The over-night rain, thunder and lightening had cleared by early morning and the sun began to dry the course and spectator areas. The second event of the 2018 seaosn at Gurston Down Speed Hill Climb gpot underway with rounds three and four of the Meadens Skoda Championship and the second round of the Cavendish Ships Stores Top Ten Challenge.
With some 140 cars and 30 motorbikes entered, the place was humming with activity by 08:00. Saturday has been a good day for many of the drivers and cars. Sunday brought the ACU’s motorbikes and combinations which have been reported on separately.
Fastest Times of the Day went to Peter D Smith in the car he shares with Richard Gaylard who rounded off the weekend with second fastest time of the day. Peter’s time of 30.44s an improvement over Saturday was just over half a second quicker than Richard’s.
Full Details of the Class Results:
First to the line were the Triumph Register Car Class. There was a huge entry in a wide variety of Triumph cars. The TR8 V8 of Steve Small and Roderick Warner and the TR6 of Nick Smith, dominated the first three places. Steve producing the only sub 40 second run and stopped the clocks at 38.97s. Roderick couldn’t catch him and finished on 40.71s although Nick Smith was second after the first timed run but ended on 41.44s.
The Big Healey and Warwick Cars class went next. Roles were reversed over last year with Paul Baker taking the win on 39.19s Pat Cooper second on 39.52s and Richard Mason third with a 39.85s run.
Then came the Healey Sprite Class ventured up the hill. Robin Johnson with his Sprite overcame Stephen Casson in his Sebring and Colin Gale in his Sprite to take the win. Robin only managed one timed run and it was the only sub 40s run which gave him the class win. Stephen and Colin finished second and third on 40.17s and 40.25s respectively.
The Morgan Cars Class went next. The Roadster Lightweight of Paul Clarke put in a great time of 38.46s leaving everyone else in his wake. Patrick Hadley took second with a 40.10s second timed run.
For the second time this weekend we saw the lovely cars that form the ‘Classic Marques Speed Championship’ Class.. Gary Dawkins in his Lotus Exige won the class with a second timed run of 36.94s. The win looked like it wasn’t to be his after the first timed runs with thee drivers ahead of him. Stephen Hill in his Lotus 7 was second and Matthew Eady, Saturday’s winner taking third.
The regular Meaden Skoda Gurston Down Championship Classes were next.
Saturday’s Mazda MX5 Class, sponsored by The Window Doctor was a interesting affair with the reigning Meadens Skoda Gurston Down Champion, Mark Crookall and his RS being bumped into second. Sunday first timed runs looked like they might go the same way. Graham Hadley lead the first timed run by just 0.03s from Jason Richardson and 0.26s ahead of third place man, Mark Crookall. The second timed runs brought Graham Hadley within a tenth of Mark’s class record, he managed 40.65s. Jason’s big spin at Karousel, left Mark with a good chance to snatch third back but it wasn’t to be. Graham won the class with the 40.65s run with Jason and Mark, second and third with 40.68s and 40.91s respectively.
The Road Going Series Production up to 1400cc class saw John Davey, the MD of our Top Ten Challenge sponsor, in his quick MG Midget is running on his own. He was lloking to take the class record but didn’t quite make it, he finished on 41.35s.
The Road Going Series Production Class, 1401cc to 2000cc, sponsored by Record-Designs ran next. Paul Dickinson and his Honda S2000 repeated his Saturday performance. The first timed run pushed Tim Foster, last years class champion, and his lovely Lotus Elan back to third behind Dean Cubitt but a great second time run meant second was assured. Paul’s time of 38.06s was over a second clear of Tim who stopped the clocks on 39.23s.
The Over 2000cc Road Going Series Production Class, sponsored by Turbo Dynamics, saw Stephen Moore and his Mitsubishi Evo 6 RS back. Stephen, last years class champion, took control from the outset. Shaun Fudge was second, rounding off a great weekend for Shaun and championship points. He currently leads the class. Jon Maycock in the turbo Mazda MX5 kept the car on the track and finished third in both rounds and third overall.
The Road Going Specialist Production Class, sponsored by Fieldfare Trailers, came next. The result was almost identical to Saturday’s timed run. Clive Skipper in his 2.0 Caterham HPC overcame Adrian Lewis in his Westfield. Clive finished on 34.57s and Adrian 35.67s.
The Over 2000cc Modified Limited Production Marque Sports Car Class turned out to be an interesting class on Sunday. Mark Walker shared Simon Purcell’s Lotus for the day and Phil Price brought his Porsche 930RS were additions to the Saturday line-up. The first timed run went to Simon Purcell with Graham Beale and Phil Price second and third. The second timed runs saw Phil Price take the win with Simon second and Graham third. The overall win went to Simon Purcell with a 34.80s run with Phil Price just 0.04s behind in his Porsche 930RS.
Next up were the Minis in the Up to 1400cc Modified Series Production Class, sponsored by Cock and Sons (General Builders). James White took the win with a 37.23s second timed run and both of the rounds of the championship too.
The Over 2000cc Modified Series Production Class, sponsored by Meadens Skoda, was a repeat of the Saturday’s meeting as far as the first two places were concerned. Tim Painter won both rounds of the timed run and the class overall. His time was 37.23s.
The Gates of Brockenhurst sponsored Over 2000cc Modified Specialist Production Class three car line-up saw Martin Watson, Richie Gatt and Steve Holland go head to head. It was close, Martin won with a 32.78s run with Richie on 32.80s and Steve on 33.16s.
The Historically Interesting Class, sponsored by Kelvin Jouhar, cam next. Fyrth Crosse repeated his Satuday form taking both the rounds of the championship and the overall class win. His time being an improvement 34.47s.
Mark Mortimer in his Mallock17b stopped the clocks on 34.91s in the Hillclimb Super Sports Class.
The Sports Libre up to 1400cc Class’s second outing saw a similar result to the first. Gurston Down’s Driver School Principle, Tim Pitfeild took both rounds and the win overall. Tim’s time was 33.94s with Peter Steel in his Mallock second on 34.89s.
Sports Libre 1400cc to 2000cc Class had just one entry, Keith Diggle’s WEV HCS-BDG. Keith improved his Saturday time with a 32s dead first timed run.
The Sports Libre up to 2000cc Class saw the Chevrolet Camero Z28 of Jeffery Way up against the super fast Force SR8 of Chris Cannell. Chris took the win and third fastest time of the day with a 31.10s.
The 500 Owners Association Championship Cars Class, sponsored by Riley Cranes went next. The car shared by Max and John Finlay Mac Kintosh was the car to beat. John won the class and both timed runs. He managed a 41.90s with Max second on 43.59s.
The up to 600cc Racing Car Class saw David Cuff and his Mk4 Jedi. His time 37.85s.
The 601cc to 1100cc Racing Car Class, sponsored by Drynham Project Management, gave James Moore, the 2017 Cavendish Ships Stores Top Ten Challenge winner another victory. But his time of 32.40s only gave him seventh fastest of the day.
The 1101cc to 1600cc Racing Car Class, sponsored by SM AeRo Techniques, saw Peter D Smith repeat his Saturday win over Richard Gaylard in the Force PC they share. Peter’s time was a little better than Saturday’s stopping the clock on 30.44s. This also gave him Fastest Time of the Day.
The New Techniques sponsored 1601cc to 2000cc Racing Car (Normally Aspirated) Class was won by David Lord. Although Roger Cock took the second time run after David’s error at the bottom of Karousel. The overall victory went to David with his 33.28s first timed run.
Paul Crute and his OMS was the last car to run and he won the Gould Engineering sponsored Racing Cars Over 2000cc class.
We would like to thank everyone who made the day possible, the office staff, the marshals, timekeepers, scrutineers and officials without whom we couldn’t run the meeting. Thanks to Ashley Wood Recovery, TSL Timing, Steve Lister, A-Cute Medical Services, Venture Security and Peter Crutcher from Ringwood PA.
Anthony Record – Press Officer – BARC SW, Gurston Down Speed Hill Climb