Rounds Eight and Nine Porsche Club Speed Championship

Rounds 8&9 Gurston Down Hillclimb
 
It really is a green and pleasant land when the sun shines and you drive alongside stunning chalk streams on your way to historic Hillclimb venue like Gurston Down.
 
At what was originally a working farm in the small hamlet of Broad Chalke in Wiltshire many of the 21 Porsche speed championship with NINEMEISTER contenders had already arrived the evening before the Saturday and thoughts soon turned to BBQ's ,cool drinks and a good night's sleep before the event to follow.
 
Round 8 Saturday
Practice
0-64 feet times varied wildly as the cars struggled to get a feel for the amount of grip off the start line for the first of two practice runs. Newly in P1 Nigel Watkins in his GT3 ended practice just a few hundredths of a second ahead of David Hilton also in a GT3.
 
Four cars were out in P2 and Andy Fagan was quickest in practice in his Boxster leading George Harris's Cayman R by just a 0.01 second margin!
 
P3 was again our busiest class with ten drivers taking part. Two of them, Jon Baldock (Boxster) and Ian Wadsworth (911 SC/RS), were tied going into the lunch break with the same 38.32 second practice best. Sitting in third place was Justin Mather who’s supercharged 2.7ltr 944 set off down the famous drop after the start with its customary banshee wail!
 
Our P4 drivers were very much all 'in it to win it' with a 944 a 911 and a Boxster and despite their technical differences were expected to produce tight winning margins and super brave, possibly too brave speeds through the corners, but more of that later!  At the end of practice Martin Leach was the quicker of the trio with a 38.09 time in his 911E.
 
Saturday Scoring timed runs
Two scoring timed runs beckoned the cars to the start line at the top of the steep and more than a little scary downhill section of the climb. The temperature had increased a touch and the number of cars crossing the line in practice should have cleaned it allowing quicker 64 feet times.
 
Jake Cartwright had a quick first P4 scoring run but after a bit of over enthusiasm he visited the tyre wall and the firm bump experienced pulled his tyre off his wheel rim. In typical speed fashion a large group of folk gathered to see what might be done to get him out the following day.
 
Stephen Jory and Martin Leach were never more than 0.4 seconds apart across the two scoring runs but in the end the margin was tiny, and a mere 0.02 seconds separated winner Stephen from Martin with a stunning 37.56 second best time verses Martin's also brilliant 37.58!  As an aside I have watched a few in-car videos of the Porsche drivers at this event and I think I may have worn a hole in the office carpet looking for an invisible brake pedal!!
 
The P3 class runners were all in close order at the end of the first scoring run. No less than six of the ten recorded times in the 39 second bracket while the leading car, Jon Baldock's Boxster, was some way ahead with a 37.57 second first run time. Ian Wadsworth in the ageless classic looking and very quick black 911 managed a best of 38.42 across the two scoring runs, 0.32 seconds quicker than Justin Mather in the 944 to take second place in P3. Jon's second time was a touch slower but his earlier time of 37.57 was too large a gap to be bridged though and he took another P3 class win.
 
Andy Fagan must have been looking over his shoulder as George Harris was trying very hard to catch him. In the first run Andy was 0.28 seconds quicker but, and obviously aware that George wasn't going to give up without a fight in the Cayman, he put in an excellent final run of 36.85 seconds, second quickest of all the Porsches to claim the P2 victory by 0.35 seconds from George.
 
Finally to P1 and the GT3 of David Hilton was immediately at pace scoring a swift 36.31 first scoring run time, more than a second ahead of the other three class runners who themselves were separated by only 0.14 seconds.  In the second and final scoring runs David put in another 36 second time, albeit slightly slower than his first which was the P1 class winning time for the day. In runner up spot it was Nigel French with a 37.37 second best time and  Wayne Helme was third just a few tenths behind him in his 718 GT4.


 
Round 9 Sunday
I knew the Saturday evening BBQ burger probably wasn't a good idea!  ah well, we never learn eh! :)
 
After a restless night (see above!) I arose to the sound of cars getting ready for the first practice runs on Sunday, our 9th Championship round. The weather forecast was for a warmer day and it certainly felt that way as I stepped out of my camper and headed to the paddock collection area.
 
The Porsche cars were the last class out and so the drivers were sat together taking it easy after a driver briefing by the course officials. In there was Jake Cartwright who had got his Boxster together enough to drive, I have said it before but, they don't give up very easily these speed folk you know!
 
Although the car was together Jake was sensible to take it slightly easier in his first practice in the P4 class. Not taking it easy were both Martin Leach and Stephen Jory who had two practice runs just a few tenths apart. Unusually the organisers felt able to offer an optional third practice and in that run Stephen found a few tenths improvement while Martin decided to sit it out, his second run still the best in the P4 class at 37.50 seconds.
 
Throughout the three practice runs the P3 runners were quite consistent. Jon Balodck was quickest in the class with three runs all in the 37 second band, his best a 37.21 and around half a second ahead of Justin Mather who in turn was about half a second ahead of Ian Wadsworth.
 
George Harris couldn't do the second day and so just three cars were to compete for P2 class honours. Andy Fagan and the Boxster were quickest in all three practice runs, his best a 36.87 second time coming on the last practice run and was over a second quicker than Wayne Eason in another Boxster. Russell Lloyd who's 987 Boxster was the only road car in the class was third after practice.
 
The P1 class record for Gurston is 35.01 seconds set by Tim Barber in the same car as David Hilton was driving. Of course, conditions are never the same and sometimes the times are just out of reach. In practice David brought his time down to 35.54 seconds, the quickest in the class by a little under a second but with around half a second to find to eclipse the class record. Wayne Helme was driving very determinedly in his 788 GT4, another one of our road cars driven to and from the events. He was second fastest in P1 practice with a 36.36 second time, a few tenths ahead of Nigel Watkins in his GT3.
 
Sunday Scoring Runs
No doubt with the number 35.01 on his mind David Hilton despatched both of his two scoring runs in 35+ seconds but sadly neither quite quickly enough to make the P1 class record. However, his best time of 35.45 seconds was still over a second ahead of the other cars in his class to earn him the P1 win. Upsetting the form book a little was Justin Dooling in his road going GT3 who put in a brilliant 36.29 second effort, that time corrected by 2% due to his use of the PDK system. Ending the day in third in P1 Wayne Helme got to a best of 36.36 seconds, around a second behind the winner and one hundredth of a second quicker than Nigel Watkins who's 36.37 run in his GT3 earned him fourth in class.
 
With two identical and hugely confident and committed scoring runs of 36.38 Andy Fagan was the clear winner of the P2 class, the modified Boxster growling its way around the carousel and on to yet another bag of championship points.
 
P2 runner up spot went to Wayne Eason, the development path of his modified Boxster clearly on track as he recorded a quick 37.86 second time. 
 
With five runs of 37 seconds Jon Baldock was always in control of the P3 class. His best was a scoring run of 37.59 seconds and with just 0.13 seconds between the next three cars the runner up slot was hotly contested. In the end Ian Wadsworth in his 911 SC/RS took second in class with a 38.40 from his first scoring run. Justin Mather ended the day third in class in his supercharged 944 with a 38.43 time and only 0.07 seconds after that time was Graham Rose in another supercharged car, this time a 924s.
 
That of course leaves the three runners in P4.  Jake Cartwright nibbled away at his times in the still slightly damaged Boxster taking third in class with a 39.01 second effort, a great result considering the events of the day before. Martin Leach obviously had a master plan when he declined the optional third practice run and instead saved himself for what would be a P4 class winning time of 37.19 seconds, a marvellous P4 time and just three tenths or so quicker than Stephen Jory who had to settle for a well deserved second in class with his best of 37.48 seconds on his last run of the day.
 
Next Rounds are at Harewood on July 5th and Prescott Hilclimb on July 25th.
Why not take a look!.
 
Simon Wilson
Championship Coordinator
Porsche Club GB
simonwilson@porscheclubgb.com