Report - Round 6 - 2005 Ferrari Hillclimb Championship - Club Racing Series'

Round 6 of the Championship took place at Shelsley Walsh hillclimb in Worcestershire. This is the oldest motor sport venue in the world still run over the original course, and this year is its centenary.

The Midland Automobile Club have been struggling to secure the future of the venue after their original lease expired, but happily has achieved its first and most important objective by raising sufficient funds to pay the anticipated premium on a new 99 year lease which will ensure the future of this most historic venue.

There is still much to do, starting with the restoration of the buildings on the site most of which had not been available to the MAC under the previous lease. A start has been made with an attractive display/ hospitality area built around a cottage near the start line which had been hired to Aston Martin for this meeting.

There was an excellent entry of fourteen Ferraris although unhappily Marco Pullen was a non-starter, his Mondial t still suffering from the gear selection problems which had afflicted it at the previous round at MIRA and the classic race at Mallory the following day. Chris Butler and Nick Taylor were notable absentees but the top three in the Championship were there, as was FHCC newcomer and local boy David Tomlin. Another local, Andrew Duncan, was making his annual appearance in his 328GTS and David Hathaway (348) was making his FHCC debut - another graduate of the Club’s Curborough Tuition Day. As at Harewood, there were no less than three FOC Directors taking part, Richard Allen and John Swift in 355s and Christian Mineeff in his 328. I wonder if there’s another car club which could match this?

Practice at Shelsley is still run on a batch system, which causes chaos when it rains, as it did on this occasion with some people getting caught by the rain and others not. Having turned up in the afternoon, when it was nice and dry, Jon Goodwin emerged on top, his 355’s engine management computer having been told to ignore the cracked exhaust manifold and not reduce power, as had happened at MIRA; a more permanent fix will be applied soon. Series’ leader Richard Prior (348ts) was second ahead of his closest Championship rival, Geoff Dark (308M).

Mike Spicer was first away on the competition runs on Sunday with a useful opening run in the 36s. David Tomlin (355) was next up with a sensible 37.99, this was only his second Ferrari speed event and Shelsley is a tricky place, giving no room for error. Gooders was the first of the heavy-hitters, driving with his usual aggression and commitment. He was quickest of all through the Esses approach speed trap and stopped the clocks on 35.08 seconds, which turned out to be the winning time. RA suffered a slight lock-up going into the Esses and recorded a 36.24. Richard Prior was trying hard, clocked 83 mph through the speed trap, turned in late to the bottom Ess and the rear end of the car flicked out, but he was comfortably into the 35s, with a 35.63.

Pauline Goodwin (328) was determined to break the 40 second barrier on her first visit to the hill and achieved it easily with a confident run, stopping the clocks on 38.26 seconds. Christian Mineeff cranked his 328 up to 80mph through the Ess approach but the back end shot out as he turned into the bottom Ess, he collected it but was held back to a 36.26 sec time. Geoff Dark was quicker through the speed trap at 83mph, had no problems in the Esses and dipped into the 35s to put in a good 'banker' at 35.99. Swifty rounded off the class with his Nero 355 and recorded a 37.40, which proved to be his best time of the weekend.

During the lunch break the skies darkened and there were one or two spots of rain, adding to Richard Prior’s anxiety as he and Geoff Dark were tying on exactly the same time after the PEPs had been applied!

Fortunately, the rain held off and Mike Spicer made a good improvement to 36.22 which initially put him ahead of Mineeff. David Tomlin knocked over a second off to record an excellent 36.84 on his first ever hillclimb, this despite a squeal from the brakes going into the Esses. Jon Goodwin looked as fast as before and recorded the highest finishing speed of 90mph, but his time was just a few hundredths slower than his first. Peter Rogerson (355) recorded his best time of the weekend at 40.24, but the next 355 up really upset the established order. RA looked to be going quicker than before and this was confirmed when the clock stopped on 35.21, well over a second quicker than his previous run, which gave him an excellent second place overall.

David Hathaway improved to 41.86, but Richard Prior had a big moment in the Esses and clouted the bank with a rear wheel. Fortunately he escaped without damage, but was slower, and this meant that all he could do now was sit and wait for Dark’s time. John Marshall (328) was smooth and determined and improved to 37.52. Andrew Duncan improved to 37.43 which was just as well for both of them, as PG beat their first-run times with her second run of 37.77 seconds - a substantial improvement and a just reward for a neat and committed run. Christian Mineeff held a tight line at the kink but was wary of the back end stepping out in the bottom Ess, nevertheless he improved slightly to 36.19 which was just enough to put him back in front of Spicer.

Geoff Dark threw caution to the winds and, with a flamboyant run in which he carried much speed through the Esses, he made a sizeable improvement to 35.36 seconds which gave him a well-deserved third place outright and more important, maximum Championship points - which reduces his deficit to leader Richard Prior to eleven points.

The 2005 FHCC reaches the half-way mark at the next meeting at Llandow in South Wales on June 18th. This should be very interesting as it’s the first time the Series has visited this venue, which means a level playing field for everyone.