Motor racing: Bay driver shifts gears to Porsche

Simon Ellingham, of Napier, with the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car for the 2017 series in Australia and Malaysia. PHOTO/Nicole Angeline

Anyone who has an inkling of what motor racing is about knows the urge to make countless adjustments to metal beasts quite often overrides the basic desire to fulfil a need for speed.

That goes some way to explaining why Simon Ellingham and his champion McElrea Racing team have shifted gears from an Audi R8 GT3 last year (Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge and Australian GT) to the Porsce Championship when the series starts early next month predominantly across the ditch.

"They [Porsche] have less horsepower but since they have less aerodynamics they are not that much slower but they are harder to drive," says Ellingham who reveals his latest choice of vehicle has no electronics or driver aids.

The Hawke's Bay driver, who is based in Auckland and turned 25 on February 10, says the circuits in the Porsche Carrera Cup Australia calendar also light up the campaign with Formula 1 Australian GP, Clipsal 500, Sandown, Bathurst, the Gold Coast and Sepang, Malaysia, adding to the challenges.

McElrea Racing, a Porsche racing team, will support Ellingham who will be part of the Porsche Carrera Cup Australia squad.

The team also have competed with Aston Martins, Ferraris, Lamborghinis and McLarens in other series.

"In our opinion they are the best because they won the championship last year," he says, revealing McElrea Racing, the reigning teams' champion outfit, had teed up young Warwick sensation Matt Campbell to the driver's title.

Ellingham says the championship series, which starts on March 2-5 at the Clipsal 500 circuit, Adelaide Parklands, doesn't have co-drivers bar one leg, in the third stage at the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit, on the outskirts of Melbourne, from May 26-28, but the team haven't got to the stage of deciding who will sit alongside him although he has to be an amateur.

"There's a bit of pressure because we know we have a car and team that won it last year so there are no excuses here."

He's the only change in the equation and he doesn't need any reminding of that.

Ellingham only found out he was competing in the series in December and has got a feel of the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car, which Duvashen Padayachee commandeered for the past three seasons, at Queensland Raceway.

The Porsche Championship is a one-make series and a feeder to European GT racing considered in some circles as probably the most intense and closest category to race in outside of V8 Supercars.

Peak Marketing, a uniform, merchandise and promotional product company in Australia and New Zealand, is the major sponsor.

Ellingham made the most of of a boot camp the team had organised three weeks ago in the Gold Coast that also put him through a fitness test.

His assessment of the Porsche 911 GT3 emits a sense of enthusiasm and bigger things to come.

"It's really cool. It's definitely a little better than the old Porsche."

Ellingham reckons it packs a little more punch under the bonnet and its brakes offer more assurance to provide overall a master package.

Three weeks ago he had had a chat with Campbell, who was racing at Bathurst .

"When we had that first practice day in the car he was out there helping the team, which was good."

Campbell gave him a few tips on how to use the brakes more effectively to extract a bit more speed in the car.

"The brakes look quite easy but there's quite an art to it."

As part of McElrea Racing stable over the past three years, Ellingham drove in the GT3 Cup Challenge, a step below the Carrera Cup, which use the earlier species of 997 Cup car as its platform.

During the Carrera Cup series, the drivers will pretty much follow the V8 series before embracing the Sepang leg.

"No one has ever race there [Sepang International Circuit] so it'll be pretty much a level field for everyone," he says of the July 21-23 leg.

Campbell, in winning the series last year, also secured a scholarship to race Porsche in Europe and he also got to be the co-driver of the V8 Championship leader.

"If you do well in Porsche you'll definitely move up."

However, Ellingham doesn't want to get too far ahead of himself just yet but focus on his Australian accomplishments.

A top-three finish this year would be acceptable in his quest to grace the Porsche European series someday.

"You obviously want to win but I think top three is a good goal."

It'll take someone like Campbell about five years to make the V8 Series but Ellingham emphasises the Queenslander is an exceptional talent.

"You would regard him as one of the top drivers in this part of the world."

PORSCHE CARRERA CUP SERIES

■ Rd 1: Clipsal 500, Adelaide Parklands, Adelaide, South Australia (March 2-5).

■ Rd 2: Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix, Melbourne, Victoria (March 23-26).

■ Rd 3: Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit, Phillip Island, Victoria (May 26-28).

■ Rd 4: Hidden Valley Raceway, Darwin, Northern Territory (June 16-18).

■ Rd 5: Sepang International Circuit, Sepang, Malaysia (July 21-23).

■ Rd 6: Sandown 500, Melbourne, Victoria (September 15-17).

■ Rd 7: Bathurst 1000, Bathurst, New South Wales (October 05-08).

■ Rd 8: Gold Coast 600, Gold Coast, Queensland (October 20-22).