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report by Mark Wibberley
photography by Niki Teall
The prospect of late summer sunshine at the iconic Shelsley venue attracted a fine field of FHC entrants including the two leading Classic Cup and overall Championship contenders Pauline Goodwin and Tony Attwood.
Nestling in a scenic valley in rural Worcestershire, competitors had enjoyed the hospitality of local accommodation, and the arguably the best start line in our season beckoned.
Sounds fabulous – except it was rather grey and overcast throughout, with the spectre of early afternoon rain showing on forecasts for days before. So track temperatures weren’t going to help set blistering times, but MAC had set out to provide the first competitive run before lunch. So, no pressure to put in a good time there then…
It soon became apparent that Johnny Kennedy wasn’t coming, and Rob Samuels probably wisely decided not to risk his fabulous 458 Speciale too. But making his debut was seasoned campaigner in all manner of exotic race events, Simon Jeffries, in his powerful new Roma.
First up was Iwan Attwood to report back on track conditions – cool, slippy, variable… but safely back down in 44.14. Your reporter was up next, in only his 2nd outing of the season, recording a cautious 42 dead, with Pauline Goodwin in her red 328 only 0.74 behind. Peter Rogerson took it easy, too many rounds under his belt to push it on the first run, at 51.43, the ever improving Steve Nunney in his 348 returning a 44.20. The car and driver combo everyone wondered about, Simon plus Roma, also ran cautiously, exploring the best settings in its arsenal for later. But it was Doc Attwood who set the best time, 41.17 in the dual driven GT4.
P2 duly arrived, Iwan pushing harder for 41.66, and Mark Wibberley sliced a similar time off his first practice to record 39.04. Pauline got more into the groove with 41.42 in a car that she was clearly not totally happy in – even seemingly identical hand-built era Ferraris vary a lot in handling and response. Peter’s lovely TDF 360 came in at 48 dead, and Steve’s 348 under 42 at 41.91. Tony Attwood reasserted his usual advantage over son Iwan with a determined 40.51 and Simon figured out the settings to wipe 7 seconds off P1.
Little time was wasted before the crucial T1, with Iwan throwing the gauntlet back at his Father’s feet with an excellent 39.42 before handing the car over. With PEPs against him and needing substantial margin for any hope of half decent points, your scribe was up next and a very pleasing controlled run with his best start of the day (the rest were truly awful) was timed at 37.58. Could a first ever scratch win be on the cards ?
Pauline tried to upset the standings, and put in a bid for the points with 40.13, with arch rival Tony to come. Could he put in a better time when it mattered, with rain ominous? Meanwhile Simon had decided that the Roma wasn’t ideally suited to this kind of work and stroked his way up in a similar 43.25 as last time. Mid-run setting changes not advised he noted afterwards. Peter Rogerson recorded a smooth 45.10 and Steve Nunney underlined his increasing confidence in the 348 at 40.29, a PB by 1.5 seconds. Tony put his banker run down, seemingly always 1 run ahead of Iwan, with the 3rd sub-40 run so far, at 38.92 – another Personal Best on a day which seemed against such feats.
Lunch. Cloudwatch. All good. Iwan first up, a smidge faster at 39.29, but by the time the rest of the field were off, as Iwan was in the previous batch, raindrops has started to fall. It didn’t take long – usually the first 64ft in fact, for drivers to recognise a deterioration in conditions, the start line was slippery, and all backed off to the tune of at least 2 seconds.
In summary, Attwood honours went to Tony, and the all-important 20 points, with Iwan taking a very handy 17 to maintain his third place in the Championship table, and 15 going to Mark Wibberley – but most notably, after 12 seasons, my first ever Class win and opportunity to buy the beers. A day to always remember and what a fine venue to achieve that at too.
The Championship will go into the last rounds – it could be settled at Curborough or may go to Prescott. Either way, a new name will be on the trophy…..
