Report - Round 14 - 2007 Pirelli Ferrari Hillclimb Championship - Club Racing Series'

Ah Prescott! Tweed jackets, flat caps and Bugattis smoking their way up the hill, it’s the atmosphere of this superbly presented venue which makes it such a pleasure to be part of the competitive field.

This year is the 70th anniversary for Prescott. The Bugatti Owners' Club originally bought the estate in August 1937 and proceeded to convert the rough and slippery road into a useable hill climb course. The PHFC's second visit to the track this year was later than usual, replacing the washed out July meeting which caused some shifting of the picturesque scenery onto the winding track.

Some of the Ferrari drivers were present here a fortnight previously, at the fortunately-timed Club Picnic day. As a result some picked up a few tips on new lines and took the chance to frighten unsuspecting women and innocent children in the passenger seats - though in a totally safe and responsible way of course.

Ed Briscoe (308 GT4) led the Ferrari class down to the start line for first practice. Unfortunately John Day and Philip Whitehead were absent from the line-up, but a field of 20 Ferraris causing a traffic jam down to the paddock exit looked an impressive sight.

Early pacemaker would of course be Jon Goodwin, who fooled us into thinking he would bring the gorgeous 250 GT Lusso "Lucy" but instead chose another weapon from his collection and was leading with 50.7secs in the 430 Spider. This caused ugly scenes in the paddock by a group of disappointed Lucy fans who had arrived in a charabanc from the Five Towns. However truncheon-toting security staff under the direction of emblazered officials quickly restored order.

Close behind was Chris Butler (355) on 51.02, followed by Nick Taylor in his 348GTC on 51.59. Next up, somewhat surprisingly (especially to your author, who lost a small wager on this) was Andrew Holman. His cacophonous 348tb waking the small woodland creatures from their sleep as he made his way up this peaceful track to record 52.81. Prior in a similar tipo tetto senza responsibly crept up quietly and cautiously and could only manage 53.12; this left Geoff Dark (355) snapping at his heels with a 53.82.

In second practice most of the field came up with slightly slower times. Peter Wilson improved his 348’s speed trap reading by 10 mph but ended the run four hundredths slower. Tracey Haynes (328) had a wobbly moment going through the Esses, which lost her over two seconds. Another exciting ride was had by Peter Rogerson (355) who had a tank-slapper coming out of Ettores, but he manfully wrestled the car into submission and carried on his way. The only exceptions to this trend were Pauline Goodwin (328) having brought her first practice time down by nearly half a second and Prior who woke up at last and got the 348 into the 51 second bracket at last.

After all of this excitement it was time for a welcome lunch break. The new-look restaurant in Prescott Lodge looked posh and out of my league with its menus and wine list, so I joined the down-to-earth racers in the queue at the sandwich bar around the corner. As if by magic the proprietor appeared and produced copious amounts of fried goodies and coffee, serious fuel for hillclimbers! You also get a good view of the track from there and the smell of Castrol R goes nicely with the bacon butties and you can warm your bum against the tea urn....

With the drivers nicely rested, it was back to the fierce and exacting competition that is speed hillclimbing and the first competitive runs. Colin Campbell squeezed down to 73.01 in his Dino, which was to be his best run of the afternoon. PG, Tracey, Charles and MD Holman were all moving in the right direction compared to their practice times. Ricardo Preece (Richelotto GT4) had knocked a huge chunk of three seconds from his best morning time, and Peter Wilson made a colossal four second improvement.

‘Young’ Chris Butler needed a good result here this weekend to keep his second place in the title race and he didn’t disappoint. He piloted his 355 with extreme confidence to be the first (and only) Ferrari in the 49 second bracket. Massiv Respec! Prior tried to emulate his hero Holman with a fast run through Orchard but drifted wide on the exit and caught two wheels on the grass. The rear lurched sideways but on reaching the tarmac again it all straightened itself out. The effect on the time is impossible to judge, so it would have been a 48 for sure; it was still an improvement on the morning's effort.

John Swift forced his 355 up the hill in a competitive 52.89 to give him seventh overall on the day. Barrie Wood, also in a 355, had made a major improvement to bring his mark down to 54.14, but Geoff Dark had his best run of the day with 53.54, pipping Wood to 11th place in class. The other notable performance in the first run came from Jon Goodwin, using all of the 430 restless ponies to reign in Butler but could only stop the clock on 50 seconds dead.

Mid-afternoon brought the second timed runs for the Ferrari class and PG had been consistently bringing her time down throughout the day and her run of 53.19 was a corker, beating her personal best time set in the May meeting this year by 0.4 of a second and she rode away a very happy bunny with 11 points. Ed Briscoe had his quickest run with 56.86, as did Peter Wilson (348) on 57.90 to get the handicap award, and Charles Haynes was steadily planing his time down to 55.42. Holman was easing off as the sun was going down with 51.98, Peter Rogerson had a better time of 54.37, Jeff Cooper was also on the jazz, coming in on 53.26 to get ahead of Geoff Dark. Mike Spicer was now on the money in the 355, almost matching his handicap target with a noble tally of 51.79.

Ricardo Preece was also overjoyed with his final run time of 54.58, ahead of Sergio Ransford by five hundredths of a second and also beating a previous best GT4 time, set seven years ago by Mike Spicer in a previous incarnation. Prior tried harder than ever and with extra effort through the Esses got his time down to 50.30, while Nick Taylor followed, gaining ground with a score of 50.51 but not enough to keep his place on the podium.

Gooders had another go at Butler, but with a (bad) 64ft time of 3.28 and lower speed trap, finished a fraction down on his first run. Butler already had it in the bag, but incredibly increased his lead by another two hundredths of a second, only 0.18 away from Jon’s long standing record! This is 49.36, was set five years ago during his all conquering championship year, and looked well safe with the cooler autumnal weather conditions.

When PEP factors were applied Prior got the maximum points, Butler took away 17 points for his efforts and also secured second place in the Championship, but third place is yet to be decided. Jon Goodwin received 15 points despite the large PEP penalty of the 430, and Nick Taylor in the GTC collected 13 points.

Lord Raglan of the Bugatti Trust presented the scratch trophies in the paddock to Richard Prior (3rd) Jon Goodwin (2nd) and a delighted Chris Butler in 1st.