ROUND 4 : Harewood : 15 May 2011

For the Sunday meeting of this double header there were again 16 Ferraris although there was one newcomer and one departure. Richard Allen had gone off to do Chairperson type duties at the Club’s Belton House picnic (where he froze his whatsits off – should have stayed!) but instead we were joined by Phil Whitehead in his 355. The other 15 were the same as at the previous day’s meeting and once again it was expected to be a battle between the three big beasts who had fought for the lead on the Saturday– Nick Taylor (348GTC), Chris Butler (355) and Richard Prior (355).

The Sunday meeting was also a round of the British Hillclimb Championship which gave us the chance to watch in awe at the sheer grip and aero of these phenomenal cars. Formula 1 cars look tame by comparison with these largely unrestricted single-seaters, with highly advanced aero, super soft slicks and no minimum weights. The Raptor of Lee Adams, which won its first ever championship run-off at Harewood, only weighs 290kgs without driver.

But the downside of being part of a Championship round meant that all competitors were only going to be allowed two competitive runs rather than the three on Saturday, and this meant that there were fewer entries overall and half the paddock was empty!

By the time the Ferraris assembled for morning practice a persistent drizzle had started. Throughout the day this would come and go. For the first practice runs the times were some 5 to 10 secs off the previous day’s pace as the Ferraris slithered up the hill and it was no surprise that Taylor was quickest on a 71.24 secs just ahead of Butler (71.35) and Prior (72.78). Revelling in the tricky conditions was fourth place man Brian Jackson who skilfully guided his nimble giallo 308 up the hill in an amazing 72.44, way ahead of much more powerful machinery. Equally deft at the tiller was Pauline Goodwin (328) who was fifth just ahead of Andrew Holman (355), both of them graduates of the recent Harwood hillclimbing school.

Conditions were no better for the second practice runs; the drizzle had abated to just spitting but the track was still gleaming with wetness. This time Butler just nudged ahead of Taylor, both of them a tiny bit quicker than their first runs, with Prior still in third and Jacko in fourth.

Because of the small entry the practice runs were over well before the lunch break so the organisers decided to have the first competitive runs straight away. The drizzle had come back by the time the Ferraris ran and conditions were the worst they had been all morning.

Chris Hitchman, sharing the family 355 with Dad Peter, ran first and stopped the clocks at 88.42 secs, some 13 secs off his practice best which showed just how much track conditions had deteriorated. Ian Chadwick (355) was next up on 91 secs, the relative newcomer still learning all about the track variables which it takes old hands years to master. Peter Rogerson (360) had his usual steady run but then Lorraine Hitchman (328) brought the mark down to 85 secs as the pace improved. Julian Playford (355), another relative newcomer, slotted into a temporary second spot before Brian Jackson then went by far the quickest with a 78 sec run in his 308 which was really handy in the conditions.

Next runner John Swift (355) was cautious on an 86 and Shaun Doyle’s hopes of repeating his Saturday glory were dashed when he only managed an 82 sec run. Mike Spicer in his lovely new 328 (another in giallo) slithering up in 80 secs to slot into second behind Jacko and so we had yellow Fazzas temporarily in first and second! Peter Hitchman took a steady run up before we then started getting to the sharp end of the field. Holman had a good go at it, overcoming some Harewood demons, and with a 78sec run took over the lead. Guess what? The three yellow Ferraris in the class were now 1 - 2 - 3.

But it wasn’t to last. The hugely experienced Prior then went some four seconds quicker than anyone else, setting a 74.58 time; Whitehead ran next but made a horlicks of it in the middle sector – up til then he had been in the hunt for an overall place. Second-last to run was Chris Butler, the reigning champ, but he tried too hard and only set a 77sec time, nearly three seconds slower than Prior but still good enough to slot him into second.

And then all eyes were on the final Ferrari, that of Nick Taylor, and he gave it his all but the 74.83 run was just three tenths slower than Prior, leaving the latter with the lead at the end of the first runs.

And everything they had done so far was to be of no avail, because the track dried completely by the time the Ferraris came out for their second runs in the afternoon. Heavy clouds still scudded overhead but the strong wind had quickly dried the track.

Times quickly tumbled down – first runner Chris Hitchman was some 16 secs quicker than his wet run and he became the early leader with a 72.77 run. It took five more cars before PG topped that with a 72.53, but Jacko then took it down to a 71.01. That was to stand as the quickest time until Spike Micer went into the 69s with an excellent 69.21.

But it was amongst the top three, all ex champions, that the win would be decided. Prior ran first and stopped the clocks on 68.16 which would never be enough to win on a dry track. Butler made a good start, was level pegging with Prior at the second split, moved ahead at the third but then went far too deep into Country Corner and lost a lot of time. He made up for it again in the remaining sectors and managed a 67.97, ahead of Prior but hardly good enough to be sure of a win.

The final runner, Nick Taylor, made no mistakes as he took the brilliantly handling and sounding 348GTC up the hill. He was quickest in all the sectors and stopped the clocks on 66.59 for an easy win which also got him the maximum 20 points with the PEPs factors applied. Second and third on points were the yellow cars of Mike Spicer and Brian Jackson.

With three 20 point results out of the first four events Nick Taylor is looking handy at the top of the championship table, ahead of Prior in the 355 but the latter has other quick 355s to contend with. It’s looking like one of the yellow cars could be edging up the order as the season progresses.....