Report - Round 2 - 2008 Pirelli Ferrari Hillclimb Championship - Club Racing Series'

Following three wonderful days of sunshine, I woke up on 'Harewood morning' to another dry day, a bright sky and a big orange sun on the horizon, with only a light mist. A perfect start, with the prospect of a fabulous day’s hillclimb action to look forward to. As well as this, after years of snapping cars and drivers with a compact digital camera, I had emptied the children’s piggy banks and armed myself with a Canon 450D ‘stradale’ DSLR and a huge lens. Having just taken possession, I was fully powered and very excited about unleashing the beast. I enjoyed the hour or so drive from Morpeth down to Chris and Ali Butler’s, and by 6:30a.m. the mist had almost cleared and the temperature gauge in the car was reading 14°C, so all was well with the world.

Chris and I spent an hour driving to the track, the closest hillclimb for us Northerners. Upon our arrival, the line-up of 19 Ferraris glinting in the paddock was a sight to behold. There were no less than seven 355s and in contrast Brian Jackson’s was the sole 308. Jon Goodwin was frustrated not to have his F430 (manual), as he was hoping to see what it/she/he could do, however, he had brought along luscious Lucy (250GT Lusso) and the venerable pair would no doubt be causing PEPs mayhem again. It was nice to see Andy Grier back after almost two years absence in a 328. Pauline Goodwin was also in a 328 as usual but a different one, the ex John Dobson car. There is no truth in the rumour that the purchase included a free scale and polish. Nick Taylor was the only major contender who was absent and Barrie Wood was also missing, but it’s a long way from the tin mines so we’ll forgive him.

The first practice saw four drivers breaking 70 seconds in the clear, dry conditions, although a few drivers thought it was still a bit slippery. Paying no attention to whether it was slippery or not was Chris Butler (F355GTB) with a tremendous, smooth, first practice run of 68.07s. Chris was followed by David Tomlin (F355), Richard Allen (F355) (quickest of all in the final sector) and Richard Prior (348ts), all within half a second of each other.

Andrew Holman (348tb), blasted off the line with a sub 2.4s start but forgot to use his brakes before Country corner, a technique he would reprise in Run 3. No damage was done though; Mad Dog just dented his pride, scared some sheep and left numerous crop circles. All in a day's work for an East Anglian.

Practice run 2 began with a huge improvement of 8s by Peter Wilson in his 348tb. Under the tutelage of former owner Nick Frost, Richard Preece used his 348GTC to knock almost 2 seconds off his first sector time, producing his fastest Harewood time of 70.78s, which was nearly three seconds under his 308GT4 best.

After a long, relaxing lunch break in the lovely Yorkshire sun, the first competitive run saw Andy Grier take over a second off his practice times to break his PB. He went on to chop yet more time off in Run 2, giving him 70.11s (previously 71.45s) - a fabulous achievement after his long absence. Tracey Haynes was another driver to break her PB in run 1 with a time of 74.75s. She came close again in R2 and was going very well in R3 until she wiggled at Country, which cost her time.

Despite a slipping clutch, Dave Tomlin found better form in Run 1. Poor Dave was still recovering from a nasty cycling accident involving a broken seat pin and a canal, as well as having Man Flu, plus a 5.2 Bosch injection system. He had rubber burns on his inner thighs, but we’re not sure if this was related to the bike accident or not. A nice drive of 68.34s put him on level pegging with John Marshall. However, like John, he just couldn’t do any better and John pipped him on “next best” run time by just 0.01 secs - 68.81s to Dave’s 68.82s. Dave’s runs were all fairly consistent, but with small mistakes (hitting a bollard in the Esses, going onto the grass at Country and ‘tank slapping’ at Willow) all losing him time. [I reckon that’s more excuses at one time than I’ve ever heard in 50 years of motor racing – Ed].

Phil Whitehead (F355), after a great 3rd place at Prescott, showed he was still on top form, producing his Harewood best of 67.56s, well over a second better. Phil has driven this hill lots of times and was absolutely delighted at getting all the apexes spot on. Richard Allen (F355) repeated his practice run time, but was greatly frustrated when he couldn’t improve throughout the day. The slow times were all a bit of a mystery to him as his final sector times and trap speeds were as good as the best.

Chris Butler repeated his P2 time exactly (66.89s) putting him firmly in top spot in front of Richard Prior’s consistent 67.79s. Jon Goodwin nibbled a further 5/100ths off his best in the 250GT Lusso, putting him in pole position for the 20 points after PEP correction.

In Run 2, Wendy-Ann Marshall pulled out the stops to take 2 seconds off her R1 time, with a very good 77.33s on her first competitive visit to the formidable Harewood hill. This was an achievement which she would better by a further 0.3s in the final run, beating her ‘handicap’ time of 78s by nearly a full second. Peter Wilson also took nearly 2s off his time, showing a continuous improvement in times throughout the day.

Geoff Dark just couldn’t make his F355 do what his modified 308 would do. He produced three close runs with a best of 71.7s. Charles Haynes (348GTC) was just plain out of practice. He said that his first run felt like the first time he had been in the car! He started off with an 85 second run and eventually ended up 10 seconds quicker, but not as quick as his wife.

Run 2 also saw 69s times from Mike Spicer (F355), Brian Jackson, Dave Tomlin, Phil Whitehead and Richard Allen, but Prior and Butler were slower. So, at the start of Run 3, everything was still up for grabs. Most drivers couldn’t capitalise on this except for Pauline who was on a roll and broke her personal best yet again. She was ecstatic with 70.94s, breaking her ‘handicap’ of 71s too. Mike Spicer also pulled his best time out of the bag with 69.08s which would give him 6th place (his best Harewood time in a 355). Peter Rogerson (F355) had a few hairy moments at the start of the day, but improved in Run 2 to knock 0.75s off his R1 time and come within 0.8s of his best with 72.50s.

On Run 3 of the top three only Chris Butler could better his time and he did so with a super smooth 66.75s run. This was the only run under 67s all day and a well deserved first place to Chris for consistent and error-free driving. The climax of the day for the Ferraris was the final run of Jon Goodwin. Having already set some awesome times in the 44 year old wonder, he set off up the hill again with an amazing sector between Orchard and Quarry to take yet more time off his best with a stunning 72.79s, with which he was absolutely delighted and which gave him the 20 points.

On scratch times a deserving top spot went to Chris Butler (17 points), an excellent second to Phil Whitehead (12 points) and third to the 2007 Champ Richard Prior (15 points). Several personal best times were broken at the meeting and a lot of the drivers went home very content with their performance. Chris was a bit upset at the bar bill and felt that Jon should have covered it because of his amazing run in the Lusso.

Personally, I had a great time and the pictures from the new camera are here for all to see. The championship is very open this year so far, with Chris Butler taking the lead for the first time, but he will be missing a couple of events coming up. All very interesting.