Moran 17 & 18

Farmhouse

Orchard on the record run

In the queue

Thanks to Steve Wilkinson for the pictures. The ‘Orchard Apex’ photo was taken on his Hill Record breaking run, whilst ‘Farmhouse’ was taken on his second class run. The last picture is championship organiser Tony Fletcher having a chat before the second timed run.

The British Hillclimb Championship is now flat out and into silly season with round after round and very little time to relax or catch up with the ‘things to do’ list at home & work. Therefore I am very sorry (to Billy Cater especially) that I missed to do the report on Doune. For me, Doune was pretty good, coming away with a 2^nd & a 3^rd. Dad faired slightly better with a 1^st & a 2^nd, even a scuff with the wall didn’t slow him on his way to his 2^nd win of the year. It was wet all day on Sunday at Doune but still very fast! I couldn’t believe how much we could still lean on the car and the amount of grip. I have to say that this is an awesome venue (maybe a bit far north to visit regularly) and is a shame that more people don’t enter. For me, and I imagine most of those who have driven it, I think it is the biggest challenge of all the UK hills. Get up there and have a go!

Dad & I missed the Midland Championship round at Prescott between Doune & Harewood. This was partly due to work and time constraints and also to preserve the car & tyres etc for the British rounds. It was also a good bit of planning as I could therefore join my cousin on his Stag Do! From the sound of it we didn’t miss much as the track at Prescott hasn’t improved and times were mostly down on what they should be at this time of year. Simon Durling & Deryk Young took the run off wins with Simon setting FTD. Well done to you both.

Onto Harewood, one of my favourite hills. Weather forecast was looking good – if maybe a little too hot.

Saturday morning was fine and so it would be shorts & tee shirt for the day (sorry for the dodgy legs!)

1^st practice was good with a new pair of front tyres to bed in although I did push a bit too hard into the first corner on them which caused some pretty awful understeer! 53.25 and in the ball park. Dad was quickest on a 52.32. 2^nd practice on old tyres was OK and not a bad time with a 50.99. This was quickest all day until Martin Groves got in the car after sorting out a clutch problem. His 1^st run was a sub 50 second run with the 2^nd run being under the hill record! Awesome stuff as he had only had 2 runs to everyone else’s 3.

We pack the car up in time to watch the England – Portugal ¼ final match in the World Cup. I joined Paul Meakin and Chris Merrick in Deryk’s van to sit and watch it in comfort. As is the norm whenever England play, its nail biting stuff. Into extra time and then onto penalties and oh, what a surprise we arse it up again! We only have 4 years to wait for another go!

Sunday morning and another practice run. Dad & I are both on the pace although both of us are struggling with poor handling. We put it down to the heat and a set of worn out tyres.

For the 1^st qualifying runs we bolt on a good set of rubber and I set off to what I hope is a sub 50 run. I am again struggling with under steer and only post a 51.19, which although a respectable time, would not be fast enough with Grovsey going over a second faster than this in practice. We have a quick look at our rear damper settings before Dad’s run only to find they are all wrong! Quite good really as I was beginning to think it was me! We correct them and Dad sets off for his qualifier. 51.51. He was happier with it but now the car was now a bit oversteery. We then check the front damper. This is also wrong! We put it right before the run off, bolt on our best set of tyres and send Dad on his way. Looks like a good clean run. 50.44 and a new PB. He’s extremely pleased with the time and can’t believe how much better the car feels with the right settings! Grovsey had qualified on a 49.99 with a new class record and doing so had set the benchmark for the day so far. An awesome show of pace by Phil Cooke had seen him qualify in the 1600 Force, faster than all the 2.0 litre boys! He would also end up 8^th in the run off! Four to go and Dad is still fastest. Deryk then has a moment of inspiration and posts a 50.30 to go fastest. Deano next and manages a 50.76, which only 3 years ago would have taken the hill record! I’m next and Dave gives me one of his team boss lectures and I set of to do the business. Going into the weekend I was fairly confident of being close to the hill record but after the times I had set so far I was not so sure. Dad’s time thankfully had restored my confidence (there are a few good points to double driving!) The car now feels great and how it has done so far this year. I push the boat out a bit in a few places and manage to keep the car in check. Cross the line and a 49.19, a new hill record and more importantly an extra point towards the championship. Absolutely over the moon!

I can’t get out of the car fast enough as Martin is already on the hill. I run over to watch as I know he is the last car up and well capable of challenging the time. He gets as far as Willow corner and is flagged due to the clocks not starting for him. Although I know errors can be made, this is pretty unacceptable at this level of the sport and Martin was very rightfully not happy with this. Even more so as he had been flagged at Doune due to possible debris on the track. He goes back to the start for his re-run and leaves the braking a little late into the first corner and spins off. Although very happy for taking the win I also felt quite disappointed that Martin hadn’t been given a fair shot at my time.

Into the afternoon and I knew that the pressure would be on for me to do it again, but I also wanted to see if I could go a bit quicker. During my qualifying run I have a couple of small errors trying a bit hard so decide not to over do it and make sure I qualify. Although I am quicker than my morning run I end up qualifying 3^rd, behind Martin and Simon, who had posted another PB. Dad was again to run before me and he too posted a PB in the run off, a 50.38, even with a missed gear. Enough for 3^rd. Deano went faster than his morning run with a 50.50 which would leave him 4^th. My run was OK until the 1^st corner where I over cooked it a bit, I then brake a bit early for the Esses but come off them going into the corner. I loose the back end a touch one way, then the other. Great fun but not very quick. By now the time is all but lost but I have found that its best never to give up as others can make a worse mistake than you and you end up kicking yourself for letting off a bit. I then loose the back of the car and get onto the grass coming out of Farmhouse onto the straight. Ah well! 50.10 and good enough for 2^nd behind Grovesy again who posts a 49.92. It would have been nice to have gone under the old record to get another point but I pushed a bit hard and lost a bag of time. I still can’t quite believe that I’ve finally got a record, sorry to Willem, who I know was after that one. You’ll have to settle for being 3^rd fastest at Harewood just for now at least! Hope to see the Toet Rocket Ship out soon.

Off to the hopefully sunny Channel Isles next. The Moose on home territory will be a bit of a nuisance, not sure if we will be able to tame him this year. See you there.