FERRARI HILL CLIMB CHAMPIONSHIP
REPORT : ROUND 7 : GURSTON DOWN : 14 JULY 2002
By Richard Allen

At last some real summer weather as we reported for duty at BARC(SW)’s very rural Wiltshire hillclimb venue in mid July. Event organisers usually run the Ferraris at the back of the programme, but this time around we were out first with a rather inconvenient 7.30am sign on. The line up included two 308GT4’s, four 308GTB/S’s, unusually only one 328, one 348 and two 355’s. We were pleased to see Mark Hargreaves back with his 308GT4 after a year or two away from the FHCC scene.

The first practice was enlivened by Kevin Engelbrecht, a newcomer to Gurston, having a monumental moment when he lost his GT4 beyond the finish line to disappear spinning in to the corn field. This at least is one explanation for those mysterious crop circles! His adventures ensured some flagging of following cars and consequently one or two of ours got another run. By the time two practices had been taken Championship leader Jon Goodwin had his F355 just six hundredths ahead of Richard Allen’s similar machine. Amazingly Geoff Dark placed his 308GTB only a couple of tenths back. Mike Spicer’s blue 308GTB was next heading Richard Prior (348tb) and John Marshall (328GTB,) all very closely matched.

With practice for the Ferraris over by around 11am there was plenty of time for taking in the paddock scene, including Richard Prior’s flashy racesuit, not the BAR F1 split sponsor one seen before, but a “Lucky Strike” emblazoned suit. Time also to make use of Gurston's very nice new restaurant. Not as posh as the Prescott one, but certainly superior to Shelsley's rather primitive facility.

Jon Goodwin needed to do some work in the competitive runs if he was to harvest a large portion of championship points – he needed to open up his margin over Geoff Dark for a start. Jon also had his sights on the 37.19 sec class record which has so far eluded him.

His first run time of 37.40 was enough to take the class win, but not enough to secure the maximum points score or the record. Richard Allen, second overall on 37.70, was similarly a long way off his own 328 mark, and it was Geoff Dark putting in a super quick first run of 38.18 who took the maximum points.

Richard Prior improved dramatically on his second attempt with a fine 38.39 to take second on points, fourth on scratch, and first on handicap. Mike Spicer, pushing hard too, got down in to the 38 bracket to head John Marshall, who was not as fast as he had been in practice.

Mark Hargreaves (308GT4) had settled back in to the groove to comfortably lead the rest on 40.89, well clear of Jos Van de Perre (308GTS) on 42.31. Simon Burn (308GTB), also new here, steadily dropped his times, as did Kevin Engelbrecht after he had got over that first run shock - Kevin's GT4 showing excellent speed through the top trap.

RESULTS :

POINTS STANDING AFTER ROUND 7:

Pos.	Driver	Tipo	Points
1.	Jon Goodwin	F355GTS	104
2.	Geoff Dark	308GTB	81
3.	Richard Prior	348ts	80
4.	Mike Spicer	308GTB	61
5.	Richard Allen	F355	44
6.	Brian Jackson	308GTB	39
6.=	John Marshall	328GTB	39
8.	Christopher England	308GTS	35
8.=	Nick Frost	348GTC	35
10.	Chris Dixon	348tb	28
11.	Peter Hayman	512TR	24
12.	Terry Esom	F355	23
13.	Keith Maddox	328GTS	18
14.	Geoffrey Rollason	360 Modena	17
15.	Andrew Duncan	328GTS	16
15.=	Simon Burn	308GTB	16
15.=	Kevin Engelbrecht	308GT4	16
18.	Jos Van de Perre	308GTS	15
19.	Philip Whitehead	328GTB	14
20.	Jeff Simpson	246GT	13
21.	Mark Hargreaves	308GT4	10
22.	John Dobson	308GT4	9
23.	Steve Target	308GT4	7
23.=	Nick Taylor	Mondial 3.4t	7
25.	Peter Rogerson	F355	4

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Richard Prior cruises back down the hill

It was Simon Burn's first visit to Gurston

Electric blue: Mike Spicer's 308

pics by Simon Burn