Report - Round 6 - 2007 Pirelli Ferrari Hillclimb Championship - Club Racing Series'

There's a tiny section of this website's huge readership that says we favour hillclimbing, but no-one can deny that the Top Twelve run-off at Shelsley is surely one of the greatest spectacles in motor sport, up there with F1 qualifying at Woodcote (pre chicane) or Eau Rouge. To sit in the MAC Members' enclosure and watch the country's top drivers bring a weekend's motorsport to a triumphant crescendo, at near 140 mph with sparks flying everywhere, is thrilling, with the results often decided by hundredths of a second on the final run of the day.

The hill had been re-surfaced, which usually means that records are up for grabs. Ally this to hot weather and the latest generation of hillclimb cars and things were looking good. Time was that 122 mph through the Ess approach speed trap was it, one mile-an-hour more resulting in a visit to the barriers. The Gould cars had increased this to 130+ mph, but on June 3 Martin Groves achieved 140mph on his way to a new hill record.

The record had already been broken several times, but Groves' run reduced it by the best part of a second from where it had stood at the start of the day, a huge achievement in itself, but even more amazing when you consider that the run took only 22.86 seconds! The sight and sound of the 3.5 litre cars on that hill was mind-shattering. It just did not seem possible for all that energy to be confined in so small a space.

Aerodynamic downforce is the biggest single reason for the leap in speeds. The Editor watched one run-off with the Gould constructor who said that his cars generate 900kgs of downforce at that speed, this is getting on for twice the weight of the car! I'm told by drivers who've done it that the difficult thing to get your head round with slicks and wings racing cars is the faster you go, the faster it will go (up to a limit obviously) and the later and harder you can brake.

It seems that the major factor in the drivers achieving those times was suspension of disbelief - they "just" had to have faith that it would stick to a road which was not much wider than the car itself. Then how late they could brake into what looks like a dead-end, then carry seemingly impossible speed into a 90 degree corner - amazing! For the record, it was Scott Moran who ended up the new record holder with 22.83 seconds in a Gould 61X powered by a 3.5 litre Nicholson McLaren V8. I make no apology for devoting so much of this report to non-Ferrari activity, sometimes it's important for the motorsport yardstick to be re-calibrated.

There was the biggest-ever entry of Ferraris at Shelsley - 18, and credit is due to RA for fixing this with the organisers. All of the usual suspects were there, apart from Chris Butler. We welcomed Edward Briscoe and his maroon GT4 to the series. Andrew Duncan turned up in his new toy, a stunning 348GTC - this means that 50% of the RHD production of this tipo are currently competing in the PFHC!

Practice was spoiled by the sight of Nick Taylor's faithful Mondial t coming back on the back of the wrecker, Nick having smote the bank hard on the exit of the Esses. Happily he was completely unscathed. A sad thing to happen to a fantastically successful car. I hope we'll see it back one day. RA (355) was quickest, much to his surprise, as he says Shelsley has never been the same for him after inverting a 328 here some years ago. Local resident Dave Tomlin, also in a 355, was second, he was able to go home, cut the lawn and feed his two pigs Rikky and Shifty (I think that's what he said). We were treated to the sight of the lads push-starting Mark Buckland's 355 as the electrics were playing up. It came as a surprise to Buckland when it was explained that you don't have to snip the immobiliser wires on a car you actually own....

Much of the talk that day was of the fantastic grip afforded by the new surface. It was a red hot day and even the big single-seaters were having difficulty getting away properly. Everyone stumbled when Mike Endean dropped the clutch in his 4WD Gould Puma as the World was momentarily dragged backwards! (© CMdigijokes). Richard Prior revealed that a scrute had told him he couldn't wear his overalls, ex-BAR and emblazoned with one of their fag brands, out of the car as it constituted cigarette advertising. I think it's fair to say that the new Championship shirts received a less than lukewarm reception, the logo being illegible and someone commented that they were a strange red which one wag suggested was "Rosso Instocko", but full marks for trying.

Race day weather was dry, but threatened rain. I asked Andrew Duncan (another local) what he thought would happen, expecting some country folklore about chickens pointing north, or cows standing on one leg or something, but he said "Well the forecast on Radio 4 said..." Mind you, he is a lawyer not a farmer and at least he didn't charge me for the advice.

Ferraris are quick cars, but not by racing car standards, it's simply a question of power to weight ratio and Shelsley shows this up more than anywhere - it's so steep! This isn't readily apparent to the spectator, and neither is the the fact that all of the corners are blind. It's a real bravery job to do a good time here. All of the corners up to the Bottom Ess are flat, or near to it, late braking is needed for the Esses and good speed must be carried through them whilst avoiding the banks. All this is hard enough, but there's also a very slim margin between triumph and disaster and the hill is very unforgiving of errors, as Nick Taylor found out. What I'm getting at is the cars may not look spectacular, but the drivers are trying very hard and a quick run's very iffy - so massive respect chaps! (Pauline Goodwin is classified as an honorary bloke for racing purposes).

All this and no mention of a run, something not about to change as I was busy taking pictures for the first run, so I missed Dave Tomlin (355) beating Jon Goodwin's record, reducing it by five-hundredths of a second from 34.40 to 34.35; not much but it's taken five years and a new surface to do it. Tomlin was sixth-tenths quicker than second place RA, and over a second quicker than his best practice time, attributing this massive improvement to "braking later into the Esses". Throughout the field it was incredibly close with just over a second covering eighth to 15th.

I was paying attention for the second runs, but there's not much I can say, as previously explained, other than all were obviously trying and the ones who tried hardest went quickest! All bar Duncan, Prior (didn't run - family commitments) and Tomlin improved. Phil Whitehead (355) got into the 35s as did Geoff Dark, his best of 35.50 was a great time for a 308, albeit modificato, this earned him 15 points for third place on PEPs. Swifty (355) did a 36.14 to finish sixth. I think this is his best result this century, so maybe he'll make a hillclimber yet! Pauline Goodwin was seventh and recorded a 37.27, a tank-slapper in the Esses spoiling what would have been a 36 second run for sure.

Jeff Cooper's 360 was quickest over the finish line at 93mph and he came eighth, a great result on his Shelsley debut. He pipped Andrew Holman (348) by a tenth, who was three hundredths ahead of Sergio Ransford, whose 37.72 was very creditable for a 308 on this power hill. Sergio was just six-hundredths ahead of David Hathaway (348). Adrian Wilson in "Rosie" did well to beat Andrew Duncan, who perhaps was being sensible until he gets used to his new toy.

John Day improved, as did Ric Preece (GT4), who was delighted to get into the 38s, nearly two seconds quicker than his previous best. Edward Briscoe (unsurprisingly) was the last finisher as both Taylor (of course) and Buckland non-started, the latter's 355's electrics having gone into a terminal sulk.

Dave Tomlin was inducted into the PFHC Hall of Fame for achieving that rare treble - fastest, maximum points and a new record, so congratulations to him. Once the magical Performance Equalising Percentages (basically the faster the tipo the bigger the handicap) were applied, Tomlin was just one-hundredth of a second ahead of Richard Prior, who was two-hundredths in front of Geoff Dark! Prior extended his lead in the Championship to 15 points over Dark. Both are well clear of Chris Butler in third, but there's still everything to play for.