President’s Report – March 2013
Hello Fellow Porsche Fans,
March is upon us and that means basketball and March Madness. Being from England, basketball is not followed as keenly as it is here in the States. We tend to watch football, or soccer, as its better known over here. To be honest I’m not a fan of either; I used to play rugby at school, which was a pretty rough game! I was ok at it but I was never going to be a champion of any sorts.
From a young age my Dad and I would spend most weekends at our local race track “Brands Hatch “. The track dates back to the mid 1920’s. It was first used as an army training ground before becoming a race track in 1926. The Grand Prix circuit is 2.6 miles in length and the Indy circuit is only 1.1 miles. Unfortunately due to noise restrictions the Grand Prix circuit is rarely used these days. My Dad and I were present for the last ever Grand Prix held there in 1986. In those days Grand Prix cars were unbelievably loud and if you didn’t have hearing protection you could only endure around 10 minutes next to the track!
I did have the privilege to drive a Formula First car (this is not the same as F1) around the Indy track on a track day. Formula First at the time was the introductory level for the rising F1 drivers. Greats like Mark Webber and Jenson Button both won the Formula First festival held each year at Brands Hatch. Some of the best racing I have ever watched at Brands Hatch is Rally Cross. As its name suggests it’s a mix between off road (rally) and circuit racing – the transition between the two surfaces makes for very exciting racing! I also did a Rally Cross track day and drove a Ford Sierra Cosworth. This was a fantastic car to drive on gravel as it was rear wheel drive and turbo charged so I did some great drifting!
Anyway, that’s enough of my passion for Brands Hatch. The track season is soon approaching and I’m busy trying to prepare my 1986 944T track car that I use for the DE events. It’s been very reliable for the last few seasons and needed little maintenance but this year it needs the rear end rebuilt as it’s got worn drive shafts and bearings.
Talking of DE events we have our first one coming up June 7-9th and if you haven’t been before I would highly recommend it. You never know, I could end up being your instructor for the weekend!
Our March meeting is at DiOrio’s Pizza in St. Matthews behind Stock Yard Bank. This may not be the best place to bring your Porsche due to the lack of parking which is a bit of an issue for a club meeting. My fault – sorry… but the pizza is very good! I will be holding the meeting at my house in May which has ample parking and I encourage all those attending to drive their Porsches. We got some fantastic photos from the meeting last year and this year I have two limited edition Porsche models to give away as door prizes but you have to be in it to win it as they say!
This Month’s Porsche Fact:
Porsche’s first car, known as the Porsche 64, was unveiled in 1939 but the engine was actually produced in 1938. Designed as a racer with borrowed components from the Volkswagen Beetle, the Porsche 64 featured a flat-4 cylinder engine with an output of 50 horsepower and a top speed of around 100 miles per hour. Porsche production was interrupted by the onset of World War II and the same engineers who had been designing Porsche engines found themselves in the service of the German government designing military vehicles. Porsche did not produce another car until 1948 – the 356 model.
See you all at the meeting! Cheers.