Following the cancellation of the Manx 3 Hills Challenge, Rounds 5 and 6 of the Superformance Ferrari Hillclimb Championship effectively became the second event on the 2026 calendar, and the Yorkshire venue of Harewood Hillclimb would again play host to a packed entry of single seaters, saloons and sportscars during the traditional calendar slot of the second weekend in May. Always popular with competitors, 9 Ferrari drivers had managed to secure an entry for Saturdays round, and would be joined by a further 3 drivers and cars on Sunday. In the end only 8 drivers and 7 cars (Anthony and Iwan Attwood were sharing Anthony’s 246 Dino) arrived in the Harewood paddock as Ian Affleck’s 328 GTB had decided to run out of electricity on the way up to Yorkshire on the Friday afternoon. With the car recovered to QV in London for repairs, Ian returned home to dust off his F430 and would re-attempt the journey north on Saturday so as not to waste the weekend.

The weather forecast for Saturday was less than favourable with rain forecast for much of the day. Thankfully, whilst it was overcast and cold, Saturday morning remained mainly dry, although the track surface stayed damp from the occasional passing showers, meaning that the practice times would be some 10 seconds shy of the hill record set in 2025 by Dave Snelson. As we often see with the Club’s race series, damp track conditions seem to favour the older cars, and Pauline Goodwin was fastest after the PEP adjustment following the mornings two practice sessions. In fact only 2.4 seconds (on PEP) separated the top 4 drivers as the preparations began for the afternoon timed runs, with Goodwin leading Nick Taylor (F430) closely ahead of Rob Samuels (458 Speciale) and Championship leader Dave Snelson (488 Spider). Favouring less well was Stuart McCabe whose 328 GTB had cut out as he left the start line for the second practice run and was refusing to restart. A blown fuel pump fuse was found to be the culprit and was thankfully easily repaired during the lunch break.

Two Timed Runs were planned for the afternoon with the first run getting underway around 3 o’clock in similar conditions to the morning practice. As the results came in Rob Samuels topped the leaderboard with a time of 71.26 seconds, 0.36 seconds ahead of Dave Snelson with Nick Taylor third quickest (76.10 seconds) and Pauline Goodwin in fourth (80.50 seconds). Once the PEP adjustments were applied though, things were much closer between these four drivers with the gap now closed to 1.81 seconds, Snelson dropping to fourth courtesy of his additional 2% success SEP following his win last time out at Cadwell Park.

A change in weather was noticeable though as the wind had picked up, rain was in the air and the temperature had dropped uncomfortably low. With little sign of conditions improving, and little in the way of shelter in the Harewood Paddock, Nick Taylor decided to head to the hotel, closely followed by your scribe, and Anthony Attwood also chose to sit out the second timed run. As I sat in the comfort and warmth of my hotel room watching the live timing, it initially appeared that I had made the right decision as only Martin Jones (360 Modena) had managed to find some additional pace compared with his first timed run. Rob Samuels, the penultimate car on the course, took a low risk approach and cruised up the hill over 5 seconds slower than his previous run, confident of a both a class scratch and PEP win. No-one though had accounted for the maestro that is reigning Champion Dave Snelson, who in deteriorating conditions somehow managed to shave half a second of his first run time, and crucially steal the provisional win from Samuels. An outstanding performance which I had begun to document back at the hotel. Unbeknown to me though, back at the hill, with the majority of competitors having already packed up and left for warmer and drier surroundings, the organisers found themselves with some spare time sufficient to offer a third timed run to anyone who was brave enough to want one. Of course with this news, the ultra-competitive Rob Samuels headed back down to the start line, ready to throw caution to the wind in an attempt to better Dave’s time, forcing Snelson into another run aswell. The 328 GTB battle between Pauline Goodwin and Stuart McCabe was also hotting up so they both headed for one final run.

This surprise third run, a couple of minutes before 5pm, was tenser than the final seconds of a Formula 1 Q3 qualifying session! Stuart McCabe was first to run, lowering his previous best by a staggering 2 seconds despite the poor conditions, and in doing so became the days best improver. Pauline couldn’t match this, but her Run 1 time was still good enough to award her the ‘classic tipo’ honours and third overall on PEP. Next up was Dave Snelson who despite his best efforts couldn’t better his previous run but still recorded a time of 71.17 seconds demonstrating amazing consistency. Last to run was Rob Samuels, fired up by Dave’s Run 2 performance he left nothing on the table and flung his 458 Speciale across the finish line with a time of 71.09 seconds, 0.01 seconds quicker than Dave Snelson’s blisteringly quick Run 2 time.

So Saturday 9th May 2026 at Harewood will go down in the history books as one of the most competitive rounds of the championship ever held, with the top two separated by just 0.01 seconds, which is the smallest gap that the timing system is capable of recording! This all made for great conversation during the Hillclimb dinner back at the The Bridge Hotel, and boded well for Sunday.

Sunday dawned drier, with broken cloud, it was slightly warmer (but only slightly), and the Ferrari paddock had expanded with the addition of late arrival Ian Affleck (F430), Steve Nunney (F430), Brian Jackson in his trusty 308 (nicknamed ‘Bob’) and returning competitor Tim Dickinson (F8 Spider) following a 5 year absence. The dry track meant that practice times were again comparable with previous years, and mister consistency Dave Snelson posted two identical practice times of 63.21 seconds, 0.73 seconds shy of his own hill record.

With the British Hillclimb Championship featuring on Sunday, the schedule and running order was different to Saturday, resulting in the first timed run being held before lunch with a further two timed runs scheduled for the afternoon. Responding to Dave Snelson’s practice performance, Rob Samuels again delivered a fast and smooth opening timed run, breaking the hill record by 0.02 seconds with a time of 62.46 seconds, a time that would go unbeaten for the rest of the day. Whilst remaining consistent, Dave was unable to better his practice runs, his second run being closest at 63.78 seconds, securing second on scratch. Tim Dickinson was third on scratch with a time of 64.76 seconds also set during his second timed run, although the F8’s 6.5% PEP would push him back to seventh overall, such is the closeness of the PEP times. Nick Taylor (F430) put in some consistent times, all three runs being within 0.42 seconds, his final run the quickest at 66.24 seconds. After PEP adjustment this elevated Nick to the top step of the podium ahead of Rob Samuels and Dave Snelson.

Behind the leaders, Brian Jackson and Pauline Goodwin were trading fastest times, ending the day separated by just 0.02 seconds, with Brian ahead, and good enough for fourth and fifth respectively overall on PEP. Steve Nunney finished a respectable fifth on scratch and sixth on PEP, with Stuart McCabe eighth in both tables. Sundays best improver was Iwan Attwood who was hustling the beautiful 246 Dino up the hill with some very impressive drives. The Dino also attracted the attention of the event scrutineers who declared it the Best Prepared Car. Martin Jones, Anthony Attwood and Ian Affleck completed the runners.