The fine weather that marked the afternoon of our Porsche Club National Speed and Hill Championship at Shelsley continued for a double header the following weekend at Loton Park near Shrewsbury. Seventeen Championship drivers ran under ideal conditions of warm, dry tarmac and hot weather.
The steady conditions helped make consistency the main characteristic on the day and, in Class 5, Stephen Jory (944) put in four runs that were all within 0.64 of second of each other. His fastest run on the day, 62.87, put him 1.36 seconds behind Martin Leach (911E). Martin’s times were also close with all within just over nine tenths of a second of each other. Martin’s class winning time was 61.51.
Eight scoring drivers in Class 4 at Loton made up the largest class in the Championship. Incredibly, the fastest five in the class were all under one second of each other with third place going to Andy Fagan (Boxster S) in 60.49. Bettering Andy’s time by just 0.08 seconds was Ian Wadsworth (911SC/RS) whose fastest time was 60.41. After coming in third to Ian at Shelsley, Justin Mather (924S Supercharged) took first place at Loton and bettered Ian’s time by exactly one third of a second to finish in 60.08.
In Class 3, David Watson (Cayman S) successively cut his times down each run to take third place in 66.28 while Mel Spears (964 Cup) had a narrow miss with a large, and very solid tree after an off during his final practice run. After composing himself he went on to complete two fine runs and finished in second place with 62.65. Karl Lupton (S/charged 968 engine 944) put in two exceptionally quick timed runs to finish in 60.04 for the class win.
Sole entrant at Loton in Class 2 was Richard Snow (Cayman GT4) making his debut in the National Speed and Hill Championship. Richard picked up his pace dramatically for his final run and finished in 62.85.
Tim Barber and David Hilton are showing an incredible turn of pace already this season in their shared slick-shod 996 GT3. All their runs in Class 1 were sub 60 seconds – an impressive feat, with David finishing in a scorching 57.23 for second place. Even when you take into account it being a shared car it was still an amazingly close finish by Tim for the class win as his time was just 0.20 faster than David’s. Tim took Championship FTD with a time of 57.03.
The following day brought more fine, hot weather and a slew of fast runs, not least in Class 1 where the dramatic times got even lower. David bettered Tim’s FTD from Saturday by 0.01 of a second to finish in second place in 57.02. Tim upped his game and put in one practice time of 55.10 – he could not quite match that in his final timed run but nevertheless finished the day with a remarkable 55.66 and his third FTD in as many rounds.
Richard Snow almost had a calamitous final run but escaped unscathed, leaving him with a fastest timed first run of 60.19 in Class 2 and an enjoyable first outing with the Championship.
In Class 3 Mel Spear’s first run and fastest time earned him third place with 62.07. Joining the Championship for the first time on Sunday was Josh Sadler (911RS 3.0 Rep.) who very consistently improved his times over the day to finish in second place with 60.86. Karl Lupton had a great weekend and finished on Sunday with two sub 60 timed runs with a final, class winning time of 59.59.
All three fastest drivers in Class 4 put in sub 60 second times with Ian Wadsworth winning third place in 59.60 while son Nick improved on all his Saturday runs with two superb timed runs and second place in 59.36. After a comparatively steady first practice run, Justin Mather really dug in to produce three superb runs under 59 seconds. His fastest class winning time of 58.47 was very impressive.
In Class 5, first and second places were reversed from Saturday’s results with Martin Leach taking second place in 61.02 while Stephen Jory improved on that by just 0.06 seconds to finish with a class winning time of 60.96.
Our busy month continues with a round at Prescott next weekend that will include invited classes. Unfortunately, continuing Covid-19 restrictions mean that only Bugatti Owners Club members will be able spectate the event but at least there will be plenty of Porsches on the hill.
Saturday Results here.
Sunday Results here.
Current Championship Standings here.
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