Damp @ Snetterton

One week before the CALM All Porsche Snetterton event we'd just finished re-fitting the gearbox and clutch and re-assembled the car for the second time!. 

A quick 100m buzz up the road and back to ensure all the gears are working before we commit our entry.  In the euphoria of success we forget to latch the bonnet pins & over it came smashing the front of the car.

So we were now 5 days from the event and needing a bonnet and replacement windscreen. 1 step forward and 2 steps back! 

Fast forward to Friday 5pm, and we finished fitting the bonnet,  pins and stickers having had the windscreen replaced the day before.  Talk about cutting it fine. Off to he circuit we went. 

Qualifying:

The CALM ALL Porsche Trophy is putting out some fantastic grids this year.  Another 30+ entries for this weekend evenly distributed across the power to weight based classes.  Despite the forecast hot sun, immediatley before qualifying we had a heavy rain shower pass over.  We were confident it would dry out so stuck with our Nangkang tyres.  However we were reminded just how bad these are on even a slightly damp track, even with a dry line appearing as we struggled 10s a lap down on what we are capable of.  Through the session we improved and were several seconds up on the last lap only to be thwarted by a slower car overtaking an even slower car into the apex of the last corner. 

The result was qualifying at the back of the SP2 boxsters (P15) instead of half a dozen places forward.  Well discuss tyres later.

 

Race 1:

I think we had 4 laps racing, as the time was shortened due to a breakdown on the first green flag lap and then an extended delay after the second go around. 

We eventually got going and the racing was brutally tight. Everyone was desperate to pass the car in front of them and we got stuck in a 4 car fight for 15th position. We weren't helped by two SP1 class Porsche Cayman's coming throught from starting at the back, and there was contact in-front if us around the infield section as a result.  I had the pass done on the back straight only for yellow flags to appear - so had to back off. And was side by side over the line but we were out of time, finishing P13 and not really making any progress in the SP2 class of Boxster's. 

The race result took a long time to be published with a queue of drivers in with the clerk of the course long after it finished.

Race 2:

Startting 11th after the penalties from Race 1 were handed out, Mike got a flying start.  But then struggled getting up to speed and with gear shifts needing more clutch now we had a stock road clutch in place. We had to take evasive action onto the grass at one point to avoid some erratic braking lines in front.  We were quite a few seconds down at the mid point - but came back strong closing several seconds per lap as times improved,  Mike was lapping at the pace of cars several places ahead as we finished in P16. 

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Race 3:

The longer 40 minute pit stop race gave us an opportunity to show our pace and Mike got a great start, holding onto the cars in front and maintaining position.  About 10mins into the race the SC boards came out for the Safety Car due to a stranded car on the infield.  It was a short SC period and racing luckily resumed quicky with cars all bunched back up and fighting for position again. 

Time for our 'undercut' plan to play out. Mike pitted the next lap - first car in, just as the pit stop window opened at 15 minutes.  We have a timer in the car, as otherwise we'd have wasted another lap going past the start/finish to confirm sight of the 'PIT OPEN' board.   Our change over was done smoothly and effciently (we had a plan and practiced it this time) and out we went - into a completely empty track with clear air in front. 

It took a lap to get tyres to temp and thereafter I set a string of laps in 2m14s. By the time the pitstop window was over we were up 5 places to P11.

I had a few seconds lead over the SP3 leader who can set comparable times.  Feeling the pressure & we both set fastest laps on 3 of the last 4 laps, now into the 2m13s. Lapped traffic wasn't kind to me (one overtake was with 2 wheels on the grass) and my cushion had disappeared.   

The race time was up - but we had another lap to complete and I was sideways into turn 1, offering half a chance at the pass. Somehow I braked late enough to the hairpin to hold position and see the lap out over the line.  A really enjoyable race - all round. 

Summary:

In reality any hopes of a class podium were scuppered from qualifying. This is at least the 3rd time we've come off worse by not having a tyre that can cope with a damp/drying track.  The Nangkang AR-1 is a fantastic tyre in the dry and we've done over 20 heat cycles on this latest set, ao good VFM too. But perhaps it's time for change. 

Results & Timing Link --> https://www.tsl-timing.com/file/?f=750MC/2025/252435pot.pdf

Brands Hatch and the Gearbox

We didn't publish an update on our annual winter maintenance.  But overall we focused on improving our brakes which had degraded over the last year.  The four calipers were sent off for rebuild and we also changed the master cylinder - opting for a larger diameter 997 GT3 one to provide a firmer pedal feel. 

 

We then spent some time having the car re-mapped again. Whilst the fuelling was good we managed to improve the mid-range torque and the consistency of power all the way to the red line. 

From our pre season track day we knew we had to change the front brakes. Easy enough until we found the caliper bolt thread was stripped. We had this on another car - so luckily had the Timesert kit to redrill an insert.

Lastly, we fitted rear adjustable tow arms making the rear alignment much easier to do and independent of the camber.  

Brands Hatch:

The meeting was changed from a single day to a full weekend at short notice which caused some last minute re-planning.  

As usual this event was a full grid of a mix of Porsches and V8's from the Bernie's series. 

Qualifying: 

I went to assembly really early (the GT Cup cars had garages so it wasn't in use) so got out onto track in the first few cars of the 46 strong grid.

This meant is got some pretty clear laps early on and set a decent time, a second faster than i'd ever been.  A couple of laps later I got the last corner right and shaved another half a second off.  

Over the next few laps I was up on the splits by another half a second  but traffic later in the lap prevented me realising the gain. 

Very happy regardless and starting P2 in class, 18th on a maximum 46 car grid. 

Race 1:

We had to reduce tyre pressures due to overheating in qualifying and the ambient temperature was up in the 20s now.  The green flag lap was sketchy, to say the least. Like driving on marshmellows!  But as we formed up 2 by 2 for the rolling start they were miraculously up to temp!

I got a great start making a couple of places into Paddock Hill and chose to go wide round the outside of druids; following the fast 911-964, as it tends to concertina around the inside.  

This backfired as I was pushed too wide, got on the marbles and lost the back-end. I corrected the slide but lost 5 places as a result. 3 porsches and 2 V8s. I managed to overtake a couple on the back straight and settled into a queue of Porsches trying to get past as couple of V8's. 

I was confident that once we'd cleared them I would be faster and get the cars in front. We got one and lap times improved instantly - just one more.  

Going into the back section, I  changed down to 4th gear and it wouldn't engage.  Nor at the next attempt, and a third - even double clutching and rev matching.  I went straight to 5th instead and set my fastest lap of the race having cleared the V8 Corvette. I'll be fine!

Until 3rd gear wouldn't go in either.  An absolute Disaster.  I decided not to pit on the assumption it was the gear linkage, and finishing as high as possible was important.  I was now losing nearly 10 seconds a lap and several places every lap. Blue flags were being waved at me (embarrassing) where I changed fom 2nd to 5th. So I had to just keep  out of of the way and limp it home in 29th position. 

Race 2: 

Well it never happened for us. We had to pack up and go home for the first time in a very long time. 

On investigating the gearbox issue back in the pits, the linkage was fine but 3rd and 4th would only engage occasionally. Most likely the selector fork mechanism for 3/4 inside the gearbox has failed. 

Two weeks after the event, we have sourced a used gearbox and after two attempts and a whole set of new clutch components we are good to go. 

It takes us approx 12 hours to strip the rear of the car, remove and refit the gearbox whilst it's on axel stands. The tricky part as with all gearboxes is aligning the splined output shaft with the splines on the clutch plate. Once this is good (usually after a lot of to-ing and fro-ing) it just slides on and bolt it up. 

The next round at Snetterton is now just a few days away.