2025 Championship Report for Round 8 with NINEMEISTER
Prescott Speed Hill Climb 28th June
When I set off to drive down to the Prescott Hillclimb venue the sun was out and very strong. I applied lots of sun cream to avoid becoming too tomato like by the time I got there and kept my fingers crossed that the motorway sign gods would be kind to me this time!
Well, they could have been kinder! 40mph, 50mph back to 40 and well, you know what it’s like!
However, during a break I did have the chance to recall my previous experience of the famous Prescott Hillclimb course. Fast from the start line with bends that shout 'brake now!' testing your nerve, the gravel trap at Ettore's bend and the difficult to get right uphill hairpin at Pardon before the narrow esses and a final bend called Semi Circle that always reminded me of those infinity pools in the holiday adverts. You can picture it, sky and nothing else on the horizon!
It’s actually a fabulous track and the venue is so very pretty. It’s well supported by the Bugatti Owners club with a brilliant restaurant and decent facilities, all of which help to make for a great day of driving surrounded by stunning cars and friendly enthusiasts.
After a warm and uncomfortably sticky night in the Campervan I gave up with trying to sleep in and arose at around 5am to a refreshingly cool and silent paddock. There is always something a bit magical about the peace and quiet at motorsport venues as the sun comes up. After a while the restaurant served breakfast, and all was well with the world!
Practice
The thing about practice is that we all know that it’s not going to deliver a scoring time, so all is not lost if it’s not the best run you do on the day. But, with usually just two practice runs, drivers hoping for a good time later will always want to test the grip levels, the speeds that might be possible and where the track isn't quite so helpful.
It’s a tricky balance and anyone who drives in the sport for long enough will be able to attest to how it can sometimes go a bit wrong. Usually it’s just a scrappy run, or perhaps a bit too much wheel spin etc but sometimes it can mean contact. So, it was for Chris Milne in his P3 class Boxster who didn't quite clear the armco in the esses section and did some bodywork damage, damage that initially looked worse than it in fact was. We soon realised that the car was safe and drivable and not too badly hurt. Chris is very quick and was set to deliver another great result with his road legal car. However, having missed both of the practice runs, a requirement for the event, he could not carry on. Shame but we are sure he will be back soon!
This left two runners in P3, Jon Baldock and Graham Rose. Both experienced and both in well setup and quick cars, cars that are very different but equally capable. Jon was quick from the off in his Boxster and ended practice with a 50.32 second best time, a little over 2 seconds ahead of Graham. However, Graham is known to 'feel his way' in the early runs and I fully expected his time to fall in the scoring runs to follow after lunch.
With 6 cars being driven in P4 they formed the largest class in what was a great 18 car entry. In the first Practice run Stephen Jory and the 944 were around a second slower than Martin Leach and the 911E and Jake Cartwright, ever improving in his Boxster was in third place.
In second practice the lead pair both improved their times, but it was Martin who went into lunch ahead with a great best of 49.22 seconds, a very quick time and clearly both he and the agile 911E were enjoying the hill!
Nigel Watkins in the 996 started P2 practice strongly with a 50.51 second first run. Ian Wadsworth recorded a 51.93 first run, a bit behind but then he is another driver that builds speed during the event. Simon Carr (Cayman) and Russell Lloyd (Boxster) both put in solid first runs.
With second practice everyone in the P2 class improved. Quickest was Nigel again, this time with a sub 50 time of 49.43 seconds. Ian closed the gap however recording a 50.41 run.
P1 promised an intriguing contest between a brace of very powerful and well-equipped cars, and drivers! After missing a couple of rounds David Dyson was back with his impressive GT4RS. We had the two Waynes of Wayne Eason in his modified Boxster on slicks and Wayne Helme in the road legal 718GT4. Tim Barber and David Hilton were again sharing the swift 996 GT3 and it seemed certain to be a great class tussle!
David Dyson's car has PDK and so a 2%-time addition is made to all his times and those mentioned here are the plus 2% times. The first runs were all quick. Wayne Helme was running very well with a 52,62 second first, a little ahead of Wayne Eason. David Dyson was straight into a sub 50 time with a 49.89 second attempt, just a few tenths ahead of David Hilton in the GT3 shared with Tim Barber. Tim found a bit more in the car and managed a quicker 48.93 time.
With the first visit to the hill out of the way the P1 driver group all reduced their times in second practice. David Dyson cut away 2 seconds to end practice quickest in the class with a brilliant 47.88. However, Tim Barber was keen to make his claim and with a 47.99 time proved he was going to be right there come the scoring runs later.
Lunch
The Prescott round is where we hold our 'social' gathering courtesy of the generous sponsorship support we have from NINEMEISTER and CAT Driver Training. It’s a chance to bring along family and friends and sit and eat together in the glorious Prescott paddock. We had lots of friends there and the Prescott team did a fantastic job of delivering very tasty food, plentiful drinks and a pop-up marquee for the drivers and their guests. Colin Belton, owner of NINEMEISTER our main sponsor, arrived and chatted as everyone relaxed in the sunshine.
Scoring Timed Runs
Wayne Eason and Wayne Helme both recorded swift 50 second scoring runs in the P1 contest with Wayne Eason and the modified Boxster just grabbing 4th place in the class by 0.15 seconds with a 50.03 second time. David Hilton put in two strong 48 second runs to end the day in 3rd place in the class. However, the P1 class went to Tim Barber who took the 996 GT3 to a superb winning time of 46.81 seconds, just 0.56 seconds quicker than David Dyson who had pushed him hard all day in the GT4RS.
The top of the P2 contest was between Nigel Watkins in his 996 and Ian Wadsworth in the 911SC/RS. Both managed to improve on the second scoring run time but it was Nigel's best of 48.09 seconds, the third best of time of all the cars, that took the P2 class win. Russel Lloyd nabbed third place in P2 from a consistently quick Simon Carr with a really great time for his road going Boxster of 51.80 seconds.
Both our remaining P3 runners, Jon Baldock in the Boxster and Graham Rose in his supercharged 924s, found time to save during the scoring runs. True to form, Graham improved, managing the front engined car well on the difficult uphill bends to a best of 50.63 seconds. As good a time as that was it proved to be not quite enough as Jon Baldock's first scoring run time, a very rapid 49.64 second effort took the P3 class win.
Despite one brief foray into the gravel at Ettore's Jake Cartwright ended the day in third in the P4 class with his best run of 52.42 seconds. In a brilliant drive in the shared standard Boxster Simon Cristol was fourth in P4 with a very credible 53.70 seconds, which does rather make you wonder what he might do with modified car, next year Simon?
The You, No Me, No You.... swapping of best times between Martin Leach and Stephen Jory in P4 has been entertaining us all in previous Championship rounds. Prescott however was a hillclimb that perhaps leant more towards the 911E, and Martin had on this occasion held onto the lead throughout the timed runs, never by a huge a margin, but a consistent lead, nonetheless. Of course, Stephen Jory is never one to give up easily and his second scoring run at 49.92 seconds gave him a 0.3 margin over Martin's first scoring time. It was all to play for as Martin made his second scoring run. He didn't let the pressure put him off though and with a fine second scoring run time of 49.52 he clinched a well-deserved P4 class victory.
A brilliant day of on-point driving, close results and an excellent gathering of friends along the way! Next round is at Harewood on July 5th, see you there?
Simon Wilson
Championship Coordinator
Porsche Club GB
simonwilson@porscheclubgb.com
Results Here
Championship Points Here