Report - Round 3 - 2003 Ferrari Hillclimb Championship - Club Racing Series'

<% theSection = "club_racing_series" %> Report - Round 3 - 2003 Ferrari Hillclimb Championship - Club Racing Series' - Ferrari Owners' Club

FERRARI HILL CLIMB CHAMPIONSHIP

ROUND 3 : PRESCOTT : 4 MAY 2003
report by Graham Easter

There can be few more enjoyable places to spend a day than competing or spectating at a sunny Prescott, a great venue nestling in the beautiful Gloucestershire countryside. It was with a familiar thrill of excitement that your website team, grizzled ex-hillclimbers both, turned into the car park. This thrill quickly turned to disbelief and horror when we were relieved of £24 to get in. £12 each! At least Dick Turpin wore a mask.......

Reeling with shock, we stumbled into the paddock where our spirits were quickly restored by the sight of 14 gleaming examples of Maranello’s finest. As usual, 308s and 328s, including that of veteran Keith Maddox, were the most numerous tipos, but there was ample variety with a 330 GTC, Nick Taylor’s Mondial and a couple of 348s. Peter Hayman’s mighty 512 TR was back, fresh from having its gearbox fettled, Geoffrey Rollason’s 360 Spider and Champion Jon Goodwin’s 355 GTS also made an appearance. Goodwin was back in this car after bashing his 360 at Bouley Bay in the previous round.

Rollason was quickest in Saturday practice with Goodwin close behind and a good battle between these two seemed likely.

In the first competition runs on Sunday morning Rollason took an early lead on 50.27secs, despite coming on and off the throttle in the first and very fast Orchard bend. Rollason displayed all of the aggression he used in his F1 Brabham BT37, some 25 years earlier. His Brabham was in full Grand Prix spec, impossible to imagine such a thing today.

Nick Frost’s 348 GTC sounded beautiful, howling away with phenomenal revs to a 50.77 and second place. A subdued Goodwin stopped the clocks on 51.07 to take third. Tony Willis was as laid back as ever in his ex. Chris Rea 330 GTC, rumoured to be listening to “The Road to Hell” on his 8 Track. There were the usual close battles down the field with Christopher England (308 GTS), Nick Taylor and Peter Hayman separated by less than a quarter of a second. Andrew Duncan’s 328 GTS had a nasty roll-oversteer lurch, which may explain his 55.20.

After the usual intense debrief, including Jane Willis’s birthday cake – Happy Birthday Jane - the field took to the hill for the second runs. Barry Wood (308 GTS) improved, as did Simon Burn (308 GTBi), Taylor, Duncan, Prior (348 ts), and Mike Spicer in the ex Robin Ward championship winning 308 GTB. Peter Hayman did too, despite the 512 TR being a tight squeeze on the narrow hill. Nick Frost was slower, but his first run time was still good enough for third place. Rollason improved marginally to 50.11, then all eyes were on Goodwin, the last runner. All of his former aggression was back and he took the win with a 49.95 second run. Aggression, power and weight seemingly the most important factors in Ferrari hillclimbing.

Brian Jackson (355/Ch) had to run, as usual, in another class, posting a 50.24. I know we’ve said this before, but we wonder when these cars will be allowed into the FHCC? The competition cost of a 355/Ch is modest these days compared with that of a road-going tipo. We suppose that championship supremo Richard Allen might argue “If it ain’t broken, why fix it?”

RESULTS
Pos.	Driver	Tipo	Run 1	Run 2	PEP %	Points
1	Jon Goodwin	355GTS	51.07	49.95		13
2	Geoffrey Rollason	360 Spider	50.27	50.11		15
3	Nick Frost	348GTC	50.77	51.52		17
4	Richard Prior	348ts	51.96	50.90		20
5	John Marshall	328GTB	52.26	53.15		11
6	Nick Taylor	Mondial 3.4t	52.96	52.67		10
7	Peter Hayman	512TR	53.18	52.77		8
8	Christopher England	308GTS	52.81	53.63		12
9	Mike Spicer	308GTB	53.62	52.98		9
10	Keith Maddox	328GTS	53.85	54.50		6
11	Andrew Duncan	328GTS	55.20	54.77		5
12	Simon Burn	308GTBi	56.59	55.15		7
13	Barry Wood	308GTS	58.86	57.64		4
14	Tony Willis	330GTC	58.41	59.06		-

POINTS STANDING AFTER ROUND 3 :
Pos.	Driver	Tipo	Points
1	Richard Prior	348ts	57
2	Jon Goodwin	360M/F355	39
3	Nick Frost	348GTC	37
4	John Marshall	328GTB	33
5	Christopher England	308GTS	29
6	Simon Burn	308GTBi	27
7	Mike Spicer	308GTB	23
8	Richard Allen	F355/328GTB	22
=8	Nick Taylor	Mondial 3.4t	22
10	Chris Dixon	348tb	15
=10	Geoffrey Rollason	360 Spider	15
12	Andy Grier	328GTS	11
=12	Gregor Steel	348tb	11
=12	Jos Van de Perre	308GTS	11
15	Chris Hitchman	F355	10
=15	Len Watson	328GTS	10
17	Peter Hayman	512TR	9
18	Peter Hitchman	F355	8
=18	Terry Esom	F355	8
20	Philip Whitehead	F355	6
=20	Keith Maddox	328GTS	6
22	Steve Target	308GT4	5
=22	Andrew Duncan	328GTS	5
24	Peter Rogerson	F355	4
=24	Barry Wood	308GTS	4
26	Kevin Lovelock	328GTS	3
27	Jeremy Stubbs	Mondial t	2