Report - Round 11 - 2005 Ferrari Hillclimb Championship - Club Racing Series'

Way out west in Wiltshire, this rather agricultural [shurely charmingly rustic? - Ed.] venue has been in the calendar right from the early days. Narrow, very fast and not a little daunting, it is in many ways similar to Shelsley Walsh, and in the same way favours the smaller Ferraris – the class record of 37.19 here is still held by a 328 despite the recent F355 onslaught.

This time around the Ferrari class had but one F355 and unusually a 308GT4, rarely seen nowadays but once a popular choice for the hills. We were pleased to welcome Andrew Holman from Suffolk making his competition debut with a Mondial QV – he had been one of the star pupils at the Club's Curborough School in May. Perhaps significantly the two top rated drivers from those sessions were also present, David Tomlin (F355) already with several events under his belt and John Day (328GTB) for his second meeting, despite getting very wet at Prescott on his debut!

The 308GT4 mentioned earlier was in the hands of Mark Hargreaves, a regular entrant from years ago but not seen much nowadays. His son Jack did duty as official photographer for the day, so it was doubly nice to see the return of Scuderia Hargreaves. Nick Taylor, on a roll lately with his 348GTC looked favourite to win the class, whilst Richard Prior and Geoff Dark would squabble over the 20 points. Just for fun I had brought along my 575 Maranello – not yet driven in anger but as I know my way around Gurston this seemed like a good place to try it out.

It was a very early start, around 8.30am, as the Ferraris lined up for practice, the weather looking suspect with much rain reported around other parts of the country. There were to be the odd spots but nothing to affect the driving conditions. The track has been recently resurfaced and the pleasant rural scene spoiled by a liberal application of Armco on the top half of the course. Places where you could previously run off across the grass now greet you with a loud clang!

Such was the speed of this meeting that we were through our two practice runs by 10.30 am and by then Richard Prior was ecstatic – his best time of 38.57 was well clear of the rest with only Geoff Dark on 39.03 and the 575 at 39.29 anywhere near. Nick Taylor was way off the pace and appeared to be not much of a threat. David Tomlin already had his F355 up to good speed and Mark Hargreaves, hotly pursued by Barry Wood (308GTS), was leading the rest. John Day was going well with the 328GTB and already ahead of Andrew Holman and Jos van de Perre (308GTS).

Fortunately the ever-efficient meeting organisers, BARC (SW), decided to start the official runs around 12.45pm otherwise life would have got very boring. We had kept ourselves amused listening to the nasty noises coming from David Tomlin’s F355 engine bay. A bit concerned, David had asked me for an opinion and I got hold of Barry Wood who like me is half clued up on this sort of thing for a second opinion. We concluded that the heavy rattle was external and most probably a loose alternator or some other engine accessory. To be sure we got hold of Geoff Dark – he knows a thing or three about motors and as soon as he put his head in the engine bay the noise stopped and healed up thereafter!

On the first competitive run I found myself in the lead with the 575M on 38.17 and Richard Prior was just two hundredths behind. Geoff Dark knows Gurston better than anyone and he was quickest to the half way split, moving in to third overall with a very useful 35.47, a time as it turned out that would just take the twenty championship points from Richard Prior. Nick Taylor was slow and apparently the start line marshals had allowed his car to roll before he really departed. The start pad at Gurston slopes downhill and they actually hold your car on the line. He was allowed a second go to our chagrin but was still behind Geoff with 38.69. David Tomlin was in a quiet spot on his own next and Barry Wood, producing his best times here to date, was leading the rest. Intriguingly a close contest was developing between John Day and Andrew Holman just two hundredths apart.

On the second runs Allen, Prior and Dark all went slower whilst the crafty Taylor at last got his 348GTC up to speed to take the class on 38.05 – a close contest then with just four tenths covering these first four runners. David Tomlin having hit the Red Bull put in a really fine effort with his rattling 355 to clock 38.86 – a truly remarkable time for a first visit to this tricky hill and one that won him the club handicap in the process. Barry Wood went still faster with his 308GTS, just seeing off Mark Hargreaves and his 308GT4. John Day improved even more on this final run; he nearly caught Wood and Hargreaves and came second on handicap. Andrew Holman went a little slower with the Mondial but his first run of 42.48 is still exceptionally good going for a first timer and he finished ahead of Jos van de Perre's 308GTS.