The 2024 Turbo Dynamics Gurston Down Championship finished on a high after our August meetings.
Our overall champion was confirmed as James Moore. James had a great season finishing second in the Online Cleaning Technologies Top Ten Challenge and winning his class championship too, quite an achievement.
CLASS RESULTS
Here are the class results in the Turbo Dynamics Gurston Down Championship.
Class 4-MX5 – Road Cars – Mazda MX5
| Position | Driver | Car |
Points |
|
1 |
Andrew Ward | Mazda Roadster RS |
232.03 |
|
2 |
John Hammock | Mazda Roadster RS |
205.71 |
Andrew Ward has had a very positive year, consistency has awarded Andrew with a class championship win.
Class 4a – Road Cars Series Production up to 1400cc
| Position | Driver | Car |
Points |
|
1 |
John Davey | MG Midget / Renault R8 |
302.20 |
|
2 |
David Nutland | Mini |
284.04 |
|
3 |
Andrew Till | Ford Feista |
243.18 |
John’s season started quite badly, the MG Midget’s engine wasn’t ready and his Renault R8 just didn’t cut the mustard. This left John behind for all of the season until the final weekend. David Nutland was in such a great position before then. John’s sub-40 second runs made the class championship his.He also finished fifth overall.
Class 4b – The Road Cars Series Production 1401cc to 2000cc
| Position | Driver | Car |
Points |
|
1 |
Russell Davies | Honda Civic Type R |
311.92 |
|
2 |
James Wills | Renault Clio |
286.45 |
|
3 |
Will Haimes | Renault Clio |
220.50 |
Russell Davies has had another fantastic season. He had won the class championship and finished second in the overall championship. The second and third place men, James and Will, share James’ Renault Clio. Will had a great first season too.
Class 4c – Road Cars Series Production Over 2000cc, sponsored by Turbo Dynamics
| Position | Driver | Car |
Points |
|
1 |
Steve Cox | VW Golf R |
272.51 |
|
2 |
Simon Neve | Mitsubishi Evo |
197.41 |
Steve Cox in the VW Golf R has had another great season, not just winning the class but he qualified for a few Top Ten Run-offs too. Steve and the Golf really have come together in 2024, building on his success in 2023.
Class 4d – Road Cars Specialist Production, any capacity
| Position | Driver | Car |
Points |
|
1 |
Clive Skipper | Caterham |
282.39 |
|
2 |
Rob Brodie | Fisher Fury |
159.85 |
Clive Skipper had a good season, keeping Rob Brodie at bay. Rob missed a few rounds because he was competing in the British Hill Climb Cup. Rob’s Fisher Fury seems to getting better and better.
Class 6 – Modified Limited Production Marque Sports Car Over 2000cc
| Position | Driver | Car |
Points |
|
1 |
Graham Beale | Ginetta G33 |
298.21 |
|
2 |
Paul Slade | Jaguar XKE |
182.26 |
Graham Beale in the Ginetta G33 had another great season. He also qualifying for multiple Top Ten run-offs and scored point there too. Graham takes the class championship and seventh overall. Paul Slade didn’t compete in all of the events but it was great to see the Jaguar E Type on the hill.
Class 7 – Modified Series Production Class up to 1400cc
| Position | Driver | Car |
Points |
|
1 |
Neil Turner | Mini |
307.56 |
|
2 |
James White | Mini |
224.61 |
|
3 |
David Bean | Mini |
195.35 |
Neil Turn and that super fast Mini takes a great class win. James White in Bright Eyes, another super fast Mini, finished second. A very consistent performance from Neil gave him the class win and fourth in the overall championship.
Class 8 – Modified Series Production 1401cc to 2000cc
| Position | Driver | Car |
Points |
|
1 |
Luke Chard-Maple | Renault Clio |
275.34 |
|
2 |
Steve Jackman | MGF |
197.31 |
Luke Chard-Maple in the Renault Clio supported by Bridgewater and Taunton College has had a superb first season. At one stage Luke was leading the championship but issues with the car caused the team to miss a number of rounds, taking the overall championship out of reach. We hope that Luke and the BTC team will be back next season as they will be one to watch..
Class 9 – Modified Series Production Over 2000cc
| Position | Driver | Car |
Points |
|
1 |
Geoff Chalke | Subaru Impreza |
177.58 |
|
2 |
Stephen Moore | Mitsubishi Evo |
102.32 |
Geoff Chalke is one of our Drivers School success stories. Geoff attended an early Drivers School and had a few rather lucky escapes. But these didn’t stop him. A few weeks later after getting his car looked at by the scrutineers he came back and has had such a great season in his Subaru.
Class 11 – Modified Specialist Production Class, supported by Online Cleaning Technologies
| Position | Driver | Car |
Points |
|
1 |
Martin Watson | Westfield |
229.93 |
|
2 |
Steve Holland | Caterham |
106.18 |
Martin Watson has had a good season. The bar is very high in this class after Steve Holland’s 2023 performances. The class record being in the mid 30 second mark, which is a good run for some of the single seaters, Martin was always going to struggle to challenge for the Overall Championship. He has qualified for a number of Top Ten Challenges too.
Class 13 – Historically Interesting Class
| Position | Driver | Car |
Points |
|
1 |
Fyrth Cross | Dempster Ensign LNF3 |
291.52 |
|
2 |
Mike Broome | Alexis Mk17 |
249.40 |
Fyrth Crosse and his Dempster Ensign LNF3 has had another great season full of consistent performances and finishes giving him the class title.
Class 15a – Sports Libre up to 1400cc
| Position | Driver | Car |
Points |
|
1 |
Tim Pitfield | DJ Firecat |
103.64 |
Tim Pitfield and his DJ Firecat started the season well. But Tim had others plans. Tim and his son, Ben, have been competing in Tim’s Formula Ford for the second half of the season, so no additional points for Tim here.
Class 15b – Sports Libre Over 2000cc
PICTURE NIC MANN
Nic in the amazing Manic Beattie, had a pretty sound season. The car behaving most of the time gave him a number of Top Ten Challenge wins and fifth in the Online Cleaning Technologies Top Ten Challenge.
Class 19 – 601cc to 1100cc Racing Car Class
PICTURE JAMES MOORE
| Position | Driver | Car |
Points |
|
1 |
James Moore | Empire Evo |
312.40 |
|
2 |
Mark Crookall | OMS PT |
300.19 |
|
3 |
Ben Bonfield | Jedi MK4 |
281.93 |
James Moore and the Empire Evo has had an almost perfect season. James has taken this class, which is very competitive, the Championship Overall and was second behind Paul Haimes, in the Top Ten Challenge. Mark Crookall in his OMS PT has had a great season, third in the Top Ten Challenge and sixth overall in the Championship. Sadly, Ben Bonfield’s season was very tough, he has had issues with cars and engines. This class is ever popular and there were many great performances.
Class 20a – Racing Cars up to 1600cc – Formula Ford
| Position | Driver | Car |
Points |
|
1 |
Andrew Mathis | OMS |
244.21 |
Class 21b – Racing Cars 1601cc to 2000cc (Force Induction) supported by New Techniques
| Position | Driver | Car |
Points |
|
1 |
Paul Haimes | Gould GR59 |
309.87 |
Paul Haimes and the turbo-charged Gould GR59 season has be almost perfect. Paul has had some issues with the car but they haven’t stopped him from winning the Online Cleaning Technologies Top Ten Challenge and third in the overall championship. Paul is also have a good season in the British Hill Climb Champion.
Class 22 – Racing Cars Over 2000cc
Paul Crute in the lovely OMS28 Jaguar is on his own in this class.
We thank Turbo Dynamics for their continued support of our championship in 2024.
E&OE