Despite Doune being so far beyond Birmingham that a few competitors were put off making the journey this year, it was eagerly attended by a group of eight adventurous Ferrari hillclimbers who were invited to take part once again in this fantastic meeting organised by Lothian Car Club.

The weekend at Doune is always a special occasion. On the Friday afternoon I ventured up there in time to visit the local whisky distillery at Deanston, where I had the pleasure of a tour around the factory.  In a nice gesture the distillery manager Callum Fraser gave me a bottle of 12 year old Deanston Single malt to be used as a prize for fastest Ferrari driver of the weekend.   As there are plenty of hillclimbers who appreciate a dram or two, it was sure to go to a happy recipient. There was even the offer to take a few more drivers around the distillery next year when Deanston opens its doors to the public. Watch this space if you are interested!

From the moment our cars start gathering outside the front door of the Dunblane Hydro Hotel on the Friday afternoon, through to the trophy presentation on the Sunday evening at the track there is a great feeling of Ferrari camaraderie.  Of course the Friday night tradition of meeting at the local curry house was still the same, followed by only a token dram back in the hotel bar - it was important to remember that we were racing the next day.  During our Indian banquet we were entertained throughout the evening with tales of David Tomlin's success in the roundy-roundy at Spa the weekend before. Again and again....

Saturday’s practice day started earlier than expected when the hotel fire alarm went off around 7.00 am.  Some had only just got their hands on the orange juice before we were ushered out into the car park, and the fire engines were on their way. With the car park filling up with Rosso Corsa fire tenders we decided to make our escape and get to the track just outside of Doune in time for the drivers briefing.

Only two Ferrari drivers had never seen the hill before, and Nick Taylor and Spa supremo David Tomlin took up the offer from experienced track staff members to share their knowledge while driving up the track in a people carrier packed with Doune virgins. 

For first practice you might have expected a careful attempt at the hill, but not so for our intrepid band of drivers who still pushed on hard enough to find the damp track still slightly slippery.   Richard Allen was the hero of the run posting the fastest time of 59.59 in his 328, followed closely by Chris Butler's 355 clocking 60.94. 

In second practice everyone enjoyed a faster run thanks to the bone dry track, Christian Mineeff set the fastest time, clocking 53.24 seconds. We haven't mentioned yet that his car benefited from warm engine, tyres and brakes (and seat!) thanks to sharing the car with past RAC Hillclimb and Sprint Champion and Doune outright winner Ray Rowan. Ray was running the somewhat chunky 360 in the Road Sports cars over 1700cc and was up against some very nifty Locaterfields.  Less than a quarter of a second behind Mineeff was Chris Butler now on 53.46, despite getting a strange whiff from the engine behind him, where he may have warmed the clutch more than the rear tyres on his way to the start line.

During breaks in proceedings we were enthralled by more tales of David Tomlin's derring-do at Spa the previous weekend. Southerner Mike Spicer kept in touch with the hillclimbers by text reminding them of important techniques for this challenging hill. Speaking from his comfy chair in Windsor he said  "avoid the deep fried Scotch pies from the catering wagon".  This was down to a traumatic experience from the previous year which, after counseling, we hope Mike will eventually recover from to return to Doune one day.

Third practice went smoothly for the Ferraris (apart from Ray Rowan who didn't make it to the top but went off at the large open Meadow section halfway up) and every driver had reduced their time considerably.   PG was now on 58.29, Nick Taylor had gone over 2 1/2 seconds faster with 56.24 and Richard Allen was now on 56.43. Chris Butler had taken the lead back in his 355 Berlinetta and now stood on 52.49, whilst David Tomlin reduced his time by almost three seconds, showing that the Spa-winner was learning the track very quickly. Prior improved to 54.49 and Mineeff found himself second fastest now on 52.67, while Jon Goodwin knocked over 2 seconds off to record 58.32.

After a hard day's work at the track face, we returned back to the Dunblane Hydro to find many more Ferraris had filled the car park as Club members from the Scottish Area groups had gathered to join us for the evening, which made the display of (mostly) Rosso Corsa Ferrari's even more impressive. There was a splendid dinner on the Saturday evening (thanks to Chris Butler for organising the hotel and reserving a private room of our own) where we had the pleasure of the company of several Scottish members, including AGOs David Jackson, Michael Shakespeare and Gavin Struthers.

There was another surprise when we found a wedding taking place at the hotel over the weekend, and the Ferrari line up made a splendid backdrop for some of the photos. The bride and groom were spoilt for choice but chose to stand in front of Chris Butler's 355, and the groom was thrilled when Chris offered to take him for a spin down the Hotel driveway and back at a modest (??) speed....! They returned the favour by inviting us along to join the reception and have a dance or two later in the evening. A lovely couple and we wish Steven and Lauren Gallagher all the best for their future together.
 
During the meal we begged for more stories of Spa from David Tomlin. Apparently he's such a top racer that his 328 also won the formula classic race there, without him even needing to be behind the wheel.

We were back at the track by 10.00am on Sunday morning for our fourth practice run of the weekend. Pauline took to the hill first, and propelled her 328 up the lower parts of the course with great accuracy but upon entering the Meadow halfway up the hill lost the back end of the 328 and spun harmlessly over the grass, but pluckily pointed the car in the right direction and continued to the top.

Nick Taylor followed up next in the 348 GTC, with a lightening start of 2.30 seconds and his fastest climb of 54.57, with Richard Allen in his 328 also faster than the previous day on 55.44. The 355 of Chris Butler was slower by almost 1 second (everyone hoping he had peaked already in yesterday's practice) whilst David Tomlin had made up over two seconds over his P3 time and sat comfortably on 54.21 seconds, now ahead of fellow Doune newbie Taylor.

Richard Prior in the 348ts also improved to 53.23 and had the fastest split time so far with 18.74 to the daunting corner known as Garden Gate but not for long as Mineeff was next on track and made his climb the quickest ever in the Ferrari class on 52.44. Jon Goodwin completed the line up in the Lusso with an amazing 0-64ft time of 2.70 for the old car, reaching the top in 58.67.

As we slowly drove back down the hill acknowledging each of the marshals posts for their patience standing around while we were enjoying ourselves, we could also pick out the large group of supporters that had now gathered from the Scottish area groups, a very welcome sight to see them waving as we returned down to the paddock. 

Our first competition run was close to being called before the lunch break, but even though we were ready and prepared to warm the cars the organisers decided we would be first on track to restart after the break.

Fully refreshed from our naps/fish and chips/car polishing, Pauline Goodwin led us through the paddock and left the start line in 2.36 seconds and broke her personal best time with 57.28 seconds. Nick Taylor in the 348 GTC matched her for the 0-64ft but felt comfortable enough to really push on his ascent to stop the clock on 53.47, a great achievement for a first appearance here. Richard Allen's 328 was suffering overheating problems in the queue to the start line and he decided to return to the paddock, forfeiting his first run.

Chris Butler continued his superb form and hit the split time in 18.64, continuing to the top and throwing down the gauntlet with 52.19 seconds and a new Ferrari record. David Tomlin improved his start time by controlling the wheelspin better and getting 54.30 at the finish, while Prior matched the best 0-64 ft time of the weekend at 2.30 seconds and also became the quickest to the Garden Gate split (beating Butler by 0.3 of a second) but losing out towards the end of climb and settling for 52.62.

Christian Mineeff was next to be called forward and had Butler's new class record in his sights, at the split time he was 0.14 seconds ahead of him and as he came into sight around the last corner and used the extra grunt of the 360 to cross the finish line he had beaten Chris’s time by one-hundredth of second!

Jon Goodwin followed next and passed the finishing line at such great speed and was busy looking across at the time clock adjacent to the track that he almost forgot to slow down for the entrance into the collecting area. The screech of brakes and plumes of tyre smoke had the watching competitors on the edge of their seats, but Jon hadn't matched Pauline's time and lost out by six hundredths of a second in this family battle.

It was almost the end of the day as we started our second runs, but conditions looked good as shown by the 328 of Pauline Goodwin who improved yet again to 56.67 seconds, and Nick Taylor's time came down to 53.06, with an incredible performance for a 348 over the first 64 feet of 2.27 seconds. Richard Allen topped up his water tank this time and managed to make a successful climb in 54.27 before the gauge moved too far off the scale.

Chris Butler regained his lead over Christian with an incredibly smooth 51.33 run. It would have been interesting to see the split time for the lower part of the course but the timing gear had been damaged by another competitor from an earlier class. David Tomlin was disappointed to receive a slower time in this run, as was Richard Prior who put the outside wheels onto the grass at the Meadow but continued despite losing valuable time.

Ray Rowan had used Christian's 360 in an earlier batch of cars and performed his best run of the day with a 52.36 so all eyes were on Mineeff as he crossed the line in the 51 second bracket, the same as Butler, but it was 51.76 and only good enough for the second place. Handshakes and congratulations all round for Chris who had again performed that rare triple - the scratch win, maximum points and broken the track record.   Jon Goodwin completed the class and despite a fine effort and going faster with 57.14 still couldn't match wife Pauline's improved second run time.

With conditions this weekend being the best experienced by the Ferraris at Doune, it meant that six of the class went quicker than the previous record set by Jon Goodwin back in 2004 when he was driving a 355 GTS, and the remaining two drivers beat their personal best times by a considerable margin.  Chris Butler said that he thought it had taken Ferrari hillclimbing to a new level of competitiveness.

Prior is now back on top of the championship table after taking the 17 points for second PEP place and Taylor getting only 13, but Chris Butler deservedly got the 20 for his breathtaking second run -  could this mean he's ready to start his usual late season charge in the championship?

A very successful meeting for the Lothian Car Club, and also the Ferrari Owners Club, bringing together some lovely cars in the public car park and enthusiastic supporters we wouldn't normally get the chance to meet, so many thanks to them for making the journey and hope that they enjoyed Doune as much as we did.

Most were then faced with a six hour plus journey home; however I’m sure it flew by for Hilary Tomlin as she was once again entertained by David’s stories from Spa.....

Click here for the (unofficial) results and points.

Click here for the (unofficial) Championship positions.

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