Ian Wadsworth's Carrera 3-powered Racer - 2008 End of Season Update (November 2008)
The Porsche Club GB Speed Championship season finished following the final round at Prescott (home of the Bugatti Owners Club). The event was well attended - with 25 competitors - and the competition was fierce. The battle for the overall championship was incredibly close between Colin Belton (Champion 2006 and 2007) and P3 pilot David Hilton, with only tenths of a second separating the two drivers.
Class P3 turned out to be very close as well, with David Hilton rounding off a very good season with another win in a time of 50.15 seconds closely pursued by David Strange, only 0.05 of a second behind. David was followed home by David Chivers on 50.42 and Ian on 50.98, meaning that the first 4 cars all finished within 0.83 of a second. The result not only confirmed David Hilton as P3 Class champion for the first time, but it also confirmed him as overall Porsche Speed Champion for 2008.
Ian managed to consolidate his very creditable second place in P3 and 5th overall. Interestingly, David Hilton's car runs a C3 motor as well - meaning that Carrera 3.0 engined cars were 1st and 2nd in P3 and 1st and 5th in the overall championship! Ian sends his congratulations to David Hilton on his well deserved title and so do we.
Ian tells us that at the awards dinner for competitors many drivers were already planning their campaigns for 2009, but after 3 podium places in the last 3 years he thinks it's likely that his trusty C3 engine will find it's way back into its original shell - his silver C3, which is currently being restored and should be back on the road next year.
2008 Season Update (September 17th)
The 2008 Porsche Club Speed Championship is now reaching its end of season climax. Full details on a round by round basis can be found on the Porsche Club GB website but here's a summary of Ian's season since his last report in June.
Since that last report there have been another 5 rounds and Ian has competed at 3 of them - Castle Combe, Longleat and Loton Park.
Castle Combe is a motor racing circuit, and attracted a field of 17 Porsches in the 4 classes. Class 3 had only 3 competitors, but times were close. Ian led the class from David Hilton after practice and held a small lead of 0.09 of the second timed run, only to be beaten into second by 0.29 of a second after the final run. It was a close race but a good win by David in the end.
At the beginning of July the action moved to Longleat House in Wiltshire, where there is a hillclimb that runs up the drive from the house and then left around a hairpin bend before winding its way between the trees up to the finish. The finish area gives a wonderful view of the house and the climb is worth it for that alone says Ian. Longleat is not one of his favorite venues, though, and this time was no exception - particularly as he had had to sleep in the car overnight before the event! The racing was again close, with 5 entries in the class, but Ian could only manage 4th with David Hilton again victorious and David Chivers a good second.
Ian missed the event at Goodwood Circuit in August, but attended the hillclimb event at Loton Park in Shropshire. This was a two day event where the first day of practice was affected by rain, but thankfully Sunday was mainly dry. David Hilton and Ian swapped fastest times over the course of the two days, but in the end David finished up with a very rapid 60.9 second run (that also beat Ian's previous best at the venue) and Ian had to settle for second with 61.74 closely followed by Karl Lupton on 61.98. The result means that David Hilton will win the class this year, but it did keep Ian in 2nd place.
The next round took place at Cadwell Park on 13th September (which is only 20 miles away from Ian's home - rather than the 250 plus miles for some of the other events). Cadwell was a good day with glorious sunshine for a change, and Ian managed 2nd in class behind Karl Lupton (who also broke Ian's class record from 2007). This was particularly pleasing for Karl as his dad, who passed away last year, was Chief Marshall at Cadwell for many years.
Ian managed to consolidate his second place in class, and he's looking forward to the finale at Prescott on 27th September
2008 Season Update (June 17th)
The 2008 Porsche Club Speed Championship is now in full swing with 4 rounds completed. Full details on a round by round basis can be found on the Porsche Club GB website by clicking on 'Race Report' but here's a summary of Ian's season so far.
Ian didn't compete in Round 1 at Croft (which was won by David Strange in a 911S with 2.5 litre engine) and began his season in Round two at Shelsley Walsh in Worcestershire (incidentally, the oldest motor racing venue in the country to have remained in continuous use). It was a two day event and Ian was a little apprehensive as last year he'd had a major crash on the climb. Thankfully, this year he didn't crash, but after experiencing some gearbox problems was only fast enough to take 4th place in class behind David Hilton (in a Carrera 3 engined 2.2), David Strange and David Chivers (204 BHP SC engined 2.4E).
Round 3 was held on the south Devon coast at Wiscombe, where the weather conditions thankfully improved after some bad weather the day before. The class was again won by David Hilton in an impressive time of 46.44 seconds with David Strange second on 47.89 seconds. Ian improved on the last run to be just 0.06 seconds behind in third.
Round 4 was held in brilliant sunshine at the Harewood Hillclimb in North Yorkshire. The event featured some extremely close racing, and this time Ian managed to take a win with his third and final run in a personal best time for the hill of 66.79 seconds. David Hilton was second 0.3 seconds behind and Karl Lupton 3rd.
Despite missing Round 1 Ian has now managed to move up to 3rd in the class and is looking for further improvements over the coming months. His next event is at Castle Combe on the 28th June.
The background on Ian Wadsworth's Carrera 3-powered Porsche Club GB Racer
Carrera 3.0 Registry member (number 17) Ian bought his 1977 Silver Metallic Coupe in 2006. Unfortunately, it has serious corrosion to the B posts, outer sills, inner and outer wings and the roof. It will shortly be going off to Karl Lupton at Karline Garage for new sills, kidney bowls and outer wings and for repairs to the inner wings and roof. Meanwhile, though, the heart of his C3 has found a new, temporary home.
Fortunately for Ian, who competes in class P3 of the Porsche Club GB Speed Championship, the Carrera's engine and gear box proved to be in fine fettle and he's been able to make good use of the car's mechanicals for his track work. In 1997 he purchased a 1975 LHD German car imported into the UK in 1984 and fitted with a 2.7S engine. Prior to his purchasing it, the car was used as a circuit racer and competed in a number of Wilhire events until 1995.
Following some renovation and modification work to the body (fitting SC-style wings) Ian decided to install his 1977 Carrera 3 engine and gearbox (with standard ratios and LSD fitted) into the car. Ian's transplant has worked well - the C3-powered racer winning him 3rd in class in 2006 and first in 2007.
With the new season approaching we'll be following Ian's progress and reporting on his exploits here on the Carrera 3.0 website - so keep warching for news. Lots more to come soon!