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report by Tony Attwood
photography by Tony Attwood & Philip Whitehead
The weekend of 8 & 9 of July was the second of the double header weekends in the 2023 Hillclimb Championship.
After Harewood in May, we returned to Loton Park at Alberbury near Shrewsbury. The Hillclimb is held on the estate of Sir Michael Leighton who has family connections with Ferrari through the Marquis De Portago who used to race for the company. Sir Michael has donated a trophy to the Ferrari Hillclimbers for the fastest run on the Saturday of the weekend double header. This trophy is colloquially known as “The Hos” by the winners and is a large (non-prancing) race horse effigy to show connection to Ferrari without contravening Ferrari’s copyright.
This is a report for the first of the two rounds – the great British weather proved troublesome again this year.
On Saturday we had eight competitors in seven cars (Iwan & Tony Attwood sharing the Dino 308GT4) as unfortunately Dave Snelson hadn’t recovered sufficiently following surgery to be fit to compete.
John Kennedy did join us, but not in class, as he was driving a Ford Focus as his Ferrari wasn’t ready. In fact by the end of the weekend he was almost as fast in the Ford Focus (63.81) as he was in his California T (63.80) in 2021.
Newcomer and class winner at Gurston Down Rob Samuel was trying very hard in his 458 Speciale and in first practice got airborne at Museum resulting in a meeting with the tyre barrier. Fortunately no damage sustained that precluded competing over the rest of the weekend. Rob was soon back on track and learning the whole course after having various suggestions made by other competitors, with the result that he came in 3rd on his timed run.
We have missed Paul Booth this year but he hasn’t lost his verve as he powered his scarlet 458 Spider up on Saturday to be 2nd in practice and also on the timed run. Unlike several competitors who also have Spiders, Paul seems to go faster when he has the roof down. Perhaps it is because he wants to get to the finish before the rain.
Pauline Goodwin is still very rapid and consistent with her starts, recording a 0-64ft of 2.43 seconds on three occasions over the weekend – only Nick Taylor was faster on Saturday with a 2.35 and he couldn’t get the consistency as it was 2.39 on Sunday. Iwan had his best start ever match ing Pauline’s time on Sunday and Tony continues to snap at her heels with a 2.47. Other start times seem to be affected by Ferrari traction control as much as personal ability.
This brings us on to the overall fastest, as Nick stormed up the hill on both days but the weather conditions were not conducive to a PB by any regular drivers at Loton.
So, on to the Saturday timed run. Yes, just one timed run on Saturday for the whole competition.
Our class was extremely lucky as we completed our runs just before the heavens opened which was the cause of no 2nd runs. In fact, the rain came down so hard and suddenly that Iwan only just had time to get into the car as Tony stopped in the Paddock and almost everyone sat inside the cars for the next 15-minutes until the deluge stopped. The Clerk of the Course (CoC) then announced that the remaining classes would have to wait a while and there would be no second timed run for anyone.
Iwan had been running out of class at the start of the previous batch. No advantage to Dad (Tony) as the previous batch was quite large and the car could cool down. Iwan loves Loton and he ensured that Dad was well and truly trailing even though he says he didn’t get a good run. The times were 67.32 for Iwan and 2 seconds slower for Tony (69.35).
Nick Taylor took the class with a 61.19, followed by Paul Booth on 66.47 and Rob Samuel on 67.11.
The PEP results give Nick a clear win on 62.72 but elevated Iwan to 2nd (64.29) and Tony to 3rd (66.23)
Everyone returned to the Mercure Albrighton Hall hotel earlier than expected and we had the customary dinner. It was great that so many “other halves” were there and that the Hitchman team arrived in time for the meal and ready for Sunday. Jon Goodwin was in fine form and would have presented ‘The Hos’ to Nick Taylor but Nick had brought it to the hotel as he also won it last year. It was too wet to go back out to the car to collect it just to take it home again. Many thanks to Pauline who had stayed later at Loton to collect the Class trophies which were presented to Nick and Paul at the dinner as was Rob’s from Gurston Down.
