ROUND 9 : Loton Park : 10 July 2011

by Andrew Holman

As our merry band of hillclimbers awoke to day 2 of the double header at Loton Park there were few who were not left with a titter from the previous nights festivities. In particular, the news that our illustrious Chairman’s breakdown, on the way to the Prescott picnic in his new 458 Italia the week before, was due to a shortage of fuel in the tank. Now everyone who knows RA knows he is painfully aware of the price of petrol at the pumps, but it was generally agreed that using the Ferrari New Car breakdown service to save the costs of a couple of gallons of 5 star was pushing things just a little too far! He was thus ceremoniously awarded, in absentia, with a very fancy French 10 litre can imported especially by the ever helpful Gooders.

Talking of which, Gooders decided that following yesterday's record breaking run, correctly accredited to MD’s off at Fallow ahead of him and the resultant red flag that allowed him a second chance to get Loggerheads right with warm tyres, he was leaving no stone unturned today. He sought all available assistance with his 458 debut and attended the morning church service that delayed engine starts until 8.45.

As usual, we were given pride of place parking along the front wall at Loton and today everyone turned up fairly promptly, apart from the usual suspects Butler and Taylor who managed to drag themselves away from warm beds, warm wives but more accurately, the breakfast table until just before P1. We welcomed to day 2 the newly patched 328 Spikemobile, still showing a fair amount of gaffer tape and a new gleaming white bumper, due to one of the other talking points arising from Prescott..... Mike had worked hard getting ready, but had also had Joe’s school leaving do the day before. Here, he had been busy loading up his prodigy's prize winning trophies into the boot. Whilst on the subject of expected runners, everyone missed Sean Doyle and we all look forward to his prompt return, hopefully at MIRA.

The sun started to make an appearance as the first runners went out but rain was predicted. Rain had been on the forecast the day before and that had stayed dry, surely Loton couldn’t surprise us all with two dry days in a row?

It did surprise us that there was yet another 355 ABS failure, similar to Butler's the day before and following another at Doune [and one at Prescott - Ed], are these cars of an age where this was going to be a common fault? Unfortunately, Julian’s answer wasn’t as simple as Butler's (hard re-boot). We checked all the usual and the light persistently stayed lit, and this wasn’t one of those you want to cover with tape! Julian Playford decided on the Shakespearean response. 'The better part of valour is discretion; in the which better part I have saved my life.’ and thus retired, and was put on photographic duty.

Practice 1 saw the pack led out by Tony Attwood in the shinier of the two Dinos on parade. Are we are last going to see a challenge to the V6 class dominance to date of octogenarian Colin Campbell? Yes we were, he was comfortably ahead of CC by some 16 seconds. Scorchio Ransford was awarded a prize for the worst Pirelli sticker mounting that almost obliterated our kind sponsor's name, whilst Wendy Ann thought running sans rad cap would be OK, until the resultant steam created something of a stir with the paddock marshals reaching for their fire extinguishers just in case it was something worse. The whereabouts of said cap remains a mystery, some say it hasn’t been there for a while, whilst others guessed that it had fallen off on route. Luckily, husband John was able to source a new one at a local garage, who were fairly surprised they had a generic version that perfectly fitted a Ferrari 328 and yet only cost a few squid. They have allegedly upped the price considerably for the next FOC visitor.

Meanwhile Gooders detailed the first known fault on a 458, the launch control is useless! He clocked a 0-64 time of 2.92 seconds compared with MD’s 2.29 in his 355. Sometimes man is truly mightier than the machine. He decided it was best to run in CRT mode, unfortunately none of the assembled cognoscenti knew what that actually meant, but we allowed it to go comfortably over our heads whilst nodding sagely.

Practice saw Gooders quickest on 59.86 with Prior (355) second on 60.80 and stay-a-beds Butler (355) and Taylor (348GTC) in the 61s. Mike Spicer was quickest classic.

Lunch was again a very nice BBQ organised by Gooders, provided by our friends from the local hostelry; unusually even the vegetarians were well catered for! Rain threatened with a short shower beforehand but the sun always seemed to quickly reappear and bathe us in a lovely warm midday glow.

The start at Loton is a beautiful sight. There is a tyre warming area that is on a bend, as a result we see some exciting wiggles on the way up to the start line. The line itself looks downhill, yet it is one of those optical illusions, similar to the Electric Brae hill in Scotland, and the rear wheels are the ones that actually need chocking!

The afternoon started with a nappy change needed for both the Butler’s beautiful baby Isabella and RP when Gooders started up the 458 in front of them and accidentally got his home made carpets stuck on the accelerator; apparently he had baulked at the price of the OEM extra and sourced some from Hanley Market. This immediately showed exactly what an Italia sounds like when all the exhaust gates open and it revs to over 9000 rpm! The public were similarly impressed for miles around.

Out on track for the first of the racing runs. Attwood was slower, as was Pauline Goodwin (328), Campbell, John Marshall (GT4), Prior and Holman (355), all trying a little too hard. Ian Chadwick (348ts) shaved some time off with a 72 sec run whilst Peter Rogerson broke the 70 sec barrier for the first and only time that day in his 360. Sergio was making good progress with a 67 as was Tracey Haynes (328), just a second behind. Brian Jackson (308) maintained his controlled and steady progress of the day with a 65.3 as did Spicer who was quicker again, but this was to be his fastest of the day at 63.72, an impressive 328 time that would surely do him well after the PEPs were applied.

Gooders was still slow off the line, with a 2.62 sec time, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t catch and overtake others very quickly and indeed he finished quicker with a 59.73 though not as quick as the day before. So we turned with expectation to Butler and Taylor, how much faster could Chris go and would Taylor be able to step up to the mark and yet again go faster than ever before? Well Taylor got a personal best with a 61.23. Butler had to brake heavily for, and got yet another stripe from, the bollards at the end of Loggerheads, but stormed ahead of the non 458s with a 60.24.

And so onto the final run. Tony Attwood was quicker but did that annoying thing of not being as quick as his practice run, as did Colin Campbell. Ian Chadwick managed his best time of the day with 71.24. Meanwhile, PG wasn’t having the best of days, having cocked up Run 1 already, somehow her handbrake was engaged for her burnouts, the result was a cooked pad or two which locked her brakes on the start, meaning a lot of smelly blue smoke and a swift return to the paddock. John Marshal was one driver going in the right direction getting near his handicap time with a 66.81. And wife Wendy Ann also managed her quickest time and was happy with a 72.79.

Sergio messed up, I think at Fallow, and only managed an 86 sec run. Spicer was slower due to the (paddock predicted) lock up into the 1st corner and a lack of fuel at the top. Jackson knocked just 2/100s off his time whilst Holman was very happy to break his PB and get a 61.95, but still only good enough for 5th at this very competitive event.

So, on to the front runners, would Gooders manage another record? All eyes were on him as he stormed over the rise at the top of Cedar straight. The cars go into an awesome squiggle to the right as they brake hard to stay on the road and try to get a better line into Fallow. He was quick, very quick, and sounded superb, but this was not enough and he stopped the clock on 58.87.

Prior went well too and managed a quicker 60.79, yet this was eclipsed by the youngster Butler, who just seems to go faster and faster these days. He broke the 60 second barrier by 2/100s to become the fastest 355 ever up the Loton hill [later, to his chagrin, Butler found out that he had only equalled Gooders' best 355 time from 11 years ago - Ed.]. Finally we had Taylor who stormed up the hill, but his late braking went adrift at Fallow, and like several before him, lost valuable time. His time was down to a 64 sec run.

So there we have it. Gooders again got the scratch win followed by Butler, Prior and Taylor. After the application of the PEP percentages Gooders slipped down to 4th. Butler however maintained the lead despite his 1% champions handicap, a truly magnificent achievement. In the classic class Spicer held off Jackson for the points there.

Meanwhile we had all been religiously, and successfully, avoiding the results of the British GP. All of us having set the Sky box to record both that and any phone calls in the near vicinity. Unfortunately our friendly scrute tipped up to ask us why we hadn’t got the Ferrari flags out to celebrate Alonso’s win!