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report by Steve Burns
photography by Chris Leach
Owned by the Bugatti Owners’ Club and the spiritual home of the Ferrari Owners’ Club, Prescott provided a fitting venue for Round 7 of the CSA Service Group Ferrari Hillclimb Championship. Set in the beautiful Gloucestershire countryside the venue strikes a perfect balance between history (the first event being held in 1938) and the requirements of a contemporary motorsport venue, with well kept grounds and modern but tastefully designed buildings.
Nine drivers were entered for what proved to be a very pleasant day held in warm summer sunshine. Although 9 drivers were entered, only eight cars arrived for Scrutineering as unfortunately the F430 of Steve Nunney had developed a hydraulic leak en-route to the venue which ruled it out of contention. However demonstrating true spirit of camaraderie, Nick Taylor generously offered shared use of his similar F430 meaning Nunney’s day could continue.
Two practice runs were held during the morning, the weather conditions and familiarity with the course (Prescott being a regular feature on the Ferrari Hillclimb calendar) resulted in all drivers posting some competitive times.
Dave Snelson (488 GTB) was immediately on the pace, unofficially breaking the hill record set by Rob Samuels (458 Speciale, 47.79 seconds) last year on his first practice run with a time of 47.71 seconds, which he lowered again on his second run with an incredible time of 47.10 seconds, setting the bar for the afternoon’s timed runs.
After a delicious lunch in Prescott’s excellent restaurant, the drivers commenced the first of two timed runs. Keen to protect his hill record, Rob Samuels pushed a little too hard into the Esses, sliding wide and striking the corner marker with the drivers side mirror of his 458 Speciale, a lucky escape which cost a few tenths of a second. Snelson was on form though, crossing the finish line with a time of 47.14 seconds to official set a new hill record.
Behind Snelson and the charging Samuels came former hill record holder Nick Taylor (F430) recording a time of 49.05 seconds. Championship contender John Kennedy (California T) couldn’t quite break onto the podium, finishing a commendable 4th with a time of 50.14 seconds.
Then came the season long battle for Classic honours, with former Champion Pauline Goodwin (328 GTB) and Brian Jackson (308 GTB) separated by a mere 0.28 seconds.
Understandably making the biggest improvement over his practice times was Steve Nunney in the borrowed F430, Steve getting used to the manual gearbox in Nick Taylor’s car, consistently lowering his times by around 2 seconds with each run to record a 56.43 on his first timed run. Next up was Stuart McCabe in the ex-Tim Mogridge 328 GTB with a time of 57.73, followed by Martin Jones’ glorious sounding 360 Modena (63.31s), which echoed off the hillside as it rounded the hairpins.
With both the track and air temperature continuing to rise it would be interesting to see if anyone would improve during their second timed run.
It transpired that the best of the conditions had passed as only Rob Samuels and Martin Jones managed any improvement, Rob with a clean run to cement his second place finish with a time of 47.83 seconds. Mr consistency though was Dave Snelson, powering up the hill with an identical time of 47.14 seconds, equalling his own hill record set just a couple of hours earlier.
Worryingly the red flags flew while Stuart McCabe was on his final run, but he crossed the finish line some 5-seconds slower than his previous best, his time suggesting that some misdemeanour had occurred. It wasn’t long before the spectator footage of his wild moment at the exit of the first hairpin was circulating around the paddock, much to Stuart’s delight. Full commitment, much arm twirling of the steering wheel and a detour through the gravel trap and across the grass had sent stones and dirt flying in his wake, hence the red flag behind and some sweeping to be done by the volunteer marshals.
In summary, an enjoyable days motorsport was had by all, with some great camaraderie at a lovely venue. Nick Taylor was awarded the ‘Scrutineers choice, Paddock Cup award’ for offering use of his car to Steve Nunney, who in turn took the Best Improver award. Next up is Loton Park in just a couple of weeks time.
