Report - Round 4 - 2006 Pirelli Ferrari Hillclimb Championship - Club Racing Series'

PIRELLI FERRARI HILLCLIMB CHAMPIONSHIP

ROUND 4 : HAREWOOD : 13 MAY 2006
report by Graham Easter

There are some days when motor racing is to be endured rather than enjoyed and this Harewood meeting was one of them. Just as a sunny Prescott is one of the best motorsport experiences, a wet Harewood can be one of the worst . To add to this, the venue was generally unkempt and unloved, a bit like Brands used to be before Palmer moved in.

The 22 Ferrari competitors arrived at the hill and shortly after were greeted by an absolute deluge just as they were readying their cars for racing i.e. sticking on numbers and affixing timing struts and putting sundry bits and bobs into their little tents. The cars are required to be driven to the meetings and superfluous items such as spare wheels, '70s Greatest Hits cassettes, furry dice, packets of Softmints, wives etc. are removed to save weight.

But the weather was forgotten as soon as the first practice run was over. Jon Goodwin had negotiated an improvement in the PEP for his 250 Lusso from -5.5% to -8% and after P1 he was about 3 seconds in the lead! You could tell the members of the PEPs committee by their red faces.... Gooders had employed text book negotiating tactics, asking for -12% and expecting to get - 6.5% so he was happy. Andy Grier (328SMS) was also happy, his smooth but quick style suiting the slithery conditions and he was quickest in practice.

The first of the three competition runs was wet and Gooders ended up in the PEPs lead by 2¼ seconds from the two 308 piloti who had been quick in similar conditions at Prescott, Geoff Dark (modificato) and Brian Jackson (normale), ahead of Mike Haigh in his 328 which he was sharing with Christopher England. Grier had an off after Willow and Christian Mineeff (328) faced backwards in the Esses after a series of tail -swings of ever increasing amplitude. On a scratch basis Chris Butler (355) was in the lead ahead of Dark and local man, '03 Champion and Series' returnee Nick Frost in his 348GTC, which is still the best-sounding car in the Championship (sorry Chav...).

Talking of Nick Frost, wife Lesley appeared with enough sandwiches to feed the Paddock, no doubt in gratitude for being freed from floor-scrubbin' duties following the disclosure of same in this organ last year. Anyway, they were really nice butties and many a driver and hanger-on was fortified by them for the second runs.

It had now temporarily stopped raining and Harewood dries up quickly, but it was cold and there was still the occasional damp patch; the drivers had to be cautious as it seemed highly likely that everything would depend on this one run. John Day (328) led the field away followed by David Hathaway (348ts) and soon the field was flowing up the hill. Leon Bachelier (F512M), in common with quite a few others, had a lock-up going into Country Corner. Jolyon Harrison (355) was next up and looked to be going well. The clocks confirmed this and Jolyon, who is only an occasional competitor, ended up 11th overall, beating a number of seasoned, regular competitors, so well done to him.

Jos van de Perre (308) was making his first appearance of the year and he was followed by Chris England, who was pushing the Haigh 328 hard and finally took a great 5th place overall. Pauline Goodwin (328) made her customary good start and finished up just five-hundredths behind Swifty in his 355. The 355s looked quick on the straights even in these conditions and RA's silver machine was no exception. He clunked over a kerb in the Esses, but got away with it to finish 7th overall. He wasn't at all well with bronchitis and really should have been at home in bed, it was above and beyond the call of duty for him to be there at all.

David Tomlin (355) looked more subdued than RA and the clocks confirmed he was slower. He was followed by another 355, that of Phil Whitehead who was another making his first appearance of the year. Championship leader Geoff Dark was pushing his 308 hard, used all of the road on the exit of Willow and got into a wiggle in the Orchard complex. He set the then-fastest time of 70.70secs. This lasted just as long as it took Christian Mineeff to cross the line, his 70.45 giving him the lead, despite the engine being on the rev-limiter for many yards at the end of the Farmyard straightaway - still better than changing up and quickly down again.

Richard Prior (348ts) wasn't really on it at Harewood and finished 8th overall. In contrast Chris Butler looked good in his 355, his smooth and economical style suiting the conditions and he was the first to break 70 seconds, stopping the clock on a 69.94. Former champ Nick Frost was up next in his 348GTC. Nick's drive to the hill was his first outing in the car for many months but despite this he was quickest, beating Chris B by a comfortable three and a half tenths. Finally we had Gooders who hurled the Lusso up the hill in a series of crowd-pleasing lurches and slides. Frantic work with calculators soon revealed that he, with his -8% PEP, was still in possession of the 20 points but by just 0.35 seconds from Geoff Dark! The PEPs politburo breathed a bit easier....

Conditions deteriorated steadily just ahead of the third and final runs and it became colder and a heavy drizzle set in, which soon turned into proper Harewood-type rain, so the second run times would be the ones to count for the points.

But, for many, a final run where the points didn't matter was something to be relished and a great battle to be the quickest in the wet soon developed. I've mentioned it before, but as friendly as this Series is off the track, there are some competitive and determined people who don't mess about on-track. Mark Buckland was giving it all but Peter Hitchman won the battle of the Mondials, having been just three-hundredths quicker than Mark on the second dry run. PG, as usual not lacking bravery, went straight on into the gravel at Farmhouse. David Tomlin had a tank-slapper on the exit of Willow but got away with it.

To compound everyone's misery another Harewood tradition then re-appeared - timing gear failure. After a long delay during which it got even wetter, they got things working again and the remaining Fazzaists set-to with a vengeance and it was Mineeff who had the honour of setting the quickest time by 0.21 seconds from Andy Grier who in turn was just one-hundredth ahead of Geoff Dark! Those three were the only ones in the 77s, with Jolyon Harrison having another great run with a 78, with Butler and Buckland following in the 79s. Gooders was enjoying himself hugely and, headlights blazing through the murk, the Lusso looked like a throwback to Spa in the 1960s!

When the PEPs and points were worked out, it was confirmed that Gooders had taken the points win from 17th overall. Geoff Dark was second ahead of on-the-road winner Nick Frost, who finished third from Brian Jackson, who after 20 years and 150 events in his trusty yellow 308 is going better than ever this year.

All this means that Geoff Dark is now in the lead of the Championship by 15 points from Richard Prior. The next round is at M.I.R.A. on 27th May - please note that this is a non-spectator meeting, so check this site first for the results.