ROUND 5 : Prescott : 26 May 2012
by Tracey Haynes

It was the PFHC’s first visit of the year to Prescott, the home of the Bugatti Owners Club and this weekend was their celebration of all things French!! Plus invited clubs. La Vie en Bleu is a great weekend and the team at Prescott do everything possible to ensure drivers and spectators are catered for, this includes some of the PFHC competitor’s favourites; the Can-Can girls.

The weather was glorious and there was a good field of 18 Ferrari drivers and plenty of spectators, photographers & Cotswold TV to entertain.

One notable omission from the drivers' list was Richard Prior who had unfortunately entered late and like many others failed to get his entry accepted due to an already oversubscribed event, although he did turn up to keep the well sought after Results board up to date.

As the weather was warm and dry the track was the best it could be and after P1 Nick Taylor was showing he had mastered his new 430 recording 50.48 closely followed by Chris Butler (355) on 50.74 with on form Andrew Holman (355) not far behind on 51.04. P2 saw these 3 change positions Chris now leading the pack on 49.85, MD Holman snapping at his heels on 49.94 and Nick closely behind on 50.06.

The Ferraris were the last class out, so lunch followed by the other classes competing ensured there was plenty of time to take in the ambience of this spectacular event and sample the variety of food on offer, the crepes being a favourite for many judging by the queues.

Mark Hargreaves (308) led the Ferraris to the start line for R1 and having not competed here for a while improved on his previous times to a new PB of 54.61. It was great to see Colin Campbell and his Dino out again this year although the delays due to mishaps and recovery operations in previous classes caused Colin great frustration which showed in his times and his best of the day was 87.15.

Wendy Ann Marshall (328) was missing from the line up due to clutch problems during her P2 run; unfortunately this technical glitch ended her competition for the day. So Pauline Goodwin was the first 328 on the hill in the "official" runs and as usual launched off the line with great gusto and with squealing tyres through Ettores finally stopped the clock at 53.71. Next up were Sergio Ransford and his 308 making his 2012 debut. He was not as speedy as he has been but crossed the line in a respectable 57.46.

The Giallo 308 of Brian Jackson followed with a controlled smooth run finishing on 53.43. Barrie Wood had been flying in practice in his 355 and thought he had peaked too soon but he continued to improve his time to 52.48 which was a new Personal Best in his 355. The Spicers were battling it out, both in the 52 second bracket but with Dad Mike’s late turn into Ettores and a fast exit to Pardon in his 328 (52.30) this gave him the edge over son Jamie (52.89) who is really settling into the ex Prior 348ts.

Julian Playford (355) was steadily improving with each run with his best of the day being 58.04. Richard Preece now piloting a 355 knocked nearly a second and a half off his P2 run and to ensure we didn’t miss it he sounded his horn through the esses!

Last time we were at Prescott John Marshall debuted his beautifully restored GT4 and the weather was not at it’s best however the weather gods had smiled on us this time and a good smooth run gave John a new PB of 53.42 in his latest chariot of choice.

The top 3 were still juggling positions with Chris Butler driving an aggressive run of 49.50. Andrew Holman drove tight around Ettores which gave him a fast exit but was just behind Chris on 50.23. Nick Taylor's 430 sounds fantastic and you could hear the acceleration towards Orchard and it was obvious that he was planning on bettering his handicap of 49.00 which he did by recording 48.96 to put him ahead of Chris and Andrew respectively.

R2 saw 7 drivers improve on their R1 times. PG continued to chip away to 53.36 and Jamie recorded a 52.69 which edged him nearer to Daddy Spicer who finished 4th overall and also took the Classic Cup points. Phil Whitehead is settling into his new 355 and his attention to tyre pressures between runs saw him improve to 52.46.

Seasoned hillclimber John Swift lived up to his name and was very swift off the line with a 0-64ft of 2.38 seconds and a run of 52.30 that knocked a second off his R1 time. Jack Hargreaves who has had some good results so far this year could not quite match his Dad’s time but knocked over a second off his R1 time to finish on 54.80.

So on to the top 3 who had been juggling positions all day. Chris was still sub 50s crossing the line on 49.99, Andrew was pushing really hard with a well controlled run finishing on 49.84.

Nick still had a record to chase, which is held by John Marshall and the mighty 430 Scud….could he pull it out of the bag? He was certainly trying clocking 68mph under the bridge and it looked like he floated around Ettores, however he stopped the clock just short at 48.54 which sealed 1st place on scratch, with Chris 2nd and Andrew 3rd. After PEPs had been added Chris took 1st and the 20 points, Nick 2nd and Andrew 3rd.

All the hill climbers left Prescott a little redder in the face due to the glorious sunshine and looking forward to the next round at Shelsley Walsh in a week’s time.