O’Brien Racing Update

On Monday January 21st our DAF Brand Ambassador, Steve Richards, and the 2019 O’Brien Racing Porsche GT3 had its first test and shake down day at the sunny Phillip Island Grand Prix circuit.

Even with the existing team that has been competing in the Australian GT Championship for the past few years, a new Motorsport category takes a little bit of time to adjust to. It’s also a great way to check from a logistics point of view that the team has the correct tooling and equipment to run the car efficiently, but also start to develop some good process in the way that the team operates together. Experience says that this years Championship will come down to the team that makes the least amount of mistakes both on and off the track.

Its naturally also about driving the car. Steve hasn’t driven a Porsche Carrera Cup car since stepping out of the Championship in 2016.  The car is very different compared to the BMW M6 GT3.

The BMW had an enormous amount of downforce compared to the Porsche, so the BMW’s corner speed was a lot higher. The BMW engine also had more torque and power which requires different ways to use the throttle, and the difference between the Porsche rear engine configuration and the BMW front engine makes driving the car quite a bit different. With all that said, a race car is still a race car, and by the end of the 7 x 20 minute sessions Steve felt that the GT3 started to feel like an old glove again.

Check out the shake down highlights.