WORDS – John Brown
PICTURES – Vince Feeney
The second weekend of Gurston Championship action took place under sunny skies with a cooling breeze which made conditions much more comfortable than the Bank Holiday weekend.
A good turnout of Championship contenders saw a number of targets being beaten in the various classes with 2 drivers in particular strengthening their positions in the standings (of which more later).
Guest Clubs and classes.
There was just one class record broken across all the classes and that came in the first one to hit the hill, the Tunbridge Wells Motor Club Championship in which Simon Neill made short work of breaking the existing record set by Davie Man in an Alfa Romeo 4c back in 2021 at 36.40 secs. Simon in his MK Indy Hayabusa Turbo, running on slicks for the first time, recorded times of 35.68, 35.27, 34.22 and 34.45 over the two days to smash the record. Left behind by some 7 seconds were Richard Darnell in his MG TF and the other 2 runners.
Simon Neill (MK Indy Hayabusa Turbo)
In the Downton Motor Club Championship the two black Mini Cooper S of Steve Jarrett and Zak Cobb were the pacesetters with Zak putting in the best time on his first run on Saturday with a 37.70 to win with Steve getting down to 38.48 and the spectacular Kieran Stevens in his, also black, Vauxhall Corsa who dipped into the 39 second bracket on Sunday to finish 3rd on 39.42.
The other guests who were with us for the whole weekend were the 21 Porsches in the Porsche Club GB Championship sponsored by Ninemeister. The class was led throughout by David Hilton in his 996 who had a best time of 35.45, but getting ever closer all weekend was Justin Dooling in his 992 GT3 who eventually fell short by just 0.13 secs. There were some very close battles among the Porsches with 6th to 9th on Saturday being separated by just 5/100ths and 3rd to 5th on Sunday by just 2/100ths. The class also saw the only damaging off of the weekend when Jake Cartwright contacted the Recticel outside the commentary box on Saturday. Fortunately he was sideways into the barrier which did its job well and the car was back out competing on Sunday.
David Hilton (Porsche 996)
On Saturday the Formula 3 cars of the 500 Owners Association took us back 70 years to the days of Stirling Moss, Les Leston and David Boshier-Jones and it was former Formula 1 driver, Richard Robarts who once again took victory in his Cooper with a time of 41.79 beating the Mackintosh family into 2nd and 3rd places in their shared Cooper (Finlay on 42.38 and Max on 42.58).
Richard Robarts (Cooper MkXI)
Finally in the guest classes a small band of Morgans in their Techniques Speed Championship saw a win for Clive Hall in his 4/4 in a time of 40.13 with Alan Foster, who had got in some extra practice on Saturday in the appropriate Gurston class, in second on 42.78. The class record for the Morgans is 34.49 which was set way back in 1995 by Mike Hall, the father of current British Hillclimb Championship pacesetter, Will Hall.
Gurston Down Championship classes
A number of the classes were lacking some of the usual suspects but we did also welcome back an old favourite.
The classes for 4-STD, Standard cars (won by the sole entrant Tom Cuff in his Twingo on Saturday in 46.45 and on Sunday in a PB of 46.26), 4c – Road Going Series Production over 2000cc (won on Saturday by Dimitris Vaxevanakis in a Porsche Boxster (39.54) and by sole entrant Paul Wheatley (Mini Cooper S) in 43.92 on Sunday), 16a – Rally Cars (Steven Hall in a Talbot Sunbeam in 41.05 on Saturday and Brian Farminer in a Ford Fiesta Rally5 WRC in 42.51 on Sunday) and 22 – Racing Cars over 2000cc, won on both days by sole entrant Terry Graves in his Gould GR55DJ in 29.46 (Sat.) and 29.80 (Sun.) were all free of Championship entrants.
The battle for honours in Class 4-MX5 swung back and forth between the two drivers sharing the ex – Mark Crookall Championship winning Mazda. On Saturday it was Chris Burch that had the upper hand with his 39.62 beating Richard Morton’s 40.43 but on Sunday it was Richard’s turn as both drivers got below 40 seconds with Richard’s 39.40 beating Chris’ 39.80. At the end of the weekend Richard was 6th in the Championship with Chris in 7th.
John Davey in his MG Midget continues to hold the upper hand in Class 4a – Road Going Series Production up to 1400cc and he was below 40 seconds on 3 of his 4 runs, his best of 39.59 being just 2/10ths away from the class target which is also his PB. At the end of the weekend he was 5th in the standings just 0.41 ahead of Richard Morton. David Nutland was second to John on both days though just 0.3 secs ahead of the shared Fiesta of Steve Holley and Andrew Thorp on Sunday.
Just 0.21 points above John Davey in 4th place in the Championship currently is the winner of the next class – Class 4b for Road Going Series Production 1400 to 2000cc – Russell Davies in his Honda Civic. It was the usual ding-dong between Russell and Daniel Friel in his similar Civic on Saturday with Daniel leading on the first run on 38.08 only for Russell to go ahead on the second run with a 38.02. With Daniel not entered on Sunday it was no problem for Russell to win the class on 38.15.
Regular class front-runner Clive Skipper was missing from Class 4d – Road-going Specialist Production Cars and this opened to door for the ever-improving Rob Brodie to win with bests of 36.40 (Sat.) and 36.01 (Sun.).
The fastest time in the 4-4wd Road-going class on Saturday went to Dan Stevens in his Subaru Impreza with 34.64 on his first run but unfortunately he was not able to continue for the rest of the weekend and this meant that championship entrant Steve Cox in his VW Golf R won on 35.37 from another Impreza, this one in Subaru blue and yellow in the hands of Dan Young.
Dan Young (Subaru Impreza)
With Graham Beale in his Ginetta a non-entrant this weekend, as he was helping out in the paddock office, the only times in Class 6 – Modified Limited Production Marque Sports Cars over 2000 c.c were set by Paul Slade on the Saturday who opened his Championship account with 40.84 and 41.51.
Neil Turner’s Mini is still not ready to compete in Class 7 – Modified Series Production cars up to 1400cc and although David Bean in his Mini set a season’s best of 42.91 on his first Saturday run to lead Steve Luscombe’s MG Midget it was Steve who came through to win with 42.43 (Sat.) and 42.09 (Sun.).
On to Class 8 – Modified Series Production Cars 1400 – 2000 c.c. and here we find the current Championship leader in Karl Stevens in his Ford Escort Mk2. At the start of the season the target for this class was 36.73 secs which had been set by Luke Chard-Maple in his Clio in 2025. We had anticipated a good competition between Luke and Karl this year but since he went home after practice on the first day of the season we have not seen Luke, and Karl has proceeded to steadily rack up points by setting 5 new targets in the first 8 rounds – 36.49 in Round 3, 36.29 in Round 4, 36.09 in Round 5, 36.03 in Round 6 and finally on Sunday 35.74 in Round 8! What happened in Round 7 – just a 36.05! Currently he is averaging 20.07 points per round, the only driver averaging over 20.
Karl Stevens (Ford Escort Mk2)
In Class 9-4WD Jim Herbert continues to steadily add points to his total but his times have slipped form a 33.67 in the first round back at the start of May, which set a new target, to a best of just 34.88 (Sat.) and 35.33 (Sun.) but I am sure he will find that pace again in the rounds to come. His only rival this weekend, Rupert Ryall in his Subaru, managed a best of 35.92.
Two of the regulars in Class 13 – Historically Interesting were missing this weekend: Simon Taylor and his HWM Stovebolt Special have been invited to California for the rest of the summer and so we will not see that iconic car again this year – the Stovebolt Special was originally a Formula 2 HWM running a 2-litre Alta engine back in the early 1950s before it went to the USA where it was transformed into its current configuration to star in a movie, and it has a much higher profile over there than it does in the UK. Also missing was Mike Broome in his Alexis and so Fyrth Crosse was able to win the class on both days (34.42 and 35.20) though pressed closely by Ian Baxter in his ex-Brian Redman Brabham BT16 on Saturday (35.98). Fyrth currently holds 8th position in the Championship.
Ian Baxter (Brabham BT16)
Class 14 for Classic Clubmans cars saw the return to action of Ben Rolls in his Mallock and he set out his stall with a target beating 33.66 on his first run but that was as good as it got for him though he twice more got below 34secs on Sunday. As he has only scored in 5 rounds so far his true position in the standings will not appear until others start to drop scores so he can still have a role to play in the final positions. His class rival, Charles Jones, has not yet managed to get below 34secs but his consistent scoring has him at 3rd in the standings over 2 points ahead of Russell Davies.
Currently second is 2021 Gurston champion and 2026 Gurston Masters winner (twice), Tim Pitfield in his DJ Firecat from Class 15a – Sports Libre cars up to 1400cc. Like Karl Stevens he has also been resetting the class target on a regular basis, including on 3 of the 4 runs this weekend. From a pre-season target of 33.63 he has moved it on to 33.49 (Round 1), 33.38 (Round 4), 33.34 (Round 5), 32.86 (Round 6) and 32.57 (Round 7) just missing out in Round 8 when he only managed 32.62. Not surprisingly he is close behind Karl Stevens in the standings with just 0.63 points separating them.
With Peter Steel in his Radical and Mike Lee in his Force joining Paul Davies in his Radical in Class 15b for Sports Libre between 1400 and 2000cc and in the Championship this weekend, we now have three very quick drivers pushing each other to better times and all 3 qualified for both run-offs. On Saturday Paul Davies led after the first run (32.35) but was overtaken by both Steel (31.74) and Lee (31.83). On Sunday Lee led in the first run with 31.85 from Davies and Steel but a loss of power on the second run allowed Steel to slip ahead on 31.58 and Davies came close on 31.87.
It was good to see the Mannic-Beattie back out in the Championship in Class 16 – Sports Libre over 2000cc, Nic qualifying for both run-offs with a time of 29.27 on Saturday and 28.95 on Sunday. Unfortunately a problem on his second run on Sunday meant that he could not participate in the run-off that day.
In the class for Racing Cars up to 600cc, the battle between the Kemp brothers went the way of Calum on Saturday by just 6/100ths of a second but a spin just after Hollow on his first run on Sunday may have made him a bit cautious on his second run and Ewan was able to come through and win with their fastest time of the weekend on 36.12.
The field for the Racing Cars 600-1100cc class was boosted by the return not only of Mike and Tom Williams in their Storm but also of Adam Steele in the Martlet AS1 which he reckoned had not been out for 10 years at least before the Test Day in April. We also had seasonal first appearances from Christopher Crocker and Charlie and Roger Biggs in their Jedis, but unfortunately David Cuff was a non starter, the engine in his Empire having broken a big end at the last meeting.
Adam Steel (Martlet AS1)
On Saturday, Ben Bonfield feeling much better than 3 weeks previously led the way with two sub-31 second runs but he was just 1/10th second ahead of Adam Steel, showing that the long hiatus had not affected his or the car’s ability. Mark Crookall and Tom Williams followed close behind and all 4 qualified for the run – off.
Unfortunately on Sunday we lost Adam Steel who cracked the sump on the Martlet in Saturday’s run-off and the Williams’ who discovered a crack in the chassis during practice. Mark Crookall led the way on the first run with a 30.83 which equalled Ben Bonfield’s winning time on Saturday and he held on in spite of a slower second run as Ben came to within 3/100ths of that time. In the absence of Steel and Williams, Tony Bonfield finished 3rd and qualified for the run off with Dylan Ferrett in 4th and just missing out for the second day in a row.
Stephen Snell was once again the sole runner in the Racing Cars 1100 to 1600 cc class and he shaved a couple of hundredths off his target twice on Sunday to leave it at 31.86 compared to 31.95 at the start of the weekend.
In the 1601 to 2000cc (normally aspirated) Racing Car class we had our two championship regulars of Nigel Pitt in his Dallara and Steve Holland in his Force. At the second round of the Gurston Masters back at the end of May Steve had suffered a chain breakage on his last run but fortunately there was no major damage and he was back out determined to get below his PB of 28.63 set at this meeting last year. It didn’t happen on Saturday with his best just being 28.79 but after his mistake in Saturday’s run-off (see below) he equalled his PB on his first run and then got his wish with a 28.24 on the second run.
Meanwhile Nigel Pitt was also going better than ever in the ex-Tim Elmer Dallara getting below 30 seconds on 3 runs out of 4 and finally leaving with a PB of 29.81 with a run-off still to come.
Steve Holland (Force TA)
The 1601 to 2000cc (forced induction) Racing Car class was just Jason Robinson in his Empire Wraith and he was another one on a PB mission which he achieved in the first run on Saturday with a 30.17.
Jason Robinson (Empire Wraith)
So after 8 rounds of the Championship the top 6 points scorers are Karl Stevens (160.58), Tim Pitfield (159.95), Charles Jones (156.67), Russell Davies (154.24), John Davey (154.03) and Richard Morton (153.62)
TOP TEN Run-offs
Compared to the May meeting there were half a dozen drivers looking to score their first points of the year. Paul Davies had scored a 3rd and a 5th in May but in spite of improving his times it was only enough for 11th and 8th this weekend. On Sunday that 11th place was taken by Tim Pitfield while on both days it was Peter Steel in 9th and Mike Lee in 10th. With Adam Steel and Tom Williams finishing in 4th and 6th on Saturday but not starting on Sunday Stephen Snell and Mark Crookall both moved up a couple of spots between Saturday and Sunday with Stephen setting a new PB of 31.64 a time almost matched by Tony Bonfield who had missed out on Saturday but now set a PB of 31.67 for 7th on Sunday. Son Ben also set a PB on Sunday at 30.60 in finishing 4th. And that left the top 3 finishers and the only constant here was that on each day one of the top 4 qualifiers failed to finish! Nigel Pitt was 3rd on Saturday and Jason Robinson was second with Nic Mann leading the way, but what of Steve Holland?
In one of those scenarios which will hopefully never happen again Steve had his first start aborted and was pushed back for a restart and then in one of those ‘what did I just do’ moments he went off the line as the marshal pointed to the lights as they always do to remind drivers where to look, but this time the light was still on red and so he had no time recorded!
On Sunday it was Nic Mann’s time to fail to appear for the run-off. As mentioned above the Mannic was not happy on the second class run and so it was put away on its trailer. Nigel Pitt and Jason Robinson swapped places in 2nd and 3rd with Nigel setting another PB of 29.69 to Jason’s 30.29. Steve Holland then had a clean run to go top of the pile with a 28.39 just 15/100ths away from his FTD and PB.
After 4 rounds of the Top Ten Challenge Steve Holland and Ben Bonfield are joint top on 30 points with Nigel Pitt on 27, Mark Crookall on 22 and Stephen Snell on 20.