‘It has the legs on a Ferrari’
Adrian Clark and his racing Porsche 928 GTS
WHEN YOU OWN a fleet of 928s, the law of averages suggests at least one’s going to be a racer. Adrian Clark, Porsche Club GB’s technical advisor on the model, has owned about 16 of them and this is his second racer, competing mostly in the AMOC’s popular Intermarque series.
Both racers came from a trio built in the early ’90s by Eurotech. ‘I’d had a stripped-out trackday car for a while – the grey one over there,’ he indicates, within a barn full of the distinctive shark-nosed profiles under dust sheets. ‘My thoughts turned to racing, and it was suggested that I buy the green race car.
‘They were out of homologation for racing and nobody had done any development for a decade. There’s a lot of collective knowledge and a good parts supply for 911s and 968s, but with the 928 you’re rather on your own. I spent four years developing the green car and, with Guy Butler-Henderson’s help, we’ve improved the damping. With different cams and throttle-body injection the motor is now producing over 400bhp at the wheels.
‘In 2009 the red car came up for sale, so I now own two of the three Eurotech cars – the third was written off. I got it ready for racing in 2016. The biggest change was to get weight out of it, losing 115kg from the 1300kg it weighed when I got it. I went through every component and removed everything possible, or used something lighter.’
Most of the weight saving has come from lightweight composite panels, though the 928 already uses aluminium front wings, bonnet and doors as standard. ‘There are a couple running in HSCC ’70s Road Sports – Richard Attwood raced Porsche’s own car last year – but they have to run at a minimum 1421kg, near their standard weight, and you can’t do anything about the laws of physics.’
Adrian’s 928 runs in the over-260bhp-pertonne class in the Intermarque. ‘It’s almost 30 years old but it’s up there with Ferrari 355s and newer Aston Martins. At a recent 40-car combined-grid race at Silverstone, it impressed a lot of people because it had the legs on all of them on the straight. Power circuits such as Snetterton, Castle Combe and Silverstone are its forte, and it’s hitting about 150mph at the end of Hangar Straight. It’s more challenging on a winding circuit, but I got a third on the Brands Hatch Indy. The green car was regularly in the top three.
‘For the engine to last more than two seasons you have to dry-sump it, and you must keep the gearbox cool; our races are 45 minutes long, with a compulsory pitstop. In my first full season I drove to the circuits, but it’s always in the back of your mind that you won’t be driving it home.
‘There are very 928s racing out there. So if anyone else fancies racing a 928, we can help. Please do get in touch.’