The directions to Gurston Down hillclimb say 'a mile from Broadchalk on an unclassified road ' and part way down this road is the venue that is unusual in that the start faces downhill. Through its own small valley, the course then twists out of sight in the distance.

The Ferraris were 14 in number with a brand new driver, Shaun Smith with a 328 and a rather older driver Jon Goodwin with his new 458 out for the first time at Gurston. Reigning champion Chris Butler was not in attendance, this probably being way too south for him. Also absent was our chairman Richard Allen which was a shame as he goes well here.

The weather forecast was not good, giving rain to begin with, hopefully clearing later.

It's always an early start at Gurston with the marshal calling us forward at 8.30am, with first up the little Dino of Tony Attwood, new to Gurston, he was also first runner of the day as the Ferraris opened the meeting.

Next up was Shaun Smith and Mark Hargreaves in 328 and 308 (de-modified this season) respectively. The 328 and 308s were well represented with six cars and seven drivers (Mark's son was with us again on a double drive).  Part way through first practice the rain started lightly. The last runners found it quite wet, but the fastest man (Holman) managed a 39.88.  He also got a symbolic spanking from the lady top paddock marshall for over exuberance when parking, spinning his 355 within its wheelbase quite expertly, we thought, when parking.

On returning to the paddock the rain decended very heavily and everyone thought it was in for the day so practice two was wet and everyone was slower except for Jack Hargreaves (running in the  next batch of course) who clocked 45.32.  Back to the lower paddock and problems with the high wind entailed the PFHC gazebo being reduced in height by shortening the legs, in fact it was so low that only PG could stand up in it.  The rain poured down with large puddles building up in the paddock.

After lunch the rain stopped and with the track drying rapidly the competitive runs began with the 458 of Jon Goodwin looking good for the scratch win, and the possibility of a new Ferrari record, currently held by Jon Marshall in his 430 Scuderia.  Today though he was 308GT4 mounted and had a bit of competition with the 308 GTB of the Hargreaves' and your reporter's 308 GTS.

New guy Shaun Smith was slotted in among the other 328s of Wendy, Pauline (her car now repaired after a ding at Prescott) and Mike Spicer, his car still carrying the battle scars of another Prescott incident.  Mike was still having brake problems with his 328, tending to lock up its fronts.  The three 355s of Prior, Holman and Whitehead closely followed by Taylor in the only 348 entered were having a good battle with Prior getting the upper hand on the first timed run with a blistering 36.99, the others remaining in the mid 38s.

With the sun breaking through the clouds the last run was all dry and Jon Goodwin could use most of his 458's power and got down to 36.14 seconds, a good performance.  He thought that he could get more out of the car once he got more used to it......

The 355 trio were on it to get the points win from Goodwin and all three managed to slide past him on PEPs.  Richard Prior's first timed run being his fastest giving him the 20 points with Holman narrowly beating Whitehead for second with his 37.36. Taylor had ignition problems and dropped back to sixth position.  John Marshall pulled a quick one out of the bag to head up the 308/328 list. This was his first "classic" win and he collared fifth place on points with a 40.17 ahead of Spicer, Pauline and Wood all on 40 seconds and some change. 

Jack Hargreaves managed to beat his Dad by a goodly margin and was very pleased with that.  Closely following Mark was newby Shaun Smith who drove a very creditable 42.89, not bad for a first day in the job [especially after being "coached" by MD at the last Curburgring tuition day - Ed.]. He was pipped for the points by the Dino of Tony Attwood, his best time a 44.31 after  improving throughout the day.  Wendy Ann ended on a 46.49, a little off her best here.

Click here for (unofficial) results and points.

Click here for (unofficial) Championship positions.

Next up: MIRA : 6th August.

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