Report - Round 13 - 2003 Ferrari Hillclimb Championship - Club Racing Series'

Just like Harewood the week before, this was another Saturday meeting with a fourteen car Ferrari entry that reduced to thirteen on the day. This time it was Jon Goodwin we missed – he would have been there, but his F355 was already buried in a container on the way to Australia for the Classic Adelaide event. Most of the usual customers were in action again, but it was nice to see Mark Hargreaves, an irregular FHCC competitor over many years, out for the first time in 2003 with his 308GT4. Geoff Dark was back, his limited slip now rebuilt at inconsiderable expense, and Richard Prior’s 348ts still had a four speed wide ratio gearbox, but he would not need fourth here and had settled in to second slot in the Championship knowing Frost was now uncatchable. Nick meanwhile still fancied another class win and twenty points to bring his score up to the maximum available.

The weather on Saturday morning was nice and Longleat looked as spectacular as usual even at 7.30am, our anti-social sign-on time. Most of the Ferrari drivers stayed the night nearby – camping in the paddock in the case of the Priors and Spicers. We all took the opportunity to walk the hill, fairly essential as some of our people were new to the venue. Though relatively simple Longleat is fast, favouring the more powerful tipos, a little daunting and potentially dangerous - there are a lot of saplings that the Marquess of Bath insists on being straw-baled, but elsewere there are massive trees totally exposed to errant cars. I walked up with Mike Spicer and Richard Prior, and though it was dry remarked that the surface looked cold and slippery.

Running in the first batch practice was through by 11am and there was ample opportunity to wander around the Longleat facilities and take lunch in the expensive and indifferent cafeteria that serves the tourist trade. Looking at the timesheet the predicted close contest for the class win between Nick Frost (348GTC) and Chris Butler (F355) was already underway. Nick was leading on 43.01 from Chris – never here before and showing his usual remarkable aptitude with an impressive 43.39. A second and a half or so back, Nick Taylor had his Mondial 3.4 just a couple of hundredths ahead of Geoff Dark’s 308GTB. Richard Prior (348ts) topped off the remaining runners, including the Hitchmans dual driving their F355 and both expected to go well here. I had brought along my long suffering 328, in the hope of some kind of points dividend, but was a mile away from a good time. Even worse I had a lucky escape on first practice when confirming the track was indeed a bit slippery – going over the brow in to the first left hander up the top of third, the 328 got seriously out of shape, going every which way before coming back on.

On the first of the competitive runs Chris Butler, neat and efficient with his F355, improved some more with what was to be a class winning time of 42.71. Both he and Nick Frost, second overall on 42.93 with his 348GTC, were to go slower on their second runs. Nick Taylor was still third on 44.70, with Chris Hitchman now up to fourth. Old hands Geoff Dark and your reporter were missing gears and generally screwing up, both of us well short of our times here previously. Richard Prior too was not showing his normal form and on 45.28 was half a second away from Nick Taylor. Something desperate was needed for the Ferrari drivers disappointed so far, and there were to be some changes in the final session. Peter Hitchman quit poodling about, put the hammer down with the F355 and clocked a very respectable 43.29, moving up to third overall. I finally got my act together with a 43.36 - on a par with my last 328 outing here in 1996, and good enough to take the twenty points too.

Chris Hitchman, not quite as fast as his father, wound their F335 up in 43.63, and Richard Prior improved considerably to 44.19, getting the better of Nick Taylor also faster on 44.52. A puzzled and off pace Geoff Dark was still stuck in the 45 second bracket. Equally puzzled was Mike Spicer – his best of 46.49 with the blue 308GTB putting him in the lower half of the chart and only just ahead of Barry Wood’s 308GTS. Though new to Longleat, Barry clocked 46.89 and actually finished ahead of Spicer on points, so he went away pleased, more especially as he headed John Marshall’s 328GTB by one hundredth of a second. John, not as determined as usual, enjoyed himself nevertheless as he improved steadily to a best of 46.90. Mark Hargreaves put in four forty seven second runs and unfortunately his first practice was the best! - he did show remarkable consistency though. Colin Campbell was well outgunned here with his Dino 246, but like Mark he also made his best time in practice.

Chris Butler from Barnard Castle, so far north that Yorkshire seems like the South, took in a round trip of 650 miles to compete at Longleat, but with the class win it must have been worth it. He made the fastest starts with precision too, both on exactly 2.35 seconds – remarkable for a 355. Peter Hitchman is also getting the hang of taking the F355 off the line and did a 2.41. The other fast starter was Barry Wood - he matched Butlers 2.35.