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It was quite fitting that a round of the hillclimb and sprint championship should be held for the first time at Hethel in Norfolk. Hethel of course is the home of Lotus sports cars. A company set up by the legendary Colin Chapman whose primary objective was to build racing cars that would compete on the world stage with among others Scuderia Ferrari. Chapman was an engineering genius and his F1 cars enjoyed much success over the years being driven by the top drivers of each era from Graham Hill to Ayrton Senna. Following Chapman’s untimely death the company continues to flourish into the 21st century despite a couple of commercial near misses over the years. The company now manufactures predominantly road going sports cars to carry on the famous name. On a slightly overcast and windy Sunday morning it would have been quite easy to forget the history and tradition that had gone before at this venue. Fortunately, our chairman Jack Sears was on hand to share numerous stories from his extensive Hethel memoirs and recalled in particular his partnership with Jimmy Clark during the mid-sixties which saw them sharing the testing and racing duties of the Lotus Cortina in the British Saloon Car Championship. Like Enzo Ferrari before him, Chapman saw the advantages of having his own racing track on which to test and race his cars and subsequently acquired the disused airfield that the Lotus factory sits beside and tuned it into a variety of track layouts. The sprint circuit is 1.2 miles of fast straights and sweeping corners interrupted halfway by a mickey mouse roundabout that makes you dizzy as you hang on to your steering wheel trying to circumnavigate it. The back straight is taken flat out through third and fourth gears with speeds easily exceeding 100mph though only the bravest driver would dare to take his eyes off the track to look down and check just how fast! 10 Ferraris were entered for the meeting and all duly arrived for the very early drivers briefing at 08.30. Barry Wood must have had plenty of coffee for breakfast after setting off from Devon at around 4 o’clock to ensure that he made the 339 mile journey in time. I can sympathise with Barry as I endure similar long treks myself to many of the meetings though unlike Barry I don’t tend to spend the day before doing similar round trips to the breakers yard of our very own club events director shopping for 308GTB spares! The first practice run saw Nick Taylor quickest out of the traps in his 348GTC. Nick is the current champion and is now clearly getting the hang of his recent acquisition after a couple of shakedown outings at MIRA and Prescott. My own trusty 355 was second quickest which was quite a relief after spending much of the early morning fixing a water hose that had decided to burst as I rolled through the Hethel gates. Geoff Dark (308) and his considerable tool collection were to thank in assisting me to make the start line, though Geoff was to suffer his own misfortune on the first run when he braked too late into a fast left hander and promptly skimmed across the kitty litter, though thankfully his car emerged unscathed at the other side. Richard Prior (348) was third quickest with Charlie White (355 Spider) and John Marshall (328) not far behind. The second practice run followed much of the same pattern with Nick improving on his first run time and everybody else following suit. Barry Wood edged ahead of Jos Van de Perre (308) while Colin Campbell in his Dino was steadily finding a decent rhythm. The lunch break before the afternoon’s events saw most of the drivers discussing their respective roundabout techniques and whether they had gone round it twice! Charlie spent much of his time fighting with his Sunday Times broadsheet in the windy weather while Richard contemplated his usual ‘roof on or off’ dilemma. Barry Wood was ensuring he kept up his caffeine levels by investing heavily in the burger van’s coffee pot and finding some matchsticks to prop open his eyes! Nick Taylor looked cool, calm and collected as he sat with his feet up catching 40 winks behind his trademark sunglasses dreaming of how he could go even quicker when it mattered. On the commencement of the official runs Nick put theory into practice by setting a stunning time of 78.01. He made full use of the GTC’s speed and handling and showed his true champion pedigree in nailing down a time straight away that would set a very high benchmark. I thought my own run had been pretty good but still found myself over a second and a half behind Nick in second place on 79.56. Charlie White had now jumped into third place with a time of 80.71 overtaking Richard Prior who lost time due to a heart stopping slide through the fast left hand section in front of the spectators. All allegations of crowd showboating were immediately dismissed by Richard who said his steering wheel and hands were as crossed up as the front and rear ends of his car and he was just pleased that he came out of the corner facing the same way he had entered it. Jack Sears knows skill when he sees it and was impressed enough with the way Richard controlled the ‘moment’ to congratulate him afterwards. Geoff Dark was finally getting into the swing of things recording an 83.78 half a second ahead of John Marshall with Barry Wood dropping into the eighties ahead of a cautious Jos. At the tail end of the field Colin Campbell was coping well in the Dino despite finding Hethel’s fast corners not entirely to the car’s liking. After a relatively long wait the final runs got underway with Nick Taylor not quite matching his first run time. With Richard not improving on his previous time either, Charlie White seized the opportunity and dropped into the seventies with a 79.69. Despite outward appearances Charlie has confirmed himself to be a seriously quick competitor in only his first year in the championship. His FHCC results have been further enhanced by his lap times and results to date in the PMFC circuit racing series. Geoff Dark managed to record a time of 83.00 dead which was not quite enough to give him the PEP points he may have liked though he did keep ahead of John Marshall who had reduced his time to a creditable 83.89. Barry Wood and Colin Campbell also both reduced their times to 88.15 and 110.91 respectively. The last dramas of the day were provided unwillingly by Jos Van de Perre and myself. Unfortunately Jos was unable to find a clean way through one of the coned chicanes after misjudging his braking zone. As a result of this incident the red flags came out and I had to abort my run halfway around the track. I was ushered back to the start of the track and set off from the start line on my second attempt at a final run. In this scenario you would generally consider it a bonus to have another go at a run because tyres will already be running a little warmer and the adrenalin is flowing and I thought that would help me in trying to challenge Nick’s first run time. My adrenalin soon stopped flowing two corners into the run as the ‘rosso’ mist descended and I over-committed the car into the bend, oversteered into a spin and backwards onto the grass thankfully collecting enough thistles and grass to slow me enough to stop short of the tyre barriers. Ali did not enjoy having to endure my long dejected ride home, though she was relieved that her holiday budget would not have to be compromised for any bodywork repairs! Nick’s time of 78.01 proved to be by far the best of the day and wholly worthy of the maximum points he collected to go with the class win. He had been quickest all day, made no mistakes and if the championship returns to Hethel it will take an incredible lap to beat his time. This win takes Nick further up the championship table and ensures that the current top three need to look over the shoulders as we enter the last few rounds of the championships. I understand it has been several years since a champion retained his title but Nick and his GTC will prove to be a strong combination going into the final part of the season. Richard Prior’s second place PEP points have consolidated his remarkable consistency this year and he will not want to relinquish his lead without a fight. Geoff Dark and Jon Goodwin will also both be looking forward to the upcoming rounds and hoping they can maximise their scores while Christian Mineef and myself will be trying our hardest to make a late impact on the championship standings.
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