Shelsley Walsh, the grand-daddy of all speed hillclimbs, was the venue for the penultimate round of the 2022 Championship. The meeting was styled appropriately ‘Harvest Festival’.  The weather – always an important factor at any motor sport event – was forecast to be fine and dry.  And so it proved, but with temperatures quite a lot cooler than the scorching ones of recent weeks.  The paddock seemed to be a bit quieter than usual, perhaps because many championships have been resolved by this time of the year, including our own.

The Ferrari entry was just six cars after Champion elect Dave Snelson withdrew (serious leg injury to his favourite dog) and Steve Thompson’s car was hors de combat after its misadventure at Prescott two weeks earlier.  We were allocated a space in the paddock where we haven’t been previously, which presented some difficulties because our wide cars are incompatible with the spacing of the traditional Shelsley timber upright supports to the pits.  We therefore had to park our cars forward of the spaces we were given.  Flags in the paddock were sadly fluttering at half-mast as a mark of respect to the death of Her Majesty the Queen, and later on there would be a minute’s silence observed.

First practice for the Ferraris got off to a smooth start, with John Kennedy not unexpectedly posting the quickest time (36.29) in his rapid California T albeit slower than his previous times here.  The other times were similarly a bit exploratory although the track surface was clearly in good condition.  There was a long delay before our cars were called up for P2, caused by several off-course excursions by earlier classes.  In particular a bright yellow Triumph came to a sudden halt on the hill; as a result, the car was seriously bent although happily its driver was unhurt.  Jon G had a moment of panic when an annoying wasp defeated all his efforts to remove it from the Lusso’s cockpit.  Ferrari times were generally quicker although no one bettered their handicap target.

A couple of officials from the organising club, MAC, were enveigled to judge our ‘best presented car’ for the Paddock Cup competition.  They selected Jon Goodwin’s beautiful 250 GT Lusso without much hesitation, after one look at its magnificently sparkling engine bay.  However, all the Ferraris were turned out in immaculate style.  It was Mark Wibberley’s birthday, so we presented him with a cake bearing a token candle – which we all enjoyed rather more than he did since he has a gluten-free diet and he wasn’t sure about the cake’s constituent components.  Another celebration of the day was the Goodwin’s wedding anniversary.

Unable to keep away from the fun were spectators Dave and Jane Snelson (the injured dog resting at home) and ex-Ferrari competitor Andrew Duncan.  Dave was pressed into service as a photographer for the afternoon.  Then, after lunch and all this celebratory side show, it was time for the official runs.  Tony Attwood, who was driving his Dino 246, knocked a couple of seconds off his practice time.as did Jon Goodwin.  Pauline regained her prowess for lightning starts (0-64ft in 2.65 secs) and cut the finishing beam in 37.87 – faster than she has ever been here before.  Swift did a lack-lustre time in the F355 while Kennedy equalled his handicap target of 34.99.  And, finally, Wibberley recorded 37.89 – some two seconds slower than his handicap goal.

With track temperatures cooling we were called to order for our final runs.  It was a feature of the final runs that half the Ferraris beat or equalled their handicap times.  Pauline did exceptionally well to capture 2^nd place on scratch and bag 17 Championship points.  But the clear winner was John Kennedy who, with a glorious finishing speed of 103 mph, took the maximum points total.  He immediately ‘phoned his mother in Miami with the good news – she was naturally delighted!

It had been an excellent day’s hillclimbing.  We are indebted to our loyal Steward of the day, Paul Skinner, and Anne Swift, our tireless Championship Coordinator.  Now to the Grand Finale of the season: Curborough Sprint on October 9^th – be there!