2025 Championship Harewood Hillclimb Report. Round 9
The great British weather had been hot and humid leading up the day of the Harewood Hillclimb in Yorkshire but heading there it was neither hot or humid as the visibility on the M62 disappeared behind a veil of mist and rain!
The key question of course was would the same conditions apply on the long, twisting and turning Harewood Hillclimb course later that day. On my arrival it didn't look too promising with drizzle and a fresh breeze greeting me as I parked the Camper in the paddock and spotted our intrepid Porsche drivers, some sheltering in assorted gazebos!
To be fair, Harewood and indeed this part of the great county of Yorkshire, is stunning. The paddock looks over a long valley with rolling hills beyond and Red Kites expertly flying over our heads, riding the wind and thermals. Thermals? Well yes, glad to report the temperature started to rise later in the morning!
Practice
The experienced Harewood team did their usual great job of ushering the cars out onto their practice runs. Eleven cars made their way down to the start line which at Harewood is around half way up! You see the course starts with a drop downhill into a series of bends before a climb up the side of the valley where it negotiates a narrow passage between some farm buildings (yes, between!) and then after a long left (the exit from which is key for a good time) on to a steep final climb which in turn ends in a tortuous right hand bend, the scene of many a gravel trap visitation!
In P4 the two main class challengers were out together. In the first practice run Martin Leach and his 911E was quickest, but then in the second Stephen Jory turned in a great 65.78 second run to go into lunch with a little under a second in hand.
Graham Rose was the only P3 runner at Harewood but the sport is against the clock and you aim to better your times while looking to be quicker than the other cars in your class. Graham did as he always does, settled in to a process of improvement with each run completed. He ended practice with a 69.54 best time.
In P2 we had three very different cars taking part. A 911, a 996 and a 944 with Supercharger. Even so, times this year have been close and all three improved across the two practice runs. Ian Wadsworth had a missed gear on his second practice which added a second or so and Karl Lupton's second practice in the 944 was several seconds quicker. However, Nigel Watkins in his beefy sounding 996 ended practice quickest in P2 with a couple of PB's and a time of 65.37 seconds.
Our highest power class, P1 had the biggest entry at Harewood. We had five drivers, all wrestling very powerful cars (360HP+) up the narrow and deceptively quick Harewood hill. Wayne Helme in the 718GT4 was new to the hill but was going very well in practice and Wayne Eason, who is really enjoying driving his 2025 iteration of his modified Boxster, was immediately competitive and pressing the top three runners.
David Hilton and Tim Barber were again sharing the rapid 996GT3 and ended practice just a couple of tenths apart. Quickest in P1 practice was David Dyson in the GT4RS, the impressive car managing two 63 second practice times in his hands and leading the class and all the Porsches as we went into the scoring runs.
I took the opportunity to walk the wider paddock at the end of the practice runs. The sun was beating down and the cars on show were a feast to behold. There were lovely classic saloons, modified modern era cars and super fast single seaters that record speeds of over 100MPH on the hill!
Scoring Runs
The well-run event afforded the drivers three scoring runs, so perhaps a chance to try something new and if not helpful all is not lost.
Iin P1 Wayne Helme improved from practice of 68 seconds to a low 65 second time, excellent for his first event on the long Yorkshire Hill. Wayne Eason was consistent in the modified Boxster with three 64 second runs to end the day fourth in P1.
Download Wayne Helme Video
Despite a spell on the grass at Orchard corner David Hilton, who drove the GT3 to approx a second improvement with each run completed, ended the day with a 63.36 second time and third place in P1. David Dyson, who pays a 2% time penalty in his PDK equipped GT4RS, had been in the 62 second bracket all day before the penalty was added. His scoring runs varied by just 0.75 seconds but as blisteringly quick as he was he could not quite do enough to beat a brilliant performance from Tim Barber in the GT3 who won the P1 class with a best of 62.32 seconds on his final scoring run.
Ian Wadsworth overcame his gearbox issues with three 65 second efforts, the quickest of which, a 65.02 run was enough to grab the P2 class win from Nigel Watkins who was just 0.31 seconds slower to take second in P2. Third place went to Karl Lupton in the 944 who had a near spin at Orchard bend on his first scoring run but gathered himself and the car together to score his best time of 66.04 seconds.
Graham Rose won the P3 class. Yes, his was the only car in the class, but the car, a supercharged rear wheel drive and front engined car, needs skill and finesse to get the best out of it on a tight hill. Indeed all three of the front engined cars were driven brilliantly on the day, proving that they can be competitive with the rear and mid engined cars on the hills.
Our P4 battle, the "I go fast you go faster" contest between Martin Leach in the 911E and Stephen Jory in the 944 was the usual edge of seat stuff. It so nearly wasn't though as a starting problem threatened to foil Martin's efforts. That is until Ian Wadsworth, a fellow 911 pilot, showed his long experience by pulling out a spare ignition coil for Martin and the car lived again. Another fine example of our sporting and friendly championship!
Martin and Stephen had swapped lead times several times during the day, but it was Stephen who used the perfectly balanced 944 to great effect to take the P4 class win with an excellent best of 65.20 seconds.
Download Stephen Jory Video
A truly marvellous day of motorsport, with driving on point and great company in a wonderful Yorkshire setting! I really do recommend the Harewood venue as one where spectators can see all the action and walk freely among the cars surrounded by green countryside.
So, with nine rounds completed the drivers can start to consider their relative positions with regard to the championship placings. Its close and yet again I suspect that by the end of the season we will have more than one driver able to win the overall championship.
Our next rounds are Castle Combe sprint on July 26th and another sprint on the iconic Goodwood circuit on August 2nd. See you there?
Simon Wilson
Championship Coordinator
Porsche Club GB
simonwilson@porscheclubgb.com
Results Here
Championship Points Here