Wiscombe Park / Woolbridge MC - April 2021

Motorsport got underway for 2021 when the first meeting of the South West hill climb season was held at Wiscombe Park at the weekend. Unfortunately, it was a “behind closed doors event” with no spectators allowed due to Covid rules.

Wiscombe has been very fortunate over the winter to attract sponsorship for 2021 from Reis Motorsport Insurance – a national insurance broker.This will ensure that the venue can continue to operate whilst spectators are not able to attend the events.

It has been a long winter break for the competitors, and there was a big demand for an entry to the meeting – so much so, that the organising motor club, Woolbridge, could have held a third day of racing. Although some drivers will have been disappointed, it is great to see that there are so many people wanting to compete – SW motorsport is in good health.

There were some new cars out for the first time – one that was eagerly awaited was the debut of the new homologation special from Toyota – the GR (Gazoo Racing) Yaris. Dan Trotman had his car on the hill on Saturday and he seemed very pleased with it. He intends to run it this season “out of the box”, and then may consider some tweaks for 2022. After market specialists like Litchfield have already started developing modifications for the car, and there will no doubt be more to be extracted from this pocket rocket. Dan finished third in Class A3 – a great debut.

The ASWMC 2020 Sprint Champion, Ben Bonfield was out in his familiar Jedi Mk4, but now with a new engine which was fitted over the winter. Ben was finding the new unit quite a handful. He is always quick, but admitted that he was not yet taking Bunny’s flat out. Ben’s weekend did not get off to the best of starts when father Tony, sharing the car, clipped the front wing on his first practice run. Some tank tape remedied the situation. Ben soon got on top of the cars power delivery though, and won Class E1 on both days.

Cornish racer Andrew Dinner was out in his beautiful Pilbeam MP62/82. Andrew’s winter modifications included switching to smaller tyres – he had discussed this with Mike Pilbeam who thought that may be advantageous. Andrew is now also on a paddle shift gearbox – although he admits that old habits die hard, and it demands a different approach, using a paddle shift rather than a gear lever. Andrew intends to compete more regularly this season, in one of the most original Pilbeam’s on the hills.

Wiscombe Park is regarded as one of the most challenging courses in the UK, and therefore, the 1000 yard course is a driver’s favourite. The weather god’s were kind, and the sun shone all weekend providing perfect conditions. The hill had come through the rigours of winter in fine condition, and the drivers were able to record some good times on their early runs. On Saturday, Stephen Wareham managed to set a new Class record in his Mini on his fourth run of the day.

There were the opening rounds of the Tillicoultry Quarries Wiscombe Park championship, Downton MC, Bristol MC Vincenzo & Sons MX5 Challenge, Bristol MC 2 Litre Cup and the National Classic Marques Speed Challenge.

Most drivers were competing on both days, and at the top of the time sheets it was a furious battle between Cullompton’s Ed Hollier in his Pilbeam/Suzuki MP62 and Dorset resident, Andrew Forsyth, in his OMS/Suzuki CF04. The pair have had many close battles at Wiscombe in recent season’s, and 2021 is going to be no different. It was Ed who came out on top on both days beating Andrew by the narrowest of margins – by a tenth of a second on Saturday, and four tenths on Sunday – that is how closely matched they are – two very skilful and fast drivers.

In the Tillicoultry Quarries Wiscombe Park Championship, it was three times British Sprint Champion Rod Eyles from Wellington who has taken an early lead driving his Alfa Romeo 4C. Rod took Class wins on both days in the Road Going Production Car category – an excellent start to his season.

In addition to the cars, the National Hill Climb Association members were also competing on their motor bikes and sidecars. The dominant machines were those from Austrian manufacturer, KTM – Paul Jeffrey setting the quickest time on Saturday, and Tom Short on Sunday – both on KTM SMR’s.

Ten quickest times of the weekend

1 Ed Hollier Pilbeam MP62 36.46

2 Andrew Forsyth OMS CF04 36.94

3 Andy Short OMS CF07 37.47

4 Tony Wiltshire Ralt RT34 37.96

5 Ben Bonfield Jedi Mk4 38.16

6 Simon Clemow Radical SR1 38.29

7 Dave Greenslade Radical SR1 38.32

8 Tom Williams MWR Storm 39.26

9 Paul Crocker Jedi Mk1 40.04

10 Andrew Dinner Pilbeam MP62/82 40.26

Bikes

1 Tom Short KTM SMR 41.58

2 Paul Jeffery KTM SMR 41.97

3 Guy Ursell KTM SMR 43.16

4 Chris Keates Honda 44.26

5 Stu Mills KTM SMR 44.35

6 Matthew Moggridge Suzuki TL1000S 44.69

7 Mark Short KTM SMR 44.79

8 Rich Peaty KTM 45.74

9 Alan Jolly KTM 45.97

10 Patrick Evans KTM 45.97

Tillicoultry Quarries Wiscombe Park Championship (after Round 2)

1 Rod Eyles Alfa Romeo 4C 29.49

2 Jon Langmead Lotus Elise 135R 28.57

3 Steve Hill Lotus 7 28.27

4 Geoff Blake Westfield SEiW 28.25

5 Steve Clarke Subaru Imprezza 28.06

6 Ed Hollier Pilbeam MP62 27.70

7 Matt Vann Audi TT 27.66

8 Ben Bonfield Jedi Mk4 27.52

9 John Simpson Ford Escort Mk2 27.50 10 Andrew Forsyth OMS CF04 27.16