Eleventh and Twelfth Rounds of the Porsche Club Speed Championship

Porsche Club GB Speed Championship 2024 with NINEMEISTER
 
Snetterton Sprint Weekend Report
 
Rain, Rain, go away and don't come back until another day!
 
Well it did! Snetterton circuit was drenched most of Saturday 24th August with rain bouncing off the assorted Camper vans, Motorhomes and Tents in the packed paddock.
 
We were there for our "two sprint" weekend and again we shared the venue with the 24hr Citroen 2CV/C1 race series, they on the full 300 circuit (3 mile) and ourselves on the 100 (1-mile inner circuit).
 
Snetterton is another air base and as so many of them are its breezy much of the time. Usually that helps dry the circuit but on Saturday that breeze was chilly and certainly not likely to be able to overcome the rainfall which came and went all day.

 
Saturday Practice
We had 11 cars braving the tricky conditions, a mixture of road going very standard cars and highly modified machines. That mix of car types and the poor conditions was to later prove significant!
 
We had a single car in both the P1 and P2 classes. Wayne Helme in his Cayman GT4 was straight in the mix with a practice time of 139.03 seconds, very credible for a first visit and in such low grip conditions. In P2 Ian Wadsworth, a hugely experienced driver and not new to the 100 layout managed a very quick 127.20 second practice, the quickest of anyone in the mornings early runs.
 
In P3 there were a couple of detours as drivers tested lines, some going for the karting wide line and others hugging the apex. Regardless of lines chosen the top 3 were very close. Jon Baldock took his Boxster to a 131.28 second practice time, just 0.18 seconds adrift (no weather pun intended!) of Chris Milne in his road going standard Boxster who managed an impressive wet time of 131.10 seconds and who was just 0.72 seconds behind Wayne Eason who was quickest in P3 in 130.82 seconds.
 
That time of Chris Milne, who was also new to the 100 circuit, was perhaps the first indication of how the standard road cars, with manageable power, road tyres and geometry might be set to surprise us!
 
In P4 Jake Cartwright had a moment and as a result didn't get a time so would be on the back foot for the first scoring run later. The always quick Stephen Jory and the 944S2 was just 0.53 seconds quicker than Martin Leach in the 911E but it was Howard Cressey in his Boxster, road legal, and driven to the event, who was quickest by a significant margin with a 137.59 second time. Howard is smooth and controlled and clearly the slick track surface was going to reward those traits more than speed alone.
 
Saturday Scoring Timed Runs
Despite numerous rain dances the water kept falling! The drivers who now at least had some idea as to what it was going to be like headed off for their important first runs knowing that a 'banker time' was needed just in case the weather got so bad the event was called off.
 
Adding to the tension were a number of timing glitches meaning that the positions in the classes changed as people took their replacement runs.
 
Wayne Helme drove a considered lap to an improved time of 138.31 seconds and then in his second run made further inroads to a best of 137.96 seconds. not at all bad for his first visit and in such a big and powerful car.
 
Ian Wadsworth had been on pace from the green light in the first run but over the scoring timed runs still managed to reduce his time by nearly a second to end the day with a 126.31 second time.
 
In P3 Wayne Eason and his Boxster was initially slower than his practice time with the worsened conditions but turned it around (again no spin pun intended!) to a best of 127.40 seconds to take third in class. At the point that Jon Baldock was given a final re-run Chris Milne was leading the class with a great Boxster Road car time of 125.46 seconds but, trying very hard Jon improved by no less than 4 seconds to take the P3 win in a best of 124.50 seconds in his modified Boxster.
 
Martin Leach had driven brilliantly dealing with the handling that makes the 911E so great in dry conditions but which can also be a challenge when its wet. His best of the day was 129.93 seconds. Stephen Jory had gathered it all up to hustle the 944S2 around the wet 100 circuit in a very impressive 126.45 seconds to end the day second in P4. However, Howard Cressey drove with great skill to a time of 126.01 seconds to take the P4 win.
 
We had lots of water on the circuit all day, and quite a bit found its way under my raincoat too!  The results showed the Porsche drivers to be well on the pace on the day and great at managing the difficult conditions.  It was very interesting to watch the brilliant performance of the road cars, driven as they must be on their road tires. It does show there is firmly a place for all in a championship like this with varied track types, surfaces and who knows even the odd downpour!
 
 
Sunday Sprint
After the wet weather came the 24-hour race!!
Yes, all night the 2CVs and Citroen C1s droned around the circuit, a great thing to watch (until sleep needed of course!). I wandered out to the circuit after dark and was intrigued to see the teams in the garages working on replacement engines, fixing contact damage etc. The cars themselves were running with coloured lights in tight formations trying their best to draught to gain that single MPH advantage and save fuel. A single fuel stop might mean the win at the end of the 24 hours so a few MPG saved could be key. They really are the definition of clubman racing those teams.
 
The day dawned Sunny and with a warm breeze a very different set of circumstances beckoned the drivers to their practice runs. The modified car drivers no doubt licking their lips at the prospect of pushing the limits of grip now that the water had gone.
 
Wayne Helme, our only P1 driver was on the pace right away in his Cayman GT4 with a swift practice time of 108.52 seconds.
 
In P3 we welcomed Alex Lawler in his Cayman S. Alex drove neatly to familiarise himself with the 100 layout recording a 119.32 first ever run there in his road car. Chris Milne was still going very quickly in his road going Boxster and exited practice third in P3 with a 107.57 second time.
 
Jon Baldock is quick everywhere but he really does shine on flowing circuits. The Boxster was quickest in P3 practice with a great 105.33 second run. Geraint Evans in his 911 Carrera 3.0 split the top three to end practice in second place with a time of 106.99 seconds.
 
Things were already hotting up in the P4 class. Jake Cartwright was quick right away with his Boxster and delivered a 108.80 time to be third quickest in practice. The fast pairing of Martin Leach and Stephen Jory started the day as they meant to go on with very speedy practice times. Martin with 105.61 seconds but Stephen quickest in P4 and indeed all the cars in practice with a swift 103.94 second time.


 
Sunday Scoring Timed Runs
Wayne Helme gradually improved across all three of the scoring runs. His best of the day was a 103.23 second time, a great time for his first time at the circuit and given the constant improvement clearly more to come!
 
In P3 Alex Lawler took more than a second out of his time with each of his three scoring runs to end the day at 115.52 seconds but had he been there the previous day when the basic layout would have been known to him that time was bound to have fallen some more. Chris Milne started his scoring runs with a 108 second time but was two seconds faster by the end of the day to capture a quick 106.86 best.
 
Geraint Evans had a spin on his second scoring run, meaning that the final one had to count and of course be quick. It was but not quite enough to grab third place as he ended the day fourth in time of 105.15 seconds.  Third in class for the P3 cars was Wayne Eason who managed a best a couple of seconds ahead of Geraint in his Boxster.
It was ever so close for the win in P3 as Jon Baldock who had been hovering around the 103 second mark in his earlier timed runs made a big step improvement on is last to achieve a 101.82 second time. However, Graham Rose had been saving his best very much to last. Ensuring he kept his supercharged engine cool on the way to his final timed run of the day Graham also made a big step improvement to end the event with a best of 101.10 seconds and in so doing took the P3 win.
 
In P4 a technical gremlin with a gearchange cable on his Boxster came back several times leaving Jake Cartwright stranded on the circuit and needing recovery to the paddock. The other Boxster drivers tried to help but it was to no avail and Jake was unable to end the day with any points on the board.
 
Howard Cressey drove constantly and again smoothly to a best of 111.37 in his Boxster and took third place in P4. Martin Leach and his 911E were in the 103/4 time range across all the runs the best being a 103.27 seconds time which saw him ending the round second in P4. Winning the P4 class in a time of 101.88 it was Stephen Jory in the 944S2 who had pushed hard all day with his last two runs both under 102 seconds.
 
So there we have it, a mix of factors which resulted in an intriguing set of outcomes across two competitive sprints. Different drivers, different cars, different tyres, close times again. Sounds like a formula that works to me!
 
Next Round Shelley Walsh Hillclimb 14th September, See You There?
 
 
Simon Wilson