So 10 it was, a good mix of cars though, a couple of 308s and 328s a rash of 355s and Ferraris equivalent of the stealth fighter - John Marshall's 430 Scud.  No 348s though. Mark Hargreaves was double-driving with his son Jack in their fibreglass 308 GTB.

Always an early start at Gurston and as usual no-one was ready for first practice. Your reporter was ticked off by the Paddock Marshal for being out of number order. This was due to being in the wrong slot but only because someone else had turned up earlier and nicked mine!

Shortly after first practice started and as the Ferraris were in the first batch we were quickly away. With no sign of the threatened rain a few were already on it with Marshall already on a 37.22 followed by Prior on 37.91 and Wood on 38.78.  The others were spread out from there with Ed Briscoe (308 GTS mounted today) and Wendy-Ann Marshall (328) bringing up the rear.

With the end of the first practice and after a visit to the cafe for bacon sarnies, numbers were crunched and as usual there was plenty of room for improvement. Gurston has a split time and a sector time so it should be easier to see where you are slow. Your reporter checked out his times with next man up Richard Prior and found that despite being quicker off the line, quicker to the split and with very similar speeds though the traps I was still most of a second down on Richard - there must be some sort of shortcut or something and no-one is telling me!

Anyway, second practice was called and we were away again.  Excellent times by John Marshall and Richard Prior, both broke the Ferrari record for this track - of course as it was Practice these don't count but more for the afternoon was hoped for. Also notable was Jack Hargreaves who knocked a huge two and a half seconds off to catch his father now he knew his way up.  Phil Whitehead (355) also dropped two seconds to record 39.06 ahead of Andrew Holman on 39.49. Everyone also improved apart from Mark who lost half a second somewhere or other.

Most of us went for lunch although John Marshall decided not to indulge. Some wag thought he was saving weight or something. MD was seen to sprinkle sand on his clutch cover and gave us a story about some clutch malady affecting his times - but no-one was convinced. He was probably performing some ancient Druidical rite as that sort of thing is big in the area. Someone who did have some trouble was Phil whose engine was making a strange noise from somewhere around the timing cover area.  Holman offered to help, but Phil has his own gods and called upon the spirit of Dixie Dean.

After lunch the sun came out strongly banishing any thought of rain and the "official" runs started. The battles were between Ed and Wendy-Ann, Jack and Mark and the 355 trio of Whitehead, Wood and Holman. Prior was intent on catching John Marshall and Pauline was all on her own seemingly stuck in the 40 second bracket.

Anyway a stonking run by Marshall broke the Ferrari record, officially this time, with an amazing 35.22 - 1.72 seconds off! A fantastic run starting  with a 0-64' time of 2.27 secs, amazingly quick off the line for such a powerful car. Richard Prior couldn't quite follow his practice time with another 36 and recorded a 37.07. Wood was third on a 38.59 but Holman and Whitehead were closing in on him. Ed Briscoe had got down to a 44.22 and improved all day as did Wendy-Ann who was now on 46.67. So all to play for on the last run with Prior aiming to nick the points from John if he could.

With a last run Richard managed to do a 36.51 a new record for a 355 here and he was very pleased. John went slower so he had lost the points, or so he thought. Pauline got down into the 39s at last to record 39.43 and was very happy about that. Wood was beaten into fifth place by Holman and Whitehead with just Jack to go in the next batch. We thought that was it - but no.  A competitor in our batch had a serious off just after the finish line and wrapped his car around a tree, luckily not injuring himself other than cuts and bruises.  This took an hour to clean up and the organisers cancelled the meeting, and as most people had not done a second run only the first official time would stand.  This meant that John got the twenty points, Prior the second place and Wood third.  Your reporter's first ever trophy! [Congratulations Barrie - The Webteam].

Next up: Hethel (non-spectator) : 8 August.

Click here for (unofficial) results and points.

Click here for (unofficial) Championship positions.

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