SNETTERTON SPORTSCAR WEEKEND
The Porsche Boxster will be one of many illustrious cars on show at Snett this weekend. Photo: Bourne Photographic
This weekend the BRSCC is running two race meetings – at Mallory Park on Sunday, which will be previewed tomorrow and Snetterton on Saturday & Sunday.
The 14 race BRSCC Sportscar Race Weekend will be run by the Club’s East Anglian Centre and will take place on the new Snetterton 300 circuit. Saturday’s schedule is dominated by the FunCup, which has championship status for the first time this year. With just an Oulton Park round to go after this weekend’s 4 hour race Team Honeywell lead the points standings with drivers Neil Plimmer and Geoff Fawcett looking firm favourites to secure the inaugural title.
Second up on Saturday is the first of two races for the Design911.com Porsche Championship. Catering for both Boxsters and the 924 the championship has made great strides this season. Whilst Dave Clark has a firm hold at the top of the Boxster class, the other major places are wide open with Richard Styrin having brothers David and John Bearman snapping at this heels and Gerry Taylor looking for his usual podium slots. In the 924s it’s a 4 way fight between Steven Brown, Alfred Piesinger, Adam Croft and Jayson Flegg, all of whom have scored 924 class wins this season.
The BRSCC OSS Championship will really add to the ‘sportscar’ theme at Snett this weekend. OSS is the home for any type of sports racing prototype car and the name “Open” refers to the regulations which are kept open as possible to attract all the fabulous sports racing cars out of their garages and on to the track racing where they should be. 2010 champion Tony Sinclair heads the standings and is odds-on to retain his title and could secure it this weekend if things go his way in the double header.
Rounding off Saturday’s action is the first of 4 races over the 2 days for the Saker Challenge. From the same JPR stable as the FunCup the Saker has an outstanding appearance and is a pure racer, which uses a strong-space frame chassis with GRP sectional bodywork, including gull-wing doors and runs on Avon slicks. The Saker is an amazing spectacle which boasts a mid mounted 2 litre, turbo charged boxer engine and is restricted to 270 BHP. The truly slick power house is a commanding, yet ultra reliable machine, built for thrilling, affordable GT endurance racing.
Three more series join the fray on Sunday – the BRSCC Euro Saloon & Sports Car Championship, the BRSCC Production GTi Series and the Crosslé 9S Challenge. The Arrowpak backed Euro Saloons have once again produced strong grids meeting after meeting and 26 will line-up to tackle the Snetterton 300 circuit for the first time. With just one race to go after the weekend Andy Jordan is the leader in his Renault Clio in both Class D and overall but Richard Hawken’s Nissan Primera Super Tourer is still in with a chance.
New for 2011, the BRSCC Production GTI Series is a single make series for the VW Golf Mk2 GTi. The iconic 1980’s hatchbacks are divided into 2 classes 16 valve and 8 valve. Strictly enforced production spec regulations and monitored driving standards keep the focus of this club level series on fun, safe, affordable racing. There are 2 races for the GTis on Sunday afternoon which should both be thrillers as there are numerous drivers looking to come away with honours. Nick Porter (31) has been consistently at the front all season, Simon Hill (51) was in stunning form at Brands and took 2 wins but Andy Knowlton (53) also a winner this season has more lap records than either.
Finally, the Crosslé 9S Challenge joins the action for a 40 minute race on Sunday afternoon. The Crosslé 9S Sports-Racing Car, as raced by Grand Prix drivers, John Watson and Peter Gethin, is one of the revered marques along with the Lotus, Chevron, Lola and Abarth who competed in the golden age of two-litre sports car racing in Europe. The man on form so far this season has been Arnie Black, the Managing Director and owner of Crosslé cars. Arnie has bagged most of the wins this season, although Mark Hobbs with racing buddy Jez Clark managed to win the Spa Summer Classic 1 hour race.
