ROUND 2 : Bouley Bay: 9 April 2012
by Mike Spicer

Putting aside the limited attractions of North Weald it was the annual Easter pilgrimage to Bouley bay in Jersey that the Ferrari hillclimbers had been eagerly waiting for over the winter lay off. As well as eleven actual hillclimbers we had climbers from the last century, Martin McGlone and Nicky Paul Barron, and Andrew Holman’s considerable support crew which was about the same size as an F1 team of a few years ago.

Anyway, as the ferry was delayed for an hour we had plenty of time to catch up, all except the intrepid Nick Taylor who flew in from Dubai especially for the event but his man (better known to us as Christian Mineeff) drove his new hillclimbing 430 over for him.

On landing in Jersey some 15 Ferraris convoyed up to the Hampshire Hotel in St Helier where they look after us with great enthusiasm. Food wasn’t great this year but then it is as cheap as breakfast at Woolworths.

During the run-up to Monday some took advantage of the many things to see and do on this delightful island. Team Holman led a party on a very pleasant cliff top walk with a pub at the end of it – what else could you want?

Although the weather had been drizzly in the mornings it had always brightened up - until the day of our hillclimb when it poured all day. The forecast said it would get worse at 2:00pm and it did! Although speed hillclimbing is a relatively safe sport people have been hurt on this tricky hill so it was with trepidation that our drivers set out on their first practice run, not to mention their shivering supporters. Fastest was the ‘so on form at the moment’ Andrew Holman some two seconds faster that the rest. Impressive, bearing in mind his horrendous accident here of only 2 years ago, and in these conditions. Second was our Chairman, RA, in third the joint record holder and hard-working organiser Richard Prior. Nick Taylor in fourth was really under pressure as one of our fastest drivers but now also in the fastest car, much was expected but………. I think in these conditions I would have been tempted to pretend it wouldn’t start!

Spicer led the classic cars with a very much on form John Swift nipping at his heels. The other joint record holder, John Marshall, cautiously held back a bit in the superb GT4. Pauline Goodwin was also more reserved than usual, and poor David Hathaway, having not hillclimbed for 5 years, was now here with almost 500 HP in probably the most immaculate low mileage 430 in the UK in torrential rain. Shaun Smith or ‘new Shaun’ was careful on his run with Wendy-Ann Marshall not far behind.

Practice 2 probably had the best conditions of the day – just steady rain. Andrew stormed up the hill now 3 seconds faster than his nearest rival in a 60.58 which was not only the fastest Ferrari run of the day but one of the fastest car times of the day. RA retained second place with Prior and Spicer faster, Taylor slower, Swift and Marshall beginning to show a faster pace that would remain. New Shaun beginning to go faster but a spin cost him dearly.

After a damp lunch the competition runs began. RP had an inexplicably slow start of over 15 seconds so his time was …. um, not good. Holman had a similar but at least 7 second start but recorded 64.69. John Swift had slipped up to second on scratch followed by Taylor, RA, a rather indifferent Spicer (three-quarters of a second slower than practice) still leading the smaller cars of Marshall, PG, Smith and Wendy-Ann. David Hathaway had given in to the temptation of that warm bath and declined to risk his lovely car. So the points so far were Holman 20, Spicer 17, Swift 15.

And, so to the final run – a lot of our runners felt they were getting used to the conditions and were going to go quicker with some surprising results ….. The two girls led off; Wendy Ann half a second quicker of the start but Pauline soon hauled her in with a 71.65. John Marshall was next with an efficient 67.94; Spicer, smelling good points, ended up spinning at the slight kink after Radio hairpin, never done before, narrowly missing careering down the 50 ft embankment.

Now for those surprising results. Shaun, who had certainly been trying hard all day got everything right and recorded a superb 66.98 to very much deservedly take the classic class. John Swift next up with a credible 64.90 with the never to be underestimated Chairman Allen quicker over most of the course than third placed Taylor but just losing out to the power of the 430 over the latter reaches of the course. Nick, trying in vain to get the power down on the slimey surface was slow by his standards until the top, but did get third place with 63.42. Wait until it’s dry and there will be no catching him (no pressure then, Nick). Holman living up to his pseudonym ‘Mad Dog’ had been in a class of his own all day but when it really mattered the considerable talent of champion Prior shone through, rather disheartening for poor Andrew who, it must be remembered, had gone faster as is his wont in practice. So he was pipped by 3 tenths by Prior – hardly surprising when you think of Richard’s 49 second run here a few years’ ago in an old 348.

We were all pleased to get back to the hotel, bath and bar. After dinner prizes were presented by Liz Malone assisted by the two Richards. Ironically next day dawned bright and sunny, but on the ferry we were subjected to a fairly choppy sea under apparently Force 5 winds making standing on deck essential, quite exciting but not matching driving Bouley Bay hillclimb in the wet!