If you were in 2 minds about Brands this weekend..
Discussion
I can highly recommend you go.
I have just been there for practice. Not wishing to name drop, but had a chat with Martin Donnelly and his son Charile Donnelly behind a Rothmans 956 and a IMSA 962, more 9965 then you could poke a grae lever shaped stick at, 2 997 (looks great, but somehow look really, really small in the flesh), a 908, 917 etc etc...
Oh for heavens sake, go!
Will
PS I hope thd river who crashed at Surtees in the (968? 944?) Is OK, and you were only taken off in an ambulance as a precaution...
I have just been there for practice. Not wishing to name drop, but had a chat with Martin Donnelly and his son Charile Donnelly behind a Rothmans 956 and a IMSA 962, more 9965 then you could poke a grae lever shaped stick at, 2 997 (looks great, but somehow look really, really small in the flesh), a 908, 917 etc etc...
Oh for heavens sake, go!
Will
PS I hope thd river who crashed at Surtees in the (968? 944?) Is OK, and you were only taken off in an ambulance as a precaution...
Great fun, excellent idea & location for a venue, gunna make a future static Highclere type location seem rather naff & staid in comparison.
Many racers perhaps wished they were at the seaside tho? given how many seemed eager to enjoy the Paddock hill bend 'beach' on the Sunday
PCGB buckets & spades the next big accessory I wonder
>> Edited by iguana on Monday 30th August 14:12
Many racers perhaps wished they were at the seaside tho? given how many seemed eager to enjoy the Paddock hill bend 'beach' on the Sunday
PCGB buckets & spades the next big accessory I wonder
>> Edited by iguana on Monday 30th August 14:12
I went yesterday, but couldn't find the PH meeting point 
Was a good day out though, with lots of interesting cars on the track. Pity they didn't allow more time for the historic cars to do a few more laps - what was the point in letting the public onto the grid when they could have looked at them in the Paddock? They could have spent that time giving each car a good thrash round the track, specially the 917s 
Was a good day out though, with lots of interesting cars on the track. Pity they didn't allow more time for the historic cars to do a few more laps - what was the point in letting the public onto the grid when they could have looked at them in the Paddock? They could have spent that time giving each car a good thrash round the track, specially the 917s AJLintern said:
I went yesterday, but couldn't find the PH meeting point
Clubsport and myself were stood next to the 964RS area adjacent to the 993RS area from about 10.55 through to 11.20 chatting to a non PHer (It was behind one of the main grandstands, by the Brands Hatch shops). Didn't see anyone else turn up but were aware of a number of others being in atendance.
PHers seen on the day: v12v8, buster, clubsport, iguana, bluesatin, jeremyc, adamt and Mike, Don and Mrs Don, melv, Thorney on the AMD stand. Also ran into a few non PHers I knew.
DAZ
BTW spotted your car in the car park on arrival (easily verifiable by the PFest sticker).
>> Edited by dazren on Monday 30th August 19:04
MR DVD said:
Hi David
Followed you along the M25 on sunday for approx 10 miles (turquoise 993) travelled up from Wilts, thought I'd messed up as I took the M26 route, took the first exit and was only 5 miles from Brands Hatch, was well pleased...
Hi Paul
Shame about the traffic ah!
I was wishing that I had a Tiptronic at one point. I thought that I had made the wrong turn when you shot off towards the M26. My wife insisted that Brands was near to BlueWater, so I couldn`t argue. I think you ended up parking about 3 cars away in the end!
Good afternoon out though...
dazren said:
I went yesterday, but couldn't find the PH meeting point
Clubsport and myself were stood next to the 964RS area adjacent to the 993RS area from about 10.55 through to 11.20 chatting to a non PHer (It was behind one of the main grandstands, by the Brands Hatch shops). Didn't see anyone else turn up but were aware of a number of others being in atendance.
PHers seen on the day: v12v8, buster, clubsport, iguana, bluesatin, jeremyc, adamt and Mike, Don and Mrs Don, melv, Thorney on the AMD stand. Also ran into a few non PHers I knew.
DAZ
BTW spotted your car in the car park on arrival (easily verifiable by the PFest sticker).
>> Edited by dazren on Monday 30th August 19:04
Saw you're car Daz, I parked a couple of rows in front. I miss the 11am meet, as my old 996 drove in, so I had a good chat with the new owner.
PS Polish your tail pipes
What a difference a week makes. The previous weekend we went to the Touring Cars at Brands where for £25 we got 3 x touring car races and 2 x Carrera Cup races whereas this weekend for the same money we got one and half hours of sprinting and an hours worth of parades (watching paint dry would have been infinitely more enjoyable). Mind you a good selection of cars came along and thankfully we stayed till the end on Sunday to see the Bill Taylor memorial race which was one of the best races I've seen for ages, Richard Westbrook drove a stormer of a race.
The concept is great but gate fees excessive for what was delivered.
The concept is great but gate fees excessive for what was delivered.
Great day yesterday and the racing entertainment really added to it. Congrats to Mister Meister in the sprint. Would have been nice to have seen something giving that 935 a run for its money in the Open race. I was a bit disappointed with the register displays. All of them looked like they were just whatever happened to turn up. I know it's voluntary and all that, but it would have been nice to have seen an organised, coordinated display of editions, specs and colours with an info board for each register.
911 habit said:
Saw you're car Daz, I parked a couple of rows in front. I miss the 11am meet, as my old 996 drove in, so I had a good chat with the new owner.
PS Polish your tail pipes
The four PH stickers and the note at the bottom of my rear numberplate gave it away who the car belonged to Eh? As for the tail pipes what do people use to clean them?
DAZ
dazren said:
Saw you're car Daz, I parked a couple of rows in front. I miss the 11am meet, as my old 996 drove in, so I had a good chat with the new owner.
PS Polish your tail pipes
The four PH stickers and the note at the bottom of my rear numberplate gave it away who the car belonged to Eh? As for the tail pipes what do people use to clean them?
DAZ
the plate is what I saw first. - Light metal polish does the trick, once a week!
Bobo W said:
What a difference a week makes. The previous weekend we went to the Touring Cars at Brands where for £25 we got 3 x touring car races and 2 x Carrera Cup races whereas this weekend for the same money we got one and half hours of sprinting and an hours worth of parades (watching paint dry would have been infinitely more enjoyable). Mind you a good selection of cars came along and thankfully we stayed till the end on Sunday to see the Bill Taylor memorial race which was one of the best races I've seen for ages, Richard Westbrook drove a stormer of a race.
The concept is great but gate fees excessive for what was delivered.
Not sure if the 25 notes was for one or two days. As I recall the chances of getting up close and personal with either the t/cars or p/cup are next to none.
You got to see some cracking racing, the club championship in particular is always good for the money - 3, yes that`s right folks, 3 re-starts. The Bill Taylor / Open allows you to see some monster gear doing it`s thing. As for the boring display laps A carrera GT with the traction control off !! - what a howl from the V10 under all that silencing. Some of the rarest racing and historic metal money can buy and you could walk up and touch it, together with our 911 virgin pit candy that sadly you couldn`t !
Come on it costs a few quid to put on and the club wanted to raise plenty of money for charity so yes you could have seen all the cars on the grid line up without paying by trawling the show but walking on the track added a bit of fun, you could imaging yourself walking round the cars prior to the start of some international event.
The Monday was a great day as well with an equally glittering display on the track. In our race alone two GT3`s a bumper apart for 40 minutes and the lead being taken on the last corner of the last lap !
I for one hope it`s the start of many such events. Did you go to Eynesham Hall last year ? How much did it cost to get in there and what exactly did you get for your money ?
Henry
(edited because I forgot to include my reply alongside the quote !!)
>> Edited by Henry-F on Tuesday 31st August 19:55
Henry-F said:
What a difference a week makes. The previous weekend we went to the Touring Cars at Brands where for £25 we got 3 x touring car races and 2 x Carrera Cup races whereas this weekend for the same money we got one and half hours of sprinting and an hours worth of parades (watching paint dry would have been infinitely more enjoyable). Mind you a good selection of cars came along and thankfully we stayed till the end on Sunday to see the Bill Taylor memorial race which was one of the best races I've seen for ages, Richard Westbrook drove a stormer of a race.
The concept is great but gate fees excessive for what was delivered.
Ah yes but we did get to see this....
Bobo W said:
What a difference a week makes. The previous weekend we went to the Touring Cars at Brands where for £25 we got 3 x touring car races and 2 x Carrera Cup races whereas this weekend for the same money we got one and half hours of sprinting and an hours worth of parades (watching paint dry would have been infinitely more enjoyable). Mind you a good selection of cars came along and thankfully we stayed till the end on Sunday to see the Bill Taylor memorial race which was one of the best races I've seen for ages, Richard Westbrook drove a stormer of a race.
The concept is great but gate fees excessive for what was delivered.
Agree....totally!
Now don't get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoyed the event (went on Monday). I don't own a Porsche but appreciated what was there nonetheless although I felt that there could have been more, shorter races!
However, on the back of the publicity material, I managed to get my wife, our two kids, two sets of friends and their kids along as well. This was on the back it being touted as a "great family day out" with funfair, the UK's Largest bouncy castle, kids activites and "much, much more". Thus, they came on the premise that there was something for everyone.
Well, there wasn't.
A tiddly bouncy castle that wasn't even inflated. Pedal karts that were only open for about an hour and a host of simulators and rides that required participants to be higher than most of those in my little group.
A face painting stall does not make something into a family day out!!!
So, whilst I had enjoyable day, it was tarnished by the fact that I convinced 5 adults to part with £125 to drag 8 very disappointed kids round an event that all things considered, they would rather have not attended - all because someone over sold it!!
Given that it cost just 20 quid more to see the Champ Car race last year, I think the £25 here is excpetionally poor value for money!
Pitty really.
Don said:
Ah yes but we did get to see this....
What's more, we got to see it going around the track, monstering lots of lesser mortals! I assume Henry was driving and wondered whether he was counting how many 911virgins he was stuffing right royally!!
I'm sorry to have to admit that I agree with Steviebee's adverse comments, though - I'm glad I didn't take any kids (in my case, grandchildren), because it was very much an outing for Porsche aficionados. Nowt wrong with that, of course, but it shouldn't have been advertised as a family day out.
Don said:
Ah yes but we did get to see this....
What's more, we got to see it going around the track, monstering lots of lesser mortals! I assume Henry was driving and wondered whether he was counting how many 911virgins he was stuffing right royally!!
I have to agree with Steviebee's adverse comments, though - I'm glad I didn't take any kids (in my case, grandchildren), because it was very much an outing for Porsche aficionados. Nowt wrong with that, of course, but it shouldn't have been advertised as a family day out.
Re: the family fun day I would agree that is not clever. Not sure where the funfair ended up - I suspect from the lack of takings last year they declined this year`s invitation I would have been mighty pissed off !
In terms of more shorter races there are problems with that, it takes a lot of time to swap over groups when racing, you also need to find different people to go racing in the first place. Given it pretty much costs the same to turn up for a 15 min race as a 1 hour race the longer races give better value to the competitor and encourage stronger grids. If you though a pony was steep for the weekend outing try bundling up the readies to get in through the competitor`s entrance !
You must also remember there were a lot of people driving their own cars round the track which would have been good fun for them. The event was, after all, first and foremost the Porsche Club`s annual shin-dig, it was not a race meeting as such. If you want to see that then look up the forthcoming dates on the PCGB website and turn up to watch, for around a tenner you`ll see some great club action including the main contenders from this weekend. Next Brands Hatch event Sept 18/19
As I`ve already said I thought the event was a great first attempt. There are lessons to learn and I hope the club put on an improved event next year. The potential is there for it to be really special.
Henry
In terms of more shorter races there are problems with that, it takes a lot of time to swap over groups when racing, you also need to find different people to go racing in the first place. Given it pretty much costs the same to turn up for a 15 min race as a 1 hour race the longer races give better value to the competitor and encourage stronger grids. If you though a pony was steep for the weekend outing try bundling up the readies to get in through the competitor`s entrance !
You must also remember there were a lot of people driving their own cars round the track which would have been good fun for them. The event was, after all, first and foremost the Porsche Club`s annual shin-dig, it was not a race meeting as such. If you want to see that then look up the forthcoming dates on the PCGB website and turn up to watch, for around a tenner you`ll see some great club action including the main contenders from this weekend. Next Brands Hatch event Sept 18/19
As I`ve already said I thought the event was a great first attempt. There are lessons to learn and I hope the club put on an improved event next year. The potential is there for it to be really special.
Henry
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