In 2009 we had 14 rounds at ten venues. There were nine single day meets, one double-header and three two-day meets. For 2010, the mysterious ruling Junta have listened to the masses and dumped the tedious two-day Prescott and introduced another double-header in May at Harewood. We keep the Blue Riband June National Shelsley and our 2010 "overseas" trip will be to Doune.

Last year this only attracted eight entries, which may be due to the ruthless nature of the hill or the distance for most people. For 2010 it'll be interesting to see how many stay in Scotland for the track day and roundy-roundy festival at Knockhill the following weekend. Also this year we've got 15 rounds, a brand new venue (Goodwood) and an additional one-day Shelsley, which is nice, and I see they've thrown Mad Dog a bone by going back East to the dull Hethel.

Doune was not the least popular meeting - that was Gurston Down with only six entries, not sure why but I guess it means a very early start or an overnight for most. The most popular meetings with 22 entries were Loton II and.... the Curborough 2 lapper! The average no. of entries per meeting was 16.1, which was down from the previous year but not bad given the economic situation.

32 drivers competed in the year, which was actually +2 on the previous year. Champion Nick Taylor and Richard Prior did all 14, 15 drivers did 8 rounds or more. In addition to the two aforementioned these were: Pauline Goodwin, Mike Spicer, Andrew Holman, Sean Doyle, Chris Butler, Christian Mineeff, John Marshall, Wendy Ann Marshall, Jon Goodwin, Phil Whitehead, Tracey Haynes, Richard Preece & Richard Allen. Of these, Tracey Haynes was again the most consistent driver with a Standard Deviation of 1.33. The Mean number of events per driver was down slightly to 7, Median was 6.5, Mode 5, and SD 3.78. Unfortunately, I have no idea what any of this signifies .... Ali?

The PEPs system had an overhaul last year with the baseline zero being re-set as the 355, all very sensible as this is the most accessible and useable tipo for the Series. In reality, there was little change to the weightings, with mainly just the odd quarter of a percent up or down vs. the 355, apart from the 360 (+1%), 430 (+1.25%) and Lucy the Lusso (a draconian +4.75%). One of the tipi to be made better off was 348GTC, which moved closer to the 355 by 0.25%, which was a touch ironic as Nick Taylor won the Championship with a max. score. However, our trusty points calculating engine shows that Nick would still have won even with the old PEP difference. I'm not going to do any alternative PEPs scenarios this year (bar one), but watch this space.....

The biggest single change last year was the arrival of John Marshall's new 430 Scuderia which meant a whole new ball game. It clearly isn't easy to harness all of the tipo's awesome performance within the tight confines and limited running at British hills, but when it all came together it left the others reeling in its wake, like by 1.7 seconds over the 33-ish seconds of Shelsley Walsh. It's also ironic that the best car in the Series has exclusive use of the best tyres! I really enjoy watching this car but wonder about the long-term impact on the Series should the latest and most expensive tipo become un-catchable in terms of outright wins. Allowing others the option of the quicker 1B tyres would have evened things up a bit, but this is not to be.

Outside all of this, Nick Taylor recognized early on that the game had been upped and had the suspension of his GTC tweaked (within the regulations) to overcome the tipo's inherent understeer. This, plus fierce competitiveness in terms of speed, consistency, application and of course, strategic contemplation, meant a maximum score and his third championship. Thoroughly deserved.

Anyway, here are the stats, as always make of them what you will.

Click here for (unofficial) championship positions.

The numbers confirm Nick Taylor's command over the Championship, but show how close it was for second and third, with Chris Butler coming home runner-up for the third time in a row. His day will hopefully come but perhaps not with the championship now being so competitive and him going circuit racing too. However, he did put in a stellar performance at Doune. Richard Prior stunned everyone with his record-breaking performance at Bouley Bay, and his PEPs win there and in the next round gave him an early lead in the Championship, but once he had got into his stride, Nick Taylor marched inexorably away from him although Richard fought for second to the very last round.

Mike Spicer took fourth place on dropped scores from Andrew Holman. He had one win (at Gurston) on his way to his best place in the Series. He takes a sabbatical in 2010 but we hope to see him (with pen) at some hillclimbs and circuit races. Andrew Holman went into 2009 clearly on a mission and took the PEPs win in the opening round. After the Bouley incident it understandably took him some time to recover his form, which he did by the end of the year, missing out on the win in the final round by just three-hundredths of a second.

The winner at that final Curborough was Christian Mineeff, who tamed both the 360 and the venue, which he has always found difficult and disliked, to take his second PFHC win in a row. This probably afforded him more satisfaction than his first, at the previous round at Harewood, which he really likes. Like Mineeff, Gooders was the victim of a PEPs mugging which rendered Lucy totally uncompetitive. However, he uncomplainingly got on with it and had a play (mostly) with the big 550M, the first time we have seen anyone do a full-ish season with one. No wins, but two third PEPs places despite the additional burden of the reigning Champion's +1%. What will he do this year? Carry on with the 550, drag the 355 out, pinch the California when PG's not looking, or what?

Pauline Goodwin got into the top ten for the first time, an achievement made greater by the fact that she was in a 328, the only person to do so. Phil Whitehead finished comfortably in the top ten for the second year. A heavy PEP meant that despite taking four outright wins and five records, John Marshall was only tenth overall. Dave Tomlin won the first round well, but missed his best venues in a limited season, preferring to focus on the Club's circuit racing series' where he achieved great success.

The Series is now dominated by the newer tipi, with only PG breaking into the top ten with an older car, but with our points calculating engine it is but the work of a few keystrokes to remove the later cars and produce a "championship" for tipi up to and including the 328.

...motor racing is all about sheer speed so here are the "Top Ten" based on outright speed - forget the PEPS. The plus ones are the drivers held back by the PEPs system, the minus ones are the ones who benefited. Interesting table, isn't it? Butler squeaked it by one point from the super-quick 430 Scud of Marshall but Nick Taylor was right there with them. As so often, cream rises to the top and you don't really need the PEPs paraphernalia to sort the front half of the field. Maybe its days have gone. And that would really be something for the Junta to struggle with.....

Next up: North Weald : 14 March 2010.

Click here to return to the 2009 Pirelli Ferrari Hillclimb Championship page.

Click here to go to the 2010 Pirelli Ferrari Hillclimb Championship page.