Track-record...Strasse Leeds

Strasse Porsche (Leeds) are a well established independent Porsche garage who’s reputation for service and quality is unrivaled not just within the North of England but throughout the UK…in-fact if it was not for the geography I am sure Strasse’s customer list would not be that far off the largest Official Porsche Centre in Europe that’s a only a stone’s throw away on the outskirts of Leeds City Centre.
 
    

So why is this small specialist centre that’s tucked away in a corner of Leeds so successful…well it’s down to a vast amount of Porsche knowledge and not just any knowledge where talking Motorsport knowledge.
 
The combined Porsche experience that both partners and staff are accredited with, has not only established them as one of the country's leading independent Porsche specialists but as also earned them much respect on the track. From the very beginning back in 1994 when Strasse was founded by Dave Sunderland, Mark Pendleton and David Forrest, they soon built a reputation as the people to contact for rally preparation…a reputation and commitment to quality of service that personally prepared and helped rally driver Jack Tordoff (of JCT600) earn international success.
 
This motorsport knowledge and a down to earth approach means that they are now constantly in demand for preparing race winning cars for the Porsche Cups and Classic Championships…a demand that not only prepares one but five Porsche race cars.
 
Strasse garage is a hive of activity with customers cars waiting to be serviced and a excellent example of second hand Porsche road cars that always bring in customers through the front doors, in fact you only have to there in the small but humble front reception to see that the phone never seams to stop ringing…so how do they manage to also maintain five race wining cars.
 
It’s all about timing…fitting in the cars between race meetings…making sure that parts are available if required…putting in some long hours…offering track support at weekends and all without  interfering with the sales and service of the business…”its something you have to enjoy” Dave told me.


It also helps having the right staff with the right knowledge and  commitment just like Chris Dyer…Chris is another man with a racing pedigree who joined Strasse back in 2002 having worked on Porsche vehicles for some time - and under the watchful eye of Dave Sunderland Chris soon proved to be an excellent addition to the team and now is one of the key players in keeping all four cars up to speed one of them been the 944 S2 that himself races.
 
The 994 S2 belongs to Strasse and was adapted from a road legal car by the garage. Chris works on the car in is own time mostly having to give up his weekends and many a late night throughout the week. Chris is now in is third season of racing in the Porsche Club Championship Class two event and is currently in second place with only ten points behind the leader going into double header race at Thruxton on the 15th and 16th of August.

Not only is Chris a brilliant mechanic he also proving to be a very good race driver…his first year of racing then racing Strasse’s Blue Porsche 968 he won his class and came 3rd overall in the championship.
 
Like all race drivers and teams you have to work to budget and Chris his the first to admit that more sponsorship would help…but Chris is good at keeping the costs down, no posh hotels or fancy winnybagos for him at the track he sleeps in the teams transporter “it’s not that bad it’s got a microwave and a plaza screen what more do you need” said Chris. What’s more amazing is that Chris not forgetting that he is 2nd in class has done this on the same tyres for the last seven meetings and there road tyres not slicks.

   

Dave Botterill-DB Racing racing
 
Dave an Finance Director from Stocton on Tees is no stranger to club motorsport and has proved to be very successful. Dave was introduced to the Racing scene by Steve Holgate of Exclusively Nine who encouraged him to take up motorsport by competing in the clubs Startup Series in 1989...the same way many other race drivers came into motorsport including David Warnock who has competed at Le Mans.
 
Dave was given his  first Porsche when I was six years old...a model of a 911 Polizei car, but from that very point he was hooked on Porsche. Dave had to make do with only a Porsche key fob after passing his test and was 7 years later until he bought his first Porsche - a 1977 911 Carrera 3".
 
    
 
After his first seasons racing in the Carrera 3 Dave decided that to keep racing he would need something less expensive and bought white 924 Lux. I wanted to see what a 924 Carrera GT was like to drive and in 1993 bought a Mk 1 turbo. Having repaired the Mk1 turbo he soon found out how different the Mk 1 car was to the later cars, and how much fun it was to drive and so  kept it as a road car.
 
In 1995 I was looking around for a faster race car to replace the 2.0 litre 924 when I came across a 911 "project" car. This car was a rolling shell, with wheel arch extensions and a 2.7RS engine. This car was raced in the club series in 1995-96, but for 1997, work commitments took me to live to Sweden. A change of country wasn't going to stop the racing, so I took the car with me and raced at almost all the Swedish circuits.
 
Coming back to the UK I continued having fun with the RS during 98-99. The GT idea, which had been put on hold came back to mind in early 2000 when I came across a genuine GT for sale in Belgium. This necessitated the purchase of a Mk2 924 turbo donor car. The rest as they say is history.
During 2003 I realized that running the 924GT in NSSCC was being unfair on both me & the car. This was because compared to the other cars in class the car was both short on power and heavy.

The opportunity arose to buy Chris Heeleys 944 Turbo, which had been successful in the Porsche Cup and so this became my seventh addition to the fleet.

  

 In 2006 Dave entered the 944 in the new race series "The GT Cup" The GT Cup comprises four ‘Groups' based on lap time performance with power and minimum weight fixed for each model. Group One looks after the most powerful cars and Group Four the less powerful ones.


Group One has quite a spectacle with a Lamborghini Gallardo, Dodge Viper, Porsche 997 GT3S, Ferrari 430 GTS, Aston Martin DBRS9 and a Corvette C5 lined up at the front of the grid. Behind them were a mass of Porsche 996 and 997 GT3 Cup cars, several Ferrari 430 Challenge GT and 360 GT, two more Aston Martins, a Marcos Mantis, two BMW M3s and a Lotus Exige, a Lotus Elise and a Morgan Aero 8.

 
It may seam strange to find an old 944 racing with new state of the art race cars..but lets not forget the the 944 Turbo is still a rocket ship even in today's standards and at Round Three of the GT Cup at Snetterton on the 13th and 14th June Dave's Porsche 944 Turbo racing in Group 4 would have won an award for courage in the face of adversity if they had been such an award when he came 3rd and picked up his first podium position.with an ailing machine and only 2 seconds behind the Aston Martins.

Winner of John Bladon Trophy for 2001 for 'Most Outstanding Driver' in Northern Saloon and Sportscars Championship...Northern Sportscars class champion in 2000...Daves also racers a second car...a 964 C2 in the Porsche Club Championship Class 1 currently in 11th place with 86 points