Silverstone 22nd September

Race Three

Marcus and Ben were 4^th and 5^th on the starting grid for race three giving us a great start but also due to various mechanical difficulties both of the 993’s had to drop out of this last race leaving few top contenders, so the race was most definitely on and wide open. The Hartech drivers were a little close for comfort in this last race - nothing could affect their championship positions so there were no team orders but coming in to contact round Club corner on the first lap and being locked together, not knowing if they would be able to separate themselves, wasn’t the ideal way to start.  

They did thankfully manage to wrench themselves apart though and then had to set off after all the cars that’d mugged them of places as they were falling over each other. It certainly made the race an interesting one for Marcus and Ben as they fought their way through. It did get a bit close for comfort again though round Stowe corner on the last lap and Marcus nearly threw it all away going a little wide at Brooklands into Luffield but with 200 yards left to go he managed to get it all together, stay ahead and take 3^rd place making it a podium finish at last!

 To view the in car video from this race please Click here

Silverstone 22nd September

Race Two

Race two looked promising right from the starting grid with Marcus on the second row and Ben on the 3rd. Marcus passed Proctor on the first lap and managed to defend against Ben, who had been eagerly trying to pass right from the start. Marcus unfortunately was passed by both Proctor and Ben on lap 2, out of Copse and down the Hangar straight respectively.  Proctor continued to do well passing Richard Ellis on lap 4 putting him in 3^rd place.   Ellis later suffered an engine problem leading to him dropping from 4^th to 6^th place but this meant both Marcus and Ben had a chance to get good finishing positions.   Having deliberately held station behind Ben for a few laps, in the hope of them both hunting Proctor down (rather than both losing ground battling each other), Marcus decided to make the most of his better pace on lap 8 when he passed Ben at Club corner. 

 He then went on to pull a gap of over 2 seconds and was chasing Proctor down but there wasn’t enough time left to catch him before the chequered flag, meaning he missed out on the final podium place.  Hartech were pleased with finishing 4^th and 5^th though, a great team result. 

To view the in car video for this race please Click here

Silverstone 21st September

Race One


Marcus got a good but not great start into race 1. His grid place unfortunately put him close to the wall meaning he was on a damper piece of track so it was harder for him to find grip to launch him into the race. He initially gained a place off John McCullagh and managed to hold off his opposition until Copse corner but Mark Proctor had taken the advantage of the pit straight, built up some good speed and took Marcus from the outside. The race between Marcus and Proctor was on again! Proctor was then left chasing Ben trying to pass at every opportunity with the pair touching as they were exiting Village corner but Ben showed some excellent defending skills and was able to hold him off. Marcus was then able to get past Proctor again on Village corner (lap 4) and defended this place for another two laps until Proctor made a move on Woodcote. Ben was lined up for 4^th place but coming down from Luffield corner on the last lap him and Proctor were neck and neck but Proctor just pulled past on the very last 2 seconds. Team Hartech finished 5^th and 6^th - not a bad result for the first race of the weekend.

Our championship co-ordinator has finally admitted that in the 2012 regulations they didn't get the balance right across the model types in the class (which is done by specifying a minimum weight to go with the standard horsepower), leaving the 993's with a small advantage and the 996's with a significant one (but all 911's have a torque advantage over the Boxster S's). So, the first race the results of 2 996's followed by 2 993's followed by our 2 Boxster S's were no real surprise.

To watch the in car footage from this race please Click here

Silverstone 21st september

Qualifying
Marcus had a brillant start into this quallifying session. He was able to find space as he was at the front along with the 968's. Keeping up the pace well he was P2 the first time the lap board came out. By this point Marcus' tyres were getting quite worn out so he was sliding about a bit but he managed to average similar times across the whole session. He finished with good times putting him in 6th place on the first grid and 4th on the second. Ben also managed a great qualifying session putting him 4th on the first grid and 5th on the second.

Silverstone 20th september

It was a kick start to this meeting with team Hartech sending both the cars straight out for an hour testing session as soon as they arrived on Thursday afternoon. The weather was great providing excellent conditions to test in. By the second lap or so Marcus was going as quick as anyone had gone last year (the first time this layout was used), which was really pleasing for him as he thought his car felt really down on grip, particularly at the rear, which was put down to the tyres being "past their best". However, we then learned how much faster other cars had been going so we knew we had our work cut out come Qualifying on Friday morning. The test session confirmed to us that the cars were set up right for the track but it was going to take a detailed stratagy to contend with the 996's and 993's.

Silverstone showdown !

The final race meeting will take place at Silverstone race track from the 21^st to the 22^nd September with the contenders battling it out to be named Porsche club champion 2012 on the full GP circuit. Nothing is certain for this meeting, with Mark Sumpter (current reigning champion) unable to attend this meeting who knows just what might happen., the door has been left wide open for others to leap-frog his lead on the points table.

Hartech have great hopes for Marcus and Ben with Ben already having one win under his belt from brands and Marcus holding his place quite consistently always getting excellent qualifying and lap times. Ben is currently 4^th in class (212 pts net) and Marcus is 6^th in class (179 pts net) but with Sumpter not attending both drivers should better his points if they finish all 3 races.  Hopefully Ben will make it on to the 2012 championship podium and Marcus will achieve his aims to be at least 5^th as well as to get a podium finish in at least one of the races.

The racing is spread over the two days. Qualifying is at 11.20 on Friday morning and the first of the three races is at 15.25 that afternoon. Saturday’s two races are at 09.35 and 13.20.

Currently it looks like we will be in luck with the weather the forecast being dry and cloudy which would make the racing just that little bit easier for everyone drivers, mechanics, reporters and spectators alike.

Along with our two days of racing will be the Britcar 24hr race. Marcus actually has experience in the Britcar races after having previously driven a Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car in the 2009 Britcar 500 event and he may (depending on available places) enter next weekend’s race.

Paul Jurds  pre-meeting report can be found here

Castle Combe 27th August

Race two

Well the impossible happened and the weather actually got worse, this was going to be a fully wet race and for Marcus it was going to be on worn dry tyres. This was most certainly a challenge! The set of wet tyres went onto Bens car due to him having a higher position on the

 starting grid however there was a problem with his cars clutch, struggling to even make it of the line, he managed to limp round ½ a lap before being forced to retire. Marcus’ car was really struggling in the conditions, it never quite seemed to be able to manage a straight line, there was aqua-planing one minute and power sliding the next. Hartech had done a fantastic job of balancing 

the car with it even being able to cope through folly at 90mph but a few twitchy slides certainly kept Marcus on his toes! Throughout the race Marcus had been fighting for a place off John McCullagh (who was on proper wet tyres) but wanting to bring the car back in one piece Marcus decided it was better to concede the place in the last 2 laps and followed McCullaghs tyre tracks as he’d moved some of the standing water out of the way giving Marcus some track to grip on and not just surface water. Marcus managed to keep his car on track and bring it home in one piece finishing in 5^th place. Marcus was relived when the race was finally over but was very pleased with how he had managed to get the car round in these challenging circumstances. 

In car videos of both the Castle combe races are available to watch on you tube, to view Click here. The video may look a little jerky but this is mainly due to the track conditions causing the car to slide around ( a lot!) 

Castle Combe 27th August

Race one

As predicted the heavens had opened and the Hartech marquee was proved not to be to waterproof and seemed to enjoy playing a game of Russian roulette to soak the team members one by one while we were pepping the cars for the race. The great qualifying times had given us excellent places on the first and second rows of the starting grid.  Unfortunately when the lights went out Marcus displayed a most spectacular wheel spin so didn’t achieve the start into the race he wanted but rose to the challenge of catching up the competition. Marcus was fighting hard to regain his grid place and the constantly changing weather conditions alternating between sun and rain didn’t help as he initially struggled to find grip on the wet track. The bad start had pushed Marcus back 6 places but despite Mark Proctor getting close 

Marcus managed to hold him off. Going into quarry Marcus caught up and passed Richard Ellis on the outside but this unfortunately was lost again ,this also left a gap for Proctor to pass. Marcus went for a similar move at quarry on the next lap and strolled back past Proctor again relying on the boxster’s superior brakes.Although proctor was never too far behind Marcus was still able to concentrate on gaining a place of Ellis. The two pulled up side by side going into Avon rise and Marcus just had the advantage and passed him on the outside. 

 On the same lap Marcus passed Richard Bennett on camp corner. Further back on track Proctor had been making similar moves to Marcus and by lap 7 had caught up. Proctor was soon joined by his team mate Mark McAleer as Marcus passed him on quarry corner. Now in 4^th position Marcus was closing in on Ben and constantly managed to hold his place for 7 laps over Proctor who was pushing him from behind. This battle ended when Proctor eventually passed Marcus coming out of the pit straight and into folly meaning Marcus crossed the line in a respectable 5^th place while Ben managed a podium finish in 3^rd. 

Castle Combe 27th August

Qualifying

With our qualifying session being first of many in the day it was a nice early start for the Hartech team. With a rather large grey cloud lingering over head we knew the previous days good weather was not going to continue so some strategic planning was needed. It was decided to push the cars as hard as they could go during the first half of qualifying in order to get some good times down while the track was still dry. Strategy paid off and we finished qualifying 2^nd and 3^rd with some fantastic times, Marcus even managed to go faster than he had ever done in his previous 911’s. There was a minuscule gap of 6/100^th of a second between the two Hartech divers which was a great result for Marcus who felt, after Wednesdays testing, that Bens was the better car.

Castle Combe 27th August

With Castle Combe circuit being a long journey for both drivers and the rest of the Hartech team it was decided to test the cars at Oulton Park on Wednesday 22nd August. Improvements were made to the set up of both cars to allow them to perform there best even on Castle Combes bumpy surface.
Marcus has a history of success on the Castle Combe circuit, when he last raced there in 2010 he got 2 poles and won both his races and to top those two achievements off he was also awarded the circuit's "Driver of the day" trophy. The 911's remain to have a speed advantage over the Boxsters so such achievements may be challenging on this fast track but Marcus will be trying his hardest to get the same victories.
It looks as though we will be losing our dry spell of races and be back into grey overcast and drizzle (the exact conditions won outright pole in previously) but hopefully we will get some big local crowds to spur us on during the bank holiday weekend. We have another early start to the day with qualifying at 8:30am, Race one at 12:40pm and race two at 16:05pm. Along side our racing on the 27th there are a multitude of other races going on including ; the TriMarque Challenge, Morgan Championship and Pirelli Ferrari Open.