Report - Round 11 - 2003 Ferrari Hillclimb Championship - Club Racing Series'

Winning any championship is hard work, especially when it comes down to two relatively equal competitors slugging it out for round after round. With 11 out of 14 rounds gone, this is the stage that the 2003 FHCC championship has reached. Nick Frost or Richard Prior, both in 348s, will take the title, and it seems likely to go down to the wire.

The FHCC visited Loton Park for the second time in just over a month, hoping for less churlish treatment than they received from officials at the last round. This time there was no problem and the competitors were left to get on with the business and enjoy the picturesque Shropshire hill. At 1,475 yards Loton is the longest hill in British speed hillclimbing and it is one of the narrowest, not ideally suited to Ferraris, with no real chance for them to stretch their rather wide legs.

There was a respectable entry of 11 cars: mostly the usual suspects, with potential winner Geoff Rollason making an appearance in his 360M, a complication Frost and Prior could have done without but at least he was likely to take points off both of them. At the other end of the field was Colin Campbell’s 246 Dino. Championship Supremo Richard Allen was a welcome returnee in a lovely silver 308 GTB fiberglass he’d forgotten he owned. Apparently he went into his garage to look for something, moved a few cardboard boxes and there it was! Curborough hero Chris Butler (355) was a notable absentee, initially unsure about competing, then he left it too late to get his entry in.

The day was bright, but occasionally overcast and Rollason was indeed quickest in practice on 61.21 secs, with Frost second on a 61.75. Geoff Dark (308 GTB), Nick Taylor (Mondial), Mike Spicer (308 GTB) and Richard Prior (388 ts) were all in the 63s. Prior may have been suffering from the effects of a night’s camping in somewhat cool conditions. Who says FOC members aren’t ‘ard? This may also have accounted for his beard, unless he’d grown it to emulate reigning FOC champion Jon Goodwin, who was off drag racing at the Club’s straight-line sprint at Woodbridge. .

Practice also saw an event rare in British hillclimbing, one car trying to pass another. The organisers, perhaps overawed by the speed potential of a Ferrari, had started a single-seater after Colin Campbell, the confused pilot of which (and Len Watson) were red-flagged. The adaptive damping of Nick Taylor’s Mondial was stuck in “Tesco’s” rather than “Monza” setting. After practice, he tried the normal Magnetti Marelli fixes such as removing the left-hand rear wheel and walking away saying “ Well I’m not really bothered whether it works or not”, but to no avail.

I took myself off to “Triangle” for the first runs, to enjoy the spectacle of the lads hustling these big, heavy cars up Loton’s tight confines. Len Watson (328 GTS) drove well and aggressively to record a 64.54. Richard Allen looked to have missed a gear at Triangle. Later it was revealed that the fuse box cover had fallen off and in attempting to recover it, he’d knocked the gear lever into neutral. There was also various popping and banging as rats’ nests and other remnants of the 308’s long inactivity were blasted from the exhaust pipes. Geoff Dark had a nice oversteering moment in the fast and difficult “Loggerheads” corner, but this was nothing compared with Nick Taylor’s mighty sideways lurch, perhaps a consequence of his soggy suspension. He held onto it superbly to record a 63.58, which (just) turned out to be his best time of the day. He also recorded his best-ever start time as he was taking it easy to save his new clutch (?). Geoff Dark recorded the best FHCC start time with his first run time of 2.38 secs.

Mike Spicer set the same time as Taylor, though in contrast his run was neat and tidy, the 308’s tweaked suspension always making the car look good. Richard Prior had warmed up enough to record a 62.49, which gave him second on scratch to Nick Frost’s excellent 61.74, but first after the PEP percentages had been applied. Rollason recorded a disappointing 63.43, the 360M looking unwieldy. Later it transpired that he was having difficulty selecting 2nd gear and he subsequently retired.

The usual post-run chat and discussions of lines, braking points, “carrying speed”, “getting the throttle open” and “pushing through the understeer”, helped to enliven the wait for the second runs. The delay seemed interminable as a Jaguar XJS had demolished a tyre wall that had to be rebuilt. It also looked like rain, which would have given Prior the win. All this can’t have helped Nick Frost's demenour, noticeably withdrawn, no doubt focussing on the task ahead. He had to beat the more relaxed Prior by 1.5% (about 0.9 secs) to take the win on PEPs.

In the event, Frost put in a superb second run, tight, disciplined, good lines, lifting a front wheel over the apex of “Triangle”, to record 61.39 - a fine example of controlled aggression. Prior was neat and tidy too, which he felt was better than his first run, but was disappointed to learn it was slower at 64.42, Frost taking the win and maximum Championship points by 0.1 secs (after PEPs).

Barry Wood and John Dobson (308 GT4) improved marginally and RA substantially, though neither improved on his class position, which in fact no one managed. Nick Taylor was tidier but slower, still taking an excellent 3rd place outright. The absent Rollason took 4th and Mike Spicer a solid 5th.

The next round of the Championship is at Harewood in Yorkshire on September 13th. Take yourself there to enjoy the spectacle of Frost and Prior battling it out and Maranello’s finest howling and plunging through the Yorkshire countryside. This hillclimbing is good craic!