Brian Innes, Region 2 member from Nairn writes....
"I had a very successful final fling at the Fintray hill climb event on 15th and 16th August. The weather on the Saturday was absolutely atrocious with torrential rain all day. In my experience at Fintray spanning more than 50 years, I have never seen it so wet, nor the tack so slippery. At one point the MSA Stewards were close to abandoning the meeting due to surface water. Only the diligent efforts of the dedicated volunteer track marshals saved the day.
These extremely tricky conditions made competitive times all the more difficult for everybody as there are no run-off areas at hill climbs! Fortunately no serious “offs” occurred and the programme ran more or less to time without any significant incidents. Once again I had a close battle with the much lighter VX220 Turbo driven by the class record holder Martin Smith. Also chasing me was the Honda S2000 of Ronnie Macgregor who really wanted to beat the CR! At the end of the final runs all three of us posted times in the 36 second bracket, which was much better than anticipated bearing in mind the slippery track conditions. I missed out on the class win by only 2/10ths of a second from the featherweight VX. Despite coming second, again, I was happy with my driving performance and the time posted, considering the difficult conditions.
Sunday’s event dawned dry and sunny and the times came tumbling down as the track dried out on the lower corners, only leaving the completely tree-shaded hairpin and the finish straight still very greasy and damp. This time we were all going for it on the dry sections and I really wanted to push Martin in the VX 220 Turbo as hard as I could, hoping to pressurise him into making an error. On the very last run of the day, I gave the CR absolutely everything off the start line and around the first two technical corners, slithered around the greasy hairpin and blasted across the finish line to a new personal best time of 32.69 seconds, 2/10ths faster than last year’s best time. Still the Vauxhall pipped me by 3/10ths of a second to take the class win yet again. I was not disappointed at all as I had given it my very best shot and could not have driven the hill any faster without burying my CR in the scenery, which of course was not on my agenda at all! So ended my life-time of competitive motor sport at the Fintray Hill Climb. The Cayman R manual, with the Toyo R888 sticky tyres fitted, is a formidable track performer whether it be on hills or circuits. The handling balance, poise, and steering precision of the CR is up there with the best of the Porsche 911 models, and, in my view genuinely comparable with the GT Porsches. No wonder the Cayman GT4 is so enthusiastically acclaimed in the press. More engine power please Porsche! How about making a Cayman GT4 RS?"
Congratulations Brian, and thanks for all your entertaining write-ups. The pictures featured here were taken by another R2 member, Gilles Gardner. You can see bigger versions and many more of his photos from the day by following this link: https://www.flickr.com/gp/gillesgardner/80H4F4