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R O A D
T R A C K
R A C E
S U M M E R 2 0 1 6
H
aving both raced in 750
Motor Club’s Classic
Stock Hatch Champion-
ship, Hammond and Johnson
made the decision to switch to a
1979 Porsche 924 knowing that a
RWD car was going to be very
different from the FWD classic
hatches they’d raced in the past.
Johnson is relatively new to
racing having raced karts, pick-
ing up three podiums in his first
three races, and winning the
Novice Gold Cup at Three Sisters
in Wigan, before joining Classic
Stock Hatch. Hammond is a two-
time Classic Stock Hatch cham-
pion and has a little bit of expe-
rience with RWD, having raced a
Triumph TR6 alongside his FWD
Citroen Saxo and Vauxhall Nova.
Preparation was important
ahead of testing the Porsche, but
there was only so much they could
do without getting in the car.
Hammond says: “I watched a lot of
YouTube videos and Gavin got me
into iRacing. You can’t get a full
simulation without a decent rig
but it helped me with some of the
Technical
principles. I’ve also run a couple of
one-off races in RWD cars before,
but I never really had the time to
learn them, so iRacing probably
counted for better preparation!”
Testing at Donington in the
wet was a good chance for them
to learn the car and see how it
handled when it wanted to slide
or spin. While an FWD car can be
easy to correct after a moment on
track, they had to be a bit more
gentle with the Porsche. Johnson
says: “In an FWD car you should
bury the throttle and turn to keep
MAKING
THE SWITCH
GOING FROM FRONT-WHEEL DRIVE (FWD) TO REAR-WHEEL DRIVE (RWD)
CAN BE A BIG LEARNING CURVE, AS TURN EIGHT RACING DRIVERS PIP
HAMMOND AND GAVIN JOHNSON FOUND OUT WHEN MOVING FROM
CLASSIC STOCK HATCH TO THE PORSCHE CHAMPIONSHIP.