Gurston Down Championship Rounds 17-20 – 29th and 30th August
WORDS – John Brown
PICTURES – Matthew Willis and Vince Feeney
After much anticipation it was a bit of a disappointment when the weather on the August Bank Holiday weekend meant that there would be very few changes to the positions in the Gurston Down Championship after round 16 at the beginning of the month, and the promise of the double points rounds on the Sunday adding a bit of jeopardy was nullified as most drivers had already registered their best double points eligible scores back in May.
However there were plenty of talking points on the day: the return of 2025 champion Clive Stangle and wife Jenny in their Mitsubishi Evo now running on slicks in the modified 4wd class; the debut of Dylan Ferrett’s new car – no less than the ex- Greenen brothers’ Empire Evo 3; the first appearance of an exciting young talent – Harry Gray in his OMS 2000M and a welcome increase in the Road Car classes which is where we start this review of the weekend.
Harry Gray (OMS 2000M) – photo by Vince Feeney
GURSTON DOWN CHAMPIONSHIP
The only way to describe the weather on Saturday morning and early afternoon was wet with a few outbreaks of more rain and so all the better times came from the second runs across all the classes. Sunday was a much better day and some seasonal personal bests were recorded though once again no class targets were beaten making it 8 rounds in a row that this had happened.
There were no entries in the 4 – MX5 class unsurprisingly after Richard Morton’s accident at the last meeting and our first runners were in the 4-STD class where Lyndon Evans in his Honda Civic beat Thomas Cuff in his Renault Twingo by 6 seconds on Saturday but both were eclipsed by Rob Thomson in his Mazda MX5 on Sunday who came very close to the class record which he had beaten unofficially in a visiting class earlier in the year. His eventual best was 41.14 against the record of 40.69.
Class 4a – up to 1400cc saw the return of former Gurston champion (1998) and class record holder (2022) Stephen Warehem in his familiar Mini and he won on both days (40.90 (Sat) and 39.35 (Sun)) beating regular class front runner John Davey in his Midget who was suffering from old wet tyres on the first run on Saturday. Wareham’s winning time on Sunday was actually below the class target of 39.39 but of course he was not registered for the Championship. David Nutland was 3rd on Saturday but was beaten by the drivers of the silver Fiesta (Steve Holley and Andrew Thorp), who both posted seasonal bests, on Sunday.
John Davey (MG Midget) – photo by Vince Feeney
An excellent turnout of cars in Class 4b – 1401 to 2000cc saw a double win for Martin Walters in his Abarth 500 Essesse with 39.45 on Saturday and 38.52 on Sunday. Russell Davies continued his consistent form with two second places, and an exciting trip round the outside grass at Karousel in the damp on Saturday did not seem to do his time any harm as he led after that run! Marie Fletcher took 3rd each day in the Abarth while newcomer John Penny was 4th in his Peugeot 106 Rallye.
In contrast we had just one runner in Class 4c – over 2000cc on Sunday in Paul Wheatley who obviously won in a time of 43.62 but on Saturday he was only 3rd in a 4 car turnout in 44.86, the winner for the first time this season being Jon Young in his MG ZS in 42.24 from Graham Ramsay in his Seat Leon who had led in the wetter conditions of the first run.
Finally in the 4-4wd class there were just two starters each day and Steve Cox in his Golf (36.52 and 35.50) beat Simon Neve in his Lancer GSR by a similar margin on both days.
In Class 6, for Modified Marque cars over 2000cc Graham Beale was one of the few drivers at the weekend who had a chance to improve his Championship position having only scored on 12 of the 16 rounds held and so he could still add 2 full points scores to his total. As usual this season his only opposition was the Jaguar E-Type of Paul Slade and with times of 34.96 and 33.61 Graham added two more 1st in class wine glasses to his collection. He also moved up to a final Championship position of 5th having lurked down in 17th after the previous rounds.
Class 7 for Modified up to 1400 was boosted this weekend by two extra cars for 4 drivers – brothers CJ and Ben Matthews in their Mini and father and son Allan and Paul Brown in their Mini Marcos, on Sunday only. Unfortunately Steve Luscombe’s Midget was retired after practice. The Matthews brothers, CJ ahead of Ben, finished 1st and 2nd on both days with CJ’s winning times being 44.52 and 39.87. Dave Bean in his Mini completed another trouble free season and won the Championship class.
Allan Brown (Mini Marcos) – photo by Matt Willis
Champion-elect Karl Stevens in his Ford Escort Mk2 in Class 8 for Modified 1401-2000cc had done all the hard work earlier in the season with 6breakings of the consecutive class targets that he kept setting himself and he must have been happy to see the change in the weather which meant his lead was under no serious threat. Mike Harriman in his Renault had run Karl close back in July and he delivered on that promise with a win on Saturday in a time of 36.95 against Karl’s best of 37.38. An early lead on 36.11 on Sunday meant it was looking like a double victory for Mike but on his last run Karl dipped below 36 seconds with a 35.92 to clinch the class on the day and a well deserved Championship.
Champion Karl Stevens (Ford Escort Mk2) – photo by Matt Willis
As headlined at the top of this write-up Class 9-4wd saw the Stangles appear on the hill for the first time this season and, with no opposition following the withdrawal of Jim Herbert, Clive beat Jenny on both days with times of 35.57 (Sat) and 35.92 (Sun).
Adrian Lewis in his supercharged Wetfield Megabusa was the only runner in Class 11 for Modified Special Production cars on Saturday recording a best time of 35.22, but on Sunday he was joined by Dan Young’s turbocharged rotary engined version of the Westfield. Adrian lowered his time to 33.39 while Dan had a best of 36.30.
With Mike Broome non-starting in Class 13 for Historically Interesting Cars on Saturday Fyrth Crosse ran solo in his Ensign to a best of 37.26 and repeated the win on Sunday when Mike could only manage 39.78 to Fyrth’s 35.26 after he and his Alexis recorded a failed second run.
Class 14 for Classic Clubman’s Cars had enjoyed a stellar start to the season with all 3 entrants breaking targets but this weekend we were down to just the one runner and even then Luke Trotman only managed one run on Saturday in 40.05.
Tim Pitfield had company this weekend in Class 15b for Sports Libre up to 1400 with the shared Imp spaceframe of Nathan and Kevin Cole being joined also by Ben Rolls in his AH Sprite after Ben’s Mallock had not been repaired after differential trouble 4 weeks earlier. A spin at Karousel for Tim on the first, damper, run on Saturday was followed by a 34.99 which gave him the class win from Ben and then Kevin ahead of Nathan. Unfortunately Ben’s car was unable to participate on Sunday and it was another win for Tim on 33.78 to end a season when he broke his target 6 times and finished second in the Championship.
Tim Pitfield (DJ Firecat) – photo by Matt Willis
Peter Steel and Paul Davies continued their Radical rivalry in Class 15b for Sports Libres up to 2000cc and it was Peter who won on both days on 34.41 (Sat) and 31.92 (Sun), Paul only managing to nip ahead on the wettest run on Saturday.
There were 2 contrasting cars in Class 16a for Rally Cars, the ultra modern Ford Fiesta R5 WRC of Brian Farminer and the 1980 period Talbot Sunbeam of Steven Hall who won on both days in 42.57 and a season’s best of 40.55.
Steven Hall (Talbot Sunbeam) – photo by Vince Feeney
With Reg Allen not appearing in his Jedi it was all down to the Kemp brothers in Class 18 for Racing cars up to 600cc to conclude their season – long battle for bragging rights in their OMS Hornet. This weekend it was Calum’s turn to do the double with wins in 38.14 and 35.89 (his best of the season) though Euan had led after the first run on Sunday. Euan set his best time of the season with a 35.74 at the previous round and in the championship it was Euan who won the class overall.
The ever-exciting Class 19 – Racing Cars 601-1100cc was next up.
Briefly: Saturday – David and Lucy Cuff don’t run owing to a lack of suitable tyres; Ben Bonfield leads after the first run while Mark Crookall suffers on old hard rain tyres and languishes in 5th place over 4 seconds slower; on a drier track Bonfield, suffering with a bad back, takes the lead from Tom Williams by 4/100 with a 32.03 only for Crookall to come through on the last run with 31.50 to take the class.
Briefly: Sunday – the Cuffs are running again; Ben Bonfield’s back has been aggravated by lifting tyres; Adam Steel makes his second appearance of the year in his Martlet and takes 4th in class (31.78) behind Bonfield (31.00), Williams (31.38) and Cuff (31.76); Crookall runs wide at the top of Karousel on his first run and as he rejoins the track his nearside rear suspension is damaged and he completes the run with the wheel attached only by the top wishbone and that is his day over. It also means that Bonfield wins the class in the Championship by just 0.44 points. Amazingly their total elapsed time for the first 16 rounds had been identical.
After running more or less alone all season in Class 20 for racing cars between 1100 and 1600cc Stephen Snell suddenly had 3 others for company: Andrew Forsyth had provided the only opposition so far back in July and he returned this weekend; Harry Gray, just 17 years old, made his first appearance in a pristine OMS 2000M with just a standard 1300cc engine and most notably Dylan Ferrett made the move up from his 1 litre Force to the ex Greenen brothers 1600cc Empire Evo3, the latest version of that line of cars. The Greenens had purchased the ex-Dean Tighe Empire Wraith, last seen at Gurston rolling over the finish line, while Tighe had purchased the Graham Wynn Gould GR59.
Dylan Ferrett (Empire Evo3) – picture by Matt Willis
Dylan started cautiously in the wet on Saturday and was in 3rd place after the first run while Stephen Snell had made a Horlicks of Karousel and was well behind in 4th. Andrew Forsyth held sway but then Dylan posted an amazing 31.71 which should have been well within Andrew’s reach but the time wasn’t there and a 31.82 meant he had to settle for 2nd giving a well deserved first class win to Dylan. Meanwhile Harry Gray impressed with a 32.33 to take 3rd.
Stephen Snell (Ralt RT35) – photo by Matt Willis
On Sunday Dylan’s first run was just 32.32 which Harry Gray then topped with 31.90 before Andrew Forsyth found the time that was missing on Saturday to take the lead with 30.65. Stephen Snell also pipped Dylan with a 32.21. Dylan then posted his best time of the weekend with 31.15 which moved him up into 2nd which is where he stayed as others failed to improve.
After the big Formula Ford (Class 20a) field back at the start of the month it was a select few who made up the class this weekend. Russell (38.88) and George Haynes (39.98) took a 1-2 on Saturday in their rare Zeus ZR163, while Laurence Marks took third in his Van Diemen RF84 ahead of co-driver Rebecca Crocombe who had a grassy approach to Karousel on the first run which ended with a graceful spin. On Sunday, however Rebecca took her first ever class win with a 38.00 run which was just ahead of the Haynes’ with George leading Russell by just 2/100.
Russell (or George) Haynes (Zeus ZR163) – photo by Vince Feeney
The up to 2 – litre classes saw wins for Steve Holland (21a – naturally aspirated) ahead of Nigel Pitt, and Jason Robinson (21b – forced induction), running on his own, with Steve failing in the damp of Saturday to get below 29 seconds on a completed run for the first time since early May, winning with 29.70 before getting back to normal with 28.74 on Sunday. Jason’s best of the weekend was 31.17.
Finally in Class 22 for Racing Cars over 2000 outgoing Top Ten Challenge Champion, Terry Graves took 2 wins over Paul Crute with times of 31.55 (Sat) and 29.37 (Sun).
FINAL CHAMPIONSHIP POSITIONS
Karl Stevens 320.13
Tim Pitfield 318.23
Steve Holland 315.59
Stephen Snell 312.51
Graham Beale 312.04
John Davey 309.59
Russell Davies 309.47
Richard Morton 308.37 etc.
Other class winners who finished outside the above positions – Peter Steel, Fyrth Crosse, Ben Bonfield, Steve Cox, Euan Kemp, Jim Herbert, Paul Crute, Luke Trotman, David Bean, Clive Skipper, Jason Robinson, Robert Pallett and Nic Mann.
TOP TEN CHALLENGE RUN-OFFS
Steve Holland (Force TA) – photo by Vince Feeney
Steve Holland had already won the top ten challenge before this weekend but he would be aiming to complete a near perfect season of wins, his only blot being when he unfathomably went before the light turned green on a restart back in June. With Round 8 in early August not being held it was the best 6 scores out of 9 that would count and the better score in Round 2 or 10 would count for double points.
As expected it was Steve who won both run-offs with times of 29.07 and 28.31 to finish with the maximum of 70 points. Nigel Pitt was the favourite to take second overall having had 4 consecutive second places but on Saturday a drive shaft failed on the startline meaning a no score, but that was OK he could drop that one. However he had only managed an 8th place back in May in the double scoring round and he now needed a good run on Sunday to make sure he had a high score to double and this he duly did with a 29.81 to secure second in the Challenge with a 62 points made up of 5 second places (one doubled) and one third.
Two other drivers were in contention for 2nd and 3rd places if Nigel had failed to score well enough – Ben Bonfield and Mark Crookall. On Saturday with Nigel’s demise it was Mark who took second in the run -off by just 1/100 from Ben (31.31 and 31.32). As discussed above re the Championship points, these two have been very closely matched all season. After Saturday’s run off the position was that Ben had scored 54 points and Mark 53, but after dropped scores they were on 46 each! Mark then had the incident described above and did not qualify for the run-off and Ben was pushed down to 4th in Sunday’s run-off the by the revitalized Dylan Ferrett in his new car! This meant that both drivers were dependent upon their May scores to be doubled – when Mark had been second and Ben third.
Ben also scored in all 9 rounds while Mark missed out on the last – the maths is: total raw Scores – Ben 61, Mark 53; best 6 scores before doubling – Ben 47, Mark 46, and best 6 scores after doubling – Ben and Mark – 55 points each! I will leave that one for the Competitions convenor to confirm who completed the podium!
Dylan Ferrett completed his first weekend in the Empire with a 31.55 for 4th on Saturday and 30.90 for 3rd on Sunday. Other high scorers over the weekend were Jason Robinson and Tom Williams who were both able to double their Sunday points for finishing 6th and 5th respectively while Stephen Snell had to depend on doubling his May scores as he finished 7th and 9th this weekend and fell to 6th in the final table below Tom Williams.
Final top ten Challenge positions:
Steve Holland 70
Nigel Pitt 62
Ben Bonfield 55
Mark Crookall 55
Tom Williams 42
Stephen Snell 40
Jason Robinson 34
Paul Davies 32 etc.
GUEST CLASSES
The Bugatti Owners’ Club visited on Saturday with their 3 Championships and being first out in the afternoon they encountered the worst of the weather. The small Rally Car class was won on scratch by the Mini R53 Cooper S of Andrew Price in 44.27 with Kevin Knight in his Talbot Sunbeam Lotus finishing close behind on 44.35, but it was the 4th finishing Rob Jones in his VW Golf GTi who won the class on handicap.
The Fassi Classic Speed Championship featured a wide variety of cars ranging from a Formula Ford Lotus 51A to a pair of Ford Escorts and it was these 3 who finished in the top 3 with the Escort of Stephen Downey leading the way on 42.04, from the Lotus of Richard Morris in 42.15 and the other Escort of Martin Saunders on 42.47. Terry Drinkwater in his MGA Coupe had been on top after the first run but he missed out on the podium later on by just 8/100ths. The handicap result had Saunders winning from Downey with Daniel Carroll in his MGB in 3rd. Leigh Carter in his iconic Fiat Abarth 695SS with engine cover propped open at the back decided to explore the edges of the field after Ashes but made it back on unaided and reached the top.
Leigh Carter (Fiat Abarth 695 SS) – photo by Vince Feeney
The third BOC Championship is the New Barn Land Rover Interclub and Sophia McCall in her Mini Cooper S, who was the very first car on the hill, was in the lead after the first run but, having had the very best of the conditions running so early, she failed to improve on her second run and dropped to 6th. However co-driver Aaron Bland maintained his second position from the first run with a 44.70 second time up but was pipped by Keith Davis in his Caterham 7 who did 44.58. Aaron did however win the class on handicap from Mike Brakes in his Fiesta ST150 with Sophia finishing third.
Our other Saturday – only visitors were a few cars from the 500 Owners Association. With Alistair Dent not appearing after practice it was ex-F1 driver Richard Robarts who won in his Cooper MkX1 in a time of 43.05 from the shared Smith Mk3 of Kim Chilver (46.14) and Stuart Barnes (51.12).
Three very disparate clubs featured on Sunday with runners from the Bert Hadley Austin 7 Championship, the Morgan Sports Car Club and the Ferrari Owners Club. The Austin 7s were led all the way by Nick Allen’s amazing crab-tracked Shelsley Special who won in a time of 46.65 from the Spicers in their Ulster – Joe on 48.73 and Mike on 49.38.
Nick Allen (Austin Shelsley Special) – Photo by Matt Willis
Just 5 Morgans eventually recorded times with Clive Hall winning comfortably with 40.88 in his 4/4 from James Walter in his Plus 4 (44.34) and George Proudfoot’s Series 1 flat-rad 4/4 in 48.40.
Class record holder David Snelson was the favourite to win the Ferrari class and he duly delivered with 34.37, just 7/100ths off his record in his 488. Second was Rob Samuels in his 458 Speciale (35.77) while in third was Steve Nunney in his 430 (37.61).
The only class record of the weekend came in the Gilbern Owners Club class. Alex Ward led the way on Saturday with a 42.31 while on Sunday he lowered his own class record to 41.21. Brian Gent in the only non-Invader, in the shape of his GT1800, came second on both days.
Alex Ward (Gilbern Invader) – photo by Matt Willis
We also had the Downton Motor Club with us for the 4th time this year with a good entry of 12 cars ranging from Peter Hannam’s 1960s Copper T65 single/seater to Tony Salter in his little Riley Elf. Robbie King in his Audi TT was able to win on both days (39.06 (Sat) and 37.19 (Sun)). On Saturday Zak Cobb in his Mini R53 held on to take second from both Harry Whitehead’s turbocharged Mazda MX5 and Steve Jarrett’s Mini R53 by 1/100th with Whitehead taking 3rd by virtue of a quicker second time. Hannam in the Cooper bounced back from a miserable run in very wet conditions to leap up to 5th behind Jarrett.
It wasn’t quite so close behind King on Sunday but the better conditions suited the Cooper much more and after being second on the first run, Hannam eventually finished 3rd (37.81) behind Whitehead’s Mazda (37.63).
Peter Hannam (Cooper T65) – photo by Vince Feeney
And final there were the cars of the TR Register Triumph Speed Championship. With Steve Small absent on Saturday it was Len Olds in his TR4 who won with 39.42 from the only Dolomite in attendance, Robert McGregor’s who finished in 40.66. Additional runners on Sunday included Small in his TR7V8 who won on 37.67 from Olds (39.20) and McGregor (40.13). A bit of excitement was created when Lawrence Jeram-Croft spun his TR7V8 on the exit of Ashes but continued from his grassy post – spin location and then in a leak-free car finished 4th on the second run.
And that is all for 2026. I hope you have enjoyed reading these reports and if you got a mention well done as that means either that you did well or because you had an incident to report which was unusual. Thanks to the photographers for their various photos – I have tried to not feature the same drivers too often but when they are doing well it can be difficult.
There will be another post in the next couple of weeks summarizing the year’s action in a bit less detail!