The seaside town of Sidmouth was home for the Friday night

Wiscombe Park is still owned by the Chichester family

The resident pheasants kept a number of competitors on their toes

The entire paddock is on a slope and filled with a variety of machinery

Competition was paused for a brief moment for a quick "run" for a bridal party

The morning sun was welcome, providing much needed warmth during scrutineering

A new PB for all!

Wiscombe Park, nestled deep in the south of England was a surprising inclusion into the calendar for 2024, namely because as far as anyone could tell the Club hadn’t competed there for a “long time”. Turns out that it was quite a bit longer than we thought… 28 years in fact. Many would agree that 28 years is too long between visits as Wiscombe Park is a truly beautiful location with a particularly colourful history.

With the journey being a long one, I thought why not continue a few more miles and stay by the coast? With that in mind the Harbour Hotel in Sidmouth was the base for the night before.

With good weather set for the weekend and being at the coast an early trip up the nearby Peak Hill was in order to catch a sunrise too good to be missed. For anyone wondering that was a 0600 alarm and a 30′ morning hike uphill before breakfast.

With antisocial-early starts for your scribe aside, what about the hill? At only 1000-yards Wiscombe is one of the shorter venues we have competed at however don’t let this fool you, the track is surprisingly technical and difficult to master.

As a spectator Wiscombe is now a firm favourite, with wonderful scenery everywhere you look, with a very enjoyable walk along the side of the track through the woods providing excellent viewing opportunities. The only downside as far as I can tell is the very steep and long walk from the public car park to the paddock through long grass, especially when one is wearing inappropriate footwear for the morning dew. By forgetting my boots or wellies I had to make do with wet feet all day and subsequently ruined trainers. Lesson learnt!

Enough of setting the scene (and enjoying the scenery), onto the days competition. The paddock is grass and on quite the incline but dried quickly in the morning sun, and with a small area to warm tyres – or in reality clean them – the start line is positioned against the backdrop of Wiscombe House with one of Wiscome Parks notable features, a stone bridge. Appearing tighter than it really is, I imagine for the drivers this sharpens the senses when the green light is shown to begin ones drive up the hill.

PRACTICE

The morning sun is low to the east presenting a challenge for the drivers to overcome, the transition from sunny to the shaded area in the woods is currently blind. Iwan Attwood goes first in the earlier batch (due to sharing the 308 GT4 with his father, Tony) and upon return declares the hill as “terrifying” and “horrible” due to the sun… mind games are at play! The rest of the competitors complete their practice runs with no drama but all declare the hill is a technical challenge and not as simple as it first appears. Stuart McCabe has a blistering launch in his 328 GTB of just 2.21 secs, something that goes unmatched for the day by any Ferrari.

RUN 1

The track is now dry, conditions are good (the sun is no longer blinding the drivers), time to take to the hill once more. Iwan lays down the gauntlet with 54.61, a time which nobody is able to match with the exception of Rob Samuels with his 458 Speciale. On first glance you might think that with a time of 46.85 the day is already won, but with PEP adjustments Rob is now only 0.89 seconds ahead of Iwan… with two more runs scheduled this could get close!

RUN 2

After a lunch break which included the most-amusing announcement reminding everyone to visit the licensed bar on site, it was time for round 2. With growing confidence everyone goes faster, another new PB for everyone!

Once again Iwan lays down the gauntlet with 52.87 a near 2 second improvement putting Rob Samuels under pressure, who must now deliver a 46.16 or better to secure the top spot after PEP adjustments. Tony delivers a 57.27 with Pauline swiftly crossing the finish line at 54.41. Stuart fails to repeat his blistering start from practice but puts in a very respectable 55.48, a considerable improvement in his first full season with the championship. Rob answers the challenge and goes just under a second quicker, 46.00. With less than 0.2 of a second between Iwan and Rob excitement is building for the third run of the day.

RUN 3

Waiting patiently for our turn on the hill it becomes apparent that there has been a lengthy delay… silence has fallen at Wiscombe Park. No noise on the hill normally means there is an issue somewhere and unfortunately for us due to oil contamination which may or may not have been a result of a vintage sports car and a tree at Sawtooth (the penultimate hairpin) the third runs are delayed… and delayed… and delayed.

It isn’t long before the announcement is made and the day ended, better to end with everyone having had a good time and mild disappointment at the way the day ends vs. someone pushing on their third run and finding a loss of traction where there isn’t any margin for error.

SUMMARY

With that Rob Samuels takes the top spot with Iwan Attwood nipping at the heels, a great effort not only because of the vast performance gap between the cars but also as Iwan was wrestling with a particularly nasty cold over the weekend. If there were a driver of the day award Iwan would have had my vote! Pauline Goodwin takes third with Stuart McCabe beating out Tony Attwood to round out positions four and five.

The final rounds of the 2024 Championship take place at Prescott on 5th-6th October.