It was a busy paddock with a nice range of Ferrari tipos taking part

Unfortunately the 328 GTB of Pauline Goodwin was feeling unwell...

...but Stuart McCabe was happy to lend his car for a run to Pauline, with the addition of some booster cushions!

Dave Snelson would take 20 points on the day and set a new record in his 488 GTB

Nipping at his heels was Rob Samuels in the 458 Speciale

Rounding out the podium was Steve Nunney, driving well in the ex-Preece F430

Stuart McCabe's 328 GTB would be an uexpected shared drive in the afternoon

Paul Hick's made his official debut in his new F430 Spider

Ian Affleck debuted the ex-Burgar 328 GTB too - magnificent colour!

The opening round of the 2026 Superformance Ferrari Hillclimb Championship was in fact in Sprint, albeit held on a particularly hilly course, the extremely picturesque and challenging Cadwell Park circuit in Lincolnshire.  At 3.1km, Cadwell Park is the longest course on the 2026 calendar and begins with the tight and twisty turns of ‘Hall Bends’, ‘The Hairpin’ and ‘Barn Corner’ before opening out over a gradual climb into the fast and flowing ‘Park Straight’ section.  The final section sees a steep decent after the ‘Gooseneck’ into the 90 degree left of ‘Mansfield Corner’ before a short dash to the flying finish.

Organised by the British Automobile Racing Club’s Midland Centre, this event traditionally held in late March is the season opening event at Cadwell Park, and also being one of the first Sprint and Hillclimb events to take place in 2026 had attracted a 116 strong entry list featured a wide variety of cars.  7 Ferrari’s lined up in the SFHC Paddock, including ‘newbie’ Ian Affleck in his newly acquired 328 GTB that was previously owned and raced by Carl Burger in the Club’s race series.

Thankfully the weather remained dry and sunny all day, but being March it was bitterly cold!  The cold track temperature did little to deter reigning Champion Dave Snelson from laying down his intentions of retaining his championship early on, as his managed to post a time of 90.63 seconds during the practice run, just 1 tenth shy of the course record set by him during the Championship’s last visit to Cadwell Park in 2022.  More impressive though was that the record was set in a 488 Pista whereas Dave had brought along his slower (on paper at least) 488 GTB to the 2026 event.  This left championship challenger (and 2025 runner up) Rob Samuels scratching his head as to where to find the additional pace as he was second fastest in practice, but some 3.39 seconds adrift.  Find it he did though, as he crossed the line at the end of the first timed run with a record setting time of 90.50 seconds.  However Snelson was still to run and managed to eek out a 90.07 seconds run, immediately regaining his course record.  This set the tone for the remainder of the day, and hopefully the remainder of the season with both of these super competitive drivers extracting the maximum from their respective cars, both managing to shave off a couple of tenths in each of the remaining two competitive runs, and lowering the course record each time.  The results after the third and final run showing Snelson occupying the top step of the podium with a time of 89.67 seconds, and Samuels’ 458 Speciale just behind with a time of 90.09 seconds.

Further back Steve Nunney (F430), Stuart McCabe (328 GTB) and Paul Hicks (F430 Spider) were all posting similar times around the 104 to 108 seconds bracket.  Once the PEP adjustment was applied to the older 328 GTB, Stuart McCabe would come out on top, earning 3^rd position overall ahead of Nunney and Hicks, although Nunney would take 3^rd overall on the unadjusted scratch times.  Also expected to be running in this time bracket was Pauline Goodwin.  However she returned from Practice with an uncharacteristically slow time, and complaining that her trusty 328 GTB seemed to be lacking straight line speed, which is much needed around Cadwell Park.  Some tinkering around under the bonnet and a quick comparative road test in Stuart McCabe’s similar 328 confirmed a lack of power.  So, out of ideas and not wishing to put any more undue strain on her car, Pauline retired the car and prepared to head for home, but not before Stuart kindly loaned her the use of his car for the first timed run which demonstrates the true spirit of camaraderie present in the Championship.  This run was not without drama though as a delay on the startline due to a red flag saw the borrowed 328 overheating.  Post event diagnosis revealed a failed coil pack for Pauline and a faulty radiator switch for Stuart, all easily fixable for the next round, the traditional double-header weekend at Harewood in May.