FERRARI HILLCLIMB CHAMPIONSHIP
REPORT : ROUND 5 : HAREWOOD

Some 17 Ferraris gathered at Harewood for the traditional Yorkshire round of the FHC, run in unusually (for Harewood) warm and benign conditions. The organisation of the event was so efficient that, in addition to two morning practice runs, there were no less than four timed runs in the afternoon.

The event promised to be a heavyweight confrontation between a number of fancied runners. Harewood expert, Simon Clark (328GTB), used vast local knowledge straight from the start and maintained a constant lead throughout the day over Richard Allen, whose ex- Simpson/Reeder Maranello "O" class 328GTB was really flying and felt by its new owner to be considerably quicker than his previous 328. John Swift, in his Shiltech-engined Maranello "M" class racer tussled mightily with Allen for second spot but a fine effort by the latter earned him the runner-up position. Jon Goodwin (Mondial) finished only closely behind in what had been an exciting battle for 2nd, 3rd and 4th slots.

The clear winner by over a second was, however, Clark, although his best time of 67.11 secs was some way shy of Christian Mineeff's Ferrari class record of 66.25 secs set at the same meeting in 1992 driving Malcolm Little's 308GTB Maranello racer.

With PEP factors taken into consideration Robin Ashley (246GTS) thoroughly earned maximum points, having set a stunning time some three seconds quicker than a Dino had ever gone at Harewood before. Clark earned the next highest number of points but only being an occasional competitor he will not play a part in the overall Championship. Jon Goodwin, with a fine third place in the PEP results, extended his lead in the Championship points standing over John Marshall (328GTB). Further down the order it was good to see Jeff Simpson back in action after a six-year absence, with his faithful Dino, and he picked up a useful six points on this occasion.

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