Report - Round 5 - 2008 Pirelli Ferrari Hillclimb Championship - Club Racing Series'

Living in the Black Country brings with it many privileges, not least of which is that Shelsley is my nearest motorsports venue. This historic place is not only the oldest motorsport venue in the world still in use but is also one of the most challenging with its blind, fast corners which put a premium on bravery and punish recklessness or over-confidence. The combination of location, history and the track is an intoxicating mix, yet I always struggle to find original things to report. Mind you I'm not alone in this, I wish I had a pound for every time I've heard, "over the drain cover, nicely up the middle of the road and safely over the finish line" over the tannoy, or that Colin Campbell's Dino is the only six cylinder car in the field.

The real problem from a scribbling point of view is that Shelsley is fast, steep and short. Also the Ferraris are road cars and are working hard but don't look particularly spectacular when compared with a Gould hurtling up the hill, especially when viewed from the Members' Enclosure. The nature of the hill means that the quicker Ferraris just look faster than the slower ones. They pop into sight a long way away going faster, keep accelerating, brake later for the Esses, carry more speed in, then out of sight in around 30 seconds but apart from obvious mistakes, there isn't much else you can say.

Yet this is grossly unfair to the drivers who are trying very hard and are fully committed. This year I watched from halfway between the Crossing and the Esses where you get a much better sense of the kinetic energy involved in the process. A ton and a half of Fazza doing 80+mph up a 12ft wide country lane where 15mph would be a more appropriate speed is an awesome sight close up. Another problem is that the hill is isolated from the paddock and once up there you tend to stay there, so you miss out on the post-run chat. Also no-one from the webteam was invited to the Saturday night dinner, but we did hear everyone had a lovely time. Mind you, my not attending practice and missing the first run (chauffeur wouldn't get out of bed) didn't help the interactive process either.

There was a magnificent entry of 20 Ferraris at this most prestigious of meetings and it's fair to remind ourselves that there were some beginners who probably wouldn't have got in had they not been in a Ferrari, a privilege we may take for granted. This also suggests that the Series and the Club are held in high regard by the organisers. Jon Goodwin was a notable absentee, having committed to a family birthday party some two years before, this denied him and us the chance to see how his 430 coupé would go; however John Marshall's 430F1 was entered, so to him fell the honour of debuting the tipo at the Sacred Mountain. Ed Briscoe retired his GT4 after practice with dizzy problems and reigning Champion Richard Prior was sidelined with gear selection problems during his first run. Ever cheerful he pointed out that his 348ts is finally getting the rebuild it needs, but piecemeal; also Richard it's normal to do it before the season starts.

As it turned out, this meeting was all about one driver, local pig farmer and class record holder David Tomlin dominating the whole of the weekend. He broke his own Class record on the first run, leaving it at 33.95 seconds, the first time a road-going Ferrari has been under 34 seconds. This gave him a massive 1.45 second lead over the second place man Richard Allen in his 355, RA having recovered from the excitement of kissing the bank when exiting the Top Ess the day before. Behind him things were very tight with Nick Taylor (348GTC) trailing by just six-hundredths and John Marshall just one-hundredth behind Taylor. There were similar close battles throughout the field with John Swift in ninth (355) one-hundredth ahead of Mike Spicer (355).

Tommo attributed his advantage to a fast exit from Kennel meaning that he was at optimum revs for the change up before Crossing, whereas others, at a lower speed but still forced to shift before the corner found their engines bogging down - a killer on this power hill. Mike Spicer was obviously earwigging , because on his second run he was quicker to Kennel than Tomlin (7.90 vs. 8.19 secs), also making a better start (2.33 vs. 2.45). I know this because the organisers kindly provided lots of lovely data, 1st 64ft times, splits at Kennel and Ess approach, as well as speeds there and over the finish line. Here they are, lovingly collected by Angela Preece, photographed by Andrew Holman and compiled by yours truly for each driver's best run (ranking in brackets).

Most drivers improved on their second runs, with Tommo shaving another three-hundredths off his record. John Marshall was obviously getting the feel of the hill in his 430, as he chopped 1.17 seconds off to record 34.30, which moved him up into second place. This was despite the 430F1 making it's normal poor start, with only the oldest tipo there, Colin Campbell's Dino slower. However the 430 did record 92 mph through the Ess Approach and 98mph over the finishing line, prodigious speeds for a road car and 4mph and 9mph respectively more than the Class winner, who was only 5th quickest over the line, so he must have been taking the corners at a fair old rate.

RA found just over half a second, but this still meant he dropped a place to third behind Marshall. Mike Spicer was another to find a big improvement, knocking 1.36 seconds off and his 35.08 moving him up from ninth to fourth. Peter Rogerson (355) found over a second, as did Sean Doyle making his debut on the hill and Adrian Wilson (355).

Funnily enough, the top three outright were also the top three on PEPs. I don't remember seeing that before. Series leader Andrew Holman came home fifth on PEPS, which left him hanging onto the Series lead by his finger tips.

Well, my coffee's cold and I'm getting told I've gotta get back to work. Thousands of pics have just come in from them Geordie Boys, who have set up in the photographic business, calling themselves Scuderia Fotografia. So here are some more stats for all to pore over and for the drivers to play the "IF" game.

"What's that Skippy? You can hear a grinding noise"? "Is it Prior's gearbox?" "No, you say it's Gooders' gnashers cos he's got a year to wait for the next Shelsley."