Speed Championship Curborough
Porsche Club GB Speed Championship 2024 with NINEMEISTER
29 September Curborough Sprint report and final Championship results
They do say 'don't blindly follow a satnav' and usually I stick to that rule however a bit late and a little bit lost, I found myself wandering along narrow lanes, glimpsing the circuit but not actually getting to the entrance! It took a while but eventually I popped out alongside the main gate and so breathing a deep sigh of relief made my way into the paddock.
As I drove to the area our cars are usually positioned, I passed groups of people with tents, team cooking areas and then a large group of pedal cars!
I'm all for accessible motor sport I told myself but surely this is stretching it a bit? Well, I needn't have worried of course. As it turned out there was a 6hr endurance pedal car race the evening before. The race was made up of numerous teams all driving super light pedal cars. It struck me that our next crop of talented engineers and drivers might be there with us.
Practice
We had 10 cars taking part in this the final event of the year. The circuit is short but highly technical and demands the best of car and driver alike and from personal experience I can say its great fun, but it can bite too with a very fast initial section that tests the nerves more than a bit and then a twisty car-upsetting stretch before a fast run to the line.
We had 2 P2 class cars running, Mel Spear with the gorgeous 964 Cup car and Mark Joynson-Bickerstaffe with his Boxster S, a road car on road tires.
It was cold and grey as the cars shot off on this their first run sampling the conditions. Mel was quick in his first practice with a 69 .01 second time and with the feel of the track he improved by several seconds in the second run to go into the scoring timed runs with a best of 65.87. Mark also improved by over 4 seconds in his second attempt to a time of 72.85 seconds.
Our P3 runners were the usual competitive bunch, Wayne Eason, Graham Rose, Geraint Evans, Jon Baldock and Chris Milne, he with the only road car in the class.
All the P3 cars were covered by just a few seconds across the two practice runs. Chris Milne gave himself a problem by running wide in his first run (seemed to be enjoying the scenery!) so needed to steady the ship in the second run. The top time of practice in P3 was a quick 66.04 second time by Wayne Eason in his Boxster.
P4 has produced the championship winner (Stephen Jory, well done!) and brilliant driving by he and his class rivals has kept us all entertained all year. As the cars came back from the second practice run Stephen Jory held the lead with a very quick 64.25 second time. As ever Martin Leach was keeping him honest with his 911E with a 66.32 second run. Jake Cartwright suffered a technical glitch with his Boxster which needed him to leave the circuit to get repair items and so missed the normal practice runs.
Timed Runs
The first scoring timed run took place before the lunch break. In the first both our P2 class cars recorded times almost exactly as the last practice time suggesting they had perhaps hit the 'sweet spot' for their cars. After 2 more runs that proved to be the case for Mel who nevertheless took the class win in a great time of 65.83 seconds in the 964 Cup car. Mark Joynson-Bickerstaffe leant on his road tyres to squeeze over a second improvement to a best time for the day of 71.72 seconds.
Perhaps it was the weather with its lowish temperatures but a few of our always hard charging P3 runners had 'moments' during the three scoring timed runs on offer. Wayne Eason had a spin on the first and Jon Baldock caught a slide at one point to end the day with a best of 67.01 seconds in his Boxster. Chris Milne continued with his impressive driving to record a 69.03 second time in his road legal Boxster to end the day in fifth place.
Graham Rose always reflects on what has taken place and so often then brilliantly pulls a big step improvement out of the bag from his last run in his supercharged 924s. He did just that to knock off a second and ended the day in third place in P3 with a 66.72 second time.
The very experienced Wayne Eason did not let his earlier spin rattle him at all, and proceeded to edge the times down to a best of 65.21 seconds, the class winning time of the day and just 0.75 seconds ahead of Geraint Evans who was pushing him hard with his 911 Carerra 3.0
Jake Cartwright (with the usual crowd watching and helping !) fixed his car just in time to record a best time in the scoring runs of 69.16, a great P4 time when you consider that he had one practice only and had been scrambling around fixing the car just moments before!
The final class win of the day was between our two skilled P4 drivers, Stephen Jory and Martin Leach who, in very different cars, have swapped times during events all year. At this the last round of the 2024 season it was Stephen in his 944S2 who (despite near 360 spin on one run!) grabbed the class win in a hugely impressive time of 63.96 seconds.
And so there it was, a fantastic year of driving, of friends using their cars to the fullest and with more than a sprinkling of exciting competition making the whole thing a brilliant way to spend a few quid enjoying yourself!
End of Year Results
The final points results for the year are attached below but the headlines are as follows; Well done everyone!
Overall Speed Champion 2024
Stephen Jory.
(Win based on events won as points were tied with Wayne Eason).
Class Winners
Class P1. 1st David Dyson
2nd David Hilton
Class P2 1st Ian Wadsworth
2nd Mel Spear
Class P3 1st Wayne Eason
2nd Geraint Evans
Class P4. 1st Stephen Jory.
2nd Martin Leach
Boxster Challenge Wayne Eason
Hillclimb Trophy. Ian Wadsworth
Sprint Trophy. Wayne Eason
Curborough Results Here
Final Points Here
So! Very well done again to our Champion Stephen Jory and all our winners, and thanks again to everyone who has taken part this year. Without all of you it just wouldn't happen. We look forward to the Driver Awards Dinner in November and then beyond to a new season in 2025.
Huge thanks again to all our brilliant sponsors for their generous support this year. Ninemeister, 9M and CAT Driver Training
Thanks to Leading Edge Graphics for their support with Decals.
Thanks to our volunteer photographers for so many great shots this year, Claudia Jedrisko and Ange Rose
Finally, thanks to our Tech Scrutineer Terry Cox, our Stewards Steve Johnson, Paul Seagrave and Mark Hamilton and the team at club office (Siobhan, Paul, George et al) Richard Gotch for the Mag entries and Mandy and Chris in Motorsport for their frequent help.
Cheers
Simon Wilson
Simon Wilson
Championship Coordinator
Porsche Club GB
simonwilson@porscheclubgb.com