Saturday July 1st.
Round 5
Saturday Practice
Harewood Hillclimb in Yorkshire is unusual in that it’s possible to see pretty much all of the circuit while spectating at the top of the hill. The course runs downhill at first but soon meanders up the hillside passing between (yes, between!) some farm buildings and, after a very quick final climb, ends at a tight right-hand bend known as Quarry blessed with deep gravel waiting on the outside to catch the over enthusiastic.
As the Porsche cars lined up on the Saturday morning, they were treated to an impressive flying display by Red Kites swooping and gliding over the paddock seemingly unimpressed by the noises and smells of a busy motorsport venue. Two drivers in the 220bhp P4 class set off on their practice runs. Martin Leach took his 911E to a best of 68.19 seconds but Stephen Jory and the 944 was quicker through the timing lights exiting practice with a time in a time of 67.62 seconds.
Wayne Eason had not had a great week ahead of the event due to repeat brake issues and needed the help of another driver to source the materials he needed at the eleventh hour. It’s not unusual for drivers in speed to do this, they drive to win but are always willing to help fellow drivers where they can. Wayne used his now fully braked car to good effect to record a rapid fastest practice time of 64.47 seconds, a useful early margin quicker than Geraint Evans who managed 67.23 seconds in his 911 Carrera 3.0
There were no P2 runners able to join the Saturday round and so the final class to practice was P1 with the higher power cars. Howard Cressey drove his big 718 GTS4 smoothly to a best of 67.12 seconds while Karl Lupton and his supercharged 944 negotiated the twisting climb in 66.48 seconds. Tim Barber in his purposeful looking GT3 was quickest in the P1 class with a best practice time of 62.86 seconds (after slick tire correction added), several seconds ahead of David Hilton who shares the car with him and Andy Fagan with his Boxster also on slick tires.
Saturday Timed Runs
The weather continued to swing from warm and sunny to cold and damp but the Porsche drivers were focussed on their all-important scoring runs on the Saturday afternoon.
As a result of just a little “heavy footedness” with some of the smaller single seaters the first timed runs were a bit delayed but that didn’t stop the Porsche contingent from putting on a good show and times improved. It was tight for second place in class P1 with David Hilton losing out by just a couple of tenths of a second to Andy Fagan who managed a great time of 63.43 seconds. However, taking the class win with a new Porsche Championship record on the hill was Tim Barber who managed a run of 60.58 seconds. That time was increased as a result of the slick tire adjustments he and David were subject to, but even allowing for that his corrected winning time of 61.79 in the GT3 was very impressive.
Never mind chasing class P2 times, Wayne Eason in his slick shod Boxster was knocking on the door of P1 times by the end of the scoring runs. He went on to take the class P3 win in 64.21 seconds, around 2 seconds ahead of Geraint Evans and the pretty Carrera 3.0 911 in second place.
It’s always great to see very different cars and drivers getting close at the end of a fast and technically challenging climb such as Harewood. Martin Leach and his 911 ended the day in second place in class P4 just a second or so behind the eventual winner Stephen Jory and the well setup 944 who recorded a quick time of 67.29 seconds on his last timed run.
Sunday July 2nd
Round 6
Sunday Practice
The day had dawned much the same as Saturday with sunny periods, a brisk cold breeze and occasional light showers all of which was going to make improving the previous day’s times a challenge.
For reasons not clear to us there was an extra practice run and while initially times were a little slower than those achived at the end of the day before, they soon began to fall as the drivers got the feel of the track. One thing that was a surprise was the requirement to carry out the first two practice runs back-to-back. For some this might normally have been an opportunity as tires might still be warm as they lined up for the second practice, however the weather gods intervened to minimise that effect and practice was complicated by the same mix of sun, cold air and short periods of drizzle as Saturday.
In P4 Stephen Jory ended practice in a time very close to his previous best, this despite some running repairs to an exhaust system. His time of 67.82 seconds was closer to that of the second-place driver Martin Leach‘s time in his 911 and the narrowing of the gap between them was set to continue into the scoring timed runs.
P3 practice closed with Wayne Eason quickest by a similar margin to that of the Saturday. Geraint Evans was second fastest but did so with a time a second of so quicker than his best of the day before. Graham Rose had been considering his suspension settings on his Supercharged 924S and, despite a similar issue to Stephen Jory when he had an exhaust mounting problem to fix, was hoping for some quicker timed runs. Sadly, it was not to be as his driveshaft failed soon after he started his final practice run. Despite his best efforts and help from several other people he wasn’t quite able to repair the problem in time for the scoring runs and his day was over.
Ian Wadsworth made significant step improvements in his first two practice runs as the sole P2 driver. His third was fastest of all, 65.26 seconds, the purposeful black 911 growling as it streaked past the spectators on the upper reaches of the hill.
In the top P1 class Karl Lupton in the supercharged 944 and Howard Cressey with his 718 GTS4 both found their times extending a little in the changeable conditions and would go into the timed scoring runs some way behind the three quickest P1 drivers. Lying in third place after practice was David Hilton in the GT3. Andy Fagan and his Boxster seemed to be coping well with the variable track state and finished practice in a time of 64.09 seconds but Tim barber was quickest having done a fine job in controlling the GT3 to a time of 62.86 seconds (after slick tire adjustment).
Sunday Timed Runs
The final 2 timed runs of the weekend for the drivers were mostly dry, the Harewood hill shrugging off the odd short shower surprisingly quickly.
Ahead of the Porsche cars were the British Hillclimb drivers in their specialist machines. Watching some of them achieve speeds of around 110 mph just a short distance away from the edge of the track was quite the sight.
The reducing difference in times between Stephen Jory and Martin leach became even tighter by the end of the second timed run. The two drivers in very different cars ended the day just 0.11 seconds apart with Stephen Jory taking the class P4 win in a time of 67.45 seconds.
Wayne Eason continued to drive exceptionally well to win the P3 battle over Geraint Evans who had made good progress himself but was unable to produce a time to threaten Wayne’s super quick class time of 63.43 seconds, a time that would have placed him in third in P1.
Ian Wadsworth was the only runner in P2 but gradually reduced his recoded time by nearly a full six seconds from his initial practice time to a final scoring run time of 66.13 seconds, a very credible drive.
After the previous record-breaking run in P1 we were all hoping for the same again from our P1 drivers. Thy all made significant gains, Howard Cressey and Karl Lupton both shaving more than 2 seconds from their practice times. In Third place at the end of the day was David Hilton who had been very consistent in his times and achieved a final time (corrected for slicks use) of 64.29 seconds. Tim Barber, sharing the GT3 car with David was ever so close to emulating his record time from the day before but in the end just fell short of it and actually recorded exactly the same time in both scoring runs. Andy seized his opportunity and with a committed drive managed his best time of the weekend to take the P1 class win in a brilliant time of 61.86 seconds in his slick shod Boxster.
So, a weekend of fine driving in some of Yorkshires’ finest countryside on a glorious Hillclimb course that never fails to surprise.
The Classes
P1 Over 361bhp
P2 281- 360bHP
P3 221-280bhp
P4 Up to 220BHP
“Slick Tire Rule”
Cars move up one class if using slicks, and if in class P1 2% is added to the recorded time.
Class Leaders after 6 rounds
Class Points
P1. Tim Barber. 80.37
P2. Ian Wadsworth 94.78
P3. Geraint Evans 117.36
P4. Stephen Jory 120.57
The remaining rounds are listed below, why not come along and see what we do?
Next Rounds
8TH July Prescott Hillclimb
22nd July Castle Combe Sprint
3rd September Brands Hatch Sprint
16th September Shelesley Walsh Hillclimb