Report - Round 1- 2003 Ferrari Hillclimb Championship - Club Racing Series'

A record eighteen-car Ferrari entry saw a splendidly varied selection of tipos including several F355s and 348s, the usual 308s and 328s, and Peter Hitchman’s new 360 Modena.

Notable too was the return of Peter Hayman and his 512TR, missing since Prescott last April, lost in some workshop where it mostly stood lying idle. Len Watson, expecting to bring his F40, had substituted his 328GTS, and elsewhere the class included four brand new competitors. Nigel Stubb’s son Jeremy. an active supporter of ours at Harewood for many years, has acquired a Mondial 3.4t. He was on his first ever competition outing, as was Andy Grier in Sally-Maynard Smith’s 328GTS, and Kevin Lovelock in another 328GTS. Gregor Steel with a nice looking silver 348tb was also new to Ferrari competition, but had a couple of sprints experience many years ago in a Ford Escort. He was sporting a Team Mondeo racesuit reputedly last worn by the late Will Hoy. Richard Prior was in his BAR Lucky Strike outfit, whilst Andy Grier was resplendent in a faded blue Sparco suit with loads of badges that had previously seen heavy use in the FHCC.

Two practice runs were taken before lunch and Nick Frost, his 348GTC sporting a nice new stainless sports exhaust, was out in front on 66.61 secs, surprisingly heading Jon Goodwin’s F355 by half a second. An impressive Chris Dixon (348tb) was second quickest, also ahead of Goodwin on 67.11. After that the order was Allen (328GTB), then new boy Andy Grier going amazingly quickly in the Maynard-Smith 328GTS. He was just ahead of Richard Prior (348ts) and Mike Spicer (308GTB).

It was just as well we had eighteen runners, as a couple of our cars soon failed. Len Watson’s 328 clutch pedal stayed on the floor half way through his first run and it seems that the cable had either broken or come adrift. Peter Hayman, surely our most unlucky competitor, was expected to challenge for the class win here, but it was not to be - he lost the 512TR’s transmission on his second practice. Both Len and Peter called up the recovery trucks and faced a long journey home.

Nick Frost held the lead on the first competitive runs, after Jon Goodwin with a quicker time incurred a five second penalty for striking a course marker cone. Chris Dixon still held second spot, with Richard Prior up to third. Significantly, Chris Hitchman getting the hang of his father's F355 was next. Jon Goodwin needed to get in an error free final run now to get back in to contention. Such has been his pace previously that we thought he would have no problem claiming his usual first on scratch. It was not Jon’s day though as Nick Frost on top form improved dramatically on his last run to 64.76, a time that proved too much for Jon’s 65.10. Richard Prior showed he can produce the goods against strong competition, claiming third spot on 66.24. Chris Hitchman and Chris Dixon were tied for fourth on 66.91, with Hitchman Jr getting the verdict on account of his first run time being the best. Chris Dixon was really unlucky here, as his final run which had been good, had shown up as 108 seconds and was obviously a timing error. Who knows he may have finished much higher!

Amongst the lesser fry, Mike Spicer was next pulling his 308GTB just ahead of my 328 – I had a lot of fun, but was just not tidy enough, unlike Andy Grier, hugely impressive on his first event, next up and close behind us. Peter Hitchman, like others before him, was finding the 360 to be less easy than the 355 on this sort of course with a less than perfect surface. He was close to Andy, but well short of son Chris in the F355. Up to now all these drivers were under 69 seconds, and there was then a noticeable gap to John Marshall on 71.31 with his 328GTB not at its best with new unscrubbed tyres. Simon Burn was not far behind, and his second practice would have put him ahead of Marshall, but as has happened to Simon before, he got slower in the competitive runs! Gregor Steel, another newcomer going well, was in the seventy one second bracket too, with his 348tb. Then Steve Target, on only his second ever competitive event with his immaculate 308GT4 on 73.75, was well ahead of Jos van de Perre (308GTS), and our other new man Kevin Lovelock with his 328GTS, both these men in the 75 second area. Someone has to look after the guards van, and on this occasion the honour went to Jeremy Stubbs. He has not had his Mondial t very long and was still feeling his way with the car - his last run was his best and posted a respectable time, but he was marked down with a “WR”, which means “wrong route” - another navigational problem I guess!

With the PEP (Performance Equaliser Percentage) factors applied Nick Frost comfortably took the maximum twenty point score. Richard Prior was next pocketing seventeen, then Chris Dixon on fifteen. Jon Goodwin, as last year's Championship winner, is carrying an additional one per cent, dropping to fourth on championship points.

All the FHCC competitors were presented with windscreen panels carrying the Ferrari UK and Hillclimb Championship logos with the car details and drivers name. These look very professional and have been produced for us by Peter Hitchman and his company Daytona. After all this was over we celebrated completing our 2003 opening round with three bottles of fizz – not a bad day really!