We enjoyed a great start to the 2017 season at the Brands Hatch Historic Festival. Racing our 1974 Porsche 911 3.0 RS in FIA Masters Historic Sports Cars and 1965 Porsche 911 2.0 in the Gentleman Drivers Pre-’66 GT race, Mark and James came home with two class wins and a top six overall finish in Masters, against stiff competition from faster prototype sports cars.
“Brands Hatch went well,” said Mark. “A very wet qualifying for the ’65 in the Gentleman Drivers race played to our advantage of wonderful balance and great traction from the Porsche. We held our class-leading position throughout the race and beat the dominant TVRs home, despite a few safety cars and an eventual red flag.
“In Masters, we had a few issues with the RS during qualifying, but paddock friends helped us get the car sorted and ready to race. The heavens opened minutes before the grid formation and everyone swapped to wet tyres. Again we looked to the 911’s traction advantage and took the risky decision to switch back to dry tyres.
“Despite the rain, the ambient temperatures were still fairly high. Our experience over many years racing at Brands has taught us that the big Masters field pounding around can dry a track out pretty quickly. This proved to be a very good decision!
“Our main competitor started on wets and pulled out a slight lead in the first few laps, but the dry line soon began to emerge and our pace picked up steadily, closing the gap to the front. When our closest competitor suffered technical issues requiring a long pit stop later in the race, we were well out in front.
“We finished a satisfying sixth overall and first in class by some margin. Considering that new dad James hasn’t raced for two years and has not been to Brands for twice that, it was a great result and solid start to the season.”
Our next outing will be at the Silverstone Classic, followed by Nürburgring Oldtimer, Zandvoort Historics and the Spa 6 Hour weekend, where we did so well in 2015. We’ll be aiming to repeat our finish as top 911 at Spa Francorchamps in a very competitive field.
(Photo by Jason McDowell)
