Pic of the Week – Porsche 904 Carrera GTS

Snow greeted the early birds on Sunday morning at the Goodwood 76th Members’ Meeting – this is David Clark’s Porsche 904 Carrera GTS, March 2018

There was talk of snow over the weekend of 15-17 March 2018 in the east of England, but either very few gave the warning much thought, or they didn’t care. After all, it was the 76th Members’ Meeting at Goodwood, and who would want to miss that!
Arriving at Goodwood on the Friday afternoon, it seemed inconceivable there would be snow anywhere in the UK over that weekend, as the sun was out and there was barely a cloud in the sky. You could almost have said it was mild for mid-March and walking around the paddock that Friday, spirits were high and the mood was jovial. Saturday, though, was a very different story, as a biting wind from the east had indeed brought with it some snow showers. The problem for the teams and the drivers was not so much the snow, as it wasn’t settling in great quantities, but it was the cold track and getting heat into the tyres and engines.

Here the #17 Porsche 904 Carrera GTS (1965) of David Clark leads the #6 Porsche 904 Carrera GTS (1964) of Uwe Niermann at the Goodwood 76th Members’ Meeting on 17 March 2018

Dubbed the ‘Beast from the East’, the ferocious wind made it feel doubly cold if you were in the grandstands or out track side. But, the weather aside, the cars went out although there were a lot of careful drivers on track as apart from cold tyres, conditions were also extremely slippery around Goodwood’s fast corners. Caught rounding Woodcote corner on the Saturday afternoon was this pair of Porsche 904s. Here, the #17 Porsche 904 Carrera GTS (1965) David Clark leads the #6 Porsche 904 Carrera GTS (1964) of Uwe Niermann.
We woke on Sunday morning to quite a substantial covering of snow which had fallen overnight and on my way to the track I wondered if there would be any racing at all. Those thoughts, though, were quickly dispelled upon my arrival at the track, as the racing had already got underway. The sun broke through a bit later, and the racing continued happily throughout the day despite the bitterly cold wind. Probably the most used piece of equipment in all the garages that weekend, was the coffee machine…

A vitally important piece of garage equipment in every pit was the coffee machine!

Written by: Glen Smale
Images by: Virtual Motorpix/Glen Smale