5th in the Bill Taylor Memorial Porsche Race
Silverstone 9th November

Steve and Stuart took part in the Bill Taylor Memorial race today at a damp Silverstone in Stuart's 944. The race is held over 60 minutes with a pitstop window for a driver change but no refueling. Any Porsche can enter as there are effectively 2 races - a scratch race and a handicap race.

Qualifying was in two sessions with Steve out first, a 5 minute break and then it was Stuart's turn. Although Steve had raced the Porsche in the Holly Birkett, the car only managed 4 laps due to a broken drive shaft, so this was the first time that he could run for more than a few minutes.
"I had a few problems with the brakes as I couldn't feel them. At Beckett's on the first lap I heard, rather than felt, that the wheels had locked up. As usual I pumped the brakes, then put my foot down, forgetting this was rear wheel drive and spun!" The boys ended up qualifying 2nd in class in 23rd place. "We are happy with that as the car might be fast round the corners but it looses places on the straights"

The race started soon after lunch and by now a dry line had appeared. Steve began the race from a standing start and soon overtook 4 cars. As the race progressed though and tyres heated up the faster cars overtook him. Most of the race was a battle between their car number 44 and the 944 S2 of McHugh and Crego and the 924S of Parnell and Hellon.

The scratch race was being led by Phil Hindley in a 911 GT2. He easily pulled out a 1 minute lead and was lapping the slower cars every 5 or 6 laps. The result seemed to be a foregone conclusion until the driver changes.

Steve entered the pits and Stuart took over towards the end of the pit lane window. Various cars were experiencing problems with one dropping oil all round Copse which slowed down the whole field. Hindley had relinquished his seat to Gatt who was finding it harder to go so fast. He lost the lead and then spun onto the grass at Luffield and ended up having to be pushed back onto the circuit and finished 4th behind Clio driver Kirkaldy and Shelley.
Stuart kept up the pressure, kept Crego behind him, and brought the car home in 17th place and 2nd in class. "Another lap I think and I would have got the 924 of Stuart Helen" explained Stuart.

The handicap result showed that the boys had finished in 5th place which was an excellent result in it's self but it seems they lost out on 3rd by just 2 seconds.
On a personal note Stuart had raced against Tom McHugh in the Porsche Cup previously. "I was pleased to beat him especially as he had gone up to a 944 3 litre compared to our 944 2.7 litre".

Over £25,000 has been collected for the charity which funds a surgeon who treated Bill Taylor