Formula Libre Grand Prix Meeting

The Porsche Le Mans relay race was one part of a weekend of motor racing at Pukekohe circuit. The main event of the weekend was the Formula Libre Grand Prix, an event created for the CanAm cars, Formula 5000 single seaters, etc. As part of the meeting, there were races for the Porsche and GT series, including the Super GTs. We were advised that for a small amount on top of the entry fee for the Porsche Le Mans, we could have three extra races with the Porsche and GTs. After some discussion, it was decided that Ade would drive in the relay and I would drive in the GT races.

So after my inauspicious start on Thursday (3 spins in 5 laps) in the wet, I was a little concerned about how I would fare against the rest of the GT field. I originally thought I would be competing against the Lighting Direct Porsche Team of Owen Evans and Bill Fulford. I really didn’t fancy having to compete with cars capable of lapping Pukekohe in less than a minute ..... especially when I had only worked my times down to about 1:19. At that rate, the big boys would be lapping me after about 3 laps (eek!!). As it turned out, they were in the Super GT class and I was only competing against cars lapping at about 1:04 (eeek!!). All the other cars in the class were 2 litre or larger, most of them with turbos, and the programme listed our car as a 1600 (they forgot to mention the supercharger).

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Steve coming up to the Dunlop bridge

I had a practice on Saturday morning, a race on Saturday afternoon and two more races on Sunday. I had managed to get my lap times down to 1:16 after practice (not bad considering my first clean lap of Pukekohe was 1:25 and I didn’t think we’d get under 1:20 that weekend). The rest of the field was made up of Porsches and Datsun Z’s (240Z and 260Z) and one V8 powered Triumph TR7. I wasn’t convinced that I’d be able to finish ahead of anyone or avoid being lapped, but, hey ... I had to have a go.

The practice times put me 9th on the grid, mainly because some of the cars hadn’t participated in the timed practice, however, due to an error in forming up the dummy grid, I ended up 7th on the grid.

This was my first grid start and I was slightly (!) nervous. Added to that, it was my first start from lights and I was surrounded by cars that were much much louder. Terrified of stalling on the line and becoming a bonnet ornament for the 240Z immediately behind me and unable to hear my engine above the roar of all the other cars, I simply gave the car a bootful of gas and dropped the clutch when the lights went green. I talked to the driver of the 240Z afterward and he complained that I’d filled his car with tyre smoke on the start line and he couldn’t see for the first 50 metres of the race. Heehehe .... maybe that’s a tactic to remember for the future. It must have looked spectacular because the commentator mentioned that I was putting on a good show for the fans.

As it turned out I got passed by a few cars and had a damn good race with a Porsche 924 Turbo. The 924 got me under brakes on lap 4 and I played catch up until the finish. Unfortunately I could hang onto the 924 but I couldn’t catch him. I thought I had finished last but was happy to avoid being lapped by the faster cars. As it turned out, I wasn’t last, I had left two Datsun 260Zs so far behind that I couldn’t see them. 14th out of 16 wasn’t too bad I suppose for my first race. Best of all I had lapped consistently in the 1:16s and my fastest lap was 1:15.74.

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Steve having a great little race with a Porsche 924 turbo

Race two had me placed 14th on the grid. I had a hurried start as I wasn’t looking at the starting lights when the red came on and I was wondering why the 924 turbo next to me was revving his engine so hard. I immediately realised and had barely enough time to stuff the car in first gear, mash the accelerator and dump the clutch as the lights went green. Plenty of squirming from the rear, but much less smoke this time. I actually passed the 924 at the start but that was mainly because he missed the 1st to 2nd dog leg shift and found a gearbox full of neutral for a few seconds.

A couple of laps had the 924 catching me as he was determined that he was going to beat me in this race. On lap 4 (again) a battle under brakes ensued and the Porsche driver decided that he MUST be able to outbrake a lowly Toyota. He did, just. He then held me up coming out of the hairpin and through the first part of Dunlop but managed to put a little space on me over Mobil. This was mainly because I was so pissed off that I’d let him get past and I was getting a bit ragged in my attempts to rectify the situation. Once again I finished the race in 14th.

The third race was an "Allcomers GT handicap". This meant that the really big boys (Owen Evans and Bill Fulford’s Le Mans Porsches, the TVR Tuscan, a 308 Ferrari, various 930s, a V8 Commodore, a V8 Mustang, etc) would be starting behind us slow guys. The idea is that we’re all supposed to finish together and that everyone’s got an equal chance of winning (Yeah, right!!!). This race made me nervous. Bill Fulford came up to me on the dummy grid and gave me a pep talk which basically was along the lines of "keep a good eye on your mirrors and stay out of my way". Thanks, but isn’t the onus on the passing vehicle to make sure they can pass safely? Hmmm.

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Steve starting off in the handicap race alongside the Porsche 924 turbo

As it happened, the handicapper got it all wrong and I got passed by most of the fast mob on about lap 5 despite the 1 lap head start. Never mind, it was still fun, and boy do those cars sound good when they blast past you on the back straight. It does make 200 kph seem pretty slow when they go past you like you’re standing still. I was braking at about 110-120 metres from the hairpin from 200 kph down to about 50 kph for the corner. The big boys were braking from about 300 kph to about 60 kph from around the 70 metre mark!

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Steve passing the Porsche le Mans car of Owen Evans ... or was that the other way around? : )

So, I can say I’ve raced against the likes of Fulford and Evans and that I was ahead of them all at one stage (briefly). In case you’re interested I didn’t finish last in the handicap race. I finished ahead of one 260Z and a Porsche 930 (which retired).

I was really proud of our little race car. Capable of consistently lapping Pukekohe at 1:16 with standard brakes (albeit with good pads), standard supercharged engine, standard drivetrain and basically standard suspension on road tyres ...... even in the hands of a novice driver. Not bad for a little MR2!! I now know of at least 4 other people who want to race MR2s now ...... maybe we’ll be able to get a few of them racing together. Now THAT would be fun!!

Don’t let anyone tell you that an MR2 is not a real performance car. I reckon with some stickier tyres and some more practice we’ll be able to peddle that race car around Pukekohe in 1:13s .... maybe faster. Hehehehehe those Z cars better watch out!

Steve White