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report by Chris Leach & Martin Jones
photography by Chris Leach
Nestled in the Cotswold hills you will find Prescott Speed Hillclimb, the spiritual home of the Ferrari Owners’ Club. An annual pilgrimage for many competitors and for good reason, Prescott offers ascent, descent, tight turns and fast stretches aplenty. A challenging venue, the class record of 48.16 set in 2014 by Nick Taylor has stood for nearly 10 years, a testament not only to Nick’s driving abilities but also the difficulty this course presents.
The day starts bright and early so the scrutineers can do their checks after which point the days running begins. Rather unusually the weather is incredible. Clouds clear in the sky and the early morning sun brings a lovely golden light to the hills, something the competitors waste no time to enjoy.
After a brief wait for the earlier classes to complete their first practice runs it’s our turn…
Practice
Whilst the sun is in the sky the same can’t be said for the mercury, the air has a chill and the ground is cold… each competitor takes it in turns to test the track, learn where the grip is (and more importantly where it isn’t) and test grip levels before picking up more speed.
Iwan Attwood and Chris Hitchman are the first to be released (the shared drives) and initial reports are the low morning sun is causing visibility issues, something that will mercifully relent as the day progresses. Each competitor completes their practice run in turn with little drama, although it is apparent grip is looking limited.
As the morning progresses the times begin to improve with Stuart McCabe making a massive six seconds improvement. Confidence is growing across the paddock and it’s becoming clear that there may be more grip available than the autumn weather would suggest.
Run 1
The sun continues to bathe the track and conditions have improved, albeit the grip on the start line still appears to be absent. Everyone is having a hard time to get off the line in good time.
There are battles throughout the field, with Iwan Attwood besting his father Tony by a mere 0.61 secs. Rain Hitchman makes a massive improvement on her times from practice with Chris Hitchman taking the top spot on the family podium for the time being.
Run 2
A surprise visit from Dave Snelson – recently returning from a trip to Scotland – goes down well with all the drivers and in the sun the sound of the Ferraris is proving popular amongst spectators (with Martin Jones’ 360 Modena proving the loudest).
Times tumble in the second running for most competitors. It seems that grip has been found on the start line and the launches are much improved, although despite the extra grip Nick Taylor proved nothing if not consistent, delivering a run just 0.01 seconds quicker than his previous.
Simon Jefferies threaded the larger Roma up the hill to the acclaim of the commentators, who were quite taken with the shape, whilst Richard Preece continued to deliver a faster drive each time he took to the hill in his F430 – one to watch next year perhaps.
Unfortunately the afternoon was brought to an abrupt end for the group with Tony Attwood suffering a mishap in the 308 GT4 which would see Peter Hitchman’s second run red flagged. Tony was quite unharmed but the car will need to undergo some fettling ahead of the new season.
On PEP 1st place went to Nick Taylor, defending his title as king of the hill at Prescott. 2nd was taken by Iwan Attwood, a fantastic drive to pip Richard Preece into 3rd place by just 0.09 seconds.
With the day ending the championship headed onwards to the Wood Norton Hotel for a meal and to prepare for the final round of the championship in which, whilst it didn’t have a favourable weather forecast, there were still points to be won… and records to set?
| Round 11 from another perspective
The final two rounds of the CSA Ferrari Hillclimb Championship were held at Prescott over the weekend of the 5th and 6th of October. Prescott is a wonderful venue, set in spectacular scenery with excellent facilities and a special place for the Ferraris as it is owned by the Bugatti club from which our Club emerged. The weekend drew an excellent turnout with 10 cars entered for the Saturday and 9 for the Sunday. The Hitchmans and Attwoods had shared drives so that meant twelve competing racers on the Saturday and 11 on the Sunday, and we had Chris Leach from the office team there to support us. A group stayed at the Wood Norton Hotel near Evesham, our hotel for the weekend, on Friday night to avoid a long early morning drive on Saturday. The Wood Norton is a superb country house hotel and provided us with an excellent meal and a fun evening ensued. It was an early start to get to Prescott as scrutineering started at around 8.00 am, the welcome bacon and sausage roll in the clubhouse eased the pain somewhat! Our designated paddock was on the upper levels so provided much exercise for the drivers! The morning was clear but there had been rain in the night, so the track was damp but drying. The rest of our competitors arrived, and practice started on time. A good selection of drivers and tipos were entered, 430s of Peter, Lorraine and Chris Hitchman, Richard Preece and Nick Taylor, 328s of Pauline Goodwin and Stuart McCabe, 458 Speciale of Robe Samuels, Tony and Iwan Attwood sharing the trusty 308 GT4, Simon Jeffries in his lovely Roma and Martin Jones in his 360. From the outset, practice times steadily improved for all, but Rob Samuels broke the 50 second barrier with his second practice run and record holder, Nick Taylor was down into 50s as well, very quick. Richard Preece was going well, close on the two fast boys’ heels. The track was mainly dry but the midway and the Esses under the trees still had damp patches, in particular the Esses which never really dried all weekend so many experienced a few twitches there. The day became sunny to become very warm in the afternoon and the times improved. Our chairman Christian Mineeff and his wife Liz arrived during practice and Dave Snelson and Jane turned up to cheer us on, in his inimitable style! Jon Goodwin arrived as well to provide Pauline with moral support. After lunch came the timed runs. Iwan stormed up the hill to an excellent 55.4 seconds by his second run, with Pauline and Stuart each making excellent improvements, but couldn’t catch Iwan. Mr Attwood senior was close behind Iwan but unfortunately on his second run made contact with the armco and the car was hors de combat, fortunately Tony was quite unhurt but that was the end of the weekend’s racing for the pair. Peter Hitchman’s last run was void as he was off the line when Tony had his mishap. The Roma of Simon showed its capability with consistently good times, Simon showing great skill, hustling such a big car up the circuit. Richard Preece went very well in his black F430 down into 51 second times. All eyes were on Rob and Nick as the fastest on the track, Robs first time hit 48 seconds, as did his second and Nick a whisper over 50 seconds. Rob at the end of the day was 48.83, half a second off Nick’s record of 48.16. So, at the end of the day the PEP adjust results were 1st Nick Taylor, 2nd Iwan Attwood, 3rd Richard Preece. Best improver was Rob Samuels and best car presentation went to Richard Preece We all retired back to the Wood Norton where dinner for us had been arranged. Excellent food and an evening of many stories and drinks followed and quite a late night for some! Well done to the organisation team, definitely a venue to be used again for Prescott events. |
| ~ Martin Jones |
