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An American By Thomas Rodehaver After attending several of the Porsche Club Cup events for the 2008 season and placing fifth in class one, I decided to run all events in 2009. 10 events were scheduled at various tracks in Europe, most of them in Germany (Lausitz, Spreewald, Schleitz, Hockenheim and Leipzig), but the season included two in France (Anneau and Dijon), one in Austria (Salzburg), one in Sweden (Knutsdorp), and one in The Netherlands (Assen). A lot of travel would be involved to attend all. After the first two events, I also decided to attend a few of the Porsche Sports Cup events that included tracks in Germany (Hockenheim twice and Lausitz) and Belgium (Spa). This would provide ample opportunity to gather points. The Club Cup included two timed sessions and the Sports Cup had one. With a possible total of 26 timed sessions, only the top 15 would count toward the final championship standings. My work was cut out for me over the next 7 months. The first event was Eurospeedway Lausitz, a tri-oval with road course similar to Daytona. It has several tight chicanes, two medium-fast hairpins and uses two of the three long straights. I couldn’t seem to get a rhythm that would lead to the consistent laps needed for the timed sessions. Needless to say, I didn’t fare well, placing sixth in the first session and seventh in the second. The next event, Anneau du Rhin, was only two weeks away and was a new track to me. Anneau is used for driver training and includes a good mix of challenging corners, including a very fast right-hander after a long back straight. Finishing a disappointing eighth in the first session, I managed to win the second session. What a great feeling! On Monday the results were posted and I was in second overall by a mere five points, but trailing first by almost 15. Spreewaldring, a small track in eastern Germany designed more for motorcycles than for cars, was next. Small and tight, with many slow corners, it was my least favorite track of the year. Scoring a fourth in the first session, my primary competitors fared better. Herbert Bier, driving a 964 Carrera 3.2, jumped from fifth place to take first overall. I still held second overall, but now by a mere two points. Dijon, a former F1 venue in France and now hosting the DTM (German Touring Cars), was next. It hosts many fast corners and lots of elevation change, 17 meters (56 ft) from the top left-hander to the hairpin at the bottom, then back up 22 meters (72 ft) to the next double-left. The last corner, a very fast right-hand downhill transition to uphill sweeper that leads to the 1,150 meter (3,772 ft) front straight where top speed in my car was just over 120 MPH before braking for the fast downhill off-camber right-hander. I managed to take top honors in the second session and with this result I was able to take the overall lead for the first time in the season. Next up was the higher caliber Porsche Sports Cup event at the Hockenheimring. The Sports Cup has stricter rules and unlike volume 4, Issue 1 IN THE GERMAN PORSCHE CLUB CUP – YEAR 2 Trophies at the Porsche leipzig facility. the Club Cup, everyone is on the track at the same time. Despite finishing with only a fair result, I managed to stay first overall and was invited to join a team that was part of the Porsche Center Mannheim and funded by the Penske Group. I was now part of the Team Penske Sportwagenzentrum in Mannheim, Germany. Schleizer Dreieck is Germany’s oldest of the operating true road courses. This course offers great elevation changes and very fast downhill sections. After Schleitz and 12 timed sessions, I was leading by 18 points with 14 timed sessions remaining. I was then on to the Porsche Club Days at the Hockenheimring. Anyone with a Porsche can join and drive their car on track under controlled conditions. The F1 track is hard on the brakes though with a long parabolic straight into the tight hairpin. Gerald Kuckenburg, in a 987, did very well at this event and cut my lead down to only five points, with the top four positions within a 20-point spread. On to the Eurospeedway Lausitz, again, but
First place session one at salzburgring. this time for a Porsche Sports Cup event. This course was still not to my liking, but a second-place gave me valuable points over the competitors who didn’t trek to this event. My lead was now back to 10-points. Just outside Salzburg, Austria is the Salzburgring, a very fast course with a very long (1,500 meters) uphill and curving back straight leading into a long right-hand sweeper with two or three apex points. There seemed to be several different lines into and around this sweeper and fortunately it was wide enough to allow for two and sometimes three cars to drive side-by-side. My new favorite track rewarded me with another first-place finish! Herbert placed third in both sessions and was again hot on my tail as we traveled to Leipzig. The Club Cup rents the Porsche Leipzig test track for this event, a track designed to test handling in real world conditions on simulated real world race tracks. This is not my favorite track, with two slow hairpins and the nauseating “bus stop.” I must be doing something right though because after last year’s first in class and second overall, I managed another first in class and third overall. With a third in session one, I went home with three trophies. The next Sports Cup event was in Belgium at the famous Spa-Francorchamps F1 track and another first in class, with my timed session taking top honors in all classes. The next event was in Sweden and, unlike last year, my wife and I spent two days driving through Denmark into Sweden to take part in this event. This included two spectacular bridges, but luckily no ferry (my wife is definitely not a boat person). The wind and rain in Knutsdorp caused extreme hydroplaning and I could feel the wind rock the car. I was lapping faster than the GT3’s only because my extreme performance tires were a little better than their semi-slicks in the wet. I remain first overall with only three more times session for the season as I attend the last Sports Cup event, again in Hockenheim. My two closest rivals are also in attendance. This was also the largest group for a Sports Cup event, everyone trying to collect the last possible points and gain any advantage before the final event. I score a 4th place, but unfortunately Gerald, my nearest rival takes top honors and maximum points. There is still a chance he can beat me at the final event if he scores 3 spots higher in both timed sessions. On to Assen and the motorcycle capital of Europe, maybe the world. This is a fast track and one I absolutely love. It is mid-October, cold and rainy. The day starts off wet and the track is very slippery. All of the braking zones are smooth as glass and, mixed with a little rain, almost impossible to attack. Once a car goes off here, it will sink axle deep in the soft gravel. The timed sessions are in the afternoon and the track has dried almost completely. I can attack the course, even in the smooth breaking zones, without care. The back straight sports a fast kink with flat curbing in the apex you can run over before braking for the final turns. The results were two third-place finishes and well ahead of my closest rival. volume 4, Issue 1 I did it! I won class one and finished eighth overall. With 67 competitors in my class and 395 overall, this was a pretty good year. All top three finishers were honored at the Porsche research facility in Weissach and my wife and I attended to pick up my class-winning trophy. Another year of great driving, fun and camaraderie with fellow competitors -- let’s hope next year is just as successful.
Page 1 and 2: Published Quarterly By The Space Co
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