Compres 054 by CompResults

FERRARICOMPETITIONRESULTS

CompRes

THE GLORY OF SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS. PFO ROUND 4 WINNER MICK DWANE IN HIS 360 CHALLENGE.

ISSUE 054 MAY 2010

CompRes Chevy Chase, Leeds Road, Selby, North Yorkshire YO8 4JH T: +44 (0) 1757-702 053 F: +44 (0) 1757-290 547 E: cs.man@btinternet.com

CompRes is available by subscription and is published 10 times a year for the FERRARI OWNERS’ CLUB

FERRARICOMPETITIONRESULTS THE BIG ISSUE Apologies for the late arrival of your copy of this edition. In the past few weeks the computers at CompRes Towers have been plagued with breakdowns and incompatibility issues arising out of the installation of the much lauded Microsoft Windows 7. Half of our devices will not function at all with this new operating system and 50% of the programmes we run need to be upgraded, at frightening expense, to work with the 64 bit Windows 7. It is, in a nutshell, a disaster and in desperation we have had to revert to the old Windows XP system that is in theory much slower than its replacement but at least works. So, a word of warning to those who may be tempted to change their computer operating system: be very careful to check that Windows 7 will be compatible with all your ancillary devices and programmes. Of course, if JUNE you have the good sense to own a Mac you will no doubt be oblivious to all this nonsense.

ZOLDER The closing date for race entries for our second and final 2010 foray into mainland Europe, on 9th-11th July, is looming up. All registered competitors in PFfc and PFO have already been sent their packs, including information on the hotel deal. The final timetable for the event is shown in the accompanying table:

JULY

Friday 9th July 14.00-19.00

Documentation check and scrutineering

Saturday 10th July 0730-11.00 09.35-09.55

Documentation check and scrutineering Qualifying 1

14.05-14.25

Qualifying 2

Sunday 11th July 11.10-11.35

Race 1 (13 laps)

15.55-16.20

Race 2 (13 laps)

On the Friday evening we have arranged a special Ferrari Dinner at the Hotel De Pits and the booking form allows you to design your own menu. Zolder is a super circuit and although not used these days by

WHAT’S ON 19/20

Formula One, it hosts most major European championships like DTM. We hope drivers will support this event which, like Spa (reported in this issue) has all the ingredients of another great weekend of motor racing.

DONINGTON PARK The future of Donington Park now seems to be assured and we have had written confirmation from the Aston Martin Owners’ Club that their race meeting scheduled for 9th October (at which our PFfc and PFO series are engaged) will go ahead as planned. Donington is a great circuit and a firm favourite with Ferrari drivers for many years. It was a tragedy that a series of ill conceived developments threatened its very existence. We shall endeavour to support the track in the future by making it a regular fixture in our race programmes.

Doune Hillclimb

25-27

Knockhill: Pirelli Ferrari formula classic; Pirelli Ferrari Open

FOC Concours Walton Hall

9-11

Zolder: Pirelli Ferrari formula classic; Pirelli Ferrari Open

Loton Park 1 Hillclimb

Loton Park 2 Hillclimb

FOC Snetterton Track day

Gurston Down Hillclimb

23-25

Silverstone Classic Festival

FERRARI CONCOURS On Sunday 4th June, the Club holds its annual concours at Walton Hall. This year, with the help of Nicky Paul-Barron, the Club has arranged a display of a representative selection of Ferraris drawn from our three series – the Classic, the Open and the Hillclimb Championship. Even if polishing is not your thing, it would be nice to see as many competitors as possible at Walton Hall to admire the cars, enjoy the sunshine, and generally have a nice day out.

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LAURIE DAY

ago about the new format of the 2010 Pirelli Ferrari Open series, Our best wishes for a speedy which would now admit his 360. recovery go to John Day’s wife, Unfortunately Alan’s other Laurie, who suffered serious commitments don’t allow him the injuries in an horrific motoring time to race his Ferrari with us at accident recently in France. present. However, in our conversation Alan mentioned that he would like to reward the sometimes unsung Ferrari preparers who make it possible for us drivers to race our cars. As good as his word, he has now given the Club a magnificent cut glass bowl as a perpetual award for ‘The Ferrari Preparer of the Year’. Alan has splendidly titled the award ‘The David Preston Trophy’ in just recognition of Laurie Day, seen at Zandvoort last season with husband John and Chris Rea. David’s exemplary work over many The exact circumstances season’s in preparing highly aren’t known to us at this time successful Ferraris for the but apparently a horse-box circuits. detached itself from a tow vehicle The guidelines for assessing travelling on the autoroute. The candidates’ performances are horse-box hit the Day’s Subaru currently being worked out but all (the horse escaped and trotted preparers will be eligible, whether off unharmed) and the impact amateur or professional, onecaused injuries to Laurie’s back. man bands or a whole team. She was taken to hospital at Le Mans but has subsequently returned home. We understand that she will need to be encased in a fibreglass body cast for some three months. John is planning a return to motor racing in our Classic series later this season and we look forward to welcoming them both very soon.

PREPARERS’ AWARD Alan Newton is a great motorsport enthusiast and in the past has raced his 360 Challenge car in our Pirelli Maranello Ferrari Challenge as well as a race prepared MGB in classic car events, usually in partnership with Whizzo Williams. We were chatting some time

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The David Preston Trophy.

The trophy will be presented at the End of Season Dinner in November.

MIKE FURNESS A regular Ferrari competitor in PMFC in the past, these days Mike Furness is usually to be seen at the wheel of a Group C machine. On 12th June, he drove his Spice SE88CL into 6th place overall in the Le Mans support race for Group C and GTP cars while Duncan McKay, another exFerrari racer, finished in 10th in yet another Spice. Congratulations to both drivers, and also to our Pirelli Ferrari Open sponsors, Damax, who are responsible for preparing both cars.

THE HAZARDS OF THE MOT Colin Campbell, that doyen of Dino drivers, has sent us an interesting story clipped from the pages of The Daily Telegraph. It seems that an owner took his £200,000 Ferrari 612 Scaglietti to his local MOT centre at New Malden, Surrey, where a garage worker decided to “put it through its paces” following the completion of the test. The dark blue Ferrari smashed into a lamppost and careered over a 2ft wall into the middle of a roundabout. The car was seriously damaged although the driver, in his early 20s, was unhurt. A source said the car was being given a “quick road test” before being returned to its owner, who is “obviously not happy that their pride and joy has been wrecked”. Police said the incident was being treated as a “one-car accident” and that an investigation was unnecessary. The driver, who was treated for shock by paramedics, was heard to say that his bosses would kill him.

RA’s HILLCOMMENT The Season Unfolding looks fascinating for so many reasons. Chris Butler and his F355 lead the points chart and still look favourite for the 2010 overall win. You can expect Richard Prior, still learning that the F355 is not quite as chuckable as a 348, will not be far behind, whilst 2009 Champion Nick Taylor with his 348GTC on List 1B tyres is hellbent on notching up scratch wins and new class records. There is some excitement going on in the Classic Cup sub section too, with Sean Doyle on a roll scoring strongly so far with his 308GT4, and likely to give Pauline Goodwin a tough time. These are new ingredients and it is fun to speculate on the final outcome. Curborough ITSE or “Introduction to Speed Events” has in the past been the place where quite a few of our successful club hillclimbers and circuit racers started out. A few years have elapsed since the last one, and Richard Prior decided that another of these days would be a good idea. This was held on May 19 and proved very popular, not just with new people interested, but a number of the regular PFHC hacks were out getting track time too. The

weather was friendly and Richard and his team were kept busy all day. Amazingly, with the feverish level of activity going on, there were no incidents, with considerable experienced being gained especially by the newcomers. On the three previous ITSE events I had never got out on the track, but this time I did for a while in the afternoon. I had a couple of laps with Charles Haynes in his new 328GTS that he had only collected the day before. Totally standard, the car handled surprisingly well and Charles level of commitment was impressive. Even more so was Tracey Haynes, her now well sorted 328GTB looking like it means business. Tracey threw me around for a few laps at what seemed to me like immense speed and some precision – her pace was such that Pauline Goodwin will need to be on form when the series returns to Curborough later in the season. A big thank-you then to Richard Prior for organising such a successful and thoroughly enjoyable day, and also to the band of helpers he had on hand to ensure it all ran smoothly.

Prescott reported in this issue was an extra special meeting as part of the Bugatti Owners Club’s “La Vie en Bleu” weekend – sounds a bit French and there were quite a few chaps about wearing berets and dodgy taches. Unfortunately, the weather was wet most of Saturday, which did take some of the potential away. We were very pleased to have amongst our Headmaster’s Conference. Richard Prior Ferrari class, Autocar explains the intricacies of Curborough. magazine’s Steve

Cropley with the Ferrari North Europe F430 long-term loaner. They have been very active with this car, not only at our Silverstone Track Day but also taking part in the Mille Miglia retro run. Autocar carried a great article reporting this in glowing terms - especially as far as the 430 is concerned – so that I am sure will have made our friends in Slough feel very happy. Anyway, Steve fitted in very nicely with the PFHC regulars, and has previous hill climb experience in Westfields, Caterhams and so on. He shares a quick Peugeot 309 – “bought for £250 off ebay” - with his son and they have both put in some very good times at Prescott. Regrettably the gruesome weather for our meeting meant Steve had to be unduly cautious with the 430 for obvious reasons. Prescott Problem for your columnist at signing on when I produced my 2009 comp licence. In 26 years of hillclimbing I have never forgotten to take the licence, but made the mistake of not chucking the old one out. Those nice MSA people have this arrangement where, at the event organiser’s discretion (they understandably need to believe you do have a licence), you will be allowed to compete on payment of a small fine. This used to be £20, but this time it was £55 – as my pal Dave Parr, of Hagley & DLCC, remarked, that is spiteful. The MSA are obviously learning from HM Government! Mike Spicer you will recall sold his F355 to Richard Prior and it occurred to me that ex-Spicer cars are getting plentiful and are seeing much action, particularly in Formula Classic - both his exRobin Ward 308GTB and his exMike Furness 328GTB spring to

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mind. Seems like these cars have more ‘ex’s than Elizabeth Taylor! Anyway, in the meantime Mike had his eye on a 360 Modena that appears to have fallen on hard times due to someone’s family dispute. With some neglect damage Mike was able to favourably secure what turned out to be a very desirable spec 360, with carbon fibre competition seats, factory fitted leather covered rollover bar and more. Only 19.000 miles and inevitably red with tan, the car looks really nice and Mike is registering for the PFHC again, forgetting his planned sabbatical. Regrettably he has a lot going on at the moment and can only join in occasionally – expect, though, to see Mike and his new 360 at Curborough. Christian Mineeff has also been a bit sabbattical this season. Most of you will know he and fiancée Liz are tying the knot at the end of July, and we all wish them much health and happiness for the future, plus much hillclimbing too! Christian was in evidence with his silver 360 at the Curbro ITSE day, providing some added excitement with the anti-lock brakes no longer anti-locking! He has promised to make a return appearance at the Loton Park double header weekend. Douglas Campbell you may recall I mentioned last month as a new entrant for our series with the matt black 360 Spider seen at Silverstone TD. He was also out at the Oulton Park club track day with the car, which besides ceramic brakes has some special Pagid pads. Douglas races in the Lotus Elise Trophy and it shows. Both Nick Taylor and I spent some time out on track with Douglas and observed that he knows all the lines and is very committed – in other words fast! The brakes on his car were hugely impressive and we look forward to him trying his skills on the hills. The California as we appreciate is aimed at the roadster/ragtop market and there have been plenty of suggestions that the car is a bit soft in

4 CompRes

character for a Ferrari. Jon Goodwin was out in Pauline’s example at Silverstone TD. He remarked to me at the time he was amazed how good the car was on the circuit. Pauline took the car along to our ITSE day and was going very quickly indeed all day, and RA samples one of the first 458 Italias to reach Curborough is the UK. He was impressed. hardly California turf! She kindly offered me a but there are exceptions. Today, couple of laps, and after I had June 10th, I took a local friend got used to the incredibly quick who is winding himself up for a steering – faster than the California to Ferrari dealer 360/430 series cars - I thought it Lancasters at Colchester. They was terrific with loads of grunt, have been very supportive of the sensational gearbox and handling Anglia Area Group and are also fit for club competition. Seems sponsoring the Club’s July Track like this is definitely not a chiffon Day at Snetterton. Whilst scarf/Afghan hound machine loitering in the showrooms after all! Pauline has decided to resisting my inbuilt inclination to enter the California at one of the kick tyres, it was suggested to PFHC rounds later this season. me that I might like to go for a spin in their first 458 Italia that The PFHC Drinking Season had arrived a couple of days gets underway later this month previously. I had taken the with a great time expected over opportunity to examine the car the Doune Hill Climb weekend at closely whilst my friend was the Dunblane Hydro Hotel. I California dreaming, and was guess by the time CompRes hugely impressed by the build drops through your letterbox it quality – the general fit and feel may be too late for this weekend of everything being to a standard if you have not already I have not seen on a Ferrari committed. Chris Butler can before, and easily a match for the influence things if you fancy a best Germanic offerings. In the late entry. After that, we are circumstances I decided to say over at Loton Park on July 10/11 ‘yes’ and did around 20 miles. It and have a special dinner is just as sensational as Jason planned at The Old Hand & Plato and all the other hacks are Diamond pub just down the road suggesting: very docile and easy from the hill. It is not too late to to drive, the gearbox absolutely join in – details were emailed out blinding as is the performance, to you recently. Then in August though on the A12 in Essex I was with the MIRA/Curborough only able to squirt it and then sprintfest weekend, both dinner slow down again. The level of and accommodation has been technology on this car is a bit arranged at Colton House not too much for a chap my age, and the far from Curborough. You will steering wheel has so much stuff have received the booking form on it you are inclined to forget it telling you how to join in just is also used for changing the recently. I hope you are able to car’s direction. Anyway, whilst take advantage of these special one of these seems like essential PFHC weekends and look forward wear they have sold out the first to seeing you there. two or three years’ production, so Fancy a spin? - a familiar if you have not yet got your order question from zealous car sales in, hurry along to your friendly persons to be resisted normally, Ferrari dealer. 

Photo: Mark Buckland

PIRELLI FERRARI HILLCLIMB CHAMPIONSHIP: ROUND 3 HAREWOOD HILLCLIMB 8th May 2010

Nick Taylor smashes Ferrari class record

ATURDAY 8th May was Day One of our double header Harewood weekend – the first time we have tried this arrangement reports RICHARD ALLEN. The format was similar to that used at our Loton Park meetings and designed to cut down on the travelling involved during the season, which is extensive for those not living in middle England. Harewood has been part of our programme for more than 25 years, and was running a Ferrari class even before the Championship was started thanks to the pioneering efforts of John Swift. Over all this time, Harewood has consistently attracted easily the largest entry of any venue – usually around twenty Ferraris when other places may have had

no more than a dozen. It was surprising then that we only fielded fifteen cars this time, but if you focussed on the entry you realised there were many regulars missing, mostly for good reason. Anyway, as I always say, the quality if not the quantity was there, and it was great to see the family Hitchman back in full strength, with three drivers and two cars. Most notable was the debut appearance of our Lakeland Area Group Organiser Chris Chadwick with his 348ts. This was to be his first hillclimb, though he has been active in club racing nearly half a century. The weather was quite agreeable as we assembled in the paddock - cold and windy but bright with no rain likely. There should have been sixteen cars, but Julian Playford had withdrawn due to injuries suffered to his

F355 at the recent Goodwood Sprint round. Up at the front the prospects looked interesting: Chris Butler and his F355 seemed favourite for the class win, but maybe Nick Taylor, his 348GTC now on super sticky List 1B rubber, could upset the Butler applecart. John Marshall has set some stunning times at Shelsley and Prescott with the 430 Scuderia and maybe could get the car to work here, and how would Richard Prior make out now F355 mounted? Two practice runs were taken without incident and Nick Taylor was immediately very fast, getting down to 65.72 on his second – not too far from Jon Goodwin’s long standing F355 class record. John Marshall took the Scud up in a useful 67.34 to comfortably head Butler’s F355 on 68.88. Of the other 355s, Prior led Whitehead and Allen all

CompRes 5

6 CompRes

Photo: Mark Buckland

headed all of the three and really exciting to watch up at runs, whilst Chris Butler Quarry, Sean finished on 71.59. on his last finally got his The next bunch of cars up to the F355 down to a third placed finisher were all respectable 66.62 to F355s, with John Swift at 71.27, move ahead of John then Chris Hitchman with 69.38, Marshall on 66.92. Philip Whitehead at 68.76, Looking through Richard Allen 68.65, and Richard the rest of the class, Prior topping this lot out with Wendy Marshall, who had 68.19. posted a very respectable All the applause, then, for 76.35 in practice, only Nick Taylor - comfortably the managed one official time class winner with the 348GTC after her gritty and putting a new Harewood experience for a Ferrari class in his pocket as well. conservative 82.20. Ian He did, though, fail to get the Chadwick really enjoyed maximum points as a relieved his first hill outing and Chris Butler, second overall with improved steadily to a his 355, took the twenty and Nick best of 81.23 with the seventeen. John Marshall was 348. Peter Rogerson, third overall with the 430 with his 360 Modena, has Scuderia, whilst Richard Prior and not yet matched his own an ecstatic Sean Doyle walked earlier F355 time – he away with big helpings of points All wrapped up against the chilly weather, finished on 75.70. There for their stalwart efforts. Pauline Goodwin was a bit down on her was a close result Deservedly, Sean also won the normal Harewood performance. between Peter and Club Handicap in to the bargain. at around seventy seconds. Lorraine Hitchman with Peter in It is interesting to reflect that the Meanwhile Sean Doyle with his the F355 on 74.21 and Lorraine day was cold as was the track 308GT4 was already leading at 74.84 with her 328GTS. surface. You can be sure that if Pauline Goodwin’s 328GTB, Pauline Goodwin unusually was we ever get to Harewood on a clocking a very creditable 72.27. well down on her normal warm day, Nick Taylor could Things were looking good for the Harewood form with the 328GTB maybe take the record down to a afternoon officials, though Nick and at 73.17 was out of touch high sixty three with his List 1B Taylor appeared to be more than with Sean Doyle. Driving his shod 348GTC! comfortable for the class win – 308GT4 like a man possessed any excitement here being could be provided by him taking the record. There were three official runs taken in the afternoon and Nick Taylor duly broke that Goodwin record on the second despite concerns about his clutch, which in the circumstances cannot have been working too badly! At last some other drama was provided with the over enthusiastic Sean Doyle spinning his GT4 at Chippys corner on the first run, and Wendy Marshall severely beaching her 328GTB on the approach to Orchard. Considerable effort was required to extricate the car and it was saturated with gravel necessitating a major spring clean on the return to the paddock. Meanwhile Pauline Goodwin also had a time wasting “Sean Doyle was driving his 308GT4 like a man possessed and misdemeanour on the second really exciting to watch up at Quarry.” official. Nick Taylor comfortably

After all this frantic hillclimbing it was time for a more relaxing form of Ferrari activity. With another Harewood episode on the morrow we hastily repaired to the Bridge Inn Hotel just outside Wetherby. Here the Swiftys had secured favourably

priced accommodation for us and, even more importantly, arranged a splendid special dinner in our own private suite. We had a great time and the food lived up to expectations, though drinking was less heavy than normal with the thoughts of

Harewood Round Two on the morning. After the dessert I remained sober enough to thank John and Anne on behalf of all of us for making the weekend extra special. ď Ž

HAREWOOD HILLCLIMB 8 MAY 2010 Pirelli Ferrari Hillclimb Championship Round 3

64 ft

split

spd

P E P %

2.44

39.47

2.5

66.73

P o i n t s 17

66.62

2.38

40.24

0.0

66.62

66.92

68.48

2.69

40.79

5.0

70.27

69.06

68.42

68.19

2.54

41.28

0.0

68.19

68.44

69.32

69.21

68.65

2.28

41.37

0.0

68.65

70.68

67.21

70.89

68.76

69.30

2.65

41.55

0.0

68.76

72.46

71.65

67.66

69.72

69.38

69.44

2.55

42.02

0.0

69.38

F355

73.89

72.09

69.21

71.86

71.61

71.27

2.84

43.09

0.0

71.27

Sean Doyle

308GT4

73.01

72.27

71.97

73.26

71.59

72.25

2.53

43.18

-4.5

68.37

Pauline Goodwin Peter Hitchman Lorraine Hitchman Peter Rogerson Ian Chadwick

328GTB

74.19

73.33

70.26

73.18

76.60

73.17

2.35

44.54

-3.0

70.97

F355GTS

82.96

78.14

69.08

77.08

75.31

74.21

2.58

44.67

0.0

74.21

328GTS

80.87

76.23

74.86

76.51

74.84

78.99

2.57

45.40

-3.0

72.59

360 Mod

77.14

77.80

75.13

75.92

77.72

75.70

2.59

45.59

1.0

76.46

348ts

84.28

83.68

80.50

83.85

83.64

81.23

3.05

48.66

-2.0

79.61

328GTB

78.67

76.35

76.74

fail

82.20

-3.0

79.73

Tipo

Hcap

Hcap Psn

Nick Taylor

348GTC

67.36

65.72

65.25

65.44

65.10

65.15

Chris Butler

F355

69.52

68.88

65.97

67.37

66.99

John Marshall

430 Scud

69.46

67.34

67.14

67.15

Richard Prior

F355

71.96

70.27

68.50

Richard Allen

F355

70.98

71.53

Philip Whitehead Chris Hitchman John Swift

F355

72.44

F355GTS

Driver

Wendy A Marshall

PEP t I m e

64ft, mid split & speed for fastest run

BARC Class Awards; 1st Nick Taylor FOC Handicap: 1st Sean Doyle

2nd Chris Butler

3rd John Marshall

2nd Richard Prior

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HE FOURTH ROUND of the Pirelli Ferrari Hillclimb Championship took place at Harewood on Sunday, May 9th 2010 writes PHILIP WHITEHEAD. This event was the second part of a May “double header” and was a major National meeting, with the British Hillclimb Championship runners in their powerful single seaters. We were joined by Ian Chadwick, making his introduction this weekend to hillclimbing in an immaculate 348. Of our more experienced competitors, Richard Prior was debuting the ex-Mike Spicer F355 and last year’s champion, Nick Taylor, was back with his 348GTC now shod with the “stickier” List 1b tyres. The weather forecast thankfully predicted warmer conditions than the previous day’s event, which had taken place in an icy cold wind. The 15 competitors started to

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arrive around 8.00am on a today was no exception with the reasonably nice morning and first cars being called at 9.00am proceeded to park up quite prompt. Ian Chadwick led us closely in their allotted paddock down to the start and once a spaces. We were advised, couple of shared drives had taken though, that as numbers were their runs the Ferrari class was down on the previous day there up and running. was plenty of space available, First practice was relatively and as it turned out, we pretty uneventful, although having had much had the run of the rightthe benefit of some five runs the hand side of the paddock. This previous day, some good times area was shared with a display by were already being set. These local main dealers JCT600, who had brought along a Ferrari California to show off, together with a Maserati Spyder and two Lotuses (an Elise and an Evora). All four display cars, however, had to take second billing in the attention stakes to John Marshall’s mighty F430 Scuderia which always attracts a steady stream of both young and old admirers. First practice usually Not really ice cream weather, Anne Swift starts early for the accepts a mammoth icy cone from Chris. Ferraris at Harewood and

Photo: Mark Buckland

PIRELLI FERRARI HILLCLIMB CHAMPIONSHIP: ROUND 4 HAREWOOD HILLCLIMB 9th May 2010

Photo: Mark Buckland

included Pauline Goodwin, now on the comeback trail following her recent hip operation, who stopped the clocks on 73.76. Chadwick was also within touching distance of his best time from Saturday with an 82.57 while John Swift was just over half a second shy of his Saturday time with a 71.72. Four drivers dropped under the psychological 70-second barrier with Allen on 69.58 and Prior, who was already faster than yesterday, with an impressive 67.77. Butler was next up with a 67.49. Fastest of all in P1 was Taylor, who was brimful of confidence after having set a new class record of 65.10 seconds the previous day. He crossed the line in 66.98 seconds, despite bouncing off the rev limiter on the run up to Quarry due to a possible slipping clutch problem. Second practice took place without Nick who, following his clutch issues, was saving his car for the official runs in the afternoon. The weather had now warmed up and most people were starting to ramp up the pace, with one eye on the official runs in the afternoon. The shared drives preceding our class seemed to be having trouble keeping to the tarmac and so the forerunners in our class kept

Local man Peter Rogerson with his 360 Modena.

getting red flagged. Doyle took full advantage of his resulting warm tyres to record a 71.93 second run and consolidate his good form of the previous day. Lorraine Hitchman improved by a considerable 3 seconds from her first run, although father-in-law Peter and husband Chris both went slower. Peter Rogerson was another who improved by over 3 seconds – as he was now getting to grips with how to use his F360’s electronics to best effect. Other improvers included Marshall in the F430 and your correspondent, both now into the 68 second bracket. Up until the end of second practice the weather had been quite fine; however, as lunchtime approached, the skies darkened and sure enough it began to rain. This had a few of us scrambling about closing windows and the like. The rain, though, while heavy enough to dampen the track, was relatively short lived and the normal preRichard Prior had a successful weekend official run with his ex-Spicer F355. banter began in

brightening skies. The first official Ferrari runs took place immediately after lunch and with the ominous rain clouds, getting a good time on your first run was even more important than usual. Normally three official runs is the order of the day at Harewood but with the British Championship top twelve runoffs needing to be fitted in, we were restricted to just two afternoon runs. First off was Chadwick to record an 82.76, closely followed by Doyle who was just shy of his practice mark on 72.09. Pauline improved to a 73.18 while Swift stopped the clocks on 71.00. Allen needed to make this one count as he was planning on only one run. This was because in his capacity as Club Chairman, he was on his way to Chatsworth for the Spring Picnic. He couldn’t improve on his practice time, however, and set a conservative 69.48. The local ice cream man was later seen being consoled beside his van, as a large chunk of his potential afternoon turnover disappeared off to Derbyshire in the silver F355! Richard Prior showed no signs of slowing up and set a personal best of 67.45 showing just how quickly he has got to grips with his new F355. Marshall improved to a 67.00 which also beat his best time here while wife Wendy set her best time of the day with an 80.21. Rogerson improved to a 75.13 which was also turned

CompRes 9

out to be his best time, following a lunchtime walk up and around the famous Quarry corner. This corner, or pair of corners, is renowned for its difficulty and everyone you speak to has a different method of driving it. Peter had obviously seen something during lunch to alter his approach and he put this to good effect on his first run. The top two from yesterday had vastly differing fortunes in the first official run. Butler embarrassingly ran out of fuel on the way up to Quarry, but still recorded a respectable 69.88. This, however. was only good enough for sixth on scratch at the time, and some way short of the twenty points he was aiming for on PEP. His second run would be crucial and he would also now be at the mercy of the weather. Taylor put his clutch worries

behind him to record 65.28secs and take the lead on scratch from Marshall and Prior. The second official runs took place in slightly warmer weather and better grip levels were expected. Chadwick set his best time of the weekend with an 80.56 and Doyle maintained his good form with a best of 71.60 seconds, putting him in contention for some good PEP points. Both Pauline Goodwin and John Swift improved their times as did Chris Hitchman, now down to a 69.34. Lorraine and Wendy set times very close to their first run figures but were unable to improve, along with Rogerson. Peter Hitchman had kept his best until last and knocked over 1.5 seconds off his first run time to record a 73.24. Up at the sharp end, Prior, currently 4th, could not improve

on his first run time and came under pressure from Whitehead. He had also saved his best to last and dipped into the 67-second bracket with a 67.91 to finish 5th. Marshall improved to a 66.82 to take 3rd, while Butler, recovering from his earlier petrol issues, put in a storming 66.34 to snatch the 20 points at the death and further reinforce his Championship lead. Not to be outdone, Taylor stopped the clocks on an incredible 64.82 seconds to further lower the class record and become the first Ferrari under 65 seconds at Harewood. The places and points therefore, were a mirror of the previous day, with Taylor, Butler and Marshall filling the first three places on scratch, and Butler, Taylor and Prior taking the 20, 17 and 15 points respectively. ď Ž

HAREWOOD HILLCLIMB 9 MAY 2010 Pirelli Ferrari Hillclimb Championship Round 4 Hcap Posn

64ft

split

spd

64.82

2.40

38.94

2.0

66.44

69.88

66.34

2.41

40.23

0.0

66.34

66.92

67.00

66.82

2.58

40.68

5.0

70.16

67.51

67.00

67.45

68.16

2.69

40.68

0.0

67.45

70.59

68.43

67.21

69.30

67.91

2.60

41.32

0.0

67.91

F355GTS

71.07

71.39

67.66

70.06

69.34

2.50

42.04

0.0

69.34

Richard Allen

F355

69.58

68.50

68.44

69.48

2.41

42.06

0.0

69.48

John Swift

F355

71.72

71.59

69.21

71.00

70.85

2.74

42.75

0.0

70.85

Sean Doyle

308GT4

73.51

71.93

71.59

72.09

71.60

2.47

42.93

-4.5

68.38

Pauline Goodwin

328GTB

73.76

73.70

70.26

73.18

72.54

2.55

44.65

-3.0

70.36

Peter Hitchman

F355GTS

76.67

69.08

74.99

73.25

2.78

0.0

73.25

Peter Rogerson

360 Mod

79.72

76.37

75.13

75.50

2.56

45.58

1.0

75.88

Lorraine Hitchman

328GTS

79.13

76.13

74.84

76.73

76.89

2.62

47.23

-3.0

74.43

Wendy A Marshall

328GTB

84.39

89.59

76.74

80.21

80.26

2.68

48.41

-3.0

77.80

348ts

82.57

80.84

80.50

82.76

80.56

2.65

48.19

-2.0

78.95

Driver

Tipo

Hâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;cap

Nick Taylor

348GTC

66.98

65.10

65.28

Chris Butler

F355

67.49

67.17

65.97

John Marshall

430 Scud

70.44

68.02

Richard Prior

F355

67.77

Philip Whitehead

F355

Chris Hitchman

Ian Chadwick

64ft, mid split & speed for fastest run

BARC Class Awards: 1st Nick Taylor FOC Handicap: 1st Peter Rogerson 10 CompRes

2nd Chris Butler 2nd Sean Doyle

3rd John Marshall

PEP %

PEP time

Pts

Photo: Lars Hagenbuch

MOTORSPORT AT THE PALACE: CRYSTAL PALACE REVIVAL

Motor racing returns to the Palace

RYSTAL PALACE can lay claim to being one of the very oldest motorsport venues, having hosted events dating back as long ago as 1899 writes NICK TAYLOR. I first visited Crystal Palace on Spring Bank Holiday 1969 to witness my first ever motorsport event, an International Formula Two meeting. As I arrived at the Crystal Palace station (with close and direct access to the circuit) I could hear the scream of BDAs and FVCs howling up Maxim Rise into South Tower. Just the sound of those high-revving engines made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up and left a lasting impression on me. In those days, the young upcoming Formula Two stars (Peterson, Cevert, Regazzoni, Rindt, etc) would be matched

against existing Formula One drivers like Stewart, Hill, Brabham and Hulme in a frantic two heats and a grand final format. The racing was unbelievably competitive and the spectacle of seeing these F2 cars lapping at over 100mph a few feet in front of you, and watching mighty David and Goliath saloon car battles, made an awesome spectacle! In these halcyon days of the early ’70s, Crystal Palace regularly entertained crowds of 25,000 to 30,000 at the traditional Spring Bank Holiday International meeting. As speeds gradually rose, safety at Crystal Palace became more and more of an issue as most of the circuit was lined by concrete walls or the infamous railway sleepers, and with zero run off it was impossible to meet the new safety requirements. Sadly, Crystal Palace closed in the early

’70s and motorsport was lost to the capital. Fast forward almost 40 years to the millennium and the plucky Sevenoaks and District Motor Club managed to stage a couple of sprint events on part of the old circuit. The event attracted a good number of spectators but sadly this revival was short lived as again the cost of making the venue safe for both spectators and competitors could not be sustained by an enthusiastic but relatively small motor club. Perhaps inspired by the success of Goodwood and events like the Cholmondeley Pageant of Power the heroic Sevenoaks and District MC decided to give it another go and, with help from Bromley County Council, launched the ‘MotorSport at the Palace’ initiative for 2010 with the intention of making it an annual Spring Bank Holliday event.

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Photo: Richard Prior

A big moment on the grass on his final run put paid to John Marshall’s bid for class honours in the 430 Scuderia.

Hard working Richard Prior was able to use his considerable charm and influence to get a number of Ferraris invited to the first of these Crystal Palace revival events. Prior, the two Marshalls, Doyle, Taylor, Holman and Pauline Goodwin were all on the invitation list and would be put into a class containing a mixed bag of cars ranging from a Renault Alpine GTA through to some pretty serious 4-wheel drive turbo Impreza/Evo8/Sierra Cosworth machinery. Most of the drivers competing at the event had, like me, spectated or even raced at the Palace in its heyday so it was a nostalgic occasion for all of us. Even Holman confessed to having attended a Pink Floyd concert in the grounds of Crystal Palace at some point in the dim and distant past which confirmed our ‘ageing hippy’ suspicions of him and which no doubt explains his choice of gallio fly paintwork! The paddock is a delightful setting in which to picnic or contemplate the next timed run and was in the next field to the area set aside for car club

12 CompRes

displays, trade stands and lots of family friendly areas including bouncy castles, Roary the Racing car, miniature quad bikes and face painting. The admission fee of ten pounds, with kids for free, seemed to be pitched absolutely perfectly and encouraged a really good turnout of spectators, particularly those with families. I got the impression that many attending had never been to a motorsport event before or even been up close to a racing car, and there seemed to be a great deal of excitement from both young and old. In was interesting to see the animated reaction of families walking through the paddock as the various competing cars passed by on their way to a competitive run or as they returned afterwards. The spectator areas were jam packed, although still with enough room for the odd picnic, and everybody seemed to be enjoying themselves hugely, aided by a good, informed team of commentators and excellent PA system. The organisers

estimated there were 2000 plus attending on the Sunday with potentially 50% more on the Monday, so 5,000 or so over the two days made the weekend a huge success. The course itself was set out using elements of both the 1920’s and 1970’s circuit layouts. From the spectator lined start area at Fisherman’s Rise it was a short blast up to a blind left hand hairpin (Pond) which tightened on the exit then funnelled down an Armco lined straight before hard braking and a late turn in with an oversteering exit out of Big Tree Bend. You are then on the ’70s section of the track going along North Tower Crescent, diving through Parfitt’s Chicane (which has a huge tree on the exit to gain your attention) and then into the Glade, a tricky tightening right-hander with a sting in the tail. It’s a very challenging course with the Glade in particular demanding big respect, partly because of the mix of Armco and trees on the exit but also because of the very low grip surface. Most drivers admitted to

Photo: Richard Prior

So the class results read Taylor 38.51, Marshall 38.76, Sierra Cosworth 38.83, Evo8 38.98, Holman 39.00, and then a Subaru Impreza on 39.30. A theoretical PEP calculation showed Holman with 20 points, an absolutely delighted Doyle continuing to improve on 17 and Taylor on 15. All in all it had been a brilliant day’s motorsport and I am sure that the Ferraris will be seen at ‘Motor Sport at the Palace’ in 2011.

Sean Doyle gives his 308GT4 some grief.

Taylor went slower with a 38.91 after a good oversteering look at the tree at Parfitt’s, and Marshall looked to be on for the win posting a quick split time. As the Scud slipped out of view into the Glade, the clock was ticking and I expected to see a 37 something time for John. But it was not to be. John ended his run on 44.87 after a really big moment on the grass which fortunately he was able to collect without damage.

www.velocebooks.com publish an interesting book covering all the motorsport at Crystal Palace in their ‘Those were the Days’ series ISBN reference number 1-904788 -34-3.

Photo: Richard Prior

huge oversteer moments turning in or exiting this corner and the finish line marshals situated just afterwards must have been treated to some spectacular car control reminiscent of the great Ronnie Peterson oversteering through The Glade in the ’70s. Although this was not a PFHC round, the competition was nevertheless intense between the Ferrari competitors. Wendy Anne Marshall, Pauline Goodwin and Sean Doyle were intent on their own Classic Cup battle, with times down in the low 40 seconds. Sadly this interesting contest was resolved rather unsatisfactorily when Wendy had a big moment coming out of the Glade and Pauline Goodwin pushed a little too hard under braking into Parfitt’s. Prior and Holman were locked in battle, initially with Prior having the advantage until Holman put in a storming final run to pip him with 39.00. Meanwhile, Taylor and John Marshall, as well as fighting with Prior and Holman, were also embroiled in a battle vying for the class win alongside the 4wheel drive, turbo brigade. Taylor led the class, putting in a 38.51 on the second run, but Marshall was getting to grips with the Scud within the tight confines of the track, and improving all the time. He hammered in an exciting looking 38.76. It was now all down to the third and final run. The Sierra Cosworth got into the action with a 38.83,

For further information about the event visit: www.motorsportatthepalace. co.uk

Nick Taylor captured a win in his 348 Competizione.

CompRes 13

Photo: Trevor Noble

SPA RACE FESTIVAL 28-30 MAY 2010 PFfc ROUNDS 3 & 4 PFO ROUNDS 3 & 4

VER THOUGHT that race circuits should be graded for quality like champagne and sparkling wines? writes JOHN SWIFT. Some might be Cava grade – I won’t suggest which but I like to avoid them whenever possible when arranging the PFfc and PFO programmes. There are the Tesco Finest ones – very good but perhaps lacking in prestige and ultimate satisfaction. And then there are those at the very top of the pecking order: the Bollingers and other grand marques. For me, Spa-Francorchamps is at the pinnacle of this fanciful assessment. A definite candidate for being rated alongside a delicious magnum of vintage Krug. Spa 2010, arguably the highlight of our Ferrari season, captured the attention of a sizeable number of competitors.

14 CompRes

25 drivers had entered for Classic various logistical difficulties along with 13 in the Open series: including engine problems with a total of 38 Ferraris in the his Range Rover tow vehicle. combined races, which one has to We were pleased to welcome say is not half bad. two guests to our number. In Inevitably there were a few PFO, Belgian driver Christophe drop-outs who never made it to Van Riet brought along his 360 Belgium. A bitterly disappointed Challenge car whilst the Chris Rea was one of them, his Dutchman, Jan Gijzen, entered 308GT4 again languishing in his delectable 275GTB4 in Group Barry Hodson’s workshops with 1 of the Classic series. Jan told engine maladies which could not me that his has owned his be fixed in time. Chris missed beautiful car for over 15 years the opener at Snetterton and someone will quickly have to decide whether it’s more fun to be actually racing or having, in theory, the fastest ever GT4 that never took part in an event. A last minute entry by Wayne Marrs with his 360GTC didn’t Making his racing debut was Cliff Fox in his materialise for formidable 430 Challenge.

Photo: Stefan Eckhardt

Spa

Photos: Stefan Eckhardt

Racing in Saturday’s sunshine. Top: Gary Culver heads Jim Cartwright and Darren Laverty Centre: An on form William Moorwood leads Jon Goodwin, Nick Whittaker and William Jenkins Bottom: David Hathaway executes a neat spin in his 360 Challenge.

and races it regularly, the next outing after Spa being Classic Le Mans. Of the other competitors in PFfc, all had raced with us previously although for some it was their first experience of Spa. Things were slightly different in the Open series entry. For Cliff Fox (whose proud claim is to be the maker of the finest fishing equipment in the world) it was to be his very first race ever. Cliff’s 430 Challenge car is prepared by FF Corse, who also look after Leon Price’s similar car. From experience, an entirely new Ferrari project is always going to be prone to teething problems. Fosker Engineering’s entry of a 456GT, to be driven by Paul Brooks - an old hand at the wheel of a Ferrari - was viewed with some scepticism by your scribe. The car had been withdrawn from Snetterton in April when it was pronounced unready, so I was not really convinced it would be au point for Spa. I believe I am correct in saying that the notion of racing a 456GT is unique. Never before, so far as I can recall, has the world seen one of this tipo on the circuits, so if it all happened at Spa it would be a world first. The car is a big, heavy machine that is more suited, you would think, to cruising down the autoroutes to the French Riviera than flicking round the 7km of sinuous tarmac that is Spa-Francorchamps. Clearly Foskers enjoy a challenge and they have managed to make an impressive reduction in the 456’s avoirdupois by over 500kg. Substitution of the car’s leather seats was a good start – it takes two people to lift them! Enormous brakes allow it to stop adequately and when we first saw it emerge from the paddock it is fair to say we were just as impressed as clearly Paul Brooks was infectiously enthusiastic. Vance Kearney is a regular competitor in PFO with his exPhillipe Everard mafia black F355 Challenge. Vance tends to share the car with a number of different

CompRes 15

Photo: Trevor Noble

There’s a first time for everything and it was a world first for a 456GT taking part in a Ferrari race. The Fosker Engineering’s car’s debut was an undoubted success in Paul Brooks’s hands.

climate made sure that vital equipment was made waterproof – just in case. The Friday morning test proved useful despite the huge number of cars – around eighty – taking part. Most drivers, especially those at the wheel of Fiat 500s and little Alfas, used their mirrors properly and there were no instances of heart-in-the -mouth avoidances.

Q1 Before Ferrari Q1, we assembled in the briefing room to listen to the German Clerk of the Course explain the procedures and what punishments would be meted out if we transgressed from the rules. The briefing

Photo: Trevor Noble

drivers and this time it was the turn of newcomer Darren Laverty. Another driver having his first taste of Spa, having just upgraded his licence, was Robert Pulleyn with his nice blue F355, a car that was campaigned some years ago in PMFC by Steve Young. The Ferraris were allocated a generous space in the lower paddock after your reporter had commented to the organisers that our original location was far too small, bearing in mind the space needed to accommodate FF Corse’s and David Hathaway’s set -ups, which wouldn’t have disgraced a F1 paddock not so many years ago. The Reeder Brothers’ clientele opted to hire a pitbox up in the new complex, so found themselves a bit out of touch with the rest of us. Most of the Ferrari contingent had settled in to their positions in the paddock by teatime on Thursday and were ready for the first essay onto the track: an optional 25-minute free testing session starting at 09.35 hrs on the following day.

wasn’t all that successful due, in part, to the Clerk’s indifferent knowledge of English. We had a lively debate on what constituted the edge of the circuit and which white line could not be crossed without incurring a penalty, but at the end no one was quite sure what the rules were. The first qualifying session, of 20 minutes, got underway on time just after midday. One driver who didn’t make it was the unfortunate Chris Compton Goddard, whose highly strung 308GTB developed yet another terminal problem during testing. A nasty (and potentially expensive) noise from the bottom of the engine suggested main bearing failure and the car was sadly loaded up for home and another agonising diagnosis session in the workshop. Our notes on Q1 reveal that Peter Everingham had a spin at Pouhon in his 328GTB with its Briggs Cunningham livery, Chris Butler lost an inner wheel arch and, far more serious, Richard Squire broke a stub axle on his 328, losing a rear wheel in the process. Richard was fortunate to emerge unscathed from his 100mph adventure and the metal fatigue failure served to remind us to make sure that these highly stressed components on 308s, 328s and Mondials are replaced at regular intervals. Richard Moseley’s normally bomb-proof 308 suffered an

Testing Friday dawned fine and warm, in pleasant contrast to the dull and unpromising weather of the previous couple of days. Spa weather can never be trusted and some of us with experience of the fickleness of the circuit’s micro-

16 CompRes

Leon Price made no mistakes in R1, bringing his 430 Challenge home to a comfortable victory.

Photo: Trevor Noble Photo: Stefan Eckhardt

Photo: Stefan Eckhardt

engine problem: a melted spark plug suggested a dropped valve. It was a big disappointment to Richard since clearly it needed some extensive remedial work that couldn’t be carried out in the paddock. Guest driver Van Riet damaged his 360/Ch’s bodywork when he spun into the barriers. And Hart’s Mondial was initially puffing out clouds of oil smoke due to an overfilled sump. The timesheets confirmed that Leon Price had the quickest Ferrari at Spa. His time of 2:40.620 was some six seconds faster than Mick Dwane in his 360/Ch, with the Belgian Van Riet snatching third from Hathaway. In Classic, it was Gary Culver (Gp4 328GTB) who claimed pole with 2:56.542, about half a second in front of Ben Cartwright’s Gp3 car. Third was Ben’s brother, James (Gp4 328GTB), who was looking distinctly unwell, suffering from an upset stomach. Gijzen’s was the quickest Gp1 car, the Dutchman getting his 275GTB4 round in 3:09.105, while William Jenkins set the pace for Gp2 cars with his Gulf Oil-liveried 308GTB timed at 3:04.332.

Q2 followed after a break of two-and-a-half hours, during which most drivers built up their strength on the incomparable Belgian frites accompanied by the inevitable mayonnaise. The sun shone, the track was in good order, and times generally seemed to be faster than in the earlier session. Rumour had it that Cliff Fox suffered an inadvertent discharge of his fire extinguisher while Jon Goodwin’s Mondial t broke its oil pump timing chain tensioner and it seemed that unless he became amazingly lucky, his weekend’s racing would be at an end. Also not what we wanted was car contact between Peter Moseley’s 328GTB and David Hathaway’s 360 – the damage wasn’t serious but really unnecessary. Jon Goodwin’s preparers, the intrepid pair of Nick Davis and

Photo: Stefan Eckhardt

Top: Was there ever a prettier Ferrari at Spa than Jan Gijsen’s delectable 275GTB4? Upper Middle: Richard Fenny (308GT4) and Ray Ferguson (Mondial T) with horns locked Lower Middle: Martin Hart drove superbly all weekend Bottom: Christophe Van Riet (360/Ch) was a podium finisher.

CompRes 17

Le Dîner

Photo: Stefan Eckhardt

Friday evening was the date for the usual Spa Ferrari Dinner Party. As in 2009, we had arranged this at the Hotel du Wayai. Despite its name, which suggests a Geordie bar in Tyneside, the Wayai is a brilliant hostelry situated about five miles from the circuit and home to a bewildering collection of wildlife. Deer, goats, ponies, wild geese, and a family of vociferous peacocks that roam the grounds. This year, patron Tony has added a trio of kangaroos: daddy, mummy and a baby joey. The stated maximum number of guests that the Wayai can accommodate for dinner is around 40. On that Friday evening they managed 55 Ferraristi and even then some

Photo: Stefan Eckhardt

Nigel Royle, scoured the paddock in the unlikely chance that someone had a Mondial tensioner and, by an amazing bit of good fortune, mentioned their quest to Ray Ferguson. “No problem,” said Ray, as he took a brand new unit from its box. Nick and Nige immediately went to work to fit the new tensioner for the following day. Jon breathed a big sigh of relief. David Edge had a scare when a rattle from the rear of his F355 was thought to be the gearbox showing signs of disintegration. GiPiMotors, his preparers for the weekend, found the noise was nothing more serious than the audio effect of a squashed section of air trunking.

Gary Culver acknowledges the chequered flag in Race 1. No one could quite match his pace and he set a new lap record to prove it.

competitors who were late in making up their minds had to be disappointed. Before the meal we enjoyed aperitifs: a choice of Prosecco or a delicious frizzante Lambrusco that Anne and I had carefully transported from England. The meal was great, it was washed down with some decent French red and white, and judging from the volume of the conversation in the dining room, everybody enjoyed the occasion enormously.

Race 1 (sec)

Saturday was the day for the first Ferrari race, a 7-lapper for a combined field of PFfc and PFO cars. Opinions differ on the best way of organising the starting grid when a standing start system is used for a mixed field. From experience, the preferred method is to grid up all the potentially faster Open cars ahead of the Classic, with a blank row separating the two series. The cars then go off when the start lights are extinguished. This works well providing everyone makes a decent fist of getting their car into motion the instant the lights Richard Moseley’s normally bullet proof 308GTB go out. suffered engine problems in qualifying so he The Ferrari took over his dad’s 328 for R1.

18 CompRes

race was the second event of the morning, timed for 09.35, so shortly after 9 o’clock the cars were summoned to the collecting area of the paddock, on the inside of La Source hairpin. The weather conditions were perfect, with the circuit bathed in warm sunshine from a cloudless sky. Cliff Fox, who had qualified his 430/Ch in 5th position, had an upset stomach and wisely decided to withdraw from the race. The Clerk of the Course, who was also the driver of the Fiat 500 Abarth pace car, had been urged to get a move on during the green flag installation lap. This he duly did and everybody took the opportunity to weave around and test their brakes to ensure everything that mattered was up to working temperature. So far so good but what came afterwards was plain chaos. The three red lights on the gantry lit up in turn, they went out, and then . . . nothing. Pole man Price in the 430/Ch didn’t move (he seemed to be waiting for three more non-existent lights to come on, as in Formula 1) and the other front row man, Mick Dwane (360/Ch) , looking at Price, was unsure whether to move or not. The experienced Hathaway made a good getaway from row 2 but behind him it was mayhem as some cars made electrifying starts only to be baulked by stationary cars ahead. Sheer good driving by

Photo: Trevor Noble

Mick Dwane was the PFO winner of Race 2, he and his Class C2 360 Challenge never putting a foot or wheel wrong in the tricky conditions.

William Jenkins in bringing his 308GTB to a halt in an allenveloping cloud of rubber smoke, avoided a rear end collision with Pulleyn’s F355/Ch. Eventually, to everyone’s relief, we all headed for the first corner, La Source, in some disarray but mercifully without any bent machinery. Richard Moseley had started the race from the back of the grid in his father’s 328GTB, a substitute for his hors de combat 308. At the end of lap 1, Price had recovered from his start line dilemmas and created a useful lead over Dwane and Hathaway, with the Belgian Van Riet in close attendance, in fourth. The first of the Classics, Tomlin (328GTB) was in a glorious 6th spot overall and hanging on to the tail of John Shirley’s F355. Hounding Tomlin was the high-speed trio of Culver, Jim Cartwright and brother Ben C; a decent size tarpaulin could have covered the four of them. It was Spa racing at its very best. Behind the leaders there were some hard battles being fought all the way down the field. Hart, Evers and Edge were locked in combat behind the Open cars of Mike Reeder (F355) and Brooks (456GT). Moseley R, in

the slightly unfamiliar 328, was having a fine dice with Fisk. And your scribe was having his work cut out coping with the fast starting Benaroya Mondial and a rapidly recovering Jenkins. By lap 4 it was clear that Leon Price, barring unforeseen circumstances, would be destined for the top step of the podium, his 430 being a couple of seconds a lap quicker than his nearest pursuer, Dwane. The leading pair were now pulling clear of Hathaway and, just behind, Van Riet. Tomlin was still in charge of Classic but not being given an easy time by Culver and Jim C who looked to be examining his boot lid very carefully. Moseley had a spin but continued pushing hard in the company of Jenkins and Swift. Behind there was the usual Spa skirmish between the similarly paced Mondials of Benaroya and Goodwin, the Frenchman just having the edge. Lap 5 saw Hathaway and Van Riet make light contact at Stavelot and Culver, after a slight mistake from Tomlin, take over the lead in Classic with Jim C now slotted into 2nd. Brooks was driving the Fosker 456 with all his old skill, making good use of the

cars prodigious straight line speed to keep ahead of the flying 328 of Ben C. Ray Ferguson, obviously enjoying his return to this great circuit, was keeping his colourful but immaculate Mondial ahead of Richard Fenny’s Gp2 308GT4, which in turn was leading the warring pair of Gp1 Ferraris, the GT4s of Moorwood and Whittaker. Finally the chequered flag came out to greet Leon Price, who crossed the line some 10 seconds ahead of Mick Dwane. Van Riet took third, well ahead of 4th man Hathaway. Mike Reeder, in 5th, was the winner of Class C1 just ahead of John Shirley’s similar car. In Classic, Gary Culver showed just what a class driver he is by setting a new lap record for the circuit in claiming victory from the similar Gp4 328GTB of Jim Cartwright, the interval at the end being 4 seconds. Third placed David Tomlin was a further 3 seconds in arrears with his Gp3 winning car. Chris Butler edged Peter Everingham out of 4th spot by a margin of just 7 seconds. Our Dutch guest, Jan Gijzen, was the winner of Gp1 with his glorious scarlet 275GTB4.

CompRes 19

Photo: Trevor Noble

Didier Benaroya was impressive in the rain in his immaculate Mondial.

tarmac might even have dried out. The Classic line-up for R2 was the same 19 cars that had completed R1 the previous day, but with Peter Moseley now at the wheel of his own 328GTB while son Richard became a spectator. In Open, Vance Kearney had taken over from Darren Laverty in the black F355 while Cliff Fox, feeling much better after a good night’s sleep, was dressed for action in his 430/ Ch. Cliff was a little apprehensive about his standing start technique so he opted to start from the back of the Open grid. The problems encountered at the start of R1 had made your reporter put his thinking cap on again. In consultation with the organisers, it was decided to

Photo: Trevor Noble

Time was short this year so the podium ceremony was confined to the first three home in each series. Looking at the lap times, in Open, because of the change of class structure this season, all the fastest times constituted new records. In C3, Price’s time of 2:41.723 is the new target. The new C2 lap record is 2:43.130 set by Dwane, and Mike Reeder’s time of 2:51.304 is the new C1 benchmark. Brooks had the distinction of establishing the new class S record in 2:53.309. The early end to the Ferrari event meant that the rest of Saturday was a leisurely day, with most drivers and their teams enjoying the sun and the atmosphere of the busy paddock, with plenty of time to sort out any snags before the second race on the morrow.

have a 10-second interval between the dispatch of the Open cars and the release of the Classics. It meant that although there may be more lapping of the slower Classic Ferraris it would hopefully eliminate the bedlam of the previous day’s start. The arrangement was that the lights would come on a second time for the start of the PFfc cars. A briefing in the paddock explained the method, and everyone seemed to be content with the new starting format. That early morning optimism about the possibility of a dry race proved to be ill-founded. As the Ferraris collected up at La Source it started to rain. And as we sat there waiting to be released down the pitlane the drizzle turned into a proper downpour. The correct choice of tyre engaged some drivers’ thoughts – not the Classic brigade since there is no alternative to the treaded List 1B Pirellis. But the Open pilots had to make the difficult call between wets and slicks, and as the puddles formed in the paddock it was clear that slicks would be a bad selection. After some delay, we moved off behind the pace car. My request for a second green flag lap, on account of the changed conditions, had been turned down by the organisers on account of

Race 2 (pluvieux) Spa, I suppose, wouldn’t be Spa without the intervention, at some point, of rain. It’s what one expects in the vast forest of the Ardennes and what one usually gets. After countless times of racing at this majestic track, it is difficult to remember the very few occasions when the weekends have been totally dry. And so it was for Race Two on the Sunday. Heavy overnight rain had thoroughly soaked the track although a fresh breeze made things look more promising as we assembled in the paddock in advance of the 10.25am Ferrari race. With a bit of luck, we optimistically thought, the

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Two Stripers. There’s no mistaking the Cartwright boys, seen here with Ben leading Jim into La Source hairpin in their 328GTBs.

Photo: Stefan Eckhardt

“In the end I wound down my window and just listened to the Dutch driver changing gear, watching that beautiful rear end twitching in a cloud of spray.” Peter Fitch’s take on Jan Gijzen’s 275GTB4.

third. Then, after a little gap, it was Van Riet in the 360 drawing away from Edge who held 5th spot. Meanwhile an interesting duel was developing between the Cartwright kids, with Jim strongly challenging Ben although Tomlin was tracking the pair of them. In 5th, Butler was increasing his lead over Evers while yours truly was enjoying a tremendous dice with Peter Fisk (328GTB) and Jan Gijzen’s powerful 275GTB4. A lack of effective grip caused Ferguson to retire his Mondial t on lap 3. Fisk, despite a couple of spins, seemed to be having a ball as he savoured the joys of Spa’s weather. In his own words: “Sunday was a different kettle of fish altogether; I still have a lot to learn about driving

Photo: Stefan Eckhardt

the sheer number of races to come and the 6.00pm curfew. Our hearts sank as the oil flags were shown at every marshals’ post around the circuit. An incontinent car in an earlier race had seemingly jettisoned all its lubricant on the racing line. The modified starting procedure worked well and this time there were no dramas. Pole setter Leon Price immediately got into trouble at Eau Rouge and spun out of contention to 8th place, when the baton was taken up by Mick Dwane, who seemed to be relishing the tricky conditions. Hathaway, on slicks, found the going impossible and pitted at the end of lap1. Meanwhile, after the 10second pause, the Classic series cars launched themselves, with a confident Gary Culver taking the initiative from Ben Cartwright, David Tomlin, Chris Butler and Martin Hart, the latter looking particularly impressive in the foul conditions. Peter Everingham no doubt startled himself as well as his near neighbours when he touched the slippery kerb at Raidillon and rotated, fortunately ending up facing the right way. Fisk was another driver who spun but continued unabashed. On lap 2 it was clear that Dwane, in the temporary absence of Price’s faster 430, was in charge and pulling away from second placed Reeder, with Kearney ready to pounce, in

There was a great battle in Race 2 between these F355s. “Mike Reeder and Vance Kearney had been at each other’s jugulars most of the time.”

in the wet. Caught out on lap 1 by taking a tight line at Rivage 2 (I did see the oil flag but had felt nothing on the green flag lap; but it was certainly there nonetheless) I was very grateful that everyone missed me as I sat blocking the entire track As for Pouhon, well I was too busy watching you catch me to notice just how wide I was running, and those kerbs are very slippery (I think you found that out a bit later too!). “However, the one memory I will keep forever will be following the 275GTB4 for lap after lap. I was very conscious of the value of that car and just how beautiful it was. Deep down I knew I could have pushed past, but there simply was no need to do so as I was already way back. In the end I wound my window down and just listened to the Dutch driver changing gear, watching that beautiful rear end twitching in a cloud of spray. I wonder how many people can ever say that they have watched a 275GTB at race speed at a wet Spa circuit from a distance of a couple of feet at well over 100mph . . . not too many I suspect. As for him pushing me off to the right at Raidillon, he was certainly prepared to take some chances and really race that car!” At half distance Dwane was confidently in overall control, with the battling F355s of Reeder and Kearney vying for second place. Then it was Van Riet ahead of a

CompRes 21

22 CompRes

Photo: Suzanne Everingham

and Kearney, who had of the Gp2 drivers with Swift been at each other’s again taking the runner-up jugulars for most of the position some 10 seconds behind time, had a coming at the end. In Gp1, Jan Gijzen together. The result repeated his win of the previous was that Reeder day although this time William continued, albeit at a Moorwood wasn’t far adrift. somewhat reduced Lap times were, of course, pace, while Kearney substantially slower than headed for retirement. Saturday’s but the ‘rain masters’ And then, on the very can be identified from the last lap, at Rivage, the accompanying results table. unfortunate Evers spun Thanks to the hospitable into the barriers, Anthony Cheshire, his FF Corse causing severe damage truck’s awning provided shelter to the bodywork of his from the rain for the awards previously unmarked presentation, the Class and white 328. Group prizes being handed out by Happiness is success at Spa. David and The chequered Anne Swift. Hilary Tomlin enjoy the moment. flag brought the damp The final presentation was to fast recovering Price. proceedings to an end. An the winner of the coveted The situation in Classic was ecstatic Mick Dwane waved Hackwood Group Classic Driver of mostly unchanged. Culver looked acknowledgement, taking a the Meeting award, which was as if he could deal with any maiden overall PFO victory from deservedly won by newcomer potential challenger from the Christophe Van Riet by under Martin Hart in recognition of his pursuing group of Jim C (now just three seconds, with third placed outstanding drives in both races. ahead of Ben), Tomlin and Butler. Leon Price a further 7 seconds Reflecting on our 2010 Evers spun at the exit to Bus behind. Cliff Fox made up for the sojourn to Spa, it was a shame Stop while Swift squeezed past disappointment of the previous that one or two drivers Jenkins as the two 308s braked day by claiming 4th with a experienced some damage to for the chicane. Moorwood was thoroughly competent drive. their Ferraris in one form or demonstrating his wet weather David Edge, to his great delight, another but for the majority the skills and keeping well ahead of came in ahead of the delayed race meeting will be long the Gp2 car of Fenny. Reeder to snatch a Class C1 remembered for another fantastic A lap later Jenkins got his victory. event at the world’s finest own back on Swift when he Gary Culver stamped his motorsport arena. slipped past under braking for authority on the Classic race, Les Combes but the pair heading his nearest rival, Jim continued as if welded together, Cartwright, by no less than 14 determined to catch Gijzen just a seconds. Jim was just a couple few metres ahead. William got of seconds past and then yours truly ahead of his followed suit. Pouhon seemed to brother in the be a good place to take the Gp3 winning position but in order to do so one Ferrari. The had to get off the racing line. I best of the clipped the slippery white line Mondials was and kerb on the outside of the Martin Hart’s, second part of the corner, and who finished before you could say ‘bl**dy ahead of h*ll!’ the 308 had snapped round Didier and was travelling backwards at Benaroya’s 100mph. I had time to cabriolet contemplate a million eurosversion, with worth of 275GTB4 heading Jon Goodwin straight for me. Fortunately Jan a couple of Gijzen is a very capable pilot and places a calamity was avoided. behind. Now we were into the closing William stages of what had been a very Jenkins once Saturday’s race winner, Leon Price, is flanked by Mick eventful race. But more drama more proved Dwane and Christophe Van Riet on the PFO podium. was to come. On lap 6, Reeder to be the pick

PIRELLI FERRARI formula classic â&#x20AC;&#x201C; ROUNDS 3 & 4 SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS 29 May 2010 Race 1 Pos

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 NS NS

34 69 6 72 5 12 31 30 3 38 98 15 11 4 18 71 25 29 48 15 35

Driver Gary Culver James Cartwright David Tomlin Ben Cartwright Chris Butler Peter Everingham Martin Hart Pete Fisk Nick Cartwright William Jenkins Jan Gijzen Richard Moseley John Swift Didier Benaroya Jon Goodwin Ray Ferguson Richard Fenny William Moorwood Nick Whittaker Peter Moseley Richard Squire

Tipo

Group

Laps

Time

328GTB

4 4 3 3 3 3 3 3 4 2 1 3 2 3 3 3 2 1 1 3 3

7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6

20:47.646 20:51.506 20:54.714 21:00.948 21:31.721 21:38.859 21:50.883 21:55.486 21:56.721 22:16.643 22:17.273 19:09.632 19:21.690 19:31.064 19:38.947 19:40.085 19:46.452 20:06.111 20:12.675

328GTB

328GTB 328GTB 328GTB 328GTB Mondial t 328GTB 328GTB

308GTB 275GTB/4 328GTB 308GTB Mondial Cab Mondial t

Mondial t 308GT4

308GT4 308GT4 328GTB 328GTB

Best Lap 2:55.569 2:56.323 2:56.191 2:56.996 3:01.702 3:02.389 3:03.797 3:02.935 3:03.394 3:03.311 3:05.844 3:02.740 3:08.142 3:12.035 3:10.946 3:11.960 3:11.367 3:16.748 3:17.906

Qualify

Pos

2:56.542 2:59.034 2:59.182 2:57.019 3:03.915 3:04.305 3:06.547 3:15.093 3:05.671 3:04.332 3:09.105 *3:10.978 3:08.715 3:15.273 3:10.395 3:20.249 3:18.344 3:16.115 3:22.785 3:09.418 3:10.562

1 3 4 2 5 6 9 16 8 7 11 15 10 17 13 20 19 18 21 12 14

Qualify 2:56.247 2:59.395 2:57.600 2:58.594 3:03.505 3:05.296 3:07.072 3:18.345 3:08.201 3:05.395 no time 3:14.283 3:09.068 3:07.614 3:19.178 3:02.743 3:20.460 3:22.879 3:24.162

Pos 1 4 2 3 6 7 9 14 11 8

*qualified in 308GTB so started from back of grid Fastest Laps:

Gary Culver David Tomlin William Jenkins Jan Gijzen

Group 4 Group 3 Group 2 Group 1

2:55.569 2:56.191 3:03.311 3:05.844

(141.44 km/h) (140.65 km/h) (132.02 km/h) (131.96 km/h)

lap record lap record lap record lap record

SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS 30 May 2010 Race 2 Pos 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 DNF

No 34 69 72 6 5 31 15 4 3 38 18 98 11 30 29 12 25 48 71

Driver Gary Culver James Cartwright Ben Cartwright David Tomlin Chris Butler Martin Hart Peter Moseley Didier Benaroya Nick Cartwright William Jenkins Jon Goodwin Jan Gijzen John Swift Pete Fisk William Moorwood Peter Everingham Richard Fenny Nick Whittaker Ray Ferguson

Fastest Laps: Gary Culver David Tomlin William Jenkins Jan Gijzen

Tipo 328GTB 328GTB 328GTB 328GTB 328GTB Mondial t 328GTB Mondial Cab

328GTB 308GTB Mondial t 275GTB/4 308GTB 328GTB 308GT4 328GTB 308GT4 308GT4 Mondial t Group 4 Group 3 Group 2 Group 1

Group 4 4 3 3 3 3 3 3 4 2 3 1 2 3 1 3 2 1 3

3:12.920 3:14.967 3:25.508 3:26.546

Laps 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 6 6 6 1

Time 23:28.667 23:44.235 23:46.593 23:58.169 24:21.957 25:01.904 25:15.083 25:16.656 25:19.179 25:26.237 25:30.747 25:34.065 25:36.346 25:40.999 25:50.017 20:59.801 22:48.599 22:50.076 12:35.467

Best Lap 3:12.920 3:15.090 3:15.970 3:14.967 3:20.030 3:24.560 3:27.180 3:25.254 3:25.481 3:25.508 3:28.438 3:26.546 3:26.852 3:26.941 3:30.097 3:17.945 3:38.304 3:36.930 4:04.751

13 12 10 15 5 16 17 18

(125.27 km/h) (122.70 km/h) (115.62 km/h) (115.03 km/h)

CompRes 23

PIRELLI FERRARI OPEN Race 1 SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS 29th May 2010

Pos

Driver

Class

Laps

430GTC

19:09.559

2:41.723

2:40.620

77 Mick Dwane

F360/Ch

19:19.666

2:43.130

2:46.420

20 Christophe Van Riet

F360/Ch

19:40.701

2:46.087

2:48.689

20:04.133

2:46.407

2:49.725

2:51.304

2:56.252

88 Leon Price

2 3

Tipo

Time

Best Lap

Qualify

Pos

19 David Hathaway

F360/Ch

65 Mike Reeder

F355/Ch

20:38.504

40 John Shirley

F355

20:42.191

2:55.604

2:55.315

20:55.433

2:53.309

3:01.266

10 8

456GT

8 Darren Laverty

F355/Ch

21:17.086

2:57.835

2:58.436

7 Robert Pulleyn 85 David Edge

F355/Ch F355/Ch

C1 C1

21:54.682

3:01.186

2:59.461

18:40.666

3:02.802

3:04.477

81 Cliff Fox

430GTC

2:52.359

22 Paul Brooks

Fastest Laps:

Leon Price

2:41.723 (153.51 km/h)

Establishes lap record

Mick Dwane

2:43.130 (152.17 km/h)

Establishes lap record

Mike Reeder

2:51.304 (142.49 km/h)

Establishes lap record

Paul Brooks

2:53.309 (140.56 km/h)

Establishes lap record

PIRELLI FERRARI OPEN Race 2 SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS 30th May 2010 Pos

Driver

77 Mick Dwane

20 Christophe Van Riet

88 Leon Price *81 Cliff Fox

Tipo

Class

Laps

F360/Ch

22:16.101

Time

Best Lap 3:07.661

Qualify 2:41.775

Pos 2

F360/Ch

22:18.760

3:04.144

2:46.964

430GTC 430GTC

C3 C3

22:25.203

3:03.515

2:39.538

22:42.967

3:05.962

2:50.283

85 David Edge

F355/Ch

23:26.557

3:17.307

3:00.744

65 Mike Reeder

F355/Ch

23:28.592

3:07.052

2:54.514

22 Paul Brooks

456GT

23:57.215

3:19.229

2:58.091

F355/Ch

24:09.955

3:22.946

3:02.541

F355

25:51.808

3:30.946

2:55.285

3:05.530

2:53.846

2:46.741

7 Robert Pulleyn

40 John Shirley

DNF

8 Vance Kearney

F355/Ch

15:59.942

DNF

19 David Hathaway

F360/Ch

3:46.546

*started from back of PFO grid Fastest Laps: Leon Price Christophe Van Riet Vance Kearney Paul Brooks

24 CompRes

C3 C2

3:03.515 (131.18 km/h) 3:04.144 (131.82 km/h)

C1 S

3:05.530 (131.31 km/h) 3:19.229 (122.78 km/h)

Photo: Jonathan Tremlett

PIRELLI FERRARI HILLCLIMB CHAMPIONSHIP: ROUND 5 PRESCOTT HILLCLIMB 29th MAY 2010

LTHOUGH I’M rather fond of Prescott during a normal hillclimb event, La Vie en Bleu gives the headquarters of the Bugatti Owners Club a garden party feel - some have said along the lines of the Goodwood Festival of Speed writes RICHARD PRIOR. This French themed event with static displays of priceless Bugatti cars (and of course Veyrons in action) also had stilt walkers mingling with accordion players and mime artists, and of course every car fanatic’s favourite: cancan dancers. The weather forecast wasn’t so appealing though. Some competitors had already found rain showers on the way, the rest of them encountered them as they parked up in Prescott’s picturesque paddock. The impressive 17-car class of Ferraris had the usual problem of sticking race numbers onto wet car bodywork (some with more

success than others) and the dilemma of how to keep suede race boots from soaking up the moisture from the grass. Our newest registered competitor, Ian Chadwick, was

There was all the fun of the fair, but that’s just a tall story.

back from his debut at Harewood earlier in the month where he performed honourably in his 348, even beating Wendy Marshall on the Saturday (but she got him back in the following day’s repeat performance). Sergio Ransford made a welcome return to the paddock. He hadn’t been seen since Harewood last September, but now his 308 had been repaired and looked in great condition, ready for battle again. We were also joined by guest driver Steve Cropley from Autocar magazine, who had chosen Prescott to give a public track airing to the F430 which has been loaned to the magazine for a long term evaluation from Ferrari North Europe. Apart from having the envious job of a road tester for 35 years, Steve has also previously competed at Prescott. We were hoping on this occasion he would restrain himself from trying too hard and showing us all up. Although the drizzle came and went, it seemed to be mostly present while preparing to get

CompRes 25

26 CompRes

P2 brought another shower before we ventured out again, but most times were now heading in the right direction. Wendy Anne Marshall reduced her 328 time by over 2 seconds, as did Pauline Goodwin. Sean Doyle took over 3 seconds off, Tracey Haynes nearly 4 seconds and Peter Wilson by almost 5. Ed Briscoe’s time came down from 71.42 to 64.15 seconds, Steve Cropley was now on 63.55 seconds, while Prior, Holman and Allen were now in Pauline Goodwin and Andrew Holman in the 57 second conversation with Autocar’s Steve Cropley. bracket. The 064ft times were still showing who order it was inevitable that the could adjust to the slippery track wouldn’t stay dry for long conditions the best and it was and another shower of rain now Richard Allen on 3.02 closely passed overhead. At least the followed by newcomer Ian conditions were consistent, but Chadwick on 3.10 seconds. the time was dragging with more Fastest speed recorded went to than a few single-seaters going Richard Prior who held his nerve off track and we were wondered into Orchard Corner to clock if we’d still get both runs in. 61mph. You have to resist lifting Colin Campbell made his before exiting the speed trap fastest climb of the day on 83.33, which is actually further around and Sergio Ransford (308) the first corner than it first improved to 63.97 but Sean appears (and is way beyond the Doyle was happy to be ahead of Bridge itself). John Marshall was him in the GT4 version with absolutely consistent with both 61.27. Pauline Goodwin had a practice runs clocking 60.61 spin coming out of Ettores but seconds in the 430 Scuderia, but carried on up the track with Nick Taylor even managed to 104.75 on the clock, so the nibble another 1.5 seconds from pressure would be on the final his previous impressive run and run to get enough points to was still in the lead. maintain her position in the top

Photo: Jonathan Tremlett

Peter Wilson (348ts) exits Pardon Hairpin on his way up the hill.

ready for our class runs. Once we cleared the water from the paintwork it reappeared minutes later. I’ve never seen so many chamois cloths in action at a hillclimb before. As per tradition, the 246 Dino of Colin Campbell led the Ferraris to the startline and was first to test the track conditions. The biggest problem for most appeared to be controlling the wheelspin as the lights changed to green. Some tried second gear, others moved over to the left side of the track as the tarmac had more grip than the laid down rubber left from previous dry meetings. A few good examples of self control were from the 328s of Pauline Goodwin (who crossed the first 64ft in 3.31 seconds) and Richard Allen with 3.19 seconds, the 348s of Ian Chadwick (3.32 seconds) and Peter Wilson (3.34 seconds). Strangely enough the more powerful 355s were having just as much success, with Andrew Holman on 3.21 and, quickest of the lot, Phil Whitehead with 3.13. The tarmac was predictably slippery, and the only thing that wasn’t predictable was Nick Taylor’s performance in the 348 GTC. With List 1B tyres on board he was sure to be dropping down the field with the lack of grooves, but they seemed to be better than the standard road tyres. With total faith in the softer motorsport rubber and his many years of experience, he was rewarded with the quickest run in first practice of 55.94.

The lunch break occurred in a rare dry spell, thankfully for the Breitling Wingwalkers who were performing above our heads as well as the Daleks on the ground, talking to spectators and moving about freely in the paddock without getting their feet – I mean wheels - wet. If there were sofas present then I’m sure a few small children would have hidden behind them. Although this extended hiatus was fun for the spectators, more than a few competitors couldn’t help thinking it would be great to be on the start line now getting a decent dry run in. With the Ferrari drivers now full of freshly made crepes the official timed runs began. As we were so far down the program

Photo: Jonathan Tremlett

half of the Championship. The 355 group up at the front now had Phil Whitehead on 57.49 with Prior 57.01 and Holman now pulling ahead with 56.07. Richard Allen was keeping in touch with them in his 328 ‘rat car’ and found himself on 57.67 but Taylor was revelling in the conditions and had now pushed the target to 54.13 (almost 2 seconds clear of his nearest rival, Holman) and recorded 64 mph through the Bridge speed trap. It would be all down to the final run, which the organisers managed to just squeeze in before the 5.30pm curfew. The good news was that the rain was holding off at last, the bad news that a Lotus in the previous class had left a trail of oil all the way from the first corner to the last. The Clerk of the Course called a drivers briefing while the cement dust was being put down, and warned us all to have a look at the track before getting in the cars, but also to be careful on every corner as the oil was sitting on the still damp tarmac. Wendy Marshall showed that the oil slick didn’t worry the 328 and clocked her best time of the day on 67.05 seconds, as did Ed Briscoe and Ian Chadwick who were both evenly matched, with newcomer Chadwick coming out on top with 66.17 over Ed’s 66.51. Barry Wood got his F355 to the top safely with a time of 59.42, but was narrowly pipped by Autocar’s Cropley who launched the F430 off the line with his best effort of the day (2.89 seconds) and finished the run on 59.23. Another close tussle between Peter Wilson in the 348 and Tracey Haynes in her 328 saw them both improve, and start their runs with almost identical speed trap and 0-64ft times, but it was Tracey who was smiling on return to the paddock on 61.78 to Peter’s 62.29. The Ransford / Doyle battle continued, with Sergio tripping the speed trap at 55mph and a total time 58.13, while Sean hit 58mph and scorched to the finished in 57.43, which not only beat Sergio but also John

Class Act. Nick Taylor lost the back end of his 348 Competizione at Orchard on his final run, but not before he had set the fastest Ferrari time on a rain-affected afternoon.

Marshall in the 430 Scud, which was being held back by the weather conditions (managing 57.91 on his final run). Sean bagged an impressive 15 points for 3rd place on PEP figures but Sergio’s result took the award for getting closest to his handicap target. Pauline now had the chance to make up for her previous mistake and drove smoothly to record 56.58 seconds and take 6th place on scratch, ahead of Doyle but 4th place when the PEP factor was applied. Andrew Holman flew through the speed trap at 62mph but couldn’t keep the 355 on the tarmac and drifted wide onto the infield after the first left hand corner. He lost a bucket full of time recovering from the resulting spin but, unharmed, continued up the track to complete his run. Richard Allen clearly hadn’t been put off by this delay, his neat and tidy run giving him 55.55. This would have given him a podium place had it not been for that dark horse Phil Whitehead putting in a superb run of 55.46 and beating the Club chairman by 9 hundredths of a second. Nick Taylor tried just as hard as before to keep the lead but pushed too much on the lower part of the course and, with an impossibly high speed trap of 70mph (the record in the dry is only 68mph!) lost the rear end of the 348 at Orchard corner and headed across the grass to the opposite side of the track where he came to rest after gently

nudging the Armco barrier. Prior hadn’t known about this problem as he was running a few cars earlier and rushed back down to the paddock to find out the result. However his time of 54.29 wasn’t enough to beat Taylor’s first run of 54.13. It was a close result between them but if Nick had stayed on the track he would have surely gone faster on that last run making the win almost impossible for Prior. Congratulations to Nick again for yet another class win this season. The Top Three of Taylor, Prior and Whitehead were happy to wait for the prizegiving, especially as a cancan girl was involved in handing out the glassware. His highest ever haul of 15 Championship points went to Sean Doyle, 17 to Prior, with the maximum 20 points going to Richard Allen - amazing when you realise he hadn’t competed at Prescott for 10 years! These results now closed up the gaps between the top four in the Championship table. With leader Chris Butler away in Formula Classic at Spa, the joint second place with 57 points was now shared between Richard Allen and Richard Prior, while Sean Doyle was gaining ground now on 56 points. Chris Butler will be back for the next round which is at Shelsley Walsh, but never having competed there may prove a challenge – we’ll just have to wait and see!

CompRes 27

Round 5 Pirelli Ferrari Hillclimb Championship

Prescott Hillclimb 29 May 2010 Driver

Pract 2 54.41

H/C

Run 1

348GTC

Pract 1 55.94

0/64ft

54.13

Run 2 fail

PEP time 55.48

Pts

16.00/33.98

PEP % +2.50

48.25

Richard Prior

F355

58.44

57.87

Philip Whitehead

F355

63.62

57.75

50.00

57.01

51.10

57.49

16.23/33.52

0.00

54.29

16.36/34.73

0.00

55.46

328GTB

58.81

57.20

51.50

2.64

16.80/34.75

-3.00

53.88

Andrew Holman

348ts

59.52

57.33

84.22

2.95

16.79/35.24

0.00

56.07

Pauline Goodwin Sean Doyle

328GTB

60.93

308GT4

62.28

104.75

56.58

2.86

17.42/32.60

-3.00

54.88

61.27

57.43

2.81

17.04/36.03

-4.50

54.85

John Marshall

430 Scud

48.25

61.64

57.91

2.76

17.54/35.37

5.00

60.81

Sergio Ransford *Steve Cropley

66.18

54.50

63.97

58.13

2.67

17.23/35.97

-4.50

55.51

63.55

51.50

64.55

59.23

2.89

17.41/36.88

---

64.23

63.05

53.50

63.96

59.42

3.45

17.79/37.53

0.00

59.42

328GTB

66.12

62.22

55.00

65.03

61.78

2.87

18.50/39.11

-3.00

59.93

Peter Wilson

348ts

70.65

65.70

57.50

67.39

62.29

2.68

18.39/38.90

-2.00

61.04

Ian Chadwick

348

67.18

68.88

61.50

70.10

66.17

3.30

20.06/41.46

-2.00

64.85

Ed Brsicoe

308

71.42

64.15

58.00

67.14

66.51

3.45

19.49/41.48

-4.50

63.52

328GTB

70.08

67.94

62.00

78.72

67.05

3.15

21.54/49.01

-3.00

65.04

246GT

84.26

85.77

6700

83.33

---

3.42

24.36/51.70

-6.50

77.91

Nick Taylor

Richard Allen

Barrie Wood Tracey Haynes

Wendy Ann Marshall Colin Campbell

Tipo

3.16

speed trap 64

54.29

2.67

55.46

2.92

57.67

55.55

51.00

56.07

58.74

52.10

59.15

53.50

60.61

308GTB

64.14

430

64.19

F355

splits

* Guest driver

BOC Class Awards: FOC Handicap Awards:

1st Nick Taylor 1st Sergio Ransford

2nd Richard Prior 2nd Sean Doyle

3rd Philip Whitehead

Championship Points after Round 5 Chris Butler Richard Prior Richard Allen Sean Doyle John Marshall Nick Taylor Andrew Holman Pauline Goodwin Philip Whitehead Chris Hitchman David Tomlin Mark Hargreaves John Swift Jon Goodwin Barrie Wood

75 57 57 56 54 45 39 38 36 26 25 22 20 17 17

Jack Hargreaves Wendy Ann Marshall Peter Wilson Lorraine Hitchman Jeffrey Cooper Peter Hitchman Sergio Ransford Adrian Wilson Peter Rogerson Ian Chadwick Julian Playford Tracey Haynes Edward Briscoe Colin Campbell

Classic Cup Competitors Aggregate scores to date: Sean Doyle 56, Pauline Goodwin 38, Richard Allen 35, Mark Hargreaves 22, Jack Hargreaves 15, Wendy Ann Marshall 13, Lorraine Hitchman 12, Tracey Haynes 7, Edward Briscoe 5, Colin Campbell 1 28 CompRes

15 13 13 12 12 12 10 9 8 8 5 7 5 1

---

3 5

Barri e Nuno Wood Cunh de Brito e a Paul J army 9 n John Day Paul 10 Br S ue T ooks 11 a Jim M ylor 12 cWhi Sergi r o Ran ter I s a fo n Ch 13 adwi rd M ck elissa 14 Culve S t e r ve 17 David Farthing 18 Erik Cottingha 19 O m Tony ktner Willi s Brun 20 o Cap p A uc yisha 21 Essat cini W a y 24 ne Richa Nickless r Jami d Cheste 26 r e Steve Stanley 28 Debb Young 29 ie Cu l Julia n Pla ver yford Nige l Jen kins

CompRes 29

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Unit 4, North Road, Winkfield, Nr Windsor, Berkshire SL4 4SY Tel: 01344 885500/Fax: 01344 885501 Email: qvlondon@btconnect.com Website: www.qv-london.com

SUMPS, CON RODS, BEARINGS, UPRATED & STANDARD DAMPERS, LIGHTS,

BORLA PERFORMANCE EXHAUST SYSTEMS, ECUs, VALVE GUIDES,

Q.V. FOR PARTS SERVICE REPAIRS CRANKSHAFTS, DISTRIBUTORS, AIRHORNS, BRAKE DISCS SPRINGS,

STEERING WHEELS, PISTON RINGS, INTERIOR TRIM, ANTI-ROLL BARS, SERVO UNITS, CAMSHAFTS, AIR BOXES, CROWN WHEEL & PINIONS, PARTS BOOKS, FLYWHEELS, DRY SUMP KITS, GEARBOX INTERNALS, SEAT ADJUSTERS, PISTONS, FUEL TANKS ALTERNATORS, BUMPERS MASTER CYLINDERS, DRAIN PLUGS, CYLINDER BARRELS, METERING DEVICES, BONNETS, LIGHTWEIGHT BODY PANELS, STARTER MOTORS, ADJUSTABLE WARM-UP REGULATORS, CARPETS, CARBON CANISTERS, OIL FILTERS, CAM PULLEYS, GEAR KNOBS, STUFF

MARK LEIGHTON

MDL SPECIALIST CARS

0121-520 3291

● SERVICING ● CAMBELTS ● BRAKES & SUSPENSION

www.racecars-mdl.com ● RACE PREP ● TRACK SUPPORT ● ENGINE & GEARBOX WORK

ENQUIRIES: leighton.mdl@hotmail.co.uk

Mike and Graham Reeder Performance and Specialist Cars

Maranello Ferrari Challenge Champions 1998 and 2000 Fixed Price Servicing - Race Preparation and Track Support - Tyres Supplied and Fitted Electronic Wheel Balancing - Personal Service Guaranteed

The Garage North Newnton Pewsey Wiltshire SN9 6JU Tel 01980 630327 Fax 01980 630015 E-mail enquiries: gcreeder@aol.com

Choose from a Turn Key Service to Technical Support On the day. Various Packages available

30 CompRes

WREN CLASSICS

‘The South’s Premier Preparers’ Contact: Steve Farthing Tel: 01747 852899 Fax: 01747 854988 enquiries@wrenclassics.com