Despite an unpromising weather forecast, our first hill climb of the season at Loton Park in Shropshire was dry, particularly during Sunday’s timed runs, which were blessed with sunny and warm weather. We had a good turnout on this well-liked but challenging 1475 yard course with nineteen PCGB drivers competing.

Class P1 saw two supercharged four-cylinder cars competing head to head with Karl Lupton driving his tidy, supercharged 944 to a second place finish in 64.12 seconds. Continuing where he left off at Anglesey, Simon Wilson (supercharged 924S) again put in the fastest time of the day among Porsche at Loton with a superb 60.15 second finish for first place in P1. Three drivers entered Class P3 at Loton Park with Andy Tomkin driving his distinctive matt black 3.2 Carrera targa to third place in 65.25 seconds. Showing remarkable uniformity in his practice times on Saturday John Biddulph (3.2 Carrera) did the same on Sunday with two very close runs for a fastest time of 64.29 seconds and second place in P2. Showing similar consistency in practice Geraint Evans (3.2 Carrera) really got it together for his final run and produced a 1.07 seconds margin over John with a first place finish of 61.25 seconds.

It was a full complement of Class P3 drivers at Loton with six drivers entered. There was a very tightly fought battle for third place with David Hilton (1973 3.0 litre 911) edging ahead by two hundredths of a second to secure third in 63.41 seconds. Tim Barber (911SC) put in a superb final run of 62.10 seconds for second place while Ian Wadsworth has learnt this long hill well and repeated his class win of last year with another fine run on Sunday morning to finish in an tremendous 61.03 seconds. It was a great entry for Class P4 with eight drivers competing at Loton. Despite a 500cc disadvantage compared to many of his fellow P4 competitors, Stuart MacLean always manages to be a trophy contender in his 2 litre 924 and so it proved at Loton. Stuart finished with a final fastest time of 65.22 seconds for third place while Simon Butterworth (924S) honed his times down by degrees over the day for a slim margin of 0.39 seconds over Stuart for second place in P4 in 65.22 seconds. Graham Rose (924S) left it till the final run of the weekend to produce his fastest time of day. He secured a 2.19 second margin over Simon with a finishing time of 63.03 seconds for a P4 class win.