Podium Streak at Brands GP

The podium streak continued at Brands Hatch, with a 3rd place in class around the longer GP layout. 

The build up to the event was a little more chaotic than usual. Scheduled for a single day event, we found ourselves qualifying early, but racing last on a timetable including 11 different series.  With half the usual contingency in the timetable for cleaning up incidents between races, there was a serious risk we'd be there all-day and not get a representative race. 

Each circuit has a cut off time for noise and it cannot be extended - it's a hard stop.  So if the timetable is running late - your race is cut short or cancelled - no refunds - tough luck.   

Our CALM All Porsche organisers swung into action and settled on us qualifying late Saturday evening and racing earlier on Sunday.  Most people were arriving Saturday anyway, but some couldn't and pulled out. A few made it on Sunday and started at the back, which is frustrating. 

Trying to accommodate all of the different series competing over the weekend in the paddock was a challenge. We were allocated half the usual amount of space, so it was a good job we didn't have a 30+ car grid.  Everyone made new friends, breathed in - and made it work. It's why we like racing with this group. 

Qualifying (Saturday):

We've been discussing tyre temps and pressures, to get the best from our Yokohama AO52s.

So after the first few laps of qualifying we came in and used a pyrometer to scan the tyre surface temps as well as check pressures.  They weren't up full temp so we went back with a sense we need run hotter.  There are also marks on the tyre to guide you to the correct inflation which we were a little short of.  

With an early lap putting us P2 in class, but then being surpassed, we improved by a second on what became the last lap, despite there being time for 2 more on the clock. 

   

You guessed it.... The event ran out of time before the curfew!

Race (Sunday):

It was a cool start to the day, until an hour before our race the sun broke through and it was quickly 28 degrees. 

The car was ready with no adjustments needed, just a clean of the brakes and swapping the rear tyres over to account for greater wear on one side. 

We were called early to the assembly area, only to find when we got there it was a mistake - so we sat in the cars in the heat for 40 minutes before we finally got under way. I could have done with the extra time to take on fluids given the extreme heat.  

Off the line I had a little too much revs on (3k) and lit up the rears. The two in front did the same, and a short shift to 2nd then quicky to 3rd got us going. 

I regained a lost place around paddock hill and settled in P5 overall, but the cars in front soon started pulling away.  I was now in a 3 way battle and under pressure from behind.  

It was confidently holding position, until I forgot to downshift to third around the back of the circuit (Dingle Dell) and before I realised the door was opened.  There was more frustration when I left a gap on the inside at Paddock Hill bend and so lost both places in a matter of corners. 

From behind I could see both cars pushing to the limit of grip, whereas I had a margin and started to plan the long game. I briefly got a place back due to a lapped car, but again was sloppy in my defence around paddock hill. 

Plotting to pit early, for some reason I aborted the pit entry and went around again - believing I was too early. I blame the heat! And probably so did the 3 cars who didn't pit in the correct windows as well.  They all got 60s penalties added at the end.  

Coming out of the pits I had clean air and slightly improved my laps, but not enough.  The other cars pitted around 8-10s faster, so I didn't get  the opportunity to challenge them. 

The race finished a lap or two early with a stranded car and an accident. To be honest, the heat was oppressive and it couldn't come soon enough.  A class podium P3 was a great result though and confirmed our pace from Snetterton is genuine.  

Full TSL Timing Results Book: https://www.tsl-timing.com/file/?f=HSCC/2026/262856pot.pdf

Top Step Snetterton

We skipped the Donington Park round as it clashed with a trip to the Indy 500 in the USA - what an experience that was!  

Back in the reality of amateur motorsport, we had to redrill the front brake calliper bolts with our Time-sert kit. The constant tightening of the steel bolts weakens the threads in the aluminium hubs until they pull through and won't tighten. The inserts are steel - so better than new. 

Our fire extinguisher nozzle on the drivers side also went through the dashboard which is not permitted, so we re-mounted it on an aluminium angle bracket to ensure we comply with scrutineering.  

We also upgraded the in-car entertainment with a 7" screen and new Go Pro 4K cameras, which are now controlled by the RaceChrono lap timing software system.

Heading over to the circuit on Friday evening, we bagsied a space in the paddock before everyone else got there first, and managed a quick drink in the diner with some of the other drivers.  

The strategy for the weekend was for Mike to drive the two sprint races, a d Garry the longer pit stop race where his extra pace could open up a potential podium position. 

We qualified P4 in class, which was a great effort given each driver only got a couple of hot laps in the 20 minute session, due to the long 3 mile lap.  Our fastest lap just a few tenths off our best ever. (2m11.9s.)  Any more laps and we'd have been melting, as the temperature was rising rapidly, even mid morning.  

 

The car felt light on the front end and was under-steering on corner exits, so we softened the front suspension a click for race 1, and deliberately tried to be slower into the corners, hooking up the apex kerb and fast out. 

Saturday Race 1:

Race one was very hot, and very delayed due to oil laid on the track. When it eventually got going we lost a couple of places in the opening corners, and then some missed gear shifts under the bridge gave another place up.  

Our tyres are nearing a year old, having done over 20 sessions and we were struggling around the long high g-force Coram corner from the start.  As the race progressed, we dropped off the group of cars in front struggling with lighting up the rear tyres out of the corners.  

The main drama of the race was the photo finish between two SP1 Cayman's, which the race directors decided happened 0.2s after the race time expired, so took the official result from the previous lap.  In the spirit of our non-championship series the drivers agreed the result on the road should stand for the trophies - great sportsmanship! 

Post race, and after a discussion with Steve @ SCP Tyres, he would fit us a new set of Yokohama AO52's on Sunday morning, before race 2. 

Sunday Race 2:

When the lights went out, three separate Cayman's hasld trouble getting off the line and remarkably everyone avoided them.  We stayed in position and knew they'd be back past us soon enough.

Cement dust all around turns 2 & 3 was pretty unhelpful and missing a gear out of the 2nd hairpin (it took 3 attempts to find 3rd ) allowed two cars to pass us. We got one back the next lap holding the outside line bravely around the first corner.  

We were then held up by a recovering Cayman, but held off strong pressure from the Boxster behind to finish P4 in class, improving our lap times into the 2m12s range.

Sunday Race 3:

The 40 minute pit stop race strategy was to go hard off the line and make up as many places as possible. Then pit early (undercut) getting clear track in an attempt to get onto the class podium. 

We gained 2 places around the first sector taking the outside line around the hairpin as it concertina'd on the inside line.  Several Cayman's took each other off on the first lap and we were up from 13th to 8th on track, but still P4 in the Boxster SP2 class. 

A smart move inside at Oggies gained another, and we tried desperately to push harder to hold the 987 Boxsters in front, but the tyres and brakes were overheating from the abuse and we lost the place back going wide with an snap oversteer moment.

The safety car came out for a stranded 924 and we came around just as the pit window opened. We were 4th car into the pits, with some either too early, electing to continue or not knowing the rules well enough to take advantage.

We executed the stop perfectly, and got out in front of two cars - now 3rd on track. Still under Safety car - we drove just under race pace to catch the safety car train back up, just as the lights went off and we went green again. 

We couldn't keep pace with the Cayman and 987 Boxster ahead, but weren't really under any pressure from behind.  Just after the 21 mins a big accident when the car in front went straight on at turn one bought the SC boards back out.  Unfortunately the race finished without going green, but we were confident of our pace had it. 

We finished P3 overall and first in SP2, the first time for several years (since 2023 Brands Hatch).  The series organisers voted us driver (and team) of the weekend which was a lovely bonus.  

It was Satey-Car assisted and you could argue we got lucky, but we've been on the wrong end of those situations in the past and you have to be there, have a plan and make the right calls to take advantage.  Which we did!  Roll on Brands Hatch in a few weeks time.   

Croft Improvements

 

The first race of 2026 was the fast and flat Croft Circuit near Darlington.  It was a race against time to get the replacement clutch master cylinder fitted and the final mandatory series stickers only went on to the car the night before.   With just Mike driving there was a lot of track time over the weekend.

Friday Testing:

Having travelled up on the Thursday and dropped the car at the circuit the night before, we were ready for the 4x 30 minute sessions spread over the day.  We experimented with a couple of different roll bar and suspension stiffness settings. First - an improvement in how the car turns into the corners.  Second - increasing our corner exit grip at the rear.  

With a lot of mixed cars on track we didn't crystallise the lap times - but the evidence was clear from the optimal lap time - which was dropping rapidly. 

We had only just scraped through the noise test at 105dB so took the long afternoon break to change the exhaust (the usual culprit) for our spare.  However as we did this we found the actual cause was a broken weld on the catalytic converter.  We have a spare too - but it's a std cat rather than the 100 cell sport cat.  

Saturday Qualifying:

The weather had turned overnight and rain showers were rolling through.  Despite it stopping raining, the circuit was very wet.  We stuck with the worn Yokohama A052 tyres which coped well and our lap times steadily came down during the session.  

Keeping the car on the road was the name of the game so Mike didn't push it too hard.  We qualified in P12, 4th in SP2 behind a couple of SP3 cars which excel in these conditions with the 50:50 weight balance, and in front of a couple of SP1 Caymans.

Saturday Sprint Race #1:

It was a quick turn around for first of two 15 minute sprint races. The track was a little damp, but with a clear dry line appearing.  Mike got a good start loosing a place to a Boxster initially, but then using the straight line speed to dispatch the two 968's within the first couple of laps. 

However the front running Boxster's were just a second or two a lap quicker and pulling away. A Boxster and a Cayman (both new cars) had some issues so we finished P8 - a solid start to the weekend.  

Saturday Sprint Race #2:

We were the last race on the card at nearly 6pm due to late running of the timetable.  Red flags came out on the first lap, after a big accident coming out of the chicane.  The driver was fine - but the car was unfortunately written off.   

Mike had heard a noise from the brakes - so pitted for an inspection. Nothing was obviously wrong.  This unfortunately forfeited the grid slot and so we had to restart form the Pit Lane dead last.  We caught and overtook several of slower class cars but lap times were slower and the brake noise still there so Mike brough the car home in 13th place.  

On inspection we found one of the the brake pads (fitted after qualifying) was in back-to-front!  So not pushing it to hard was the right approach.  

Sunday Endurance Race #3:

The racing at Croft starts at midday on Sunday so not to disturb local church bells! Our pit stop race was the 2nd of the day and whilst overcast the threat of rain had mostly disappeared.

Mike got a good start again - gaining two places in the first couple of laps.  Then setting fastest laps of the weekend to close in on the main SP2 Boxster battle ahead.  A fastest ever lap for the car of 1m34.9s got him there on lap #5.

  

Our lap timer was coming loose from the dashboard mounting - so was ripped off down the main straight and thrown into the passenger footwell.   Once the cars in front sorted themselves out and started lapping cleaning - we couldn't keep with their pace and they started to get away.  

We had a spin out of the chicane when pushing a little too hard and then pitted for the mandatory stop.  Tyre pressures were very high - so it took slightly longer to bring them down and were were back out.  The 2nd half of the race was straight forwards, lapping consistently but slightly slower without any lap timer or cars around for reference.   

We finished a fantastic P10, overall a great weekend with a lot of track time and some brilliant time gains made.   

 

TSL Timing Results --> https://www.tsl-timing.com/file/?f=750MC/2026/261536pot.pdf

Post Spa - Winter Overhaul

Winter Overhaul:

It wasn't until the Christmas break that we opened the garage and looked at the car. Still dirty from Spa like some LeMans homage - it definitely needed some TLC - starting with a wash! 

There is always a list of jobs, and it only gets bigger the more we want to improve the car.  Stand still and you're going backwards is the saying.  

The biggest issue from Spa was the clutch slave cylinder which was bodged together.  We had a genuine Sachs replacement to fit and the process of bleeding the clutch is both difficult and tedious and requires a combination of manual pedal movements and pressure bleeding.   Air will be in both the pedal end, the long line and the rear cylinder.  

Another casualty of the Spa clutch change was that one of the Gearbox mount bolts got cross threaded.  The nut is welded into the bracket so that needed replacing.  It was handily the left hand side - so made access to the Clutch Slave easier too.  

It took 2 attempts to get the correct bolt length and thread pitch which is a fine 0.75mm version - we got there eventually.  

Our front drop-link boots are torn and the bottom bolts are also bent from the strain put on them - likely from hitting the kerbs. I had ordered new set before Spa - but never got the chance to fit them.  

Weight Saving:

For a long time we've known we had a lot of excess wiring still behind the dashboard and into the doors.  We bit the bullet and dedicated a full day to removed the dashboard completely and set out pulling the individual wires back from the doors towards the centre of the car and the fuse box.  

Short Shifter Upgrade:

We've also been struggling with gear selection so decided to upgrade the Ebay short shifter to a fully bearing based version from Ben Auto Designs.  The difference was immediately noticeable.

Finally -  A standard oil and filter change was completed and we also flushed the brake fluid through all four corner callipers followed by setting of ride height and wheel alignment. Our brake discs and pads plus tyres were good for a Shakedown run. 

Shakedown:

With the car ready - we booked a track day at Snetterton as a shakedown to before entering the first race of the year.  

However mid way though the morning we started to get issues with the clutch not returning to position.  This is a sign of air in the system - but we'd bled it so many times there had to be another issue.  

After looking more closely we could see the Clutch Master Cylinder (located at the pedal) was pushing fluid back into the reservoir so it's seals were gone.

That spelt the end of an otherwise productive day and signalled the need for yet more clutch bleeding!