Loton may be tucked right up on the English border with Wales half a mile down the road, but it is always worth the trip. Whilst not having some of the amenities of Prescott and the other well known hills, it is in a beautiful situation and better to drive than most of the UK venues. Even so the Loton Motor Sports Festival on Saturday was probably the reason for easily the largest Ferrari entry here yet. It started at nineteen, but Peter Hayman, his 512TR gone to the glue factory, was never going to appear. Andy Grier had to pull out at short notice for very good reasons, and Chris Dixon was totally unaccounted for. Even so sixteen was still a record entry and the quality was all there.

On paper there looked to be a close battle for the class win between Jon Goodwin (F355) and Geoffrey Rollason (360Modena), plus the ongoing tussle for the FHCC 2003 series win between top point scorers Richard Prior (348ts) and Nick Frost (348GTC).

For once the Ferraris were not at the front of the programme, and it was a fairly leisurely start. The weather was good and there was a generous amount of paddock space – it all seemed set for a most agreeable day's sport. A false dawn, as suddenly the Ferrari drivers were set upon by no less than three officials from both Liverpool MC and Hagley & DLCC, the joint event organisers. This appeared to have been triggered by the new-to Loton drivers all missing their drivers' briefing, a serious enough offence and proof that they had not read their final instructions.

Even so it seemed unnecessary that these officials chose to line all the Ferrari drivers up and give them a good lecturing – not just for the missed briefing, but also for someone driving too fast and noisily on the approach road to Loton. Furthermore they also said that one of the Ferraris had ventured out on the road with numbers on, although subsequent enquiries seem to indicate that this was a false accusation. Earlier the scrutineers were suggesting those of us who had stayed the night at Sir Michael Leighton’s Loton Hall should be breathalysed, so we were not doing too well!

A chastened bunch of Ferrari pilots got through practice without further wrist slapping, other than Jon Goodwin, supposed to be running at the head of our class, was not ready when called - he was accused of holding up the meeting! Unperturbed Jon took his F355 up in 60.89secs , nearly a second off his best time here to lead the class. Nick Frost his 348GTC sounding truly formidable, was next, very impressive at 61.08, two seconds faster than he had been before. Geoffrey Rollason was well off his normal pace with the 360, a best of 63.03, less than half a second clear of Richard Allen’s big 550 Maranello. Chris Butler, looking far to young for this sort of thing, was impressive on a first Loton visit with his F355, as was Nick Taylor with his Mondial 3.4t, both in the mid 63s ahead of a disappointed Richard Prior (348ts) on 63.91 – a long way out of touch with rival Nick Frost.

Jon Goodwin, Geoffrey Rollason and your reporter were unusually at the front of the running order – they normally put the faster cars at the back. This had a big advantage as we were able to watch most of the Ferraris on the top half of the hill. In the afternoon, on the opening competitive runs, we gasped in disbelief as first Nick Frost and then Richard Prior went off on the same corner- no damage resulting other than to their times! With so many cars competing, and all worthy of comment, it seems best to report the action in the reverse order.

Tony Willis was out again in the dark blue Michelin XWX shod 246GT, a car that even on modern rubber would not keep up with the more powerful more modern Ferraris present. He improved steadily to a best of 71.26 - we even noticed him hanging the thing out through the corner opposite the top holding paddock! He was not far behind Jeremy Stubbs, new here and still a relative novice – he took his Mondial 3.4 down to a time of 70.49. Next up the chart was none other than Championship leader Richard Prior. He should have been near the front of the Ferraris, but here he was languishing down in fourteenth place. How come – well you have read earlier how he threw his 348 in to the weeds on his first official, and this time it was manure or bust for Richard. He wound up for the latter, spinning the 348 out of Museum, the last corner! Nil points for Richard, leavingrival Nick Frost to grab a big score.

Peter Rogerson was next up the road with his left hooker F355 on 69.15, not able to keep pace with Philip Whitehead, his 355 on 66.37. In between these two were John Dobson, his 308GT4 looking pretty tasty since he threw his wallet at it, and Len Watson’s 328GTS on 67.87 and 66.93 respectively. It was nice to see Brian Jackson out with BOB, his legendary Giallo Fly 308GTB. He went well with 65.80, but was a second back from Mike Spicer’s similar, but more sorted ex Robin Ward car. Mike’s 308 looked and sounded terrific, as did John Marshall’s 328GTB as they zoomed past our vantage point. John was on 64.73 and Mike on 64.52. Richard Allen’s 550 Maranello got stuck in the mid 63 second bracket and was just pipped by Nick Taylor his Mondial 3.4 on a very useful 63.27. Chris Butler took his F355 up on the first run in 62.43, showing he is a man to reckon with for the future when he has got the hang of these hills!

The big hitters were next. Predictably class record holder Jon Goodwin ran out the winner with a time of 60.65, but unpredictably Nick Frost really pushed the boat out on this final run with 61.23, a great result to claim second on scratch and maximum championship points. Geoffrey Rollason was having one of those bad hair days that we all seem to get – fumbled starts and missed gear shifts, meant he slipped to third on 61.39, a long way off his best here. Tony Willis seems to have won the club handicap again, and we are going to have to make things much more difficult for him in future!

Looking around the paddock scene at Loton, our cars really did look exceptionally well presented compared with the rest – all immaculate, and with our new driver/tipo ID panels very professional too. Maybe that is why they were pissed off with us!

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Newcomer Chris Butler impressed again, on his first Loton visit

Allen's 550 got well up amongst more fancied tipos

Maximum championship points went to Nick Frost

Rollason had some untidy runs to finish third

Championship leader Prior had two costly offs

The pretty Dino of Tony Willis

Nick Taylor again drove his under-rated Mondial very quickly

Jacko's yellow 308 leads the pack back down to the paddock

Overall winner was current Champion Jon Goodwin in his 355

pics by Lesley Frost