For the first time that I can remember we were actually outnumbered by another single make class at North Weald. The Lotus championship were there in strong numbers (27 of them) which left fewer spaces for the ubiquitous Caterhams, and just four TVRs came out for this first meeting of the year. Maybe the Lotus group had been boosted by the group behind Lotus On Track Racing Drivers Club, who reintroduced the Sprint Series last year, and for 2014 unexpectedly included Father and Son competitors former F1 driver Martin Donnelly and 20 year old Stefan. The weather was a surprise too, bright sunshine with just a chilly breeze to remind you it still wasn’t summer yet. Nine Ferrari entries braved the Essex sprint circuit this year, including newcomer David Snelson in a gorgeous …read more »
Bouley Bay – Apr 21For many of us hillclimbers, Jersey and Bouley Bay are the highlights of the season. The island at Easter time is a blanket of spring flowers and the few days before the actual competition begins is an opportunity for a little holiday after the long winter. We only include Bouley Bay in the hillclimb programme when Easter is late in the year. This more or less guarantees that the weather will be kind, and this time it was no different. Although there was a spot of rain while we were there, it was dry and the sun shone when it mattered. For reasons that weren’t altogether clear the Ferrari entry at just six cars was less than half the usual number of over a dozen. We discovered that numbers in the meeting as a whole …read more »
Harewood – May 10Our first double-header of the year at Harewood saw a smaller entry than we are used to at this popular Yorkshire venue. Several of our regulars, including a couple of the front runners, had inexplicably chosen to take themselves off to Monaco for the Historique meeting, foregoing the delights of Harewood in May. This left us with just 14 drivers, which reduced to 13 when Lorraine Hitchman suffered wiper failure on her 328 on the way to Harewood. The car was returned home and swapped for a Porsche 911 C4S, which, after some fees had been paid to BARC, enabled Lorraine to use the car at Sunday’s meeting in the road-going class. The repairs to Jeff Cooper’s 355 which failed at North Weald were still in limbo, so his trusty 360 was pressed …read more »
Harewood – May 11Day two of the double-header weekend dawned bright and breezy. The BARC advised us that the Ferrari class would be running almost last today which was a shame after running so early on the previous day which had allowed us the opportunity for an early finish and early celebratory drinks on Richard Allen after his spectacular win. The Ferraris roared into Harewood from 8am with Lorraine Hitchman lining up cuckoo style in her Porsche 996 C4s after the wipers of her 328 packed up on the journey to Harewood which necessitated its retirement. After valiant efforts by John and Ann Swift with the Clerk of the Course, it was established that the regulations would not allow a three-up drive in the only surviving Hitchman Ferrari. However Peter Rogerson tried a frank chat with …read more »
Prescott – May 24This lovely venue will be familiar to many who have attended the FOC Picnics there; Prescott in the leafy Cotwolds, bathed in warm summer sun, picnic blankets spread round with fold up chairs full of jolly folks enjoying sandwiches and noises of V8s enduring a good thrashing up the hill. Well, it was nothing like that for the hardy fools of the PFHC… Despite a dead cert wet day it was hard to picture this lovely spot without sunshine, but as forecast it was tipping it down when competitors arrived. Not just rain – stair rods, rain so hard and persistent that even attaching race numbers with three layers of tape didn’t look sufficient. Walking the hill was not even considered, just preparing the cars was enough – trying to keep them dry inside to prevent …read more »
Shelsley Walsh – May 31Apologies, but no report has been made available. The results however can be viewed by downloading via the usual link at the top right of this page
Blyton Park – Jun 15For only our second visit to the Lincolnshire flatlands and its relatively new ex-airfield circuit of Blyton Park, near Gainsborough, we had a field of 11 Ferraris booked in along with a very mixed selection of classics and moderns from other championships. There was good selection of old and newer TVRs, Lotii, hillclimb specials and classic low volume British sports cars such as Elva and Crossle. The Evos and Porsches didn’t make much of an appearance which contributed to a low overall entry, some doubt as to future use of the venue but crucially for competitors, lots of runs. For once, weather wasn’t an issue – a layer of cloud kept it warm and still, with little actual sunshine but no rain bar a light shower and lightening at lunchtime which disappeared without …read more »
Gurston Down – Jun 22Apologies, but no report has been made available. The results however can be viewed by downloading via the usual link at the top right of this page
Loton Park – Jul 12Another double-header weekend for the Ferrari hillclimbers, this time at picturesque Loton Park, close to the Welsh border. A promising 18 entries was reduced to 16 with Pauline Goodwin feeling sore after her off at Prescott, aggravated by a mid-week session at Loton in her badly vibrating 328 race car. Brian Jackson also cried off with back pain and was volunteered for reporting duties having turned up to spectate. Tony Attwood had arrived from Scotland to meet up with Iwan who had driven their shared 308 GT4 to the event. The first practice runs got under way on a hot and sunny morning. Lorraine Hitchman took to the grass at one point but otherwise no incidents were reported. Prior and Taylor missed this early run but ran out of sequence later. Taylor’s 430 …read more »
Loton Park – Jul 13Apologies, but no report has been made available. The results however can be viewed by downloading via the usual link at the top right of this page
MIRA – Aug 2Welcome to MIRA, the secret motor industry testing area just outside Nuneaton – well, not so secret actually, but no cameras are allowed inside which limits reporting somewhat. Round 11 of the PFHC rumbled into town, with 9 competitors in a variety of tipo, from 328 to 430 Scuderia, including three consecutive V8s and a California. Only two Classics were there, Mike Spicer and Shaun Smith’s 328, the latter resplendent in a fresh coat of rosso corsa after Blyton off roading. Spicer’s Giallo car stood out, as usual. MIRA is an ex-airfield infield track of around 1600 yards and is the Dunlop Handling Circuit. It’s fast, as speeds recorded by our competitors will show, heavy on brakes in one spot and comprises a couple of long radius curves which require a lot of …read more »
Curborough – Aug 17The Nurburgring has 154 corners and takes 6.5 minutes for the fastest drivers to connect them. Its smaller sister, Curborough (Curburing!) has 8 corners on the long course and takes about 65 seconds to navigate them. Over the years these 8 corners have become very familiar, and much loved by sprinters and hill climbers. So much so, it is said that ‘Bob’, Brian Jackson’s venerable 308, can find its way round without its pilot. Imagine the shock therefore, when we learned that Shenstone and District Car Club, owners of Curborough, had added a crossover section for 2014 turning the course into a figure of eight circuit with an extra couple of corners to boot. Curborough has always been one of the best attended of the PFHC events but perhaps this innovation attracted even …read more »
Prescott – Sep 6Things were going to get interesting in the championship stakes at this, the 13th round of our 15 round series. Only the best 9 scores count and there was still a slim chance that Shaun Smith could nick it from Richard Prior who had been leading for a good part of the season. This meeting featured a round of the MSA British Hillclimb Championship and was nominally a two day meeting, but as usual the Ferraris got dispensation to both practice and race on the Saturday so as not to drag it into the next day. The downside was that, at this very busy meeting with a large entry, the Ferraris would run very late on the Saturday. The entry was good with 17 Ferraris starting their practice runs. Prior (355) immediately set …read more »
Shelsley Walsh – Sep 21Shelsley Walsh hillclimb on a fine sunny day is a glorious place to be. With its paddock steeped in history and virtually unchanged in appearance over so many years – the hill is the world’s oldest motor sport venue at 110 years of age – it is a great privilege and a pleasure to take part here. The weather gods were on our side and Sunday, 21st September was especially nice, with the autumn sunshine filtering through the trees throughout the day. The Ferrari class consisted of 11 cars – it should have been a dozen but Phil Whitehead’s F355 was an absentee after one of its exhaust manifolds split, a fairly common ailment with these tipos. The nice thing about Shelsley is that practice can be taken at a time to suit …read more »
Curborough – Oct 12The final round of the 2014 Pirelli Ferrari Hillclimb Season, on Sunday 12th October at Curborough, had an end-of-term feel about it. There were lots of this year’s boys there as well as many of the girls, including Caroline Cooper who has been playing truant for most of the term. Head mistress Anne Swift was there to make sure everyone behaved properly and although there were no prizes to be given out on the day, there was a keen effort to do well. Among those taking part, it was good to see old boy Richard Allen on top form – perhaps a little lighter than before having had some of his best bits confiscated in recent weeks. Classics student, Mike Spicer, was looking confident since he arrived at Curborough as top of his …read more »
