Second Round of the Porsche Club Speed Championship

2025 Championship Round 2 Curborough with NINEMEISTER
 
I have been to Curborough lots of times with the Speed Championship while driving and organising and have many fond memories of the spirited little circuit.
 
After a bit of wandering around the back roads (Despite being there numerous times I always get lost!) I eventually found the gates of the venue as our drivers were getting their cars ready for their first practice runs.
 
Curborough Circuit is near Lichfield in Staffordshire. It's a very popular venue that hosts numerous events through the year. It's short, technical and yet also offers some significant speed allowing drivers to exploit the best traits of their different cars.
 
The track has number of layouts, all of which can be clearly seen by spectators with a great circuit cafe keeping everyone well fed and watered as the action takes place.
 
We had a brilliant turnout of 17 cars, another impressive Porsche class size. The cars looked wonderful lined up on the paddock road alongside some glorious other marques and historic race cars.
 

Practice
 
Two practice runs were available. The weather was cold and dry as our drivers rolled out to the start line. Our P1 class had 4 cars. David Dyson in the GT4RS was immediately quick with a first run of 65 seconds and second of 62.44 (including the PDK 2% adjustment).
 
David ended practice quickest in P1 from Wayne Eason who, after a major project converting his Boxster for more power, managed a hugely impressive first ever competitive run for the new conversion of 66.90 seconds. He went on to reduce that time to 65.51 seconds in the second practice run and went into lunch second quickest in class.
 
We welcomed a new driver to P2. Nigel Watkins driving his 996 was new to us but not new to the circuit and this showed from the off as he managed two low 66 second runs in practice, second quickest in class.
 
After a slower first run Ian Wadsworth found the groove in his 911SC/RS and produced a second practice best in P2 class time of 65.88 seconds. Russel Lloyd, in only his second event with us in his Boxster S and Karl Lupton driving the supercharged 944 both recorded an identical time of 68.88 seconds in practice and went into the lunch break in a shared third place.
 
If an award for consistency was to be made then Jon Baldock in his P3 Boxster had to be the winner in practice recording two identical 66.34 second runs!  Being consistent didn't mean he was out of reach of the others in the class of course.  All four drivers were close at the end of practice. Chris Milne in his road legal Boxster was at a very competitive 67.51 seconds and Geraint Evans in the Carrera 3.0 at 67.84 seconds. Graham Rose was just a little behind Geraint in his supercharged 924s, but with all four getting their eye in so to speak it was all to play for in the scoring runs to follow after lunch.
 
P4 had a great mixture of cars. The reigning Champion, Stephen Jory in the 944S2 is a past master at carrying speed through the corners, and he used that ability to great effect to end practice leading the class times a little over second quicker than Martin Leach in the instantly recognisable 911E. Hannes Tanzer in the Boxster S had a brief spin at the midpoint of the circuit in his first run, at a crossover section called the "Mole Hill" but gathered it together to record a solid second practice time behind Jake Cartwright in his Boxster.
 
First Scoring Timed Runs
 
Everyone settled down for a bit of lunch around the middle of the day. After a very decent Egg and Bacon Barm and a hot coffee I was refuelled and ready for the post lunch action. As I sat and chatted with our drivers I noticed the odd spot of rain in the air but it didn't seem to go beyond that and conditions were still essentially dry as the Speed Championship drivers headed out for their first scoring timed run. Given that conditions were a little uncertain I think all knew they needed that first time to count.
 
In P1 David Dyson and the GT4RS was quickest again with a 62.91 second time (after a 2% PDK adjustment). Wayne Eason put in another very swift 65.44 second time in second place and Wayne Helme and Phil James continued their own close battle with a difference of less than a second going into the second scoring run.
 
Nigel Watkins took the 996 to a mighty and class leading 64.17 run in P2. Ian Wadsworth managed a 65.42 second time to hold second place in the class.  A couple of seconds behind Ian, but separated by Just a single tenth of a second were Russell Lloyd and Karl Lupton. Simon Carr had lost out on a first practice run time after an off and so was effectively one run down going into the scoring runs. He improved as he got a feel for the circuit and was no doubt looking forward to that last dry scoring run to make gains. More on that dry run thing later!
 
The four P3 cars were separated by just 1.28 seconds at the end of the first scoring timed run. Jon Baldok seemed to be running on rails as he set another 66 second time to be quickest at that point. The remaining three drivers were just 0.72 seconds apart and in three very different cars, a Road going Boxster, a 911 Carrera 3.0 and Supercharged 924s. It never fails to impress me how such different driver/car combinations can be so close in this sport!
 
Stephen Jory put in a remarkable P4 first scoring timed run of 65.21 seconds to lead the class. Martin Leach was as ever right on his bumper of course with a time of 66.61 seconds.
 
Then it rained!  Any plans the drivers might have had to push harder and deeper into the bends and braking points became a distant dream as the track became officially wet in just a few minutes.
 

Second Scoring Timed Runs
 
Like many open motorsport circuits the weather can come and go quite quickly. So what starts out looking to be wet track when you are called to the start line might not be quite as wet when you get there for your turn.
 
The rain abated and sunshine appeared and while it seemed as if the early runners in the Speed Championship group had the worst of the track conditions by the time the last drivers in the group got to it the track was starting to dry, just a bit ,but not so much as the drivers felt able to push as hard as earlier in the day.
 
In P1 David Dyson's excellent first run time 62.91 second ,the quickest of all the Porsche cars, was not beaten in the second scoring runs and he therefor won the P1 class. Wayne Eason was just 0.8 slower in the second scoring run. His first run, one of 65.44 seconds was enough to end the day in second place in P1. It was a brilliant first outing for the car and it will be interesting to see how it develops as he becomes more familiar with how it performs. Wayne Helme was also slower than his earlier scoring run, but had enough of a margin in hand in his first scoring run to pip Phil James to third place in P1 after Phil had the PDK 2% adjustment added to his time.
 
No driver in P2 was able to better their first scoring run time although it was notable that Karl Lupton was just one hundredth of a second slower, great driving given the variable nature of the track after the rain. As nobody had improved the final positions in the class remained as at the end of the first scoring run with Nigel Watkins earning a well deserved first P2 win in his very quick 996 in 64.17 seconds from Ian Wadsworth in second place in 65.42 seconds and Karl Lupton third with his previous time of 68.51 seconds.
 
Interestingly in class P3 the road car setup of Chris Milne's Boxster proved the best compromise in the damp conditions of the second scoring run and he was quickest of the P3 cars on that run by a second. However that time was some way short of Jon Baldock's very impressive first scoring run time of 66.86 seconds. With that time he took the P3 class win with Graham Rose taking second in 67.42 seconds and Geraint Evans holding on to third place in the P3 class just a little behind in 67.58 seconds.
 
The P4 story in the second scoring run was as per the other classes with no improvements and so Stephen Jory's earlier excellent run time of 65.21 seconds took the class win for the day with Martin Leach runner up in 66.61 seconds. Jake Cartwright and Hannes Tanzer followed in third and fourth place.
 
The Porsche contingent did a great job of coping with the changing conditions and put in some marvellous performances. Well done everyone!
 
We head off to Mallory Park this coming weekend on Saturday 26th April. We have 20 cars driving at the new venue for the very first time. See you there?

Curborough Results Here

Championship Points Here
 
 
Some Thanks!
I wanted to add a line or two to thank our sponsors and the club. Our sponsors, NINEMEISTER and CAT Driver Training have, through their continued support, enabled us to do a number of great things. We have issued Championship Jackets and Hats, all with the very special 30Yrs logo on them and I hope to be able to issue the drivers a commemorative enamel pin in the coming months. We are able to make First, Second and now also Third place awards at our events and will again have a great social gathering at the Prescott Hillclimb event. 
 
Regarding the club the office team have been working hard behind the scenes to get the kit and trophies into the club office, checked and sent out to you and Steve Johnson, club Board member, has turned out to support us at a number of our events last year and was there again at Curborough. To all a very big thanks, its much appreciated!
 
 
Simon Wilson
Championship Coordinator
Porsche Club GB
simonwilson@porscheclubgb.com