Weekend Roundup

Another busy weekend for LearnToRace friends.  Damien Faulkner again stared in the TUSCC series in America with a 9th in GTD at the 6 hours of Watkins Glen after good race pace but some issues.

LearnToRace founder David Hornsey was racing with long term racing partner Steve Miller at Spa-Francorchamps in the CSCC Modern Classics.  Two wet races followed a dry qualifying where David put their Porsche 996 on pole by 5 seconds from the second placed BMW M3.  In the first wet race a delayed pitstop meant the pair were beaten to a close second place by a lightening fast Renault Megane but revenge was sweet in the second race on Sunday with a dominant performance by the team bringing home the overall win.

Video highlights of the races can be found on http://www.youtube.com/user/DavidHornsey

 

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Weekend Roundup

Last weekend saw the GRDC head to Silverstone for 2 races on the GP circuit.  Charles Ferguson continued his winning streak taking his tally to 4 wins out of four.  Best of luck to all the GRDC drivers on catching Charles next time out.

Damien Faulkner had another difficult weekend in the Tudor United Sports Car Championship.  10th in Class and 17th Overall was a tough result when the pace was there.

LearnToRace founder David Hornsey ended up racing alone at Brands Hatch in round 3 of the CSCC Modern Classics series at Brands Hatch after regular co-driver Steve Miller was taken ill.  Treating the weekend as a setup weekend for Spa, the next round of the series, David and the team at LodgeSports Racing experimented with setup changes in qualifying and the race to try and reduce the mid corner understeer the car has been experiencing.  Using old tyres for qualifying and the race the team were really happy with the progression in drive-ability of the car with a much more positive front end.  David managed to grab 3rd in qualifying, “There was a chance to get on the front row but I made a small mistake when I got clear track in the dying moments of the session, but 3rd is good and the cars on the front row are certainly more powerful so I’ll do my best to stick with them in the race” David reported.

After the start the 4th place TVR got a great run on the first lap to lead whilst David embroiled in a long tussle with the pole sitting 993 RSR for third.  David finally made the move stick on the run up to Druids on lap 10 and set about chasing the leaders.  thoughts of moving up the order were soon dashed when the safety car was released to clear up an oil spill and the safety car missed the leader, effectively gifting him a lap.  A third place finish was a good reward and the team are all looking forward to the next event, a pair of races at Spa Francorchamps at the end of the month.

In car video of the first few laps of the race can be found here:

 

Busy weekend for LearnToRace

Friends and founder of LearnToRace have a busy race weekend ahead.

Firstly, friend of LTR Damien Faulkner will once again be behind the wheel of his GBAutosports Porsche 991 GT America in the Tudor United Sportscar Championship in the Cheverolet Sports Car Classic at the Detroit Belle Isle circuit.  There are just the Prototypes and the GTD (similar to GT3 spec) cars entering this race with the Spec Prototypes and the GTLM cars standing down.  Race details can be found here: http://www.imsa.com/races/chevrolet-sports-car-classic

Secondly, this weekend marks the second race weekend of the Ginetta Racing Drivers Club series with a pair of races on the Silverstone Grand Prix Circuit.  LearnToRace founder David Hornsey worked extensively with the GRDC drivers as they prepared to take their novice driver exams at the start of the season.  Will Charles Ferguson continue his unbroken winning streak or will one of the other drivers in this fantastically competitive series be able to break though for their maiden win?

Lastly, LTR founder David Hornsey will be in action at Brands Hatch for the third round of the CSCC Modern Classics.  Racing again alongside long term driving partner Steve Miller will the pair be able to go one better than the second place finish last time out at Silverstone?  The drivers and team, LodgeSports racing, are going into the weekend with test and development on their minds as the following meeting is a double header at Spa and as the peak aim of the season everyone wants the car to be right for those races. However, the tight twists of the Brands Hatch Indy layout might favour the Porsche 911 over the all conquering BMW M3’s that have so far ruled the roost.

Best of luck to all competitors taking part this weekend.

 

Image courtesy of David Stallard Photography http://www.davidstallardphotography.com/

Weekend Racing Recap

Over in California, friend of LearnToRace Damien Faulkner had a bit of a tough weekend in the IMSA Tudor United Sportscar Championship finishing 17th in GTD and 2 laps down.

Back in Blightly, LearToRace’s David Hornsey was in the second round of the CSCC Modern Classics series in the Porsche 996 he shares with Railway Designer Steve Miller.  David and Steve have raced together for about 5 seasons off and on now with this year seeing the move to the 996 from a humble Porsche 924.

This was a good weekend with 3rd in qualifying and David handing the car over to Steve in 2nd position.  The team running the car, Lodge Sports Racing gave them a great pitstop to jump the leading BMW who hunted Steve down over the remaining race.  A tight finish meant the BMW passed for the lead with 2 laps to go but David, Steve and all the team at Lodge Sports were overjoyed with their 2nd step on the podium.  The next race is at Brands Hatch at the beginning of June.

 

Highlights of the race can be found here: http://youtu.be/9FHtIc7npdc

 

Ginetta Racing Drivers Club

Ginetta GRDC Race Car

Learn To Race’s David Hornsey has spent the off season training a new swathe of budding racers as part of the Ginetta Racing Drivers Club.  The GRDC is a new initiative by the forward thinking racing car manufacturer to help get gentlemen racers into the sport, and into the Ginetta family.

Open only to novice drivers, for a one off fee each entrant receives a Ginetta G40 GRDC race car (which is also road legal and makes a great fun weekend sports car), safety equipment such as Ginetta racing overalls, one to one coaching at Ginetta organised track day events, their ARDS racing license, 8 races at high profile race meetings such as support for the British GT championship and the opportunity to take an all expenses paid VIP trip to Le Mans to watch the 24hr race in Ginetta hospitality.  Full details of the scheme can be found on the Ginetta website by following the link ginetta.com/grdc.php

Over 15 new racers have signed up to the scheme and have been taking part in Ginetta track days for the last few months, coached by David Hornsey, British GT racer Jamie Stanley, Historic racer Jack Sandford and, at the final trackday event, BTCC racer Adam Morgan.  The gloves are now off as its the countdown to their first race weekend, supporting the British GT Championship at Rockingham over the May Day Bank Holiday weekend.

Best of luck to all competitors and we look forward to working with you over the coming season.

1st Race of the Learn To Race Season

Learn To Race’s David Hornsey was in his first race of 2014 with student Steve Miller in the Classic and Sports Car Club’s Modern Classics series with their Porsche 996 3.4.  David and Steve have raced together for w few years now, always in Porsches, firstly in a 924 and from the end of 2013 in this 996.

The first race in this car at the end of last season, at Snetterton, was wet and the duo came away with a fantastic 1st in class and second overall after a nailbiting last lap tussle between Steve and the eventual winner in a BMW M3.  This race was also at Snetterton but on the longer 300 version of the circuit and after a bit of testing over the winter this was the first time the car had run in the dry.  An experiment with the setup in qualifying gave too much oversteer on turn in and too much understeer on exits so a more conservative and predictable setup was chosen for the race.  Lots of oversteery moments left them 5th on the grid after qualifying and the video of the race below shows they ended up 5th overall and 4th in class, but with a great drive from Steve who defended his position for almost his entire stint from a Boxster snapping at his heals.

 

 

Sebring Results

Friend of LearnToRace Damien Faulkner had a much more successful Sebring 12hr than the Daytona 24hr with a 10th place finish in GTD and 35th overall out of the 65 entrants.  The team have made a big step in performance and Damien is looking to build on this through the coming races to get closer to the front of the field.  With the performance balancing putting the Porsche’s on a more level playing field with the GT3 cars now it looks like it’ll be a great season.