Official Race Report from Paul Lawrence

Chamberlain and Rapp share the wins

Richard Chamberlain (935) and Craig Rapp (911 GT3 Cup) claimed wins during rounds six and seven in the Michelin Porsche Open Series at Snetterton over the weekend (12/13 June). Rapp romped to victory on Saturday when Chamberlain had a run in the 930 Turbo of Ty Watkins. However, on Sunday Chamberlain was back in his mighty 935 and blitzed his way to victory.

Race one

As Chamberlain gunned the 930 away from the grid the car's transmission broke leaving Rapp to take his second unchallenged Snetterton victory on the run. “If the car hadn’t broke I’m sure I would have given Craig a run for his money,” said Chamberlain.

Fast starting Henry Firman (911GT3 Cup) was soon in trouble as a tyre slowly deflated and he was unable to hold onto his second place. Firman was edged down to fourth by Gerald Harrison (911 GT3 Cup) and Brian Robinson (930), and it was Robinson who soon moved into second despite several difficult moments lapping slower cars.

Tony Brown had his best result to date in his 964RSR and charged ahead of Harrison on lap ten, but spun at the Esses two laps later. “I was trying too hard to catch Robinson but recovered to retake third,” said Brown afterwards.

Tim Bevan (944) did well to recover from a very quick spin at Coram on lap three while chasing after eventual class four winner Alex Eacock (944). Chris Egginton (968CS) triumphed in class two having caught and passed Gordon Matthew (944 Turbo), who then promptly spun at Russell. “I had to push hard to make up for a poor start,” said Egginton.

Race two

Once Chamberlain had got the 935 up to speed, he romped away for his fifth victory of the season. “It’s nice to be back in the ‘old girl’ again,” said the winner after scoring a commanding victory.

Rapp was a lonely second while Brown had to watch his mirrors late in the race as Robinson tried everything to close in but just lacked the extra speed necessary to take third place away. His second podium of the weekend was an excellent result for Brown and points to the car becoming a strong contender for class two spoils.

An intriguing race long battle between Harrison and Firman had the pair swap places and paint as well as kicking up dust clouds around the circuit in their efforts. Firman initially led but fell behind Harrison on lap five. Lapping traffic Firman clipped Tim Bevan (944) at Russell into a spin and when Harrison was slow out of Sear, due to a transmission problem, contact between the GT3s ended with Harrison spinning. “It wasn’t his fault,” said Harrison sportingly, after rejoining to finish sixth.

Chris Egginton was a clear class three winner to make it four wins from four starts over the weekend in his 968CS, while Alex Eacock (944) profited when Bevan was tipped into the spin by Firman to wrap up class four.

The Michelin Porsche Open season now has a summer break until round eight at Oulton Park on 31 July.

Henry Firman's story...

Firstly can I start by saying no rabbits were harmed in the making of this report!

In Saturdays race I shot off the line in second place, Richard Chamberlain, (driving Ty Watkins' car) slipped inside me at Riches (ooo..err.. missus!), whereupon metal started dropping off his car and he retired.
I was now in second place behind Craig Rapp's GT3 with Gerald Harrison's GT3 behind me. On the second lap Gerald gave me a little tap going into Riches I held onto the car but he got past. Brian Robinson's Class 1 car took me on the Revett straight but slowed me up a little going into the Esses allowing Tony Brown to get in on the act.

So we drove for a couple of laps until Tony went past me headed in Gerald's general direction. It shouldn't have been too hard to follow him for a good Class 2 battle between the 3 of us but try as I might I couldn't put in better than 1.19's and then 1.20's. The car was just oversteering into the corners. After 11 laps the culprit reared it's head, a flat right hand rear tyre. Either when Richard's bellhousing went south or when I visited the apron on the inside of Riches on the second lap I'd picked up a slow puncture which had caused the oversteering problem. At least it wasn't my driving and Sunday was another day.

On Sunday's qualifying the car decided to keep popping out of third gear at the Bomb Hole. It was fine if you drove hard through the gear but if you lifted in the gear then re-applied the power it popped out. Nothing else for it but to hold it in place and steer with one hand for the afternoon!

Off the line I managed to take Gerald's GT3 and make it stick into Riches. The two of us seem to be fairly evenly matched and so were together for the rest of the race. On around the second lap he dived up my right hand side going into Russell and we hit square on, I took to the grass and held onto the position but he eventually got past me going into Riches a few laps later. We were nose to tail for 7 or 8 laps. I got inside him going into Riches and again at the end of the Revett straight but each time couldn't make it stick. I managed to get alongside a couple of times on the Senna straight but got squeezed out as he pulled left for Riches meaning I had to lift or take to the grass. I lifted!

He was driving very defensively but this was costing him time so eventually I managed to get some speed on him through Riches then carry it through Sear expecting to drift outside onto the Revett straight and take him there. At the apex of Sear I just brushed his back bumper when he didn't`t get the power on mid corner and he spun out. Apparently he had lost third gear, a selector cable problem which first occurred on Saturday and he had selected 4th that time so the car bogged down mid corner.

A couple more laps and I took the flag for the hardest third in class ever. Not only that I managed to get into the 1.15's which really pleased me, and I'm not done yet!

Once again Gerald forced me drive my socks off and for the second time we spent the whole race nose to tail, it's what club racing is all about. I've no doubt we'll retire to our respective corners, re-group and come out fitter and quicker for our next meeting.

I did have another incident in the race which bothers me and highlights a problem I suspect others will encounter. Whilst Gerald and I were locked in battle and separated by a Rabbit's ear we rounded Corum and entered the braking zone for Russell at the same time as Tim Bevan and, I think, Alex Eacock in their 944's both also locked in battle. Blue flags were being waved, Gerald popped in front of Tim and I followed. Tim turned for the right hand apex and we hit, my front wheel catching his door spinning him across my front end. I carried on, I believe he retired. Firstly to Tim I'm very sorry, no one deserves to have their battle decided by a third party. Obviously in my defence I was expecting he had seen us and would tuck in behind me after I had passed.

Now here's the problem. The marshals wave blue flags as a lapping competitor approaches. They see the slower car as being lapped and thus he should expect to be passed by the faster car. The problem is that in this case the slower car was also in a battle with another car for class honours. I went and apologised to Tim after the race and he asked me why I couldn't have waited 5 seconds until after Russell to pass. Equally one could say maybe timing his entry into the corner to slot in behind me was the answer. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not laying blame or passing any bucks here, I'm merely raising the point. For what it's worth I twice lost position this year by slowing for a blue flagged car (once slamming on the brakes so as to avoid spinning it out as he turned in front of me at Silverstone). I'm the one guy who knows what it's like to be the overtaken car having raced in class 3 last year. My own answer was to get the quicker cars past as soon as possible so I could get back on with my race. Obviously if they (usually Richard, Rupert or Craig), were on their own and I was locked in combat then I could dictate the passing place and they would respond accordingly. If they were being pursued then I got out of the way, and bloody quickly!

I've heard a number of competitors especially in class 1 and 2 moaning about nearly being taken out by slower cars. There is a hell of a speed differential between the machinary and so the answer is we've got to all be sympathetic to each other's cause. I most certainly don't want to alienate the slower cars or make them feel second class competitors but be aware of the strengths of the faster cars. My own car, the GT3, is simply unbeatable under braking, we run slicks, huge brakes and even have ABS just for good measure. However mid corner a lighter well balanced class 3 or 4 car will often keep up. Many of the class one cars have an element of down force or ground affect which allows them to corner much faster, but they sometimes suffer under braking compared to say a GT3 (especially in the wet), not having ABS.

As a plea to the quicker cars, if it isn't life threatening chose your overtaking point and try not to compromise the slower car, especially if they are locked in battle. If you're 500 yards in front of your rival a bit of a lift to fit in with the slower guy won't hurt your race. Normally it works fine but in this instance two pairs of cars that had, I suspect, been locked in battle for an equal amount of time and were being driven with equal commitment met each other and things didn't work out. Once again My apologies to Tim.

As a final epitaph to Sunday's race I got out of the car expecting to see a bit of damage to the car what with all the knocking and banging. A slight dent in the nearside wing which the dentmaster guy can pop out on Monday!

Henry

RACE CLASSIFICATION - RACE 1
POS	NO	CL	NAME	NAT	CAR	TIME	LAPS	GAP	MPH	BEST
1	19	2	Craig RAPP		Porsche 911 GT3	20:02.538	16		93.49	1:14.283
2	81	1	Brian ROBINSON		Porsche 930	20:55.783	16	53.245	89.53	1:16.163
3	10	2	Tony BROWN		Porsche 964 RSR	21:07.941	16	1:05.403	88.67	1:16.281
4	9	2	Gerald HARRISON		Porsche 911 GT3	21:11.314	16	1:08.776	88.44	1:17.315
5	41	3	Chris EGGINGTON		Porsche 968 CS	20:38.326	15	1 LAP	85.12	1:19.812
6	45	3	Gordon MATTHEW		Porsche 944 Turbo	20:48.538	15	1 LAP	84.42	1:20.662
7	79	3	John ALLEN		Porsche 911	21:17.315	15	1 LAP	82.52	1:23.205
8	25	3	Ragdann El-AKABI		Porsche 2.7RS	20:05.909	14	2 LAPS	81.58	1:24.357
9	28	4	Alex EACOCK		Porsche 944	20:14.639	14	2 LAPS	80.99	1:25.567
10	43	3	Simon MIFSUD		Porsche 944	20:36.560	14	2 LAPS	79.56	1:23.820
11	69	4	Tim BEVAN		Porsche 944	20:37.156	14	2 LAPS	79.52	1:25.816
12	96	4	Charles WINTERHALDER		Porsche 944	20:58.345	14	2 LAPS	78.18	1:27.764
13	97	4	Frank CORTES		Porsche 944	20:32.507	13	3 LAPS	74.12	1:31.620
14	46	3	Paul HERBERT		Porsche 914-6	21:37.434	13	3 LAPS	70.41	1:36.425
Not Classified
	24	2	Henry FIRMAN		Porsche 911 GT3	16:09.134	12	D.N.F.	87.01	1:18.783
	5	1	Richard CHAMBERLAIN		Porsche 935		0	D.N.F.	N/A
Fastest Lap
	19	2	Craig RAPP		Porsche 911 GT3	1:14.283	16	152.24kph	94.60
	81	1	Brian ROBINSON		Porsche 930	1:16.163	8	148.48kph	92.26
	41	3	Chris EGGINGTON		Porsche 968 CS	1:19.812	14	141.69kph	88.04
	28	4	Alex EACOCK		Porsche 944	1:25.567	14	132.16kph	82.12

	Start Time : 14:36
Weather / Track : Cloudy / Dry	End Time : 14:56
Copyright © 2004 MST Group Ltd. All Rights Reserved	Printed : 14:58 Saturday 12 June 2004

RACE CLASSIFICATION - RACE 2
POS	NO	CL	NAME	NAT	CAR	TIME	LAPS	GAP	MPH	BEST
1	5	1	Richard CHAMBERLAIN		Porsche 935	20:15.395	17		98.29	1:09.801
2	19	2	Craig RAPP		Porsche 911 GT3	21:21.780	17	1:06.385	93.20	1:14.242
3	10	2	Tony BROWN		Porsche 964 RSR	20:28.941	16	1 LAP	91.49	1:15.764
4	81	1	Brian ROBINSON		Porsche 930	20:32.159	16	1 LAP	91.25	1:15.572
5	24	2	Henry FIRMAN		Porsche 911 GT3	20:52.401	16	1 LAP	89.77	1:15.986
6	9	2	Gerald HARRISON		Porsche 911 GT3	21:10.285	16	1 LAP	88.51	1:16.956
7	41	3	Chris EGGINGTON		Porsche 968 CS	20:24.269	15	2 LAPS	86.09	1:19.846
8	45	3	Gordon MATTHEW		Porsche 944 Turbo	20:46.236	15	2 LAPS	84.58	1:21.182
9	79	3	John ALLEN		Porsche 911	20:57.545	15	2 LAPS	83.82	1:21.984
10	6	3	Mark LILLINGTON		Porsche 968 CS	21:00.702	15	2 LAPS	83.61	1:22.169
11	25	3	Ragdann El-AKABI		Porsche 2.7RS	21:26.188	15	2 LAPS	81.95	1:23.831
12	28	4	Alex EACOCK		Porsche 944	20:20.112	14	3 LAPS	80.63	1:25.509
13	96	4	Charles WINTERHALDER		Porsche 944	20:43.663	14	3 LAPS	79.10	1:27.027
14	43	3	Clive REAY-YOUNG		Porsche 944	21:14.952	14	3 LAPS	77.16	1:28.218
15	97	4	Frank CORTES		Porsche 944	20:17.935	13	4 LAPS	75.00	1:30.223
16	46	3	Paul HERBERT		Porsche 914-6	20:32.766	12	5 LAPS	68.40	1:40.168
Not Classified
	69	4	Tim BEVAN		Porsche 944	13:21.712	9	D.N.F.	78.88	1:25.500
	99	4	Mark HARRIS		Porsche 944	14:14.142	8	D.N.F.	65.81	1:29.787
Fastest Lap
	5	1	Richard CHAMBERLAIN		Porsche 935	1:09.801	8	162.02kph	100.67
	19	2	Craig RAPP		Porsche 911 GT3	1:14.242	16	152.32kph	94.65
	41	3	Chris EGGINGTON		Porsche 968 CS	1:19.846	4	141.63kph	88.00
	69	4	Tim BEVAN		Porsche 944	1:25.500	6	132.27kph	82.18

	Start Time : 15:26
Weather / Track : Cloudy / Dry	End Time : 15:47
Copyright © 2004 MST Group Ltd. All Rights Reserved	Printed : 15:49 Sunday 13 June 2004