Paddock News

We have received the following up-date from Steve Burns regarding our Spa races.

09.35 Sat. – Qualifying – 30 mins

13.00 Sat. – Race 1 – 30 mins

09.35 Sun. – Race 2 – 30 mins

11.15 Sun. – Race 3 – 30 mins

There is no track time available on Friday. Cars will be located in the Endurance pits. There is a special rate available at the Hotel de la Source plus a dinner there on the Saturday evening. Room availability is limited. Contact Jeremy Howkins at the club office for hotel etc. & Steve Burns for anything racing related.

We had previously published provisional timings for our Spa races in April. However as so often happens these are being revised. Just as soon as we have confirmed timing information we will let you know.

We apologise for any inconvenience caused.

Our good friend Ben Dorrenberg of Ferrari Club Germany has released an early schedule for our Spa races in late April. In translation as follows:

Hello everybody,
So slowly it starts with our season 2019 and I hereby send you this
preliminary schedule for our Round 1 in SPA, which we know together with
Ferrari Club UK - the FOC UK expects 20 starters, so
we could end up with a starting field of 40 vehicles. SENSATIONAL!
 
Training TBA, is in clarification
Saturday: 
Quali & Race 1
Sunday:
Race 2 & Race 3
We will have enough boxes. let's race 2019 together ...

We don’t normally feature cars for sale here as the main Club site has an excellent classified section. However we thought it was worth mentioning this event. Silverstone auctions are offering the 355 Challenge car we have known raced very successfully by Nigel Jenkins in their January 12th sale the NEC Autosport Show. Real Challenge cars have risen dramatically in value in recent times. Most collectors though are looking for factory stock condition, and of course this car has been altered to race in both our series and AMOC Inter-Marque. However the estimate of  £ 90,000 to £ 105,000 (plus premium of 15% Inc. VAT) possibly reflects this. Let’s hope the car stays in the UK and returns to our grids. Rumour has it that Nigel will look for a 430 Challenge if the sale of the 355 goes ahead.

It is worth keeping in mind that we do tend to know when formula classic or FCR eligible cars are available, so it’s always worth contacting us, or the main Club office if you are in the market.

As Christmas approaches, and another racing year closes we wanted to wish all our hillclimbers and racers, past present & future, a very happy and healthy Xmas and New Year.

2019 promises to be a very exciting year with competition available for all ages and types of Ferrari. We start with our media and track day at Silverstone, quickly followed by races at Spa in April. This is an FCR round and it’s worth remembering for formula classic cars are eligible for FCR too, so we hope for a big grid. The first formula classic races supporting the new FNE UK Ferrari Challenge series follow at Brands in May.

The hillclimber’s season starts at Bouley Bay on the Channel Islands in April and the 12 round Championship will be closely fought.

We will post a proper season preview later, but let’s get the holiday season done and dusted first. If you have any stories or news items a that you would like to see on the site over the winter do let us know. It’s your site – so use it!

Cheers to all – see you in 2019.

The regulations for both formula classic and Ferrari Club Racing have now been published, and regular racers will have received them.  Our classic regs. have evolved over the years, as indeed they should. For 2019 there have been a few minor tweeks – these include a weight reduction for all but 355s and a success ballast for cars finishing in podium positions. Both changes are designed of course to even things up a little.

So that’s dates set, regulations published, get Xmas and New Year out the way, MSA medical and license renewal and there you go, Silverstone test, then Spa is next!

The regulations for both series will be available on this site shortly under the “For Competitors” heading.

This has now been posted and you can see the Club’s circuit and hillclimb dates here.

The 2018 PFfc season formally came to an end with a lunch in the historic Brooklands clubhouse on November 24th.The highlight of the awards was the presentation of the ‘Driver of the Century’ to John Swift. This was given to acknowledge a fantastic achievement,  32  years of continuous racing with the F.O.C. starting from the inaugural race at Mallory Park in 1986. Series Sponsors, Simon Ford from Pirelli and Richard Wilkins from Indespension were welcome guests and handed out trophies to cover the achievements of the racers over the 2018 season.

Ivan Bishop Trophy – Nigel Jenkins
The Big Swifty – Chris Butler
Trofeo Italia – Gary Culver
Stubberfield Trophy – William Moorwood
Stirling Cup – Chris Compton-Goddard
Godfrey Eaton Trophy – Pauline Goodwin
Hard Charger Award – Chris Butler
Bad Luck Award – Pete Fisk

The event was even better attended than before with a packed Grid Walk. The racing was excellent with a very good grid. The full report with some top quality photographs can be seen on classic race reports section of the website.

The Italia Festival at Brands on Sunday was a great success with thousands of spectators, loads of members with their cars and no fewer than four Ferrari only races, and they were all very exciting to watch.

In formula classic Nigel Jenkins took both wins with the podium being shared by Mogridge and Culver in Race 1 and Moulden and Simpson in Race 2.

In the races for more modern tipos Race 1 went to Gary Culver from Gamski and Marrs with Race 2 going to Gamski from Culver and Kearney.

It was pretty breathless stuff. Full reports, photos and results just as soon as we can.

Our inaugural Ferrari Club Races at Donington Park proved a stunning success. The Ferrari Club Challenge Racing Series caters for the more modern Challenge and GT cars. We welcomed ten overseas guests under the stewardship of enthusiastic German Ferrari Club President Ben Doerrenberg. UK entries bolstered this to an encouraging twenty two for the first free practice session.

Overall honours in both races were taken by the 458 GT3 of Frank Scheelan. Our own Gary Culver was top Brit, placing third in both races. It was the first ever outing in his 458 Challenge.

The evening function at the Priest House Hotel was well attended and confirmed the strong bond that we now have with the German Club. As Ben Doerrenberg righty stated we are all part of a Ferrari Racing family. Gary Culver spoke eloquently thanking all those involved in planning and running the day, as well as making presentations to our visitors. Gary also confirmed our intention to repeat the event in 2019 which was widely applauded.

Look out for full race reports, results & photos here, plus more photos on the main site’s Flickr pages soon.

Before our dedicated Ferrari Club Racing web site all Club circuit and hillclimb competitions were documented via printed media. Competition News, as it was named originally, formed a small part of the Club’s Ferrari News magazine before being printed as a separate item. This much later became CompRes which was designed as a lightweight version. Over the years the paper and printing improved and colour was introduced. These publications were distributed to all registered competitors and sponsors etc. However any member could obtain the magazines if they wished. A few of us are fortunate enough to hold complete collections of Competition News and CompRes, and the Club office library also has a set which is available to view by members. These magazines form a quite remarkable archive of Club racing activities from the mid 1980s to 2014.

It is amazing to consider that this was all the work of John and Anne Swift. One can only imagine the time and effort involved over so many years, and we all owe them a great debt of gratitude. Now John has gone even further and has been working on making these publications available on-line. To date we have CompRes issues 001 (Feb. 2005) to issue 099 (Dec. 2014). John is working on previous issues too, but this may take a little longer as they were not held digitally. There will be a separate tab on the site in due course but for now you can see the archive via this link: www.issuu.com/compresults

I can’t imagine that there are many clubs with such a complete and accessible archive and we should be proud of it. For serious research, or just a wander down memory lane it’s quite compelling.

Our Donington race and track day on Saturday June 21st features 2 x 30 minute races for the more modern Challenge cars. This Inter Club Challenge welcomes guests from overseas and is the first of it’s kind. It’s also the first time that our club has raced modern cars since the last Open races in 2014. The entry currently stands at an excellent 23 cars with a couple more expected.

The formula classic races are also expected to have 20 car plus grids, so it is a day well worth including in your diary. There are still places available for the track day part of the day, so get your entry in and be part of this very special day. Details on the main club site, or call the office.

Thanks to Mark Wibberley for the results hot off the press from today’s Hillclimb at Shelsley Walsh in Worcestershire.

Blistering heat and a hot track meant for some good early runs in perfect conditions, but for the later 2nd runs there was an oil spill on most of the track from a mini in another class, so the Ferrari drivers were a little more cautious.

Dave Snelson took the win, from Mike Spicer and Phil Whitehead, but again Mike Spicer took the important 20 points.

After 4 rounds in 4 weeks, a bit of a rest now for the hillclimbers until the next round at Gurston Down in 2 weeks time.

Some of you may have seen our Club’s promotional video for the formula classic series at the NEC or at our RAC prize-giving event. This excellent video is now posted on this site in the video section and is available by clicking here.