Paddock News

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.

On the second day of competition at Harewood, Dave Snelson (430) was again on the top step of the podium, Chris Hitchman (360 Modena) was runner up once more, but Phil Whitehead had popped along for the Sunday and pipped Brian Jackson to the final trophy place in his 355. The points went in the same order, with Dave again on 20, Chris on 17, and our perennial dark horse Phil on 15 points. Iwan Attwood took the Handicap award this time, beating his personal best from 3 years ago by over 1.3 seconds.

While some competitors were roughing it in Monaco, the 2018 Hillclimb season started slightly later in the year with a double header at Harewood. Dave Snelson (pic centre – 430) took the win ahead of Chris Hitchman (360, right) and Brian Jackson (pic left) in the California T.

The 20 points went to Dave Snelson, 17 to Chris Hitchman and 15 points to Lorraine Hitchman in her 360 Modena.  Two newcomers were also welcomed into the Ferrari hillclimb championship at Harewood,  Sal Albanese in his F430, and Paul Booth in his 458. Paul also took the handicap award in his final run, by beating his target time by almost a 1/4 of a second. Round 2 follows immediately the next day!

On a quite perfect late spring day in Cheshire our racing boys and girls put on an exciting show in front of an appreciative crowd of VSCC enthusiasts. Wayne Marrs came out on top winning the first race of our  formula classic race day at Oulton Park from pole position. The second race however was a different matter, with series returnee Nigel Jenkins taking the chequered flag having started from the very back of the grid. This was a most remarkable drive which earned him the RnR driver of the day award.

However Nigel’s joy was short lived as he was given a 5 second penalty after the race for exceeding track limits. This put him back to 3rd overall and gave Wayne his second win of the day.  2nd overall in both races was the irrepressible Gary Culver once again making his 328 dance around the Cheshire countryside.

Full results, report, photos and hopefully videos just as soon as we can.

Our formula classic racers return to glorious Oulton Park in Cheshire this coming Saturday for rounds 2&3 of the series. The Vintage Motorsport Festival is hosted by the VSCC so the paddock will be full of lovely pre-war cars. Viewing and spectator facilities at Oulton are now excellent so do come along and support our lads & lasses.

Ferraris are on track for qualifying at 09.36am and are scheduled to race at 13.29 hrs with race 2 at 16.14 hrs.

We have an excellent entry which includes a welcome return for Nigel Jenkins (355) Paul & Charlie Ugo (308 GT4) and the Vance Kearney/Lee Moulden partnership (355).  If the weather remains kind then we expect an overall win to come from Jenkins, Moulden or Silverstone winner Wayne Marrs. Never count out Gary Culver though in his 328 or the 355s of Tim Mogridge and Tris Simpson.

As ever there will be battles through the field so lots to keep us entertained.

The race report, results and photos from our race at the Passione meeting are now posted. We also have two new videos from Peter Everingham and Tim Walker that give some flavour of the conditions etc. Our thanks to them and also to our contributing photographers Simon Cooke, Richard Dredge and Keith Bluemel.

Wayne Marrs (355) won an epic three way battle at Silverstone this morning from Tim Mogridge (355) and Gary Culver (328). In very cold and damp conditions these three cars were covered by a blanket for the entire race making an excellent show. Some way behind was group 3 winner Chris Butler in another excellent drive.

Full report and photos just as soon as we can.

On a cold and wet, but slowly drying track, Tim Mogridge snatched pole position for tomorrow’s formula classic race at Silverstone on the very last lap of qualifying in his 355. Rainmeister Gary Culver was next up with the 328, from Wayne Marrs and Tris Simpson (355s). It was excellent to welcome newbies Colin Sowter in his 348 and Carl Cavers in his silver 355 GTB. Welcome returns too for Tim Walker, Nick Taylor and Pauline Goodwin who we have not seen for a while.

The crystal ball says Marrs for a win – but then we’ve been wrong before!

Set your alarm, wrap up warm and come along – it could be a cracker. The race starts at 9:50am.

Our opening Free Practice session for the Passione meeting at Silverstone is just one week away! We had an excellent turn-out for the track day and media launch so you should be ready and primed for action. This is important meeting for the series as we will be racing in front of some very influential people at Ferrari, plus a great many more general members than is usual.  Your team has some big ambitions for the future of our series which will be superb for all, but we must support them to make this happen.

So if you are a little late with your entry then get it in pronto. Our Club President John Anderson paraphrased J.F. Kennedy at last weekend’s AGM by saying “Ask not what your Club can do for you – ask what you can do for your Club”  I will just say you want a great series? – then make it a great series.

What a great season opener at Silverstone on Monday. Our club track day / formula classic media launch proved a great success with 24 classic race cars joining 8 paddle shift race cars and 41 road cars split into Touring, Sports and Competition sessions. The BRDC suite was a stylish and comfortable centre of operations and I feel sure that the format will be repeated in 2019.

It was good to meet several newcomers who are at least planning to race with us this year. There were also quite a few racers from days past present including Alan Cosby with his very yellow 250 SWB.

We are reliably informed that 4th April was John & Anne Swift’s 59th wedding anniversary. We all owe an enormous debt of gratitude to this lovely couple. Put simply there would not be the healthy hillclimb and racing club scene that we still all enjoy today without them. From the 1980s onwards they must have encouraged and supported literally hundreds of members to race and hillclimb, as they did your writer.

Even today, as well as planning to race his blue 308 GTB and hill climb his 355, I know that John is busy working to make the Competition News and Comp Res archive available on-line for us all to enjoy. So raise a glass and toast John & Anne.

Cheers to you both.

We don’t often mention cars for sale here but thought this one deserved an airing. Genuine 355 Challenge cars are not often seen at this price level today, and we want the car on the grid. Check out the advert in the classified section of the main Club web site.

If you are looking for a new car to race it is always worth asking us or the Club office for advice. We often know where these cars are hiding. Now is the time to act with our first race only a few weeks away.

Our pre-season track/media day is less than 1 month away! The date is April 16th the location is Silverstone national circuit. All competitors registered for our formula classic series have this day included in the registration fee – yes it’s free! Hospitality & lunch are available in the excellent BRDC suite at £ 45 per head bookable in advance. Please contact Jeremy in the club office to reserve your tickets.

Registrations for the formula classic series are coming in nicely with several new racers taking the plunge. Entries for our paddle shift Inter-Club races at Donington in June are also looking good.

We will post testing news & photos when we can. Do get your registration and entries in if your haven’t already done so. The long long winter is finally past.

With the price of genuine 355 Challenge cars going completely GaGa it’s about time that someone thought out of the box. And now they have. Take a standard road 355 and convert it to racing – easy – and an enormous saving over a Challenge car.

The silver car in the photo is being prepared to race as a standard road car, like the old “O” class. Anyone who remembers Fred Moss racing a standard 355 some years ago will remember how effective these can be. Compared to an original Challenge car they have the same weight by our regulations, same power, same tyres, same gearbox etc. It’s a bit of a no-brainer surely? There is also a red car that has been prepared to Challenge specification which is ready to go testing in early February. It also started life as a road car. We wish the new driver the very best of luck and look forward to welcoming him onto the grid.

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.

Ferrari Club Live! is to be held at Donington on Saturday June 23rd. The day, organised by the FOC will be part track day and part race day with two PFfc races but also two 30 minute races for more modern Tipos. Entries will be open to all race-prepared Ferraris with the exception of the latest 488 challenge cars. The regulations will be available shortly but will be as simple as possible with tyre choice, including the use of slick tyres, free. We have been liaising with the Dutch and German FOCs and we are expecting their participation so it will be an International event. Now is the time to think about dusting down your race car and making sure that that it is in good shape to line up on the grid. Please register your interest with our Club office and you will be sent entry forms and regs as soon as they are available.

Happy New Year to all involved with Pirelli Ferrari formula classic

The 2018 Regulations, Entry Forms and Race Program have been sent out to all those who raced last year and to anyone we are aware might be interested in racing this coming season. Subject to contract all the race dates have been agreed with the organisers of the race days and there is a terrific season to look forward to. As ever new cars or drivers are very welcome to join us. If for some reason you have not received your race pack or would like to join us please contact Jeremy Howkins in the Club office who will send a pack out to you, tel 01327 855430, Jeremy.Howkins@ferrariownersclub.co.uk

It was never going to be easy to top the Italian Embassy as a venue for our formula classic presentation lunch. However our team did an excellent job in securing the RAC Club in Pall Mall London for the 2017 event.

Rob Pulleyn’s immaculate 328 GTB was the perfect car to represent our series. It was on display in the magnificent rotunda of the club for a full week, impressing the great and the good of UK motorsport no doubt.  Honoured guests included Jason Sugden of Pirelli UK and Francesco Balli of Ferrari North Europe. More photos and details here.

Photo: Bev Burns

As the sun sets on the 2017 season, the last round took place at the popular sprint circuit near Lichfield, where Dave Snelson (F430) drove all the way from Scotland to compete, and promptly won on scratch using just one of the allocated official runs.

Chris Hitchman gave chase and finished in 2nd place in his 355, and also took 15 points once the PEP factors had been applied.

Mike Spicer (328) put up a valiant battle to wrestle the last points of the season away from Dave and Chris, and was rewarded with his second 20 point haul of the season, and the final place on the podium.

The championship order therefore finished with Dave Snelson as the 2017 Champion, Mike Spicer was a very worthy runner up (carrying last seasons 1% Champions PEP) Phil Whitehead (355) was in 3rd position, and Nick Taylor (F430) was 4th (and had the most 20 point wins with 4, but only competed in six rounds)

We also featured nicely on the Shelsley Walsh/Midland Automobile Club online event report.

https://www.shelsleywalsh.com/2017/10/event-report-october-curborough-sprint/

Full website report and pictures will be posted as soon as we get them.

At the second Prescott Hillclimb of the season, Dave Snelson stormed to yet another win and clinched the championship.
It was a bright and warm day for this 11th round of the PFHC, Phil Whitehead (355) and Mike Spicer (328) gave chase throughout the day but had to settle for 2nd and 3rd place respectively, and Mark Wibberley (360) pipped Richard Preece in his 355 for 4th place.

When the PEP factors were applied, Mike Spicer took the 20 points, Snelson 17 points and Whitehead 15 points.

2nd place in the championship is still up for grabs, with Mike Spicer now moving ahead of Nick Taylor by just one point with 2 rounds to go.

Brands Hatch Festival Italia was a great success with two formula classic races

Brilliant weather all day

Even bigger crowd than last year

24 cars on the Pirelli Formula classic grid, the best of the year.

Loads of people on the grid walk

Some really good racing all through the field.

A great performance by Gary Culver with two wins.

Full report to come soon with lots of excellent photos