FERRARI HILL CLIMB CHAMPIONSHIP
REPORT : ROUND 4 : MIRA : 25 MAY 2002
by Mike Spicer

Recent weather inconsistencies in this country have left us not knowing what to expect, but as we motored up to the fourth FOC hillclimb round there was brilliant sunshine (for the moment). A once-good entry was depleted by four withdrawals and Brian Jackson's 355 Challenge, now fitted with its original Challenge brakes and therefore making it ineligible for our class, ran in another class.

The practice session saw Spicer open up with a 59.82 but his old adversary, Geoff Dark, was just quicker on 59.27. First-timers Engelbrecht, Prior and Dixon were at a disadvantage at this ultra-fast venue but they managed well. Philip Whitehad went on to the grass and scored a fail. Richard Prior and Chris Dixon had clean runs and then came the two big hitters, Nick Frost (who has won here the last two years) on 56.33 and Jon Goodwin on a rather cautious 58.62.

For the second practice runs the battle of the two 308 GTBs continued, with Spicer putting in a 56.74 and Dark improving to 58.91 . Engelbrecht, now getting used to things, lopped an enormous six seconds off to achieve a 67.28, even quicker than the better equipped Whitehead, who locked up again going into the control tower bend with 68.82. Prior, now running new SO2s on the back (but not scrubbed), reduced to 61.04 but Dixon, who worried some of us at Harewood, put in a stonking 59.45. Frost and Goodwin were very close at 55.15 and 55.25 respectively.

Just before the competitive runs, the heavens opened and within two minutes everyone was soaked. Things then quickly dried up, which lured a lot of the single-seaters back on to their slick tyres. However, it then chucked it down again, causing further tyre changing amongst the racing cars. Rather than wait for them to do it, the first four Ferraris were waved through to the startline.

The single-seaters were then run and as soon as they started it stopped raining, leaving the last four overheated Ferraris, who had been waiting in their cars for over 20 minutes, to have a dry-ish run. An objection was raised by Dark and the first four, after much heated discussion, were given a re-run, resulting in Spicer pulling ahead of Dark for the first time in four years!

The second runs on an almost dry track saw some exciting driving. The two GTBs were very close, with Spicer slightly ahead and Engelbrecht getting down to a credible 66.74 (not bad for a tired engine and not the most appropriate tyres). Prior did not managed to get under 60 seconds and Dixon was unable to match his practice pace (fortunately for some of us).

Frost was trying for all he was worth, the tail violently twitching at the control tower corner, which cost him as he was slightly slower on time with 55.33 but put up the quickest trap time of 108 mph.

Goodwin looked spectacular, the 355's non-standard exhaust sounding like a DFV. On the long back straight it showed with a 54.62 to take maximum points, the time just failing to match Jackson's of last year - 54.42.

RESULTS :

POINTS STANDING AFTER ROUND 4 :

Pos.	Driver	Tipo	Points
1.	Jon Goodwin	F355GTS	53
2.	Geoff Dark	308GTB	46
3.	Richard Prior	348ts	41
4.=	Christopher England	308GTS	35
4.=	Mike Spicer	308GTB	35
4.=	Nick Frost	348GTC	35
7.	Brian Jackson	308GTB	30
8.	Richard Allen	F355	20
9.	John Marshall	328GTB	18
10.	Chris Dixon	348tb	17
11.	Peter Hayman	512TR	16
12.	Philip Whitehead	328GTB	14
13.	Jeff Simpson	246GT	13
14.	Terry Esom	F355	12
15.	Keith Maddox	328GTS	10
16.=	Kevin Engelbrecht	308GT4	9
16.=	Andrew Duncan	328GTS	9
18.	Simon Burn	308GTB	8
19.	Steve Target	308GT4	7
20.	Jon Van de Perre	308GTS	6
21.	Peter Rogerson	F355	4
22.	John Dobson	308GT4	3

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