Pic of the Week – 2011 Porsche Carrera Cup Thruxton UK

Imagine our surprise when this #4 Motorbase Performance Porsche GT3 Cup, driven by Steve Parish in the Carrera Cup at Thruxton on 1st May 2011, came around for the penultimate lap onto the start/finish straight ‘pushing’ this Dunlop advertising board. Thruxton circuit is the UK’s fastest race circuit, and the driver had apparently collected the board when he went a bit off-piste around the back of the circuit. He completed the last two laps of the race with this board attached to the front of his car. The Porsche finished its race by diving into the pit lane on the last lap with smoke pouring out of the engine bay due to the intake vents being blocked, causing the engine to overheat. The marshal I was standing with commented that in his 25 years of marshalling, he had never seen a car do two complete laps with an advertising board attached to the front of a car in this manner. The Carrera Cup races are often filled with excitement of some kind, and this event was no exception!
Written by: Glen Smale
Image by: Virtual Motorpix/Glen Smale