Oulton Park 11th August

In car videos from both the races are now available to watch on youtube, to view click here.

Oulton Park 11th August

Race two

Race two was shortened to 20 minutes due to an incident in an earlier race which caused a delay in the programme (and gave us plenty of time to give the cars a winning polish !). Following race 1 it was clear that the car set-up could be improved but following a consultation with Hartech Race Director Rob Carnson it was decided it was better to leave the car as it was, the potential improvement out-weighed by the risk of trying out an un-tested change making it worse in race 2.  Marcus got a good start but had to fight with Mark Proctor around the first bend, Old Hall and along The Avenue - a slightly nervous moment for him given that he’d had a very big accident at that part of the track exactly a year earlier - and managed to stay ahead into Cascades, leaving Proctor to deal with Mark McAleer who was close behind, allowing Marcus to concentrate on Ben ahead, chasing Mark Sumpter and Pete Morris.

 While Marcus was holding off Proctor and McAleer Ben was able to secure podium 3^rd. Ben remained directly behind Pete Morris and Mark Sumpter, who were disputing over 1st place, the entire race.                                                                                                     During the next couple of laps Marcus was chased down by the more powerful cars behind that had caught up, however a defensive move at Lodge at the end of lap 3 compromised his speed down the start/finish straight which Proctor capaitalised on, McAleer following suit on the next straight after Cascades.  The rest of the field were well down (5 seconds back to the next car).  For a while Marcus was able to keep on terms with McAleer, getting very close into Lodge at the end of lap 5 (his fastest lap), only to lose pace exiting Druids on lap 6 due to gearing difficulties which also caused problems going into old hall resulting in a black marker in just the wrong place at Knickerbrook, this unfortunately put him further back.  

The Hartech team celebrating after Ben's podium finish!

                                                                                     Due to the harsh track and weather conditions the Boxster was suffering with overheated brakes and tyres, allowing Richard Ellis in his 993 to close up a little in the last but one lap, so rather than push it too much and take risks Marcus drove the last lap a little cautiously to secure the position, finishing 6th.Ben held on to his podium position and Sumpter managed to defend his lead against Morris.  

Oulton park 11th August

Race one                      

After the excellent qualifying results we had good placements on the 2^nd and 3^rd rows of the grid however, Marcus was hassled by Mark Mcaleers 911 directly behind that was bound to get a better start into the race than the Boxster S. Mark then past leaving the two hartech team mates yet again in close pursuit. Marcus had to back off a little in order to avoid hitting Ben going into both shell and the first chicane. Although Marcus 

was averaging the same lap times as Ben he was slightly less consistent due to having to defend his position against John Mccullagh. Marcus fought well and managed to pull away but there was no possibility of him catching up the cars in front in the time left. Race one ended with Ben and Marcus in 5^th and 6^th place not bad with the surrounding competition. 

Oulton Park 11th August

Qualifying

Well the forecast was right, we were lucky enough to have yet another race in the sun! Both test days done with the cars had shown some promising times and all hopes were pinned on a podium finish. The good weather brought out the crowds for the race and there were lots of friends, supporters, Hartech staff and families present to cheer us on. As well as the table full of hob-nobs the team were treated to a fantastic feast of cream cake, fancy ginger biscuits even strawberries by an Autoperform customer. The competition atmosphere was introduced early on in the day with The Olympics on a TV hooked up in the garage. It was a good qualifying session for both drivers with Ben coming 4^th and Marcus coming 5^th with only 2 hundredths of a second gap between them.

Return to Oulton - 11th August

The Porsche Club races are making there second visit to Oulton Park this season for rounds 9 and 10 of the championship. We will be doing two test days with the cars, one on Tuesday 7th August and one on Friday 10th August. So far the weather forecast looks to be good so fingers crossed we will get our second dry race as well.

MotorsTV airings

MotorsTV have done a series of programs called 'Last Lap' following the Porsche club championship races. With a full hour of footage from Oulton Park our race cars our now famous! There are 2 more programs left in the series, one on 6th August at 11.35am and one on the 9th August at 16.10pm. Motors TV can be found on channel 413 on sky and is also available  on virgin.

Croft race day 21st July

Race two

With the grid starting place much further back in this second race (14^th) Marcus had his work cut out but knew he was capable of finishing much higher up the order. Against the odds he made an excellent start making up 5 places in just the first lap. Having quickly cleared the slower cars out on track Marcus was pursuing and closing in on Ben but things soon came to a halt when the red flag came out on lap 8. Richard Bennet had spun off track on the blind hairpin exit, most managed to dodge the stationary car but unfortunately Mark Koeberle was unaware of the stranded 993 and struck it.

With around 11 minutes of the race left it was decided to continue once the cars had been cleared up. The grid was reformed with positions decided on the lap before the incident and the cars went out for a 5 lap sprint.

Marcus was hopeful he may be able to progress further up the field and there was a good chance after another good get away. Things soon got quite crowded at the front of the pack and Marcus was put under a considerable amount of pressure into Hawthorn this meant he found it impossible to avoid nudging Ben slightly from behind. As the sprint continued Marcus proved his pace, being the 3^rd quickest car out on track but felt it not enough for a clean risk-free pass particularly past a team mate. Marcus kept very close to Ben throughout the last few laps but with Richard Ellis closing in on them as they diced slightly into Clervaux on the last lap Marcus decided it was best just to follow for the rest of the lap and get a clean finish. The results were a repeat of the first race with Marcus getting 6^th place, a most impressive outcome after moving up 8 places from where he started.

 The next outing is a return to Oulton Park on Saturday 11^th August.  The team are hoping to be out testing beforehand and able to challenge for the podium spots at this track, a favourite for both drivers.


In car videos from both races are on You Tube, to view click here.

 

Croft race day 21st july

Race one

Despite being quite far back on the grid Marcus manage to get a decent start into race one. He made the risky manoeuvre of driving straight down the outside. This could have resulted in him being shunted into the gravel but he pulled it off and gained a couple of places. Regrettably he lost the gained places due to having to avoid contact with Ben and two 968’s which subsequently put him on a head-on collision course for the tyres he appeared to grow rather fond of on the chicane exit, avoiding them put him back yet another place.

After closely tailing dyer for a good half a lap, He finally gained a place back by passing Chris Dyer on the left hand side coming out of the hairpin down the pit straight then later passed Paul Follett from class 2 entering Tower bend. Both Ben and Marcus managed to hold good places in the race and finished 5th and 6^th. Not bad from 10^th place on the grid!

Croft race day 21st July

Qualifying 

At last, we have had a race in the sun and in the north east at that. It’s hard to tell which one is more surprising! This brighter weather seemed to give everyone a new lease of life on track and we had a technical change on our side allowing the Boxster S’s to run 15kg lighter. This isn’t a lot, but at least it's a step in the right direction towards the 911's - all of which (and particularly the 996 variant) run far more favourable power to weight ratios.

During qualifying Marcus found himself stuck behind other slower cars and was held up by a few yellow flags making qualifying tricky business this time as he struggled to get many clear laps. He was on line for an excellent lap time but it ended up being little compromised at the end.  So unfortunately was placed 10^th on the grid but with only hundredths of a second between him and the next 4 cars. His second best lap was worlds away from what he and the car have been achieving hence he was 14^th on the grid for the second race.

Some changes were made to the car after what was learnt from the racing at Donington and it was further improved in a pit stop during qualifying. This proved just how far the team has come over the last few months with them finding and accessing the problem in just under one minute showing how well they all worked together particularly under pressure.

Marcus also managed to find the team something to fill in the large amount of time between qualifying and the first race by “mis-judging ” the tyres on the chicane exit, hitting them & causing damage to both the left wing and the bumper. The Hartech team rose to the challenge and had the car fixed ready to go out in time for the first race with enough time to spare for a little final polishing.

Donington race day photo gallery

Photos from Danny Walton dwmotorsportphotography.com