Blog

Lex Proper drove The Hulk, our 1974 Porsche 911 RSR to 2 consecutive P2s in the first round of the Dutch Historic GT & Touring Car Championship! The races were driven in mild spring weather with a threat of a thunderstorm, but a dry track in the end.

Doing battle mainly with a similar car, which is running electronic fuel injection (?), Lex pressed out a fastest lap of just below 2 minutes, a 0,75 second improvement over The Hulk’s performance in the last season. So our modifications over the winter have paid dividends and Lex’ experience does the rest!

Lex Proper in conversation with Klaas Span, a veteran of Mini Racing and still actively participating. The Hulk in the background in its new livery.

I drive Woodstock, the 1973 RSR, this year, because we want to see what Lex, with all his track experience, can achieve with the car. At the same time I believe you benefit from sitting in the middle of the field, so you don’t forget how close-racing works. So it was great to be back in my first RSR love this weekend.

The car handled well when the tires were still fairly cool, but I was surprised at how slippery they became once warmed through to their recommended pressure levels. It felt as though I had more grip, and longer, with the TBs in the past. So I probably ran on tires that weren’t properly scrubbed, because this set was used last year at the Nurburgring and we went racing with it straight out of the box… That’s not what Avon recommends. More prep needed for the next set!

The fights in the middle of the pack left me in 10th place overall on Saturday and 7th on Sunday. The Escorts had had a lot of work done over the winter and we are now at similar speeds making for fun racing with Henk van Gammeren and Theo Mouws. Henk was second in last year’s championship.

Theo Mouws' Escort gave Woodstock a good run for its money. Having had several failures last year, he has fixed the valve springs on his car, which turned out to be set too tight in production, and there are no more reliability issues.

For track times you can visit mylaps.com and search for Dantuma NK GT en TC. Next track outing will be on July 14 at Assen. However we turn our focus on the Bergmeister Tour in early July. Woodstock will be fitted with mountain boots and set up a bit leaner and off we go!