The Ferrari Hillclimb crew were back to the West Country again for Gurston Down Hillclimb on the 24th June during the glorious English summer time ... er... not quite glorious but there was plenty of liquid sun about.

Anyway, a strong field of 15 Ferraris had turned out - the tipos ranging from 308 to 430 all glinting in the morning sun.. er.. well glinting anyway.

New to Gurston were James Spicer (348) and Rev. Richard Preece, the latter in his new 355 resplendent on Challenge wheels. Sean Doyle had brought his 348 for the first time and Nick Taylor his new 430 in gleaming black.

Your correspondent had dragged his trusty old 308 from the back of the garage after his 355's clutch release bearing had started screeching like a demented sea gull after Prescott.

Anyway, as tradition dictates we are always around the first away at Gurston and also traditionally none of the Ferraris were ready, among them your scribe who had no excuse for not being ready as he lives the closest (only 100 miles) and Richard Prior who luckily knew a scrutineer when he saw one (not like your scribbler who tried to grab a chap for the job who turned out to be the Clerk of the Course, and collared the right chap to scrutineer my 308 - thank you Richard!)

Anyway, first practice started and the Ferrari crew found getting underway was extremely difficult due to the slippery surface at the start time. The road was still very wet and 0 - 64ft times were in the order of 3-3.5 seconds, (the best Ferrari time is normally around 2.25 secs. 2 secs = 1G). Quickest in the first practice were Holman (355), already on 42.46 despite the slippery surface, with Prior a second back and Pauline Goodwin a second back again. Fastest to the "split" was Holman on 23.53.

So, after a bit of a wait in the holding paddock due to some motorbike chapies practicing motocross moves on the grass banks of Carousel it was back to the paddock for bacon sarnies and a chat about the weather which was starting to look a bit better, the clouds looked lighter and the track was drying. So an hour and a half or so later second practice started and things were much quicker. Wendy Ann Marshall (328) and Jeff Cooper (360) knocked a huge 7 seconds of their first practice time. James Spicer had a wriggle on at Ashes and Richard Preece got straight into the 39 second bracket. Not bad for only his second run here.

Mike Spicer (328) and Pauline were both on 40 seconds and some change, just behind Phil Whitehead who was on 40.18. The 308s of John Marshall and Wood were having a battle with Mark Hargreaves still getting to grips with his 308 on 43.08.

Up at the sharp end Taylor had got into the 39s and Prior had overtaken Holman with a 37.95 ahead of the latter's 38.37. Prior was carrying the extra 1% PEP as he is our current champion and he had come to Gurston not really thinking he could get the 20 points here.

Returning to the paddock it was time for lunch and the fella up above [Bernie? - Ed.] had taken pity on us poor hillclimbers and plugged the sun in. We could be sure now of some quick "official" runs in the afternoon.

With the first "official" Sean Smith in his 328 smashed his personal best here with a 41.20 a very creditable time. Pauline in her 328 went far too fast into the first right hander to Carousel and missed it, resulting in a failed run. Sean Doyle got down to 41.85 and was not best pleased. He is still having trouble getting used to his 348. James Spicer in his 348 was going well recording 39.20, an excellent time enough to give him 5th after PEP beating your reporter by 100th of a second into 6th place.

Phil Whitehead got into the 38s in his 355 which looks lovely now he has buffed out a few marks it got at MIRA last year. Fastest of the top three was unsurprisingly Taylor on 37.17 with Prior a tenth behind him and Holman a half second back.

The last run and all to play for. Richard Preece finished on 39.63 after improving all day. Jeff Cooper went away with a new personal best and was pleased with that. Mike Spicer drove well and managed to pip Holman into third by a few 100ths with a 39.04 (37.87 after PEP)

So it was between Taylor and Prior. Taylor's last run was his best at 36.94 not bad but not quite in John Marshall's league with his 430 Scud (who holds the Ferrari record here).

All eyes were on Prior's last run and pushing his 355 to the limit he recorded 36.84 amazing! To start with a new personal best beating his previous best time by 0.15 seconds he had also got the scratch win and after the maths he got the 20 points too! A great day for Richard and well done.

Next up: Loton Park (Double-Header) 14&15 July.

Click here for (unofficial) results and points.

Click here for (unofficial) Championship positions.

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