British Championship Weekend – 23rd and 24th May
WORDS – John Brown
PICTURES – Vince Feeney
A very warm Spring Bank Holiday weekend saw the visit of the British Hillclimb Championship and BHC Cup contenders to Gurston Down.
In a change from the previous 5 years there was just one round of each competition on each day, making for a more relaxed programme compared to the 2 rounds each day which had been the norm since 2022.
In addition, in a new initiative, BARC (SW) introduced a new Gurston Masters class with 2 runs and a winner each day, the better of the 2 runs to count.
The Gurston Masters were the first class to run. This was open to all BARC (SW) members who were not participating in the National Championships and prizes were awarded based on a driver’s time against a target time. The initial target times were those currently in use in the Gurston Down Championship and they would be reduced every time a driver broke that target, but these changes were only for the weekend and would not be applied to the next GD Championship round. This class had 2 runs each day with the second acting as a buffer between the end of the BHC class runs and the top 12 run-off and this seemed to work as there was very little dead time before the run-off started.
There were originally 26 entries but by the time the first runs on Saturday took place this was reduced to 23 and on that first run it was Tim Pitfield in the DJ Firecat (33.14) who was the only driver to get below his target (33.38), but close behind and just above their target were Graham Beale in his Ginetta G33 (33.70 against a target of 33.64), Keith Mizen in his Mazda MX5 (38.08 against 37.93) and Steve Holland in his Force TA (28.88 against 28.63).
TIM PITFIELD (DJ FIRECAT)
Pitfield also beat his new target of 33.14 on the second run with a 32.99, to become the first winner of the Gurston Masters while Keith Mizen moved up to second with a sub-target time of 37.91 leaving Graham Beale and Steve Holland, who both failed to improve, in 3rd and 4th.
On to the Sunday and we were down to 20 starters. Tim Pitfield, as the winner on Saturday, was given a penalty of 0.25 secs to overcome if he wanted to win again on Sunday. On his first run he recorded an unpenalized time of 32.53, which became 32.78 with the penalty (against a target of 32.99) and yet he was still the top scorer. Graham Beale also got below his target this time with 33.49 against a target of 33.64 while Keith Holland (28.70against 28.63) and Keith Mizen (38.24 against 37.91) completed the top 4 again.
Graham Beale was a non-starter in the second run and Steve Holland came to a halt on the exit of Hollow but with neither Tim Pitfield nor Keith Mizen improving the top 4 stayed as they were and Tim Pitfield won the Gurston Masters on the Sunday too!
BHC Classes
In Class A (i) it was the Lotus Exige of Michael Thomson who came out on top both days ahead of class record holder Jon Langmead in his Lotus Elise. Readers of Facebook will have seen that Jon’s Elise 135, which he had used for a number of years, had been stolen over the winter and the car he is currently using is a replacement which he has not yet developed as much as the old car.
In Class A (ii) it was 4 Porsches against Tim Elmer’s Alpine A110 and it was Richard Snow in his Cayman who won on both days to maintain his perfect record of 6 wins at the top of the BHC Cup leaderboard. Ex single-seater driver, Elmer, came second just ahead of Tony Adams’ Cayman.
Rodney Eyles was originally entered in A (ii) in his Alfa Romeo 4c but a change of car to his 4wd Porsche 911 put him Class A (iii), where he had just the Toyota Yaris GR of Anthony Hawkins as distant opposition, but Eyles pushed hard enough to set a new class record of 33.58, nearly a second ahead of Izzy Lawrence’s old mark.
RODNEY EYLES (PORSCHE 911)
Richard Price in his Caterham 7 remains unbeaten in Class B for Road-going Special Production Cars in the BHC Cup this season as he defeated the 2 Fisher Furys of Rob Brodie and Jonny Toon. For Brodie his Sunday run was a personal best as he got below 36 seconds for the first time in competition with a 35.83.
In Class C (i) the wins were split between Eric Morrey in his turbocharged Hillman Imp and Paul Talbot in his Mini 1275GT which he is campaigning for the first time this year after a 6 year build. Morrey was quickest overall with a 36.24 (Saturday) against Talbot’s 36.47 (Sunday).
PAUL TALBOT (MINI 1275GT)
There were no entries in Class C (ii) and so on to Class C (iii) where it was 3 drivers in 2 Porsches against Nigel Elliott’s fearsome turbocharged Triumph TR7 V8. Paul Howell’s familiar green and yellow 911 won on both days ahead of the even more familiar Carrera of Jonathan Williamson, sharing the car, as he has done for over 40 years, with Laura Wardle who finished 4th behind the TR7.
In Class C (iv) for the 4wd modified cars it was 3 Subaru Imprezas ganging up against Stephen Moore’s Mitsubishi Evo and as expected it was Steven Darley who won on both days but there was an unexpected result on Sunday when Geoff Chalk in his Impreza moved ahead of the Mitsubishi into second place on the day with a personal best of 34.38, though still behind Moore’s Saturday time of 34.32.
There was just one entrant in Class D, Robert Toon in his Morgan who had been transferred from Road-going into Modified.
The small sports libre class (up to 2000cc), Class F, saw a battle between the 2 supercharged Forces of Alan McDonald (SR4) and Mike Lee (LM001) with the difference between them being just over 1/10th second on both days with Mike Lee on top both times.
Graham Wynn in his sports-racing modified single-seater Force TAS with a 2.5 litre Cosworth KF engine was alone in Class G for Sports Libre cars over 2000cc, though the Gurston Masters had seen the welcome return of Nic Mann in the Mannic – Beattie. For comparison Wynn’s best time was 28.79 against Mann’s 29.54.
GRAHAM WYNN (FORCE TAS)
A smaller than usual Class I entry for single seaters up to 1100cc was bolstered by the transfer of Debbie and Richard Summers from Class L as they were now driving the DJ Firehawk, but although Debbie has won this class here in the past it was the Hamer brothers, in their OMS – BMW, and Tom Weaver in his Empire – Suzuki who were the top 3 this year. Will Hamer was fastest on both days but Ben who was second on Saturday was pipped into 3rd by Weaver on Sunday to the tune of 1/100th second.
WILL HAMER (OMS 28)
The class record for the pre-94 Formula Ford class (Class J (i)) had stood since the FF Festival event in 2018 at 35.81 secs but Sam Wilson in his Jamun M90 broke that on Saturday with a 35.72 before going even quicker with a 35.67 on Sunday. The competition inspired Stuart Lugger to go below 36 secs for the first time with a 35.94 on Sunday while Andrew Mathis also recorded a personal best with a 36.54 to complete the top 3 overall. Also notable on Sunday was a PB for Rebecca Crocombe on 37.08 and also for her co-driver Laurence Marks on 38.04.
SAM WILSON (JAMUN M90)
The top 3 in Class J (ii) for single seaters 1100-1600, all in Empire Evo 3s, all qualified for the first run- off with Andy Greenen leading the way on 28.27 ahead of Jason Tunnicliffe in his 1-litre turbocharged version on 28.57 and Adam G on 28.86. Tunnicliffe improved on Sunday to take the class on 28.06 ahead of Andy and although Adam improved on his Saturday time he was squeezed out of the run-off by an improving Andy Bougourd (see below).
JASON TUNNICLIFFE (EMPIRE EVO3)
Class K (i) for up to 2-litre normally aspirated single seaters has been dominated for the past couple of years by Johnathen Varley in his Predator and so it was a surprise to see him beaten on both days (by just 2/100ths on Saturday) by Andy Bougourd in his Force PT who with a 28.35 run qualified for the run-off on Sunday. Aaron Colbourne led the rest of a 12 car class with his first sub 30 second run at Gurston on 29.83.
The forced induction 2-litre single seaters in Class K (ii) saw the first appearance at Gurston of Australian drivers, Dean Tighe and Alan Foley in their Star Wars decorated Empire Wraith but it was class pace setters Paul Haimes (Gould GR59) and Alex Coles (Force TA) who dominated the class and qualified well up for the 2 run-offs, Haimes winning on both days and taking the class with a 26.56 run from Saturday. Tighe finished 3rd on Saturday but then on Sunday he had a major accident after the finish line which led to a long delay but fortunately after a trip to the hospital he returned to the hill at the end of the day to be able to watch the run-off.
PAUL HAIMES (GOULD GR59)
It was the big 3 of Matthew Ryder, Will Hall and Wallace Menzies in their V8 engined Gould GR59s who ruled the roost in Class L all weekend, with Ryder taking the win from Menzies and Hall on Saturday and from Hall (by just 2/100ths) and Menzies on Sunday. They were followed on both days by Dave Uren, Trevor Willis, Harry Pick and Alex Summers while Nicola Menzies came through on Sunday to finish 8th overall but failing to qualify for the run-off. An interesting entry in this class was David and Sean Gould who were entered in the very first purpose – built Gould, the 84G which Chris Cramer took to the British Hillclimb title in 1985. Sean’s best time was 29.81 on Sunday which is not far off the car’s best run-off time in period of 29.21 set by David in 1987.
Finally in Class N Joe Mackrell (Saturday) and Robin Johnson (Sunday) shared the wins in their Tiga SF87 with Johnson (37.23) just pipping Mackrell (37.46) to win overall.
BHC Run-Offs
Matthew Ryder closed the gap at the top of the British Hillclimb Championship to Will Hall to 4 points with 2 wins to Hall’s 2 second places. In fact the top 5 was the same for both rounds with Wallace Menzies in 3rd, Paul Haimes in 4th and Alex Coles in 5th.
MATT RYDER (GOULD GR59)
Behind the top 3 in 4th position Paul Haimes had his best performance of the season, setting a personal best (26.50) in the first run off remarking that the new tyres from Nova really seemed to suit his car, though also remarking that his previous ones were about 3 years old. Alex Coles similarly set a personal best of 26.75 in the first run off to take 5th ahead of Dave Uren.
Uren than had a troubled run second time around when he missed a gear off the line, and in trying to make up time he braked too late for Carousel and suffered a trip across the outside kerb in the middle of the corner and then had his 2 left wheels on the grass at the top, slipping down to 9th in the run-off and also falling behind Coles in the Championship table as a result.
With Uren dropping down in the second run, Trevor Willis and Ales Summers moved up one position to 6th and 7th respectively. Alex, running the P4t as the P8t is not fully rebuilt yet, was unhappy on Saturday with minor niggles but was much happier on Sunday evening.
Harry Pick collected good points with 9th on Saturday and 8th on Sunday. Running a bigger wing than last year has improved the aerodynamics and on Sunday he was below 28 seconds with a 27.74 in the run off.
The minor placings were shared between Jason Tunnicliffe (11th and 10th) and Andy Greenen (10th and 11th). There was only change of driver between the two run-offs with Adam Greenen being replaced in 12th place by Andy Bougourd in the second one
Two notable absentees from the meeting were David Warburton who was in Tokyo and Jack Cottril who only managed one practice run on Saturday as he was having troubles with the new wiring loom which has replaced one burnt earlier in the season.
British Hillclimb’s review of the Gurston Round is available here