The 2013 Porsche Club Championship Thread
Discussion
Thought I would get this started, not long now until the first round of races at Donington on April 6th.
Full list here:
6th April - Donington (most of it live on MOTORS TV)
4th May - Brands
1st June - Donington again
15th June - Silverstone
26th August - Combe
7th Sept - Oulton
20/21st Sept - Silverstone again
5th Oct - Snetterton
The format is always quali and 2 x 25 minute races, except the Sept Silverstone which will be 3 x 25 minuters
For those of you into facebook, how about 'liking' the championship here and following all the news as it happens:
https://www.facebook.com/PorscheClubChampionship?f...
A new 3 year deal with Pirelli means that slicks will be the control tyre for the first time ever, that will add a new dimension to the racing.
Caymans are allowed for the first time, up to now 2 have entered. 996's in 3.4 capacity are likely to go well, with Pete Morris coming out in a newly built one & Gary Marsh hits the grid in his 996 for this championship for the first time.
Mark Sumpter in his 964 will always be thereabouts and who is to say that either of the Hartech Boxsters won't be regular visitors to the podium. Regular poster in these parts Marcus Carniel is in one of the Hartech Boxsters, known better as 'the goose' -- his Boxster driving partner is a young talented driver called Tom Bradshaw - google him if you want to see how much track success you can get by your early 20's.
It is so tight at the front end, anyone of 10 drivers will gather podiums, I can't wait even though I am not competing this season!
List of drivers registered so far here for info (more expected)
Full list here:
6th April - Donington (most of it live on MOTORS TV)
4th May - Brands
1st June - Donington again
15th June - Silverstone
26th August - Combe
7th Sept - Oulton
20/21st Sept - Silverstone again
5th Oct - Snetterton
The format is always quali and 2 x 25 minute races, except the Sept Silverstone which will be 3 x 25 minuters
For those of you into facebook, how about 'liking' the championship here and following all the news as it happens:
https://www.facebook.com/PorscheClubChampionship?f...
A new 3 year deal with Pirelli means that slicks will be the control tyre for the first time ever, that will add a new dimension to the racing.
Caymans are allowed for the first time, up to now 2 have entered. 996's in 3.4 capacity are likely to go well, with Pete Morris coming out in a newly built one & Gary Marsh hits the grid in his 996 for this championship for the first time.
Mark Sumpter in his 964 will always be thereabouts and who is to say that either of the Hartech Boxsters won't be regular visitors to the podium. Regular poster in these parts Marcus Carniel is in one of the Hartech Boxsters, known better as 'the goose' -- his Boxster driving partner is a young talented driver called Tom Bradshaw - google him if you want to see how much track success you can get by your early 20's.
It is so tight at the front end, anyone of 10 drivers will gather podiums, I can't wait even though I am not competing this season!
List of drivers registered so far here for info (more expected)
I can't wait 
Hartech have been working hard on improvements over winter. I tested the car at Donington Park recently - details on www.gooseracing.com - and on last year's (Cup) tyres went quicker than anyone last year all meeting (so their work clearly paid off) and this was despite the car feeling like it needed a little adjustment to properly tune it in.
I then switched to the new Pirelli slicks and went significantly quicker again - this was on the same set up too, so my pace should be improved further once the car's been tweaked, along with reducing the weight down to this year's lower minimum.
Hartech have been working hard on improvements over winter. I tested the car at Donington Park recently - details on www.gooseracing.com - and on last year's (Cup) tyres went quicker than anyone last year all meeting (so their work clearly paid off) and this was despite the car feeling like it needed a little adjustment to properly tune it in.
I then switched to the new Pirelli slicks and went significantly quicker again - this was on the same set up too, so my pace should be improved further once the car's been tweaked, along with reducing the weight down to this year's lower minimum.
Great shot Dave.
Marcus, you spotted that then! no harm in winning the championship from long '2012' type odds - we know you can do it in 2013 - with 'BazPower' over the rear axle everything is possible.
Latest list of registrations now up.
see:
Marcus, you spotted that then! no harm in winning the championship from long '2012' type odds - we know you can do it in 2013 - with 'BazPower' over the rear axle everything is possible.
Latest list of registrations now up.
see:
Edited by legaleagleboy on Friday 22 March 19:37
It's going to be extremely competitive and interesting this season and forum readers who haven't yet come along to see what goes on may be surprised to learn they can move around the pit area and enjoy seeing their favorite Porsche model competing against the others - especially air and water cooled 911's and Boxster's, Cayman's and 996's, 944 S2's and 968's etc (all the old rivalries).
If the weather ever improves you will not be bored at all visiting the events near you during the season and you might even bump into such characters as the above photo reveals (so be warned).
Baz
If the weather ever improves you will not be bored at all visiting the events near you during the season and you might even bump into such characters as the above photo reveals (so be warned).
Baz
wildman0609 said:
My money goes on who ever spends the most on tyres this year. They are crap if you try to use them for more than 1 weekend.
Well that's partly how Mark Sumpter won in 2011 - new set of Cups every race weekend. To be fair though, that was partly to overcome the car's shortfalls and him using everything he could to wring an impressive performance out of it.I want to win but I haven't budgeted for that kind of consumption rate.
or another way of looking at it ........ loads of tyres and no talent = nowhere, some tyres and loads of talent = some good results, loads of tyres and talent to match should = loadsa points
wildman ....... I googled Tom a couple of weeks back, he is racing for Hartech in a Boxster. Young he may be but he's packed a bucketload of experience into his short life, including runner up in FPA, was it 2008? Impressive, but 'thegoose' will beat him across the season.
wildman ....... I googled Tom a couple of weeks back, he is racing for Hartech in a Boxster. Young he may be but he's packed a bucketload of experience into his short life, including runner up in FPA, was it 2008? Impressive, but 'thegoose' will beat him across the season.
wildman0609 said:
My money goes on who ever spends the most on tyres this year. They are crap if you try to use them for more than 1 weekend.
Try Carrera cup. We got 40 minutes out of a set of Mich slicks. 4 sets a weekend. 1 set of Pirellis per weekend is cheap racing! Slicks and big GT cars is never cheap. Cups give incredible racing value by comparison. The slicks will add another dimension to the Championship. They require a lot of understanding to get the best out of them for quali and race. Unfortunately they will also add quite a bit to the budget as well.
Steve Rance said:
Try Carrera cup. We got 40 minutes out of a set of Mich slicks.
but that 400hp gt cars that is at the top level of uk motorsport. this is porsche CLUB racing, tyres should be expected to last at least a couple of weekends. the problems with these pirelli's is that they don't store well, you can get loads of miles out of them over a weekend then when you come to use them again they are practically scrap.wildman0609 said:
this is porsche CLUB racing, tyres should be expected to last at least a couple of weekends.
Agreed, I know that registrations are healthy but I wonder how many will still be racing towards the end of the season? Don't forget that some front runners will be testing, too. If tyres don't last and can't be used several times then the costs will be huge. I must admit we are dissapointed at the change - but mainly because we spent hours this winter working out how to get our cars to grip more on Michelins and our tests and changes showed results that would probably have put us right at the front - but the late change of tyres to slicks has thrown all that work out of the window and we have to start late all over again.
We have tried to test them and only managed one short session on a freezing track. Test sessions since have been cancelled due to the weather and we are told we cannot get a refund of the costs - so not only have the tyres changed the costs but trying to test them in poor weather is also adding to the racing costs - without any benefit (especially when you are booking testing for 4 cars a 2 garages - money down the drain). Apparently we can use the booking another time - but that is of little help in sorting out the way to use slicks by a week Saturday (and I simply cannot justify paying in advance for further test sessions and lose the money because it is so cold).
Pete Morris and Mark Koeblle have (I believe) managed some track time and there is a rumour that Mark Sumpter has been out as well. If they have managed to learn something and experience the tyres - I gues they (and anyone else who has managed a few laps) will run away with the first event.
It's no good saying we should have started sooner - we didn't know about the change until after some other competitors had already tested them (when the weather was better) and then we had to buy different suspension components to suit the extra grip and roll angles they will perform with.
Frankly I don't know how we are going to manage to keep them in good tyres all season - our budgets were set ages ago and the lost testing is already putting us over budget and the season has not even started yet!
Frankly I wish we were still on treaded tyres. It is the same for everyone except that at our club level of racing the over-riding principle of the series is to try and equalise the performance so every competitor has a fair chance. It has always been the case that those with more money can get some benefits and there is nothing anyone can do about that except not make the gap any bigger. Unfortunately this change will do and will enable those with the most money to do better than they used to compared with those on tighter budgets - which seems to me to be against the spirit of fair play and the intentions of the club and the series.
However no one can survive in without taking a commercial view of things and the club need to balance the books as far as racing goes in order to be able to continue with it.
I am not privvy to the deals - but I assume that changing to Pirelli's offers a financial benefit that was not possible with Michelins and hence simply could not be ignored - but the implications for those paying the racing bills will be huge.
I would like to be reassured that somehow the interests of the members that race were put above those of the Club to keep their own position going when agreeing this change and that it has some reasonable justification that perhaps we don't know about.
It is also the case that Britcar run similar spec cars with slicks and perhaps there is an intention to match their specifications although the BRSCC Boxster series now looks an even less expensive alternative (and have full grids I believe).
I am not happy with the decision, believe it was made much too late and we would have reduced the size of the team we are now contracted to - if we had known about these changes in good time.
Anyway there is nothing we can do about it as we have a three year deal and just have to get on with it if we want to race in the series - and make the best of it - but the start of the season is going to be a massive lottery and the rest of it an even bigger money pit.
My own view is that slicks have no place in Club racing and that members would have been better off sticking to Michelins - but perhaps there are good reasons that we are not party to that justify the change.
Baz
We have tried to test them and only managed one short session on a freezing track. Test sessions since have been cancelled due to the weather and we are told we cannot get a refund of the costs - so not only have the tyres changed the costs but trying to test them in poor weather is also adding to the racing costs - without any benefit (especially when you are booking testing for 4 cars a 2 garages - money down the drain). Apparently we can use the booking another time - but that is of little help in sorting out the way to use slicks by a week Saturday (and I simply cannot justify paying in advance for further test sessions and lose the money because it is so cold).
Pete Morris and Mark Koeblle have (I believe) managed some track time and there is a rumour that Mark Sumpter has been out as well. If they have managed to learn something and experience the tyres - I gues they (and anyone else who has managed a few laps) will run away with the first event.
It's no good saying we should have started sooner - we didn't know about the change until after some other competitors had already tested them (when the weather was better) and then we had to buy different suspension components to suit the extra grip and roll angles they will perform with.
Frankly I don't know how we are going to manage to keep them in good tyres all season - our budgets were set ages ago and the lost testing is already putting us over budget and the season has not even started yet!
Frankly I wish we were still on treaded tyres. It is the same for everyone except that at our club level of racing the over-riding principle of the series is to try and equalise the performance so every competitor has a fair chance. It has always been the case that those with more money can get some benefits and there is nothing anyone can do about that except not make the gap any bigger. Unfortunately this change will do and will enable those with the most money to do better than they used to compared with those on tighter budgets - which seems to me to be against the spirit of fair play and the intentions of the club and the series.
However no one can survive in without taking a commercial view of things and the club need to balance the books as far as racing goes in order to be able to continue with it.
I am not privvy to the deals - but I assume that changing to Pirelli's offers a financial benefit that was not possible with Michelins and hence simply could not be ignored - but the implications for those paying the racing bills will be huge.
I would like to be reassured that somehow the interests of the members that race were put above those of the Club to keep their own position going when agreeing this change and that it has some reasonable justification that perhaps we don't know about.
It is also the case that Britcar run similar spec cars with slicks and perhaps there is an intention to match their specifications although the BRSCC Boxster series now looks an even less expensive alternative (and have full grids I believe).
I am not happy with the decision, believe it was made much too late and we would have reduced the size of the team we are now contracted to - if we had known about these changes in good time.
Anyway there is nothing we can do about it as we have a three year deal and just have to get on with it if we want to race in the series - and make the best of it - but the start of the season is going to be a massive lottery and the rest of it an even bigger money pit.
My own view is that slicks have no place in Club racing and that members would have been better off sticking to Michelins - but perhaps there are good reasons that we are not party to that justify the change.
Baz
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