David Grover
Harpenden, UK @propertypetrolheads Model 991 Carrera S Year 2014
Acquired March 2016
Model 997 Cup
Year 2014
Acquired December 2016 I mentioned last time that I was off to Palmersport in Bedford earlier in the month. This is a prearranged track day with a variety of cars where you receive one-to-one coaching throughout the day in each. Everything is timed and there are prizes for the fastest drivers in each car type, so instantly you are on edge over breakfast wondering who the seriously good drivers in the room are.
The variety is key here for their customers, and the event is set up to throw you into every car variant there is: FWD, RWD, mid engine, front engine – the only car type lacking, although it has been there in the past, being the rearengined 911 Carrera.
We started in the new Clio Cup and I managed to spin it quickly in a lift off oversteer moment, being too used to the rear engines of our lovely 911s and my Carrera Cup car. This proved somewhat exciting and, I must admit, unexpected, especially when the instructor was a friend of mine! Not surprisingly my lap times in this car were pretty awful. Although they are hugely competent vehicles and fun to drive, they require a very different technique.
Second for us was the BMW M4, which I did much better in. It’s a heavy car on track when in road-going mode. The traction control is pretty evident and intrusive but you can hustle it around, and I did that with a sensible time overall. Next we moved to the Aerial Atom, a space-framed go-kart which is very light, very easy to spin, but great fun also.
We then moved to the Land Rover Defender for a bit of timed off-roading and balancing skills experience. This was totally different to the flat-out driving. It was coupled with an event driving a Caterham around an autotest track back-to-back with another competitor, while at the same time against the overall clock. This event required control, perfect donuts around cones and deft car balance. Talk about chalk and cheese.
After a lunch stop our group stepped up its game and moved into the Palmer Audi single seaters. Here you have no guidance from anyone, other than a description of where the track goes and a warning that spinning off or ending in the gravel trap immediately ends your session. Next we followed with some timed karting, and finally for us, the Palmersport mini prototype Le Mans car, which is incredibly quick around the famous West Circuit when guided by an expert coach.
Exhausted from the day, we returned to the main building for afternoon tea, the results and – for those lucky enough – the trophies. There is one overall trophy for best all-round driver in every car, which I must confess I have won in the past, and I have a collection of carspecific trophies from past visits.
However, on this day I wasn’t able to repeat it, despite regularly being in the top 10 in each car type, winning overall in the Caterham and picking up what was affectionately called the ‘hooligans award’ and remarkably being third in the karting at my far from ‘lightweight’ 90kg. We did secure the overall best team award, so on balance I wasn’t unhappy.
Good news on the Cup car front: it’s now fully rebuilt and awaiting sponsorship decals to go back onto the new panels, but it will sadly be the dawn of 2018 before it moves again in earnest. For now it stays firmly under its winter blanket until the tracks open again for testing in late January/early February.