Porsche 935/78 ‘Moby Dick’ Has 17-Year-Old Driver
By the time it’s Harper’s turn, one car had deposited a lot more oil on track, another has spun and Porsche’s own 924 GTP had pulled off with a problem. Mass brought the car into the pits and clambered out. He said a few words to Harper before giving him a reassuring pat. It’s a bit greasy, apparently, but not too bad. Maybe take it steady for a couple of laps.
His expression hidden behind Nomex balaclava and helmet, Dan lowered himself into the car and allowed the Museum’s technicians to help him with his harness. They offer a few more words of encouragement and then slam the lightweight doors shut.
This is a far cry from the world of sequential paddle shifts and throttle-by-wire that Harper is used to. Before him an analogue ancestry of heavy clutch, four-speed manual gearbox, and unassisted steering. Behind him around 800bhp, delivered with the sort of haymaker turbo lag most of us have only read about.
He pulled onto the grid among a half dozen privateer 935s, and as the revs began to build, the tension mounted palpably among his friends and family. The flag dropped and Harper let in the clutch, this monument to Porsche’s Group 5 glory days slithering up the pit straight as it searches for traction. It was heart-in-mouth stuff from the side lines, so one can only imagine what’s going on in the cockpit.
In in the end, good judgement, a level head and the ability to adapt prove more than enough. “At the start I was taking it very easy,” Harper explains, “just getting a feel for it all and building up a bit of confidence. Then I started to push a bit harder and by that stage I was in the zone. By the end I was loving it and didn’t want to come in. I could’ve gone around all night.”
This is a young man in his element and in his ascendancy. We talk about the future, and there’s no limit to his ambition: “Any driver would love to experience Le Mans, so that’s something I’m living for. It’s a big goal, but it’s well within reach I think. It’s all about picking the right moments and getting the break, and for Porsche to recognize my talent now is a great feeling, and something I hope will progress.”
Harper is equally interested in the prospect of Formula E, a racing medium far less alien to him than the likes of Group 5. “I think they are going to improve every year. Most people don’t like how quiet they are but I think it’s very promising and as long as I’m in a race seat I don’t mind to be honest. Porsche are going into Formula E in 2019 and I’m sure they’re going to be as quick there as they were at Le Mans. So a possible drive there is a promising thing for me. I just have to aim as high as possible.”
There’s no doubting that he will. But in the meantime, it’s the first flight out of here, back to his native Belfast and back to school in time for the last couple of lessons before lunch. With another interesting story to tell.