So to Curborough for Round 12: not everyone’s favourite track, but vital to the sport because of its ready accessibility. It is, though, in severe danger from evil planners but one happy consequence of the current economic situation is that the immediate threat from a 5000 dwelling, so-called “Eco Town” and future ghetto, had receded, but it’s by no means safe.

Another thing that had receded was the size of the meeting, though not through economic considerations. This was to have been a round of the Westfield Club’s Championship but the organisers would not guarantee them sufficient entries, neither would they for ours, but the Westies elected to play elsewhere. This meant all the Ferraris got in, which has not always been the case in the past, though there were only 19 as Christian Mineeff’s newly-acquired 360 was not ready, about which a number expressed disappointment. They can’t all just have been being polite can they?

So the meeting was 96% Ferraris and Reliant Scimitars and consequently somewhat lacking in ambiente, but this did not stop our lot from trying very hard. Curborough is a tight and tricky course and makes manifest the merits of controlled aggression; quick in the quick bits, slow in the slow bits (not vice-versa), with both bits properly connected together properly; easy to say, hard to do.

The Championship was reaching a critical stage and looks certain to be won by Jon Goodwin or Chris Butler, both of whom were there and looked likely prospects for victory, but would Gooders be able to control the mighty 430 (and himself), or would the super-smooth Butler take the day with his more chuckable 355?

Practice showed just how strong Gooders’ challenge was to be, with his first run 0.15 secs under his own record of 64.65 set in 2006 in an F430 F1 Spider, but his second was a full two seconds under the previous mark! We had to wait to see how Butler would respond because he had been granted permission by the Clerk of the Course to arrive late, having been Best Man at a wedding the day before. This didn’t seem to have cramped his style, as he quickly reeled off two sub-record runs, his first the best at 63.52. This was all going to be down to the PEPs.

I was busy taking (poor) pics on the first run, so the competitors are spared my observations. Chris Butler emerged in front with 63.35 which, as this was on an official run, became the new record. “But what of Gooders?” I hear his massed fan cry. He overshot the hairpin at the end of the straight on lap 2 and then the 430 conked out coming out of the top corner. There was speculation that this was some sort of anti Yob driver software cutting in, but a couple of gallons of (Pauline’s) gas sorted it out. Apparently 430s switch themselves off if fuel gets too low to prevent the cats from overheating.

Richard Allen (355) was another quick bloke to go hover mowing, so it was last year’s plucky and popular PEPs winner Andrew Holman (348tb) who was in second place on 65.27 ahead of Mike Spicer (355) on 65.61, who was just eight hundredths ahead of Nick Taylor (348GTC), who in turn was just nine hundredths ahead of Barrie Wood (355), a very good effort by the quiet Devonian to set his best time, as did Tracey Haynes (328).

Charles Haynes’ (348GTC) second run was to be his best, unlike Pauline Goodwin’s. She got into 328 into tank-slapper approaching the Mole Hill on her second lap and her first run time ended up as her best. Geoff Dark produced his best time of 67.52 in his 355, but was some way off the pace, the car looked ungainly, understeering or oversteering. Mike Spicer (355) produced his best time of 65.08 to secure fifth place both on the road and on PEPs.

Richard Prior used the kerbs a lot and his mis-shod 348ts looked to be generally lacking in grip. To be fair, he had ordered some new rear Toyos to match the fronts but they had sent the wrong size. He was very sideways in the corner at the end of the straight but caught it and then later it didn’t want to steer round the top corner. He won’t have been happy with 66.78 and tenth place. Dave Tomlin was very aggressive as usual and improved a gnat’s to 66.25, which would leave him down in 9th place, a big fall from the giddy heights of Gurston. He had fitted new rear tyres, actually managing to get hold of Pirellis, but complained he could just not get to grips with them.

RA had another wild run but did manage to get round. The 67.33 was to be his best though it was some way off his first practice run time, which is always frustrating. Nick Taylor was on the limit but under complete control and the resultant 64.80 was within striking distance of the old record, but things had moved on by a quantum leap. Chris Butler made good use of the kerbs and produced a typically quick but economical run to improve three tenths to 63.35, his best time of the day.

This just left Gooders to go. He had clearly thought a lot about what was required and his run was tidy and well-controlled, slower than Butler and Taylor in the slow bits, hence maximising the distance over which the 430’s throttle could be kept open and he hit the magic 100mph mark over the finish line. He had braked a touch too late for the hairpin, the ABS chirping away and suffered a little push on the exit. His 62.86 took the lead from Chris Butler, but only by half a second.

The depleted entry meant that everyone had a third run. Wendy Ann Marshall (328m) was the first to take advantage of it to record her best time of the day as did Jeff Cooper (360) and Phil Whitehead (355). Adrian Wilson (355) must have been delighted to knock over a second off to end up on a very respectable 66.97. Brian Jackson’s 308 was well outgunned by the more modern tipi, but his nicely controlled run of 67.94 beat his personal best and earned 10 points. In marked contrast to Brian, RA produced another wild ride, his 355 fish-tailing for most of the length of the straight! Later it emerged that he’d been conducting some bizarre experiment with tyre pressures.

John Marshall sorted out what was needed to produce a time with a 430 at Curborough and knocked two seconds off to produce a 64.30, another under the record at the start of the day. Past and present record holder Gooders corrected his minor error on the previous run to improve to 62.68 to consolidate the win, but not as quick as P2 and not quick enough to take the maximum 20 points. These were won by Chris Butler with Andrew Holman taking the 15 points for third after a determined effort which saw all three of his runs within eight hundredths of a second.

The post-meeting consensus was that the 430 is unbeatable outright and the rest will be fighting for second place at best. This is, of course, why the Championship is decided on PEPs and it’s interesting how often the 355 is taking max. points. We don’t want to see all “modern” tipi and it must be time for a Classic Class, about which there has been speculation, to encourage the owners of older cars.

Meanwhile, this year’s title is yet to be decided between Goodwin and Butler but it’s looking increasingly likely to be the former who takes it, with third almost certain to go to Tomlin or Holman.

Next round: Cadwell Park, Lincs, September 13th

Click here for the (unofficial) results and points.

Click here for the (unofficial) cumulative Championship scores.

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

Wendy Ann starts her second lap

Charles Haynes goes wide at the top

10 points for Jacko

RA stayed on the tarmac on one run

PG in the first corner

Adrian Wilson went well

Prior maximises track width

Tommo on lap 1

Barrie starts lap 2

Holman was Mr Consistency

Nick Taylor brakes heavily for the hairpin

John Marshall seized third on his last run

Chris Butler nabbed max. points...

...but Gooders took the win and the record

Pics by Andrew Holman & Graham Easter