Castle Combe
Round Six – Castle Combe Sprint
If the Porsche Club Speed and Hillclimb Championship round at Harewood Hill Climb was notable for its biblical deluge, then the sixth round at Castle Combe will be remembered as one of the warmest with the temperature sitting at around 30°C for much of the day. The warm sticky conditions certainly helped lay some very quick times down on this popular club circuit.
Enjoying their first competitive runs on a circuit in around five years, Tim Barber and David Hilton made the most of the warm tarmac and slick tyres on the 996 GT3 that they share in Class 1. They both improved their times on each successive run with David taking second in 65.68 for his final run.
Tim bettered that time by 1.77 seconds to take an impressive Championship FTD in 63.91 – a time that put him in the fastest ten of this sprint overall, a top ten that included open-wheel race cars.
Two drivers entered Class 3 at Combe with David Watson, in a smart, totally standard (and relatively heavy) Cayman S, making the most of his sixth appearance in as many rounds to finish the day in 72.24 for second place.
Karl Lupton and his supercharged, 968-engined 944 seem at home on a fast circuit like Combe and he put down a superb final time of 65.86 to comprehensively claim the Class win.
No less than 10 drivers competed at Combe in Class 4 with a fastest three driving what could not have been more different Porsches. In third place, after breaking the 70 second barrier in his final run, Geraint Evans took his 911 3.3 Carrera across the finish line in 69.41.
Driving his distinctive slick-shod, silver and orange 986 Boxster Wayne Eason had a great afternoon at Combe and finished with three good times and second place in 68.70.
Local Wiltshire man Justin Mather was always going to do well on a circuit that he knows as well as Combe and he did not disappoint at this sprint. Justin finished the day with the Class win in his much-modified supercharged 2.7-engined 924S with a time of 66.96.
In Class 5, and following a spin on his first timed run, Martin Leach put the newly installed duck tail spoiler on his 911E to great effect for his next two runs to finish the day in 72.00 for second place.
Had we been handing out trophies for consistency then Stephen Jory would have won it outright after four neatly completed drives on the day in his equally tidy 944. As it was, he had to settle for an impressive class win for his second timed run of 70.39.
Next stop: Goodwood Circuit on August 7th.