Report - Round 3 - 2005 Ferrari Hillclimb Championship - Club Racing Series'

Round 3 of the 2005 FHCC was at the delightful Prescott hillclimb, deep in rural Gloucestershire, surely one of the best experiences in speed eventing - in every way but one....

The entry fee at £108 is one of the dearest in the sport but sometimes you just have to pay up and look big, at least it’s the same for everyone - except that this time it wasn’t. On Saturday it was confirmed that everyone would get three practice runs – except for the Porsches and the Ferraris who'd have to make do with two. This form of second-class treatment is unacceptable. ‘Nuff said.

There was a reasonable entry of 10 cars, but this was reduced to nine when Christian Mineeff had to withdraw - his return to hillclimbing has been somewhat ill-fated, but hopefully he’ll make it to the top at Harewood next weekend.

Chris Butler and RA were notable absentees, but Mike Spicer, John Marshall and Brian Jackson all returned to the fold. The big news was that Pirelli have generously agreed to sponsor the Championship, but unfortunately most competitors had already invested in new tyres and only Nick Taylor was on the Italian rubber!

The outright hill record had been broken at the final meeting last year, suggesting that there wasn’t much wrong with the track, yet it had been completely resurfaced and all the drivers complained about the slippery tarmac, though no doubt that will improve in time. This may have accounted for the somewhat slow times recorded in practice, from which Jon Goodwin (355) emerged on top, just 0.06 seconds ahead of Richard Prior (348), who always goes well here.

Saturday night saw the most violent thunderstorm and for those brave souls camping it was very scary and there were kids crying and being sick – and they hadn’t even had to pay the £15 admission to get in! The rain stopped by Sunday morning and the track dried progressively. For once the Fazzas benefited from running last and various £zillion Goulds and a whole Division of Porkies did a great job of sweeping the track for them.

On the first competitive runs newcomer Charlie White (355 Spider) led the Ferraris away to record a creditable 53.88 sec run. Apparently he’s as smooth off the track as on and was fussed over all weekend by the Ferrari mums. Mike Spicer (328) was slower than Charlie and Pauline Goodwin (328) was disappointed by her time. She was in the wrong gear on a number of occasions and it later emerged that she’d forgotten to fit her gear blocker, being too busy fetching cups of tea for Charlie. Jon Goodwin followed his wife (not daughter, as one paddock pundit thought) and made a good improvement to 50.54, which was a hundredth faster than his September ’04 winning time, so maybe the track wasn't too bad after all.

Geoff Dark threw his 308 about with considerable élan to record 51.76, which proved to be his best time of the weekend. Nick Taylor’s new 348GTC wasn’t ready so he resorted to the his trusty Mondial which sounded terrible, fortunately it proved to be nothing more serious than fuel starvation. Apparently, the fuel drains into funny places if it’s parked in a certain way - hopefully not the sills, but you never know with older Ferraris. Richard Prior took a step back from practice, a 52.41, leaving him with a lot to do on his second run, but Brian Jackson’s 53.84 was very good for a standard 308.

Charlie White was slow out of Pardon on his second run and slightly slower overall. Mike Spicer improved to 53.35, but had horrendous tyre-squealing understeer round Ettores. PG got the right gears in the right order and improved to 55.34, which gave her the satisfaction that her last run was her best, always a nice feeling. She also won the handicap prize again - another night out with RA. [She has to learn that motor racing’s not all fun - Ed.] Gooders was slightly slower, as was Geoff Dark, but his first run time was good enough to give him second place on PEPs. John Marshall drove hard and was much quicker than his first run with a 53.64.

Taylor entertained the crowd with a big slide, beautifully held, round Orchard, the resultant 51.12 temporarily giving him second place on scratch behind Gooders. Richard Prior had it all to do and he delivered. His was the most aggressive run of the weekend, booting the back end out on the exit of Ettores and right on the ragged edge in the Esses. His 50.76 gave him second on the road and secured him the maximum championship points. Bran Jackson improved again to 53.22, which gave him 5th overall and on PEPs, a very creditable result on his first appearance this year.

So, as the Championship heads for the next event at Harewood, Richard Prior holds the lead from Geoff Dark (who is benefiting from an extra - 0.5% PEP this year) and Nick Taylor (hurting from the Champion’s +1.0%). The entry at Harewood is the biggest ever and sees the return of Chris Butler and Nick Frost who should challenge for the outright win and maximum points. It promises to be an excellent day’s sport.