Report - Round 5 - 2006 Pirelli Ferrari Hillclimb Championship - Club Racing Series'

As I headed for my third FOC motorsport-related event in a week (Mallory Park formula classic on Sunday, Curborough 'ITSE' on Wednesday, and now PFHC MIRA) it occurred to me just how central motorsport is to the Club and how this remains faithful to Enzo Ferrari's vision of sport, especially F1, as the very soul of the Prancing Horse. Then it occurred to me that maybe it was time I got a life as I was going to yet another wet clubbie meeting in the East Midlands in a Skoda.

The Motor Industry Research Association Proving Ground was originally RAF Lindley and like all ex-airfield sprint courses has particular characteristics: flat, featureless and fast, with a wide course, often marked out with cones. I never liked driving on them, but I like watching as they are all about high speed bravery, precision braking and lines, though the organisers had twigged to consistency of coning this year - one colour on the outside and another on the inside.

Former winner Chris Butler (355) was the favourite in the field of thirteen Ferraris with Nick Taylor likely to be his main opposition, his 348GTC now mercifully de-blinged. The PEPs winner was a bit easier to predict, given the anarchic combination of Jon Goodwin's spirited pedalling of his 250 Lusso and a minus 8% PEP, likely to be further assisted by bad weather.

Speaking of sport and Ferrari, Butler had just returned from F1 testing at Fiorano, where Schuey had shaken his hand. Chris said they'd been at San Marino to witness his win and in turn Schuey wished him well at MIRA - apparently he is a great follower of the PHFCC via this site, so cheers Mick! The Great Man had also signed something of Ali's, and as she's from the North East, excited speculation just as to what and whether tattooing would be subsequently involved was dashed when it turned out to be a Ferrari hat.

It got progressively wetter as practice went on and the first run times were the quickest with Nick Taylor 1½ seconds in the lead from David Tomlin (355) and Chris Butler down in third. However, he got his act together for run 2 and was quickest. A quick bit of work with the calculator soon revealed that Gooders was in the lead on PEPs by nearly 3 seconds ahead of Butler and Taylor who were tied! The other significant event in practice was that Championship leader Geoff Dark (308m) had a huuge spin going into the Esses. Always brave and quick at MIRA, he left his braking impossibly late and did 3 complete 360s, fortunately without damage but this must have de-tuned him.

It was raining and properly wet for the first competition runs but dried up considerably for the second runs, and so first run times were largely redundant. For the record Taylor was quickest from Butler and Richard Prior (348ts) with Gooders in the lead on PEPs, after brushes with the officials over the abscence of a catch tank (quickly improvised) and a dragging timing strut (fixed). Charlie White ran his 355 cab. with the top down despite the rain and spun in the last corner, though whether the two are linked is not known.

The rain stopped and the sun came out for the second runs but the single-seaters were still throwing up lots of spray and there were puddles dotted around the circuit. Peter Hitchman (355) was the first away and showed how the track had improved by knocking 3 seconds off his first run time. Gooders had the Lusso on the limit, with the Old Dear squirming under braking for the right-hander into the Esses and with her tail thinking of breaking away on the left-hander on the exit, but they made it safely home.

Pauline Goodwin admitted that her head was still at the beach in Corfu from whence she had just returned, but was by no means disgraced, finishing 11th overall and tenth after PEPs. Andy Holman was a bit wild with the Mondial very lively under braking for the Esses, consequently he only improved by four-tenths.

Colin Campbell (246) improved by 10 seconds. Dark's run did not look quick and this was confirmed by the clock, his 61.91 leaving him fifth overall and fourth on PEPs. First run leader Taylor had a drama-free run and improved by a useful 0.84 seconds but would it be enough to keep him ahead of Butler? There was a short interlude as a Rover V7 powered Morgan went round before the Fazza action resumed with Mike Spicer (328m) then Richard Prior, who didn't look particularly quick round the long, long, fast left-hander that begins on the startline and takes up about a quarter of the course. He did carry a lot of speed into the Esses and his 61.76 beat Geoff Dark, so he can't have been too unhappy, though his reigning Champ's +1% PEP cost him a place and a point.

David Hathaway (348ts) was another to make a big improvement, then came Charlie White in his lovely sounding 355. He looked to be going well, carrying good speed into the Esses but the back end looked a bit on tippy-toes on the exit. His suspension was noticeably soft and I wonder if it was in "Kings Road" setting rather than "Parabolica". His 61.65 left him in a good third place overall.

Butler was clearly on a mission and looked very fast round the first left-hander. He braked noticeably later than anyone else for the Esses and his time of 58.60 was nearly three-quarters of a second ahead of Taylor. This gave Chris a great win and his MIRA hat-trick. He was fastest at 107mph through the Ess approach speed trap and later said that he was flat from the start to the Esses. It can't have hurt either that he turned the A/C off for the first time ever - after advice from Nick Taylor! It was left to David Tomlin to finish off the Ferrari runners and he must have been disappointed to finish seventh overall after being second after the first practice run.

The organisers declared a third run "just for fun" by which time the track was nearly dry. Six Ferraris took it (not Butler, Taylor or Dark) and David Tomlin got some consolation in being second quickest, but it was Charlie White who was quickest.

The normal frantic calculator work revealed that with his 8% advantage Gooders had taken the 20 points again, over a second ahead of Chris Butler, with Nick Taylor third. Charlie White and Andrew Holman were tied on their corrected second run times, but Andy got the higher place as his first run time was better.

Taylor's result meant he moved into second place in the Championship table ahead of Prior, with Dark keeping his lead; but with so many drivers this year having the potential to score high, the Championship is looking interesting.

NB

Cameras are not allowed at MIRA, so there's no pics folks. It was PG's birthday the day after and so she was presented with this specially commissioned original portrait

Exclusive!

Mark Buckland has sent in one of them statellite pics of the event. Click here