Having had three rain-affected meetings in a row it was with sheer pleasure that the Ferraris found the hallowed track at Shelsley Walsh basking in hot sunshine for the sixth round of the Club's Hillclimb Championship.

Shelsley is always one of the highlights of the season and as the Ferraris were on the MSA National Championship bill a huge crowd of spectators was also guaranteed. It is not a hill for the faint-hearted, extremely fast with several blind corners that demand huge commitment and confidence from the driver.

Amongst the eleven Ferraris entered was newcomer Richard Preece in his 308 GT4. Some minor mechanical maladies on the way to Shelsley, soon sorted, meant he arrived too late to even walk the hill on the Friday evening. Not a good way to start his first event at this daunting venue. There were one or two other mechanical frights in the run-up to the meeting, including the 348 of front-runner Richard Prior, who discovered grinding noises in a rear hub the day before the event. Mysterious lumps of metal were quickly removed and all was well again.

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It was hot and sunny on Saturday morning as practice commenced and the Ferraris were quickly in action; but none more so than David Tomlin (355) who lives so close he could just about walk to the hill - he turned up first thing in the morning, was thus guaranteed three practice runs, rattled them all off in quick succession and returned home to his garden before the rest even got started! On his first run Sergio Ransford (308) never saw the finish line or the banner fluttering across it and carried straight on into the field beyond, by which time he realised that he had probably left the venue......

Quickest in practice was event favourite Nick Taylor (348 GTC) ahead of Geoff Dark (308), who always flies on this hill, and Richard Prior. Christian Mineeff (328) had his engine drop on to seven cylinders but was still able to take two of his three practice runs before beginning the search for an elusive electrical fault. Having hurriedly walked the hill during the lunch break Preece took two practice runs in the afternoon and ended up commendably 8th quickest out of the 11 Ferraris.

Sunday morning was again brilliant sunshine and the Ferraris were out quite early on, running in Batch 4. The Mineeff 328 had been fixed so the full field was led away by John Marshall (328) with a run of 36.92 secs. Preece ran next but admitted to some hesitation ahead of the blind sweeps and ended up on a 41.52, slower than in practice. Tomlin then lowered the marker to 36.27 but it was the next runner, Geoff Dark, who set a seriously quick time with 35.98 to put himself at the top of the board. On his run Ransford kept his eye open for the finish line with a 42 secs run and then came Mineeff, who finished just one 100th behind Dark with a 35.99. David Hathaway, roof off on his 348ts, went up in a 39, just 2 100ths ahead of Andy Duncan in his lovely dark blue 355 GTS. It was Nick Taylor, however, who posted a 35.87 to put himself narrowly at the top of the table, his 348 GTC howling wonderfully as it ripped up the hill. Prior was slower than he should have been and ended up down in fifth place with a 36.39. Peter Rogerson was the final Ferrari runner and set a 41.72 with his 355.

The lunch break gave everyone the opportunity of looking around some of the other attractions at the hill, notably a fabulous gathering of Harley Davidsons, a number of which made demonstration runs up the hill. There must have been hundreds there. None of the Ferrari ensemble, a lot of whom own motorbikes, would own up to having a Harley but we do know of a certain Club gentleman in the North West Chapter who has one tucked away sharing his garage with a 308.

Just before the Ferraris' second and final runs unbelievably a black cloud appeared and it began to spit with rain. Wipers were on as the cars lined up on the start line but just as quickly the cloud disappeared and the track remained mercifully dry. The hot tarmac immediately burnt off the few drops that came down.

Taylor made absolutely sure of his win by setting a fabulous 35.14sec time despite a rear-end lurch when he chucked it into the Esses, but it was Richard Prior who really concentrated with a noticeably aggressive run on which he clipped the grass verge in the Bottom Ess. He was nearly 0.8 secs quicker than his first run and leapfrogged three runners in front of him to achieve second overall. Dark went slightly quicker than on his first run, with a 35.90 which secured him third place, but Mineeff could only improve by 100ths and ended up fourth, kicking himself for being just too laid-back on this wonderful sunny day. Both Tomlin and Marshall went slower on their second runs to end up fifth and sixth, ahead of Hathaway and Duncan, the former going particularly well on this tricky hill. This time Preece drove much more aggressively, knocked nearly a second off his first run time but was disappointed not to have broken the 40 second barrier as he stayed on a 40.42. Rogerson and Ransford rounded off the class.

Then, as always, came the rush for calculators and the arithmetic as to who had gained the Championship points once the PEP factors were applied. It was all very close, with Dark just getting the 20 points by 0.13 of a second from Taylor who, in turn, was just another 0.13 ahead of Mineeff. After all his sterling work Richard Prior, who suffers this season from carrying an extra 1% PEP for being the reigning Champion, was kept down to fourth place on the points.

With this result Dark has slightly extended his lead at the top of the Championship table to 104, with Taylor following on 84 and Prior on 79. The next round of the Championship takes place at Cadwell Park on Saturday 17 June at which Nick Taylor, an experienced circuit racer in a Cobra, must start as favourite to repeat his win of last year although Chris Butler is sure to give him a good run in his 355.

Click here for the results.

Click here for Championship positions.

Click here to return to the Ferrari Hill Climb Championship page.

You know the caption by now...

Sergio Ransford at the oldest motorsport venue in the world

Peter Rogerson takes a middle of the road approach to Crossing

Richard Preece made a promising debut in his GT4

Andrew Duncan's "new" 355 flashes across the finishing line

A good drive by David Hathaway

John Marshall only just managed to get his car off Wendy following the Curborough tuition day

David Tomlin - A local driver on his local hill!

Christian Mineeff was fourth on the road, but third on PEPs

Geoff Dark, on the line, took the max points

Richard Prior had a great second run to snatch 2nd O/A...

...but Nick Taylor was comfortably quickest

The weather threatened at one point

pics by Angela Preece, Graham Easter & CMdigicams