Dick Harman Motorsport

19/11/2023

Top night out for team DHM and one final trophy for 2023… Really pleased to have taken the 1st driver award in Class A 😃 I never expected to be this far along with the car after just 2 seasons from the current build. From a car I mostly built myself, on my drive, with a very modest budget with zero sponsorship. Feeling made up from this one!! It’s been a very long time since a Porsche 944T has taken this class… Cheers to James and my Dad for the help this year, couldn’t have done it with you both! 🏆

This one is for my grandad, who I recently lost and has been a huge influence on my obsession with cars x

21/10/2023

The in car vid from Croft is up!
Not the best of starts, but 40 minutes is a long race… I drop to P4 on the first lap until I find my groove. But once I did, my lap times were fast and consistent for the rest of the race. I was gifted a well timed Code 60 for my pit stop which worked very much in my favour (there are always winners and losers during a neutralised race!). P3 start to a win with a 38 second lead by the end of the race 😃🏆 hope you enjoy!

A view from the mighty car 51 with Richard Harman at the final round of CSCC Future Classics at Croft. P3 start to an overall win! This was a combined series...

17/10/2023

That’s the final chequered flag for 2023 🏁 what a season it’s been!

Last weekend it was the final CSCC U.K. round at Croft, which was a new circuit to me. Safe to say I really enjoyed it and it’s high speed corners suited me and the car well. I quickly got to grips with the track through quali I managed to place the car in P3 for the race (although I did have a big spin at one point!).

Over the past 2 rounds we’ve had a combined grid with the quicker Swinging Sixties cars and also Modern Classics for Croft, so safe to say it was a diverse grid of some lovely cars 😎
I got off to a reasonable start in the race, but dropped a place to P4. It took me a few laps to find my rhythm and I was under pressure from Mark Campbell in his unbelievably quick TR5. But I got my head down and eventually pulled away from him. I left my pit stop fairly late, which absolutely paid dividends, as I was gifted a perfectly timed (for me!) Code 60 so I dived into the pits for my stop. After a smooth stop I exited the pits to see a green flag almost straight away, BOOM! At this point I knew the win could be on, so again I got my head down and pushed hard as I was expecting to see the crazy fast TVR Tuscan of Tony and Aston Blake appear in my mirrors. That moment never came and I took the win 38 seconds ahead of Mark in the TR5 😀 🏆 The car was absolutely magic and a special thanks to my dad for the pit crew support. What a day!

A few weeks back I also raced at my local track Oulton Park. I’d tested the day before as I’d not driven the car for 4 months, so I was a little rusty. Testing was wet all day, so I was praying for rain overnight for our quali session. The rain came and we were treated to a greasy and cold track 😬 whilst everyone else was seemingly tip toeing around during the session, I was pushing on having a great time! I secured my first ever POLE by around 1.7 seconds 😀

The race was going to be tough, as I was up against Tim Bates in his lovely 3.5 911 SC (one of my fave cars on the grid). Tim had a much better start than me and pulled a bit of a gap. But he pitted early and I stayed out. Then a Datsun dropping oil at Druids led to a car going into the gravel and the safety car came out and in the pits I went. After the pit stop I joined the back of the pack behind the safety car and Tim appeared in my mirrors as I’d jumped him in the pits, so the race was on again! At the restart I bullied my way through the traffic whilst keeping Tim behind me. After we’d got through the traffic we had a good couple of laps racing, but eventually I was well and truly schooled when Tim put a move on me into Hislop’s. This placed me in 3rd as little did we know that Mark Campbell was leading the race in the pesky TR5! Mark seemed to almost let Tim through, but he fought a hard but fair race with me and I struggled to pull a move on him in my much heavier Porsche. I eventually got a good drive out of Lodge to pull alongside Mark down the start finish straight as we passed the chequered flag alongside each other. Mark took second by 0.03 seconds! But a podium is a podium and I was the most fun I’d had in the car all year, with Mark and Tim pretty much saying the same. I still took second in Future Classics 😀

So that’s it for my most successful year of racing! The car has been a dream and it’s gained quite a lot of popularity in the scene, which is pretty satisfying. A few stats:

🏎️ 1 pole
🏎️ 2 wins
🏎️ 4 second place finishes
🏎️ 100% finishes

Thanks to everyone who’s supported me, especially to James, my dad Steve, and to my very understanding wife Hannah! Oh, and thanks to Classic Sports Car Club for being the best racing club in the U.K.! Happy 20 years of organising great racing.

Thanks for reading.
Dick

26/05/2023

Almost forgot about this! 😮
Here’s the in car vid from race 2 at Anglesey. It was a fairly frantic 15 mins, with me pushing hard to catch the race leader, Steve Hewson in the 718 Cayman. I the end the gap was below 1.5s and I was in spitting distance, but the mistake from Steve I needed never came and I finished in 2nd (first loser as we say! 😅). Great fun!! 😃

A view from car 51, my heavily modified and improved Porsche 944 Turbo, in Race 2 on Sunday 14th May 2023. P2 start and P2 finish. I couldn't quite get close...

18/05/2023

What a treat of a weekend at Trac Môn Anglesey 😃 the weather was sweet and the mighty DHM 951 was on point 💨

Thanks again to the CALM All Porsche Trophy crew for having us along as an invitational entry and for being so welcoming! There was an excellent grid of 30-odd 924s, 944s, 968s, Boxsters, Caymans, and one special supercharged flatnose 911. With a power to weight advantage over the rest of the field, I’d hoped to do well but power is only part of the story… However after testing on Friday I was confident the car would be somewhere near as laptimes were in the low 1:41s, which is respectable time on the International circuit 😬

Saturday morning in quali we got to the assembly area early to go for some early banzai laps. 1:40.80 put me in P3 on the grid 6 tenths behind Steve Henson in P1 in the super quick 718 Cayman.
Race 1️⃣ the first of two 15min sprint races. After a reasonable start Steve and I quickly pulled away from the main pack of Boxsters, with me in second. I pushed hard to stay with the Cayman, but the mistake I was waiting for didn’t come so I ended up in a very respectful second overall🥈

The grid for sprint race 2️⃣ on Sunday morning picked up where we’d left off the previous afternoon. After another solid start I had a short lived tussle with the the group of quicker Boxsters. With PDK in the 718 Steve Hewson had got a lightning start ⚡️after I pulled away from the Boxsters I got my head down and gave chase. By the last couple of laps the gap was down to under 1.5 seconds and once again I was waiting for a mistake from Steve! It never came and it was another second place finish 😃🥈 This was my fave rave of the weekend!

Race 3️⃣ on Sunday afternoon was our usual format of a 40 min race with a pit stop. Another decent start with Steve’s Cayman marching off well. I dealt with the quick Boxsters again, but then a safety car came which can either be a curse or a gift! In my case it was a curse as the pit window wasn’t quite open during the first SC lap, but for a chunk of the pack further back they gambled on it being open and they made their stops a lap earlier than our lead group. I got jumped on the pit by another car which meant I was held up before the restart. But at least I had fun working my way back up to 6th overall, so really not bad! Steve in the Cayman had a better run up the road and managed to secure a hat trick third win!

Two overall podiums and three class wins 😃 plus a load of fun to boot! Cheers to James for the spannering and beer consumption assistance 👊

Thanks to Peter Duce for the on track action shots 📸

15/05/2023

A full write up from the weekend will be up soon, but it's fair to say we had an excellent weekend with the CALM boys and girls at Anglesey 😃 The car was excellent and put on an exciting, fire-breathing show 🔥 Overall I secured two overall podiums in three races, so I couldn't be happier! As a little taster, here's the quickest quali lap. 1:40.8 secured me P3 on the grid for race 1...

My quickest lap in qualifying for the CALM All Porsche Series on the Anglesey International circuit, 13.5.2023. 1:40.80 on the official timing, which placed ...

13/05/2023

Hello from a lovely sunny Trac Môn Anglesey 🌞

Richard is out in the All Porsche Series in aid of CALM. It’s a triple-header meeting across Saturday and Sunday. Quali was a dream, with a P3 grid spot secured for Race 1. Race times below and check the comments for the livestream links 🛜

➡️ Race 1 - SATURDAY 16:30 (15 mins)
➡️ Race 2 - SUNDAY 10:30 (15 mins)
➡️ Race 3 - SUNDAY 13:40 (40 mins)

Diwrnod da 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

04/05/2023

After a bit of downtime it’s nearly time to go racing again! 😁 Time for something a little bit different…

Over the weekend of 13th and 14th May Richard will be taking part in the CALM All Porsche Trophy series at the brilliant Trac Môn circuit on Anglesey. We’ve raced there once before, so it will be great to return! The series is run in aid of the prevention of su***de CALM (Campaign Against Living Miserably) charity, which is an added bonus.

The 944 is a little too powerful for their normal class structure, but series have kindly allowed us in as an invitational entry. But we’re expecting that the quick Cayman’s will put up a good fight, as it’s not all about power! We shall see… There’s two 15 min sprint races on the Saturday, and a 40 min race on the Sunday. If anyone fancies a trip over to watch then let us know 👍

30/03/2023

The in car vid from Sunday’s race in the 944 is up! There’s a bit of a spat with the Harvey / Neal 964 RS at the start, but once I get past them on lap 4 it was a fairly lonely race…

The last two laps of the race I decided to really push the car. A sub 2:10 lap was on but I couldn’t quite make it stick due to lapping a 924. There’s always next time!! You can probably tell that I really love Snetterton 🥰

(Excuse a couple of rendering glitched in the vid)

A view from Car 51 in the CSCC Future Classics race on Sunday 26th March 2023 on the Snetterton 300 circuit, Porsche 944 Turbo driven by Richard Harman. P3 g...

28/03/2023

Weekend write up from Snetterton 🏎️

🇯🇵 Saturday Tin Tops were first out on a very green, but dry track. Lap times were fairly slow for everyone, but it was a fairly clean session and James secured a P5 grid position. Weather was changeable throughout the morning but the track remained dry for the start of the race.

James got off to a decent start and was maintaining 4th position for the first half of his race. But then it all went wrong for him: something around the exhaust came loose and was rattling around, at the same point in the race as he had two big spins on consecutive corners. He convinced himself something had broken on the rear suspension, when it was simply a load of oil down on the track! By the time we’d checked the car over there was no point continuing so it was a DNF. C’est la vie! But at least James missed the wet finish to the race, as he hates the rain 😜

🇩🇪 Sunday we woke up to very damp conditions 🌧️ we would have spent ages agonising over the setup had it have not been for a wiring fault with the kill switch on the Porsche 😳 a scramble around to make some quick wiring changes got us through scrutineering and lined up for damp quali! Fortunately the recent changes to the car meant it was less of an handful in the slippery conditions and I was able to push on and secure P3 on the grid and 1.7 seconds off pole.

We were last race out, but after a long wait we were treated to a dry race. I got off to a solid start and maintained 3rd position, with the three leading cars pulling away from the main pack. But I found myself being held up by the 964 RS of Harvey and Neal and with both cars being pretty well matched down the straights, I had to bully my way through! An opportunity arose at Agostini on lap 4 and I was through. With my 20 seconds winner’s penalty from Silverstone I knew I had to get my head down, so as Lewis’s engineer would say it was hammer time and I smashed out some quick laps and pitted late from the lead. The strategy worked and I exited the pits to retake 2nd place behind Steve’s hellishly quick Cosworth RS500 and well ahead of the 964 RS and that’s how order panned out when the chequered flag dropped 🏁🥈

Overall I could not have been happier with how the race went or how the car performed! With the rule change this year I’ve now dropped the winner’s penalty too 😃 stay tuned for the in car vid 📺

26/03/2023

Not our day yesterday as it was a DNF for James for reasons we’ll cover in our write up, but nothing hurt but a little bit of pride… But onto today! 🌧️

It’s a damp one here at Snetterton and it’s almost certainly going to be a wet quali session at 11:30… But the race isn’t until 17:45 so who knows what that will bring… Richard carries a 20 second winner’s penalty in the race from Round 1, so at the very least that will make the race interesting. Provided he survives quali that is 🤣

Links in the comments for live timing and the livestream ⤵️

25/03/2023

We are at Snetterton for Round 2 of the Classic Sports Car Club 2023 🙂

It’s the Co-ordSport Tin Tops today and James had an early quali session. A fairly green and slow track to start with, so the lap times were a bit slower for everyone. James managed to secure his usual P5 grip position for the race 😅

The race is due to start at 12:55, so check the comments below for live timing and livestream links 🐻

Oh and some changes are being made to the Porsche ready for Sunday… 👀