History

2004 - In The Beginning
Back in 2004 Ben Demetriou and father Andy decided it was time, having worked closely together for 21 years to look for a track day car to enjoy and learn the art of circuit driving.
Initially, a caterham 7 was top of the list, but after spotting a 911SC parked in the high street, they then decided it was the car to have.

After a few months of looking for the right car, they were put in touch with Nazing based Harvey Racing who assisted in finding a 911 SC race car belonging to class 3 racer  Ian Mcallea.


The car had a slight knocking noise coming from the engine so after some negotiation the car was brought back to Harvey's for checking. The outcome was the big end bearings so Neil Harvey set out to completely rebuild the engine .

Once all work was done the first track day was booked at Brands Hatch,this was the start of things to come.
More track days followed and an invitation from Harvey racing to visit the Porsche club race at Silverstone, set the ball rolling for 2005.

Ben and Andy passed their ARDS racing driver coarse, so in the winter of 2004 the car was prepared for class 3.

 2005 Season - First Race at Snetterton
After a sleepless night, and ice and snow on the car in the morning a very nervous Ben qualified a healthy 2nd in class and with strict instructions to just finish the race from team manager Andy, Ben finished 2nd in class for both races.

Castle combe
Pole in class! Ben held the lead until a missed gear saw Paul Goldman take advantage and move ahead. After a race long battle an incident at quarry involving another car made the way clear for Ben to regain the lead and take to win. Celebrations were short lived as Paul Goldman appealed, claiming he was overtaken under yellow flags.

After long discussions with the Clarke of the course the win was held by Ben. The celebrations started again!

Oulton Park - The Highs to the Low's
Learning the circuit with a playstation was not the way to go this time as Ben misjudged his braking point at cascades and when straight on into the tyres.

That was a wake up call, and as the Harvey's set about with their hammers and dollies the car was ready for race day. Unfortunately the car would not fire up due to a spark box problem and the weekend was over.

Spa Franchorchamps
A change of pants were necessary, when qualifying in wet conditions Ben got it all wrong at the top of El rouge and spun 6 times, only to face the right way and continue. 2nd on the grid was good enough.

Race 1 saw a tough battle with Paul Goldman, bringing the car home in second place.

Race 2, Paul Gold was taken ill with food poisoning, so Ben thought he had won the race before it had started, only to see the yellow 911SC of Paul pull up behind him on the Grid. Strange as he was declared unfit to race. Paul, took the lead off line and a battle followed.

A mistake by Goldman made the way clear and Ben took the victory. Only to find out afterwards that is was not Goldman in the car, but Steve Winter, the team manager. Is that allowed? Anyway victory at Spa meant a whole lot more.

Donnington Park
Tuition from Ian Flux, ex BTCC driver was money well spent, with Pole in class and two wins from mainly incident free races. The Championship was now all to play for.

Rockingham -
Another Great weekend with Pole, Fastest lap and two wins. At the start of the year Andy and Ben never even thought of the championship, but now it was in their hands.

Brandshatch
Qualifying didn't go well with the car jumping out of 3rd gear, Ben qualified 4th in class.

Race 1 started well, but the strain on the gearbox after holding it in 3rd gear for most of the race, it finely gave up the ghost, and Ben was out. Parking the car at the bottom of Paddock Hill. Martin and Neil Harvey worked long after everyone had gone back to their hotels and replaced the gearbox, ready for race 2.

Race 2 was all going to plan and Ben was beginning to reel Goldman in, when the safety car came out and the field slowed down. After 5 laps behind the Safety car the temperature went up into the red and the race was over. No points!

Croft
Pole in class - Drama in race one, when smoke poured into the cabin and Ben had to pull out, thinking the race was over, a quick investigation found the Fog lamp wire was shorting out on the dash. Ben was back, but finished second to a fired up Chris Stewart.

Race 2, Ben went passed Stewart on lap 2 and held the lead to the Chequered flag.

Race win and Class 3 Championship.!!!!

2006 and a move to class
Over the winter period Harvey racing rebuilt the engine to class two spec but with fifteen competitive drivers, class to 2 would prove to be a harder task.

Snetterton
Richard Lambert, 911 Carrera and Marcus Carneil, 911 SC were the drivers to beat in 2006 and the aim was to stay with them as much as possible, and Qualifying 8th in class was not a good start. Some good pace off the line and some consistent times saw Ben bring the car home in 4th position.

Race 2 was much of the same with a 5th. Class 2 was defiantly an eye opener.

Castle Combe
A wet qualifying session saw a cautious Ben start 8th in Class.

Race 1 brought a lights to flag battle with 944 S2 drivers James Hilliard, this was a lot of fun, but finishing 8th in class was not much to talk about.

Silverstone National Circuit
7th on the grid was not much to write home about, but Race 1 saw Ben make up three places on the grid at the start, 3rd place finish was very encouraging.

Not so good in Race 2 when Ben dropped to 6th on the first lap, some overdriving meant that no places were gained and he stayed 6th.

Brands Hatch
With no testing at Brands 5th on the grid was not too bad. On race day the heavens opened, but a great start saw Ben move from 5th to 2nd and that position was held for most of the race. Ben started to challenge Lambert for the lead, but on the main pit straight the drive shaft let go and the car was parked at the bottom of Paddock for the second year running.

Starting from the back for Race 2 was not great, but some good driving and other drivers taking themselves out saw Ben in 3rd place, only to throw it all away with an optimistic move on Harrison putting both cars in the gravel. Ben rejoined to finish 8th.

It was now apparent that the car was at least a second off the pace of the front runners

Silverstone Grandprix Circuit
With some Flux treatment at a track day (Ian Flux tuition) before the race, brought pole in class, but in race one Ben was held up by two class one drivers and Carneil and Lambert when by 3rd Place finish was a good result .

The Championship ended there with the birth of daughter Zoe, Oultan Park and croft had to be missed.

After long discussions with Andy and Harvey racing the decision was made to retire the SC and look for a 944 S2 for 2007.

In January 2007 an S2 was purchased, and a test at Snetterton proved the car was well on the pace and ready for the Championship fight.


Pole was in class was a great start to the season, but the car seeOulton Park -
med to be down on power due to a temperature rise and the result was a 4th place finish.

The car was still not behaving itself in race two so a 3rd place was the best Ben could manage. The radiator was changed to try a rectify the problem.

Andy and Ben started to wonder if they had purchased a Lemon as the Harvey's tried to find the problem. Everything possible was checked, but in the short space of time  between races, there was no choice but to send the car send out for race 2.
After five laps the problem returned and the car was undrivable.

End of race ...

Silverstone National
Intermittent problems are very frustrating as you never know until the race if the problem is still there.

Qualifying was going well and so far no misfire and then, the engine cut out at copse and would not restart. Some head scratching was going on within the team and with guests arriving for the race Andy and Ben could see that this was going to be an embarrassing day.

Some fast laps in qualifying before the car stopped resulted in 2nd place which was encouraging, a new DME relay and some crossed fingers Ben made a good start and took the lead at the end of lap one, and held the lead to the flag .Unbelievable result considering the problems, so some emotional celebrations were to come from Andy and Ben!

Race 2 and same again, no problems, car was handling perfectly and another win - Our season started there.

Spa Franchorchamps
Arriving at Stanstead to find the flight was canceled was not a good start, purchased another flight to Dusseldorf and then a fast drive to Belgium in a hire car, we arrived at the circuit with an hour to go before qualifying. But we couldn't get in as we didn't have any tickets .with a few phone calls at a fast drive around the outside of the circuit we made it in with five minutes to go. A quick change into the racing overalls and Ben was out just in time. This hectic morning must have done something right as Ben qualified 1st overall ! Ahead of the class ones cars.

Race one was wet, and an overcautious first few laps saw Ben drop to second and stay there until the flag, still a good result with 3rd place overall which meant a step up onto the Spa podium was a great feeling.

A dramatic race 2 was to follow with Trevor Lewis making an amazing overtaking move, only to spin at the next corner taking Ben with him into the gravel. Ben rejoined with damage to the right had side at set out to chase down Carnell, who now was quite away ahead. After some stunning laps Ben was up with Carnell and challenging for the lead, and at the end of the main straight Ben made his move and was ahead. A win at Spa was the icing on the cake!

Brands Hatch Indi
Pole in class was a great start to the weekend and a good start in race one brought another lights to flag victory with no dramas to report.

Race two, Carnell made to best start this time and held on to the lead abide great pressure from Ben. Second in race 2 was still good enough for the championship.

Castle Combe

Pole overall in qualifying, started some pit lane gossip regarding the power on the car, but organiser Steve Kevlin soon put that to rest.

In race one Carneil made another of his launch  control starts and led for most of the race, but a mistake coming out of camp corner let Ben move ahead. Red flags were out due to a major incident so Ben thought he had won, only to be told that the results were wound back one lap, so Carneil took the win.

Carneil held the lead for race two and Ben came home in second place.

The Class 2 Championship was now between Ben and Carneil.

Donington
Lack of power, due to a blocked air filter found Ben 4th on the grid and in race one the safety car was out for a majority of the race, when Macaleer had the biggest accident of year so far, luckily he was unscathed and the race continued with Ben finished in second place.

Race two was the same as another accident brought out the safety car, but this time picked up the wrong leaders so no one new where they were, Ben finished second again.

Silverstone Grandprix Circuit
As race one go off the way Brian Robinsons drive shaft snapped and Chris Dyer run into the back of him, causing another safety car period. As the race restarted Ben picked off Trevor Lewis at the end of hanger straight and on the next lap the same move was made on Carneil. Ben passed macaleer for the overall lead but problems with open cars let macaleer back through again, but the class victory was superb result.

Race 2 was more than interesting as Ben found a bottle of Evian water rattling around by the pedals, so two laps were spent trying grab the bottle .It was finally disposed of, only two find anther one a lap later - where were they coming from?

Once the second bottle was thrown in the back the pace quickened and as luck would have it Lewis made a move on Carneil and he spun and then Lewis spun all on his own at next corner handing the lead to Ben. So with two wins it was now 6 points between Ben and Carneil for the championship .

Brands Hatch Grandprix Circuit
Ian Flux managed to get the circuit to himself and Ben at a track day event and that extra help brought another pole overall !

A win for Ben in race one and Carneil finishing 4th meant there were 3 points between them going into the last race - The pressure was on.

Race 2 got under way but sadly Carneil clashed with another driver and his championship ended right there. Ben finished 2nd and took the title for class 2 ,2007.

 

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