Where it all began by Peter Evans
I thought I would start by explaining why I got into motor racing and how in less than 13 weeks I will be competing in my first race from a very inexperienced Porsche fan just 18 months ago.
In Autumn 2018 I decided to book my first ever track day in my own 20-year-old Porsche 911 C4 and enjoyed it so much I went on to do a further 5 track days in 2019. It soon became clear that I was pretty fast and more importantly I was able to keep the car on the track while others were spinning off left, right and centre.
Following these track days, I was asked by Porsche Club GB if I would be interested in racing and as someone who loves a challenge and trying new things I thought ‘what the heck, let’s give it a go’. I decided that I would start by entering the 2020 Porsche Club GB Speed Championships. These are Porsche entry-level races which consist of a mixture of single lap time trials and hill climbs at different locations around the country.
After deciding I was going to give it a go I bought a 2020 ex-race Boxster 986 so I could start in the lowest category of brake horsepower, 258 BHP, to give myself a fighting chance. I started training with Nick Arnold who is a racer himself turned trainer who has no less than 40 years’ experience under his belt. Nick is a qualified instructor and is licenced under the Association of Racing Drivers School (ADRS) as a Grade A race instructor, so I was definitely in safe hands.
I met Nick at Goodwood Motor Circuit in Autumn 2019 and from early 2020 we have built a great relationship both on and off the track and he has now become not only my trainer but a good friend too.
In January 2020 I went to Brands Hatch Circuit in horrible wet weather to take my ARDS race licence test. This is a day of written exams and a practical test on the track to see if I was good enough to race and follow good race lines at a competitive speed. All went well and I passed, so I was now ready to go, right? No, along came the Covid pandemic which had other ideas.
