EVENT // MSA BRITISH HILL CLIMB @ GURSTON DOWN

Who in their right mind would want to drive a 600bhp single seater up a 8ft wide ribbon of bumpy tarmac that is a farm access road? The answer; most probably all of us! But this extreme discipline is reserved for the unusual breed of driver that is a hill climb racer. Not surprisingly the top end of the sport in the UK is spectacular stuff with ultra light, specially designed hill climb chassis' paired with thunderously powerful V8 Judd or Cosworth motors capable of 0-60mph in a staggering 2 seconds.

ColdTrackDays corresopondent Neil Tozer payed a visit to Gurston Down set amidst the beautiful rolling hills of the Wiltshire countryside for round 15 of the MSA British Hill Climb Championship. Follow the link for a look... [read more]

Hilclimb racing in the Uk is slightly different from its equivalent discipline in Europe or the USA, with the courses being much shorter it is more of a sprint, with runs taking little over 30-40 seconds.

This year Gurston Down entered its 43rd year of competitive meetings and with bright sunshine on Saturday morning, a more scenic venue for motorsport is hard to find.

2008 Champion Scott Moran (Below) in a Gould GR61X made the headlines over the two day meeting taking the 2009 title after his main Championship rivals all failed to pick up points following a rather wet day of run-offs on the Sunday. With now eleven consecutive titles to their name Gould engineering has made the series its own, and with a new project underway for next year the opposition as ever will find it extremely tough to bring their dominance to an end.

With the regular front runners suffering a day of woes on Sunday Sutton Coldfield's Rob Turnbull took a fine victory in the first timed run of the day in his Gould GR55 3.5 recording a time of 28.89 secs. This was Rob's first win for some time and he was duly delighted. "Even though it was due to the misfortune of others a win is a win" he said.

Local Ringwood driver Peter Marsh (Below) son of the legendary Hilclimb driver Tony Marsh picked up a fine 3rd place in Sunday mornings 1st run. His father Tony who sadly passed away earlier this year was a six time British Hill Climb Champion in a career that spanned nearly half a century. During his long and varied career he competed in sporting trials, autotests, rallies, sprints and GT sports car racing, while he raced at Le Mans, was a Formula Two champion and a Formula One Grand Prix driver. In 1961 he finished 3rd in the Belgium Grand Prix behind the likes of Jack Brabham and Bruce Mclaren. Peter remembers his fathers heroics at Le-Mans and said “Dad was delighted to have won his class at Le Mans on his first race there". "He famously won alongside John Wagstaff, driving a Lotus Elite, in the 1959 race". "They were in a formula designed for a French car to win, so the locals were somewhat disgruntled!"

Another local going well in one of the more historical support classes was Fyrth Crosse from Bristol in his Ensign LNF3 (Below). This rare Ensign was an early seventies F3 car that was penned by the famous Mo Nunn. Fyrth's historic mount is an ex Mike Wilds car and still sports the original period bodywork including the ultra small and ineffective rear wing. Nunn famously entered F1 with his own chassis back in the late seventies before going on to run his own Indycar team in 2000. He now has returned to the sport once more in the US as an advisor to Chip Gannasi Racing.

Top 12 Runoff Results:

1st Run:

BHC Round 29
1. Rob Turnbull, 3.5 Gould GR55, 28.89s
2. Roger Moran, 3.5 Gould GR61X, 29.43s
3. Peter Marsh, 2.4 Gould GR55, 29.83s
4. James Blackmore, 1.6 OMS CF04, 30.31s
5. Chris Guille, 2.0 OMS CF04, 30.60s
6. Will Hall, 1.6 Force PC, 30.76s
7. Oliver Tomlin, 4.0 Pilbeam MP97, 30.77s
8. Steve Owen, 1.6 OMS CF08, 31.01s
9. Paul Haimes, 2.0 Dallara F301, 31.17s
10. Paul Webster, 2.0 Dallara F301, 31.22
NS John Forsyth, 3.5 Pilbeam MP58, 31.62s
NS Sandra Tomlin, 4.0 Pilbeam MP97, 31.83s

2nd Run:

BHC Round 30
1. Trevor Willis, 2.8 OMS CF06, 32.43s
2. Roger Moran, 3.5 Gould GR61X, 33.68s
3. Chris Guille, 2.0 OMS CF03, 33.89s
4. Will Hall, 1.6 Force PC, 34.12s
5. John Bradburn, 3.5 Gould GR55, 34.27s
6. Scott Moran, 3.5 Gould GR61X, 34.71s
7. Oliver Tomlin, 4.0 Pilbeam MP97, 34.75s
8. Deryk Young, 4.0 Gould GR51, 34.95s
9. Rob Turnbull, 3.5 Gould GR55, 35.07s
10. Paul Webster, 2.0 Dallara F301, 35.45s
NS Alastair Crawford, 3.5 Gould GR37, 35.48s
NS Tim Wilson, 1.6 OMS CF04, 36.62s


Photo/Editorial: Neil Tozer