Although Shelsley is my local hillclimb I had never driven it. I don’t know what it is about the hill, maybe it is because of its age and pedigree but I had a real aversion to it. I have been a spectator here on many occasions and this is probably the reason I have never driven it ………….until now.

I arrived early so I could sign on and get the car ready in time to allow me to walk the hill, although the scutineer later said that walking this hill was a waste of time unless you were prepared to do it on your hands and knees. Now I have driven it I kind of see his point as I am sure everyone who has driven up this daunting and unforgiving hill will also understand.

There were 15 Ferraris listed in the programme, however Wendy Ann had a cracked windscreen which she knew would fail scrutineering so decided to scratch beforehand. But Sergio Ransford took the entry back up to 15 when the M.A.C. allowed him to transfer his entry from the day before when he realised he had entered the wrong days’ competition……bless!

Once scutineered you have an option to choose an early practice batch or a later one. It had rained overnight and there was still the odd light rain shower about , and most of us opted for the middle batches but Butler, Prior, Taylor and Tomlin opted for later batches, hoping for drier runs. Following the overnight rain and the competition the day before, along with a build up of moss around the bottom S, the track was extremely slippery for first practice and this was evident from the times for those in the earlier practice sessions with only Holman breaking the 40 second barrier with 39.47.  The much fancied 430 Scud of John Marshall was also over the 40-sec mark, he took both his runs early on.

The later session drivers had a drier track and Prior had the edge over the others,  recording 35.75 to be leading driver after first practice. Conditions had improved slightly for second practice and most of the field improved their times.  Julian Playford (355), also a newcomer at this hill, improved his time by more than 3 seconds as did Jeff Cooper (360), Sergio Ransford (308), Andrew Duncan, out twice in a year in his 348 GTC and Pauline Goodwin, now back in her trusty 328. Local yokel David Tomlin (355) set the quickest time and was the only driver to break 35 seconds. The front runners going into the lunch break were Tomlin (34.92) followed by Butler (35.17) and Taylor (35.72), although Prior was not far behind on 35.75.

The usual discussions about practice and tyre pressures took place during lunch, along with Chris’s predicament regarding the pending birth of baby Butler and the annual prize giving dinner. I don’t think there was a conclusion other than there would be plenty of past animal birthing experience to hand if Ali went into labour during the dinner. He didn’t look encouraged.

The rain during the lunch break, on occasions, looked like it was going to set in but eventually gave up and just before the Ferrari competitive runs were due to start there were dry patches of tarmac beginning to appear in the paddock, although the track was still damp. Being only a Club meeting there were few slick-shod cars so they were not going to help clear the track.

Ransford lead the Ferraris to the start line for the first official runs and improved to 39.07. Campbell (246) was next up and with a Red Bull fix during the break improved to 52.39, this really kicked in for his second run when he recorded a 50.89 which bettered his handicap time. Playford knocked over a second off his previous and finished at 42.01 which was to be his best of the day. Doyle, still pushing hard in his 308 GT4 hoping for crucial Classic Cup points, crossed the finish line in 38.84 recording a new PB.

Holman moved into sixth place with a new PB of 35.82 knocking 2 seconds off his best practice time. Dark horse Whitehead (355) crossed the line in 36.09 which later proved to be his best run of the day. Butler edged ahead in the sub 35 second pack after a good get away from the line and finished with 34.56, followed by Marshall 34.71 and Taylor, also flying off the line to record 34.90.

With track conditions improving all the time the second runs were definitely going to be a closely fought battle with only 0.34 seconds separating the top three drivers.

So to the final runs of the day, Haynes (328) stopped the clock at 40.09 which was more than a 2 second improvement on her last run and enough to win the handicap award. Cooper set a new PB finishing on 37.44 and crossed the line at 92mph which put him into 8th place on scratch. Duncan’s local knowledge took him to 38.85 and PG headed the older tipos and, following her normal speedy release from the start line, crossed the finish in 38.02 and into 9th place.

Next off the line was Holman who approached the bottom S split in less than 22 seconds but then locked up and was unable to make the turn and unfortunately hit the bank on the right bringing his run to an abrupt halt. Fortunately he escaped unhurt which was more than could be said of his 355. There was a delay while the marshals cleared the track and at the top of the hill talk turned to the effect this might have on the remaining drivers waiting patiently in the paddock.

When the runs resumed Whitehead and Taylor were slightly slower, although Taylor recorded the fastest 0-64ft time of the day, 2.35 seconds, and Prior and Butler improved by 0.12 and 0.14 respectively. Tomlin improved to 34.25 which was his fastest time of the day. The last Ferrari driver to take his run was Marshall in the mighty Scud: they entered the bottom S at 95mph in just over 21 seconds and came out of the top S well balanced to record 102mph over the line and a new class record of 32.98 which could stand for some time. 

The final result on scratch, then, was, Marshall first, Tomlin second and Butler third, After PEPs were added Tomlin took first place and the max. 20 points, Butler was second and Marshall third.

In summary four drivers set new PBs, two drivers drove the hill for first time and Mad Dog lived up to his nickname. Another class record was broken and again List 1B tyres were involved.

As a result of the points awarded from this event Prior has secured 2nd place in the Championship and Taylor has secured 3rd place, so congratulations to them both.

The battle for 4th place between Richard Allen (who was not at Shelsley) and Andrew Holman carries over to the final round at Curborough on 3 October and could prove interesting.

Click here to go in-car with Andrew Holman (R1).

Click here for (unofficial) results and points.

Click here for (unofficial) Championship positions.

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