The eighth round of the Speed Championship ran on Saturday at the high-speed hill at Shelsley Walsh in Worcestershire. This venerable, 1000 yard course offers spectacular views for the spectator and a fast, challenging course for the competitors. Warm, dry conditions on the day gave the drivers a great opportunity to really push themselves and we finished the day with close competition across all classes and one new class record.

Three drivers entered Class P1 with Mark Cowne (996 GT3RS) putting in some very consistent times on his first ever visit to Shelsley to finish in third place with 37.15 seconds. Also entering his first competitive outing at Shelsley was Mel Spear (964 Cup Car). After knocking two and a half seconds off his first practice run, Mel finished the day with an impressive time of 34.75 seconds for second place. Dividing his time between the Club Championship and the Speed Championship, Tim Barber (964RS) has gathered a lot of competition experience in recent years and this was reflected in a quick performance at Shelsley. A fastest time of 33.89 seconds earned him the P1 class win and fastest Porsche on the day. Geraint Evans and Andy Tomkins made up the drivers in Class P2 at Shelsley with Andy (911 3.2 Targa) and Geraint (911 3.2) having some very close times throughout the day. In the end however, Andy conceded with just 0.35 seconds in it and took second place in 34.68 seconds. Geraint earned his fourth class win this season with a time of 34.33, just 0.74 of a second off the long standing class record.

It was a good turnout for Class P3 with five drivers entered and the fastest three drivers separated by just 0.8 seconds. David Chivers (3litre 911E) took third place in 35.28 seconds, less than a third of a second behind David Hilton (3 litre 911E) who neatly cut his times down over the day to a 34.99 second finish. In his fifth class win in as many rounds, Ian Wadsworth (911 Carrera 3.0) put in another outstanding performance at Shelsley to finish in 34.48 seconds for first place trophy. It was also a good showing of Class P4 drivers at Shelsley with Donald Peach (924) picking up his fifth championship trophy this season with third place in 38.20. Sharing the 924 with Donald is Justin Mather who has had an excellent season so far and currently leads on championship points. Despite giving away 500cc, Justin was snapping at the heels of Graham Rose (924S) on the day and eventually finished with a time of 37.27 seconds, a tenth of a second faster than the class record. Justin did not hold the class record for long however as Graham’s final time of the day smashed his own record with a fastest time of 36.67 seconds for first place in P4.