Message from Chris Butler
AN APPEAL TO ALL 2017 PFFC COMPETITORS by entrant Chris Butler (Car No. 5, in Silver and usually to be found in the midfield somewhere!)
The PFFC season is now here and the first race just 2 weeks away.
Have you registered to join the series yet? If not can you please do so as soon as possible – application attached
Have you registered to race at Castle Combe yet? If not then you should do so as soon as possible – entry form attached
This year is a very special year for the club, it is our 50th Birthday and also of course 70 years of Ferrari. The Club commenced proceedings in fine style earlier this month with a prestigious Gala Dinner at The Savoy in London which proved to be a huge success. Arguably that event was the finest ever staged by the club and we are trying to ensure that our club racing follows in a similar kind of vein this season. The calendar was announced weeks ago and as befits our special year we are the main headliners and star attraction at almost all our race events this season.
At Castle Combe we top the bill and have 2 races on the same day along with a grid walk and hospitality opportunities for the drivers and their guests. A good turnout is important because the club has commissioned a high quality PFFC racing promotional video to be filmed on the day and we would like as many drivers as possible to feature in this.
At Knockhill in May we once again headline the event but this time we have 3 races, pit garages, grid walks and a very special ‘50th’ Gala Dinner evening down the road at the impressive Dundas Castle on the Saturday night. Thanks largely to our PFFC sponsors we are able to offer this at an entry price of just £395 – for 3 races and 2 tickets to the Gala Dundas Castle Dinner!!!! This is surely unbeatable value? Don’t forget that the TV cameras will also be rolling at Knockhill as highlights programmes are due to be filmed for Motors TV where we will all be famous for 15 minutes and able to show off our fantastic classic Ferraris! Those of you who think that Knockhill is a long way from the south would be right, it is about 400 miles from the M25. However, welcome to my world as I and our other ‘Northern’ contingent drivers regularly have to drive similar distances to get to our race events at Brands Hatch, Castle Combe or Thruxton. We simply get on with it because we love racing our Ferraris with our friends. Knockhill and its entire weekend programme is so good that the Club has chosen it to be one of its major national events of the year (a Northern Savoy if you like!) and it will be a chance for our Club racing to be firmly on the 50th year map. The PFFC committee think that there is enough on show at Knockhill at a fantastic price to attract you all to make the effort to come and join in.
Following Knockhill we will enjoy our traditional day at Oulton Park on June 10th with 2 races as usual and then we head off to Zandvoort for our overseas fun where once again we can look forward to take star billing at their ‘Ferrari Festival’. We are expecting to be located in the historic F1 pit garages and to also be invited to a special beach BBQ with maybe even some beach volleyball, who knows!
Headlining the fantastic Italian Festival at Brands Hatch will follow in August with the same successful format as last year with no doubt another huge crowd, a packed grid walk and of course 2 great races to take part in. Our season will then conclude (at the time of going to press) with 2 final races at Thruxton in September.
I don’t need to remind you that we are of course living the dream owning and racing our Ferraris and so we should always grab every opportunity to race them. Naturally we want to have as many cars and their drivers out on track throughout the year as possible, not only from a driving and competition view point but also to promote the Club and to be proud to be part of it. We can of course all deliberate about which car is quicker than which car and who is the best driver or who has too much camber angle etc but at the end of the day we all need to be racing and all out on track having fun which must be the absolute objective of what we do. Not everybody can win and not everybody does but over the last couple of seasons we have tried to make it better for both racers and spectators alike by embracing more cars to be eligible and bring in new classification groups to accommodate as many cars as possible to take part in our racing. This appeared to generally work well last season but as a PFFC Committee volunteer myself we know that we don’t always get it right and so we are always open to listen to suggestions to make things better not for specific individuals but for everybody and the series as a whole. A serious amount of voluntary hard work goes into the Club Racing series and it is always with the best intentions and with the members interests at heart. Please do all you can to be a part of it and don’t miss out!
2017 is a special year for the club and with our PFFC race series being the beating heart of the club we like to think that we have planned an attractive race calendar and supporting events that will appeal to all discerning Ferrari race drivers and their families. I very much hope that you will make Ferrari racing in the Club’s special 50th year a priority and have a lot of rewarding fun as a result. From my seat in the midfield of the pack I look forward to good sized grids that contain a lot of cars ahead of me and a lot of cars behind me!…….And don’t forget that its only 400 miles from Watford Gap Services to Knockhill and that it promises to be well worth the effort!
Forza Ferrari and good luck racing your fabulous Ferrari with the Club this year,
Chris Butler
