2011 saw the the 25th Anniversary of the Club's hillclimb championship and it took place over 15 rounds at eleven venues. There were eight single day meets, two two-day meets and two double-headers. For 2012 the calendar is substantially the same, including Bouley Bay as Easter falls right. The popular MIRA sprint is off the calendar but a two day Prescott, the type of meeting dropped at the end of 2009, is back on. This is no doubt due to the horrendous complexities of putting a calendar together. Who would an organiser be?

The least attended event last year, I won't say least popular, was Doune. This is easily understandable given the distance involved and is made worse by the fact that many don't like putting miles on their Ferraris, but I reckon every proper hillclimber should do it at least once.

Gurston Down used to be fairly unpopular but attracted 14 entries last year. The most popular meeting with an entry of 27 was the Curborough single-lap finale, the Ferraris being about 40% of the entry! I guess this says something about the bonhomie in the Championship with many keen to have an end of season thrash; this was also demonstrated by the "XXV". In fact sprints were the top three most popular meetings overall with the one day Prescott being the most popular hillclimb.

The average number of entries per meeting was 16.3 which is about normal. 34 drivers competed in the course of the year which was one down on 2010. We welcomed newcomers Shaun Smith and Tony Attwood and it was nice to see the latter putting in some good performances with a Dino. Only Champion Richard Prior did all 15 rounds. 14 drivers did 8 rounds or more. In addition to RP these were: Nick Taylor, Andrew Holman, Mike Spicer, Pauline Goodwin, Chris Butler, Sean Doyle, John Marshall, Brian Jackson, Richard Allen, Tracey Haynes, Tony Attwood, Wendy Ann Marshall and Peter Rogerson.

The biggest change to the regs was that the stickier 1B tyres were banned again after an MSA regulations clarification had said they must be allowed in 2010. A subsequent clarification said they needn't but by then it was too late! This really only affected Nick Taylor as John Marshall had swapped his Scud for a GT4. 11 tipi competed in the series with the 355 the most popular.

This was an interesting championship with three drivers in contention for nearly all year. The numbers show just how close it was with the top three finishers all scoring 4 PEPs wins. It's also interesting that no-one scored maximum points. Champion Richard Prior only took one overall win, but as we know, it's those PEPs that mean prizes! Early in the season it looked like Nick Taylor would walk away with it with three consecutive PEPs maxs (and overall wins) in rounds 2-4. However, over the year, Richard Prior scored higher more consistently. His 'Best Eight' 148 points was made up of 4x20 + 4x17, whereas Nick's second place 144 points was made up of 4x20 + 2x17 + 2x15.

No-one would have been surprised to see Chris Butler take four outright wins, but it was a surprise to see him take four PEPs wins whilst saddled with the reigning Champ's +1%; a remarkable achievement which kept him in contention to the penultimate round, eventually finishing third. Fourth placed Andrew Holman had a double win at the North Weald opening round, but as usual the flatlander struggled a bit as the gradient increased. Having said that he did take a good 17 at Gurston Down; mind you if you average it all out that must be pretty flat as well.....

Little did the 355s and 348s playing happily in the first rounds realize that a monster was approaching unseen: Jon Goodwin debuted his 458 Italia at Round 8 at Loton Park and won. Since then no-one else has taken an outright win at any event at which they have appeared. They have also broken the Ferrari record at every event at which they've appeared apart from Gurston, where it was a bit damp. They also managed to take max. points at the two Curboroughs on the way to fifth place in the championship. It's difficult to imagine anyone else taking an outright win when the 458 appears. This of course is why the championship is based on PEPs, but it does make it frustrating for the others. Given the investment necessary it's not likely that there will be many other 458s, but the goal-posts have been seismically moved by this tipo. Gooders says they've only got themselves to blame for him getting a 458 as they would keep breaking his old records!

Sean Doyle in sixth was our first "non-winner" overall or on PEPs; he did win the Classic Cup with five "class wins" with a magnificent second at Doune his best drive of the year. Having pretty well achieved all that could be with a GT4 he moves to a 348 this season. Mike Spicer, back in a 328 after a 355 and briefly a 360, pressed Sean hard for the Classic Cup all year with four class wins. His best overall result was a 17 at Harewood I on the way to seventh place overall.

It was great to see Brian Jackson and "Bob" his trusty giallo 308 back after a year's sabbatical. The veteran pair scored a third and a couple of fourths on PEPs on their way to eighth overall in the championship, despite only competing in eight rounds. Ninth placed Richard Allen competed in eight rounds too, mostly in his 355. Richard, of course, was a founder of the series and is the only one to have competed in it every year. Pauline Goodwin completes the top ten in her 328 and despite having previously finished higher, this was probably her best season yet. She won the Classic Cup at the first Curborough and gave 328 maestro RA a nasty scare at the last one.

Most championships are about going quicker, more consistently than anyone else and this is what Richard Prior did; also he was the only one to compete in all the rounds. Congratulations on your third title RP! Congratulations also to Sean Doyle for winning the Classic Cup. We look forward to seeing you in your 348.

Anyway, here are the stats, as always make of them what you will....

Click here for (unofficial) championship positions.

No statistical shenanigans this year. This is the top ten based on the (unofficial) results.

Next up: North Weald : 18 March 2012.

Click here to return to the 2011 Pirelli Ferrari Hillclimb Championship page.

Click here to go to the 2012 Pirelli Ferrari Hillclimb Championship page.