FERRARI HILL CLIMB CHAMPIONSHIP
REPORT : ROUND 7 : LOTON PARK : 21 JULY 2001
by Brian Jackson

This was the first meeting at Loton since the Foot & Mouth outbreak and, with the venue being a deer-park, we were restricted to the lower half of the hill for spectating and warned that the track was slippery, not having been used since September last year.

Geoffery Rollason had to withdraw his entry due to an illness in the family, and Mike Spicer had decided to wield spanners for Robin Ward at the Brands Hatch Ferrari Festival. Maybe Jon Goodwin was there too as he was our third non-starter, leaving seven Ferraris to do battle.

John Dobson was in a substitute car. A misfire on his 308 GT4 the previous day convinced John to bring along his very smart 328 GTB instead. It was not quite that easy as he wanted to use the latest Bridgestone S03's which had just been fitted to the GT4. A complete wheel swap was required to switch the S03's to the 328.

After first practice, enlivened by Geoff Dark (308GT4) going straight on at the first left-hander and Nick Frost (348GTC) overcooking Triangle bend, it was Brian Jackson (F355) leading by 4 secs from Peter Hayman (512TR). Good to see the 512 back after it's Shelsley mishap.

A rain shower left the track wet in places for second practice. Jackson was again quickest but this time it was Dark and Frost closing in after incident-free runs.

New to Loton were Richard Prior (348ts) and Philip Whitehead (328GTB) and both were slightly faster on the damp second run, sandwiching John Dobson running in his S03's.

More heavy showers during the lunch break and early afternoon left a streaming wet track for our first official run. Although Jackson was ahead at the split, Dark forged ahead on the top half of the course to pull out a 1.5 sec lead. Close behind these two were Frost and Peter .

By the time we came out for the final run just after 4.00pm, the track had dried out so it was all to play for.

Both our new men took around six secs off their previous times as they became more familiar with the course, and still sandwiched between them was Dobson. These three wereall around the 70 sec mark.

Next came Hayman punting the big 512 up the hill in 67.78 secs. Frost had a moment at the first left-hander, losing him time, to leave him on 66.45. The dry track allowed Jackson to use the 355's power to head off Dark with a 64.18 sec run to Geoff's 65.85. It was not enough for max points however, and after PEP application it was again Dark who came away with the top score.

A quick look at previous best times shows all the regulars between 1.3 and 2.7 secs slower at this first meeting of the year. Jon Goodwin's record remained intact with today's best being over 4 secs adrift.

RESULTS :

POINTS STANDING AFTER ROUND 7 :

Pos.	Driver	Tipo	Points
1.	Geoff Dark	308GT4	89
2.=	Mike Spicer	308GTB	59
2.=	Nick Frost	348GTC	59
4.	Peter Hayman	512TR	53
5.=	Brian Jackson	F355/Ch/308GTB	46
5.=	Stuart Bailey	246GT	35
7.	Richard Allen	360M	31
8.	Geoffrey Rollason	F355GTS	28
9.	Terry Esom	328GTB	22
10.	John Dobson	328GTB/308GT4	21
11.=	Richard Prior	348ts	20
11.=	Simon Clark	328GTS	20
13.	Christopher England	308GTS	18
14.=	Len Watson	328GTB	15
14.=	Philip Whitehead	328GTB	15
16.=	Jeff Simpson	246GT	14
16.=	Keith Maddox	328GTB	14
16.=	Jos van de Perre	308GTS	14
19.	Robin Ashley	246GTS	13
20.	Chris Hitchman	308GTS	10
21.	Peter Hitchman	F355GTS	8
22.	Sally Maynard-Smith	328GTS	1

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