YOU & YOURS
Fairytale. This is the best way to describe Jonny Lovell’s meteoric rise on the Porsche motorsport scene. “Over the years, I’ve owned several Porsches,” he says. “Previous P-cars include a 996 GT3, various 944s and a few air-cooled 911 Turbos. I was always curious to race a Porsche, but didn’t ever consider I’d be where I am today.” As many of us can relate to, pandemicdriven lockdowns encouraged him to grab the bull by the horns and engage in activity he’d previously only watched as a spectator.
“I wanted to go racing,” he shrugs. “Consequently, I hopped on eBay, bought a race-prepared Renault Clio, sorted my ARDS license and entered a series run by the 750 Motor Club. I only lasted two events, though. The rough and tumble of the competition really wasn’t for me — I ended up twice being punted off the track at 100mph, or thereabouts. Don’t get me wrong, I wanted to race, but I wasn’t keen on getting injured.”
That, so Jonny thought, was that. Fate had other ideas. “I was in touch with a member of the team at Porsche Centre Hatfield, who confirmed the 986 Boxster S race car prepared by the Centre was available for purchase.” Back in 2018, the year of thehistoric Porsche race car. In partnership with Porsche-approved body shop, M&A Coachworks, Porsche Centre Hatfield acquired and restored a 986 Boxster S as instructed. “The car was done-up to echo the appearance of the Targa Floriowinning 1973 Martini Racing Carrera RSR,” Jonny smiles. “The Centre’s staff took care of driving and pit duties on race weekends for two seasons. During the first season, the car’s engine was treated to work, primarily installation of a baffled sump to thwart oil slosh around fast left-hand bends, but otherwise, it ran good as gold, requiring nothing more than regular oil changes.”
