Ferraris assembled and ready to rock & roll

Fantastic atmosphere in the Ferrari paddock

Coverage was fantastic for spectators

Richard Preece's F430 took the best presentation award

This was your scribes first visit to the famous Shelsley Walsh Speed Hillclimb and also the first time for three of the eight drivers who had entered Round 9 of the CSA Service Group Ferrari Hillclimb Championship.

Shelsley Walsh nestles in a particular rural spot of the Malvern Hills, around 10 miles West of Worcester.  Founded in 1905 and run continuously (wartime excepted) ever since, it is one of the world’s oldest motorsport venues.  It is also one of the steepest Hillclimbs in the UK with the section between the Lower and Upper Esses having an incline of 16%.  Our event again supported the Motorsport UK British Hillclimb Championship as we had done earlier this year at Harewood, and a large crowd had gathered to enjoy the sunshine and excellent facilities offered by the Midland Automobile Club.

The weekend began with an unofficial dinner organised by Tony Attwood at the nearby Talbot Hotel which provided a great opportunity for Shelsley Walsh newcomers Rob Samuels, Stuart McCabe and Anthony Smith to gain some valuable tips from their peers whilst tucking into the Talbot’s legendary homemade pies.  This was also Anthony Smith’s first ever Hillclimb event (see panel below) and I got the impression that he was more nervous about the following day than he let on, particularly with talk of how challenging Shelsley can be to master.  Anthony had wisely attended a training day at the venue a few weeks earlier so at least he wasn’t starting out with no previous experience, having been introduced to the championship by fellow 360 owner Martin Jones.

Championship leader Dave Snelson unfortunately had to withdraw due to a family commitment so seven drivers headed up the hill at around 9.30am for their first practice run.  Rob Samuels (458 Speciale) topping the time sheets ahead of Hillclimb veteran Richard Preece (F430).  Unusually the Attwood’s had brought along two cars instead of sharing so Iwan was entrusted with their regular 308 GT4 whilst father Tony campaigned his beautiful 246 GT.  Next up was Stuart McCabe in the ex-Tim Mogridge 328 GTB followed by Martin Jones (360 Modena) and Anthony Smith in his 360 Spider.

After a bit of a wait whilst the British Championship runners had their runs, second practice took place immediately before lunch with all drivers managing to shave a couple of seconds off their previous times.  Then it was quickly into the serious business with the first official timed run being held shortly after the lunch break, Rob Samuels and Richard Preece setting new personal bests.

With track and weather conditions being similar for the final timed run the improvements were marginal, but most notably Rob Samuels managed to reduce his time to 32.57 seconds, a new hill record!  Rob also taking the ‘Best Improver’ award.

Richard Preece’s immaculate F430 caught the judges eye for the ‘Paddock Cup’, his attention to detail in preparing the car being particularly relevant.

Overall a good day was had by all.  Good company, good venue, good weather and a good atmosphere.