Kurt Thiel
' Winners' are dreamers who never give up' - Nelson Mandela
2024
Estoril 2024.
This years' Estoril race was different from last year in as much that the weather was downright cool and wet (last half of the race) compared to scorching conditions last year.
While I was running 2nd in class last year when I lost my 2nd gear two laps before the end, this year no issue with the car which performed flawlessly from start to finish. Last half of race was eventful with treacherous conditions. Managed to make up 7 spots overall thanks to not spinning out where others did!!! Great fun!!!
SPA 2024
write up pending.
Tour Auto 2024
2060 kms,
15 special stages!!!
This year I decided to run in the 2024 Tour Auto with my Porsche RSR 2.8l in the competition class with 125 other ambitious teams. Needless to say rallying is a whole new ballgame for me, having spent all of my career on race tracks so I depended heavily on my very experienced co-driver, Angelica Fuentes from Mexico!! Angelica has co-driven the Carrera Panamericana over 26 times, amongst several other Central American events and is the only mexican navigator to have won a National Mexican Championship!
This years event started off in Paris and worked its way down through southwestern France passing through, Tours, Limoges, Carcassonne, Pau and Biarritz. 15 grueling special stages, including 4 race tracks; Le Mans Bugatti, Val de Vienne, Nogaro and Pau Arnois, all connected via daily liasons varying from 250 to over 500kms.
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Inspite of never having never 'worked' together, Angie very quickly give me the confidence I needed to 'let go' in the special stages. Although we did not have onboard intercoms she managed to get the turn by turn instructions across to meagainst the howling 6 cylinder boxer engine behind us.
We had a great time together with some memorable stages and hairy moments. For a first run at the Tour Auto we managed to achieve P5 in the competiion class (actually P3 on paper as we were given a 15 sec handicap for every special stage as my RSR is a continuation and not the real deal!!) At the last circuit race in Pau we even managed P2 ahead of the entire field!!
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The Peter Auto organisers did an excellent job with logistics and meals providing magnificient settings in charismatic French Medieval cities and Castles all along the way!!
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Qatar Doha Race
First race of the season took place in Doha, Qatar on the Losail F1 circuit. A very challenging 5.4km race track with very few reference points and very fun to race on. My 911 RSR 2.8l performed flawlessly resulting in a P3 podium finish in the GT1 Class.
2023
Estoril 2023
Race weekend started off with great weather and one major issuee. Tires! It turns out AVON was not able to deliver our size of tire so all weekend long I had to be very kind to my tires to make them last. We did quite well as during the race I was still able to move up in the leaderboard. I was running a comfortable 2nd in class when my good fortune ran out. I lost 3rd gear two laps from the end and so ended my weekend with a DNF. We still had a great time and once again my car performed exceptionally well until the gearbox failed.
Le Mans classic 24 hours 2023
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Having missed both Dijon and SPA events due to the engine rebuild taking longer than planned, the Le Mans Classic 24hr was next on the schedule. This time I did not run in the official 24 hour event, rather only the Porsche Classic race commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Le Mans Race track.
A total of 85 cars were entered for this landmark event. A huge representation of Porsches starting with the 2.0l 911's and ending with 935s, 930 RSR Turbos as well as an armada of 11 Porsche RSR 3.0l and 5 RSR 2.8ls'.
Running my very own Porsche 911 RSR 2.8l we had two very good qualifying sessions ending in P15 overall.
The race on Saturday was great fun as the car ran flawlessly and I managed P8 overall and P1 of the 2.8ls, and ahead of all of the RSR 3.0l Porsches!!!
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Join me below for a lap around the Legendary Le Mans race track!
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Mugello 2023
First race of the year with Peter Auto in Mugello for the Mugello Classic driving my homebuilt 1973 Porsche 911 2.8L RSR for the 2nd year
in a row. For 2023 we have incorporated gen 2 Suspension elements as was the case with the original 2.8L factory cars. Handling was much improved however unfortunately half way through the race we suffered a significant engine issue causing our first DNF in a long while!!
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2022
First race of the year with Peter Auto in Dijon for the Grand Prix de l'Age d'Or driving my homebuilt 1973 Porsche 911 2.8L RSR.
P3 in GT1. Performed flawlessly out of the box in it's first race!!
2nd race of the season at the Le Mans Classic 24 hours with a fabulous 3.0CSL BMW 'Batmobile'. This event is awesome b y nature of the Le Mans track , the number of participants (over 600 entries) and the number of spectators (230'000 visitors!).
Third race of the year was at the Circuit du Paul ricard for the Dix Milles tours again with my 2.8L RSR. P5 in class GT1 and P2 of the 2.8L Porsche RSRs!
2021
First race of the year 2021 Dubai 24 hrs with Leipert Motorsport. P1 and 13th overall with a 620 HP Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo EVO
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