The eighth round of the Porsche Club Speed Championship marked a return to the beautiful Worcestershire countryside of Shelsley Walsh hillclimb. Although we had some light rain during the morning practice sessions, the afternoon brought perfect warm and dry conditions for some very quick competition and the setting of two new class records.

It was very tight and close competition in Class P2 with less than two seconds separating all four drivers in the class. John Biddulph (3.2 Carrera) gained third place in 35.67 seconds in his first timed run while Jeff Archer (1972 911 – 3.2 litre engine) bettered John’s time by 0.70 seconds for second place. After a series of very measured and consistently improving times Jeff fastest time was 34.97 seconds. Geraint Evans has had a series of remarkably quick times this season where experience, skill and a well-sorted car have all come together. Just a fraction of a second off the class record, Geraint won Class P2 and fastest Speed Championship car on the day with his best timed run of 34.10 seconds.

It was also very close in Class P3 with just one and a half seconds between all five P3 drivers. As in many of the previous rounds this season it was particularly close between the fastest three P3 drivers with David Chivers (3.0 litre 911E) taking third place after his final, fastest run of 35.09 seconds. Just 0.44 seconds separated Ian Wadsworth from David Chivers (3.0 Carerra) after Ian’s fastest run of 34.65 gained him second place in P3. Tim Barber (911SC) has had an excellent season after entering his third year of competitive driving in the Speed Championship and is now reaping the benefits of his experience. With a margin of a third of a second over Ian, Tim’s fastest run of 34.32 secured first place and set a new P3 class record for Shelsley Walsh.

Five drivers entered Class P4 at Shelsley, with Stuart Maclean (924) putting in a series of consistently improving times to produce a fastest time of 38.32 seconds for third place. A 0.27 margin separated David Pattison (924S) from Stuart after David cut a full second from his first timed run to finish with a fastest time of 38.55 seconds and second place. In his seventh outright class win this season Graham Rose (924S) had another excellent round and broke his own previous record for P4 at Shelsley. His final, fastest run earned him first place in P4 and cut 0.17 seconds off the class record to finish in 37.37 seconds.