Wiscombe Park - British Hillclimb Championship Rounds 19 & 20
- NMC
- Aug 9, 2021
- 4 min read
Updated: Sep 18, 2021
Over the weekend of the 31st July / 1st August 2021 Wiscombe Park welcomed back the spectators – the first meeting post Covid restrictions....and they were treated to a brilliant display of speed hillclimbing at its very best.
A few of the highlights from Saturday in no particular order.....Ben Bonfield / Jedi Mk4 set a new HSA record with a 38.03s taking 2 seconds off of the 2010 record of Dave Gardener. Andrew Forsyth / OMS CF04 set FTD with a 37.75s. Fastest lady of the day was Shelly Deacon / Hi-tech DP with a 45.59s. Downton Motor Club DEWS honour’s went to Derek Kessell in his Maguire Mini Cooper S with a 44.22s – now in his 33rd season with the car.
And in the British Championship it was fast and furious all the way from Wallace Menzies / Gould GR59M, Alex Summers / DJ Firestorm and Sean Gould / Gould GR59BJ. Honours on the day went to Wallace with a 34.16s (his hill record is 33.13s) from Sean on 34.37s and Alex on 34.56s. But Saturday was only practice....on Sunday there are the two Top Ten Run Off’s...a real battle is in store.
Chatting to Alex Summers after the practice runs, he seemed a little disappointed and accepted that he was just not fast enough having studied his runs on his laptop. But I am sure he will be back fighting on Sunday on a hill which he admits has never produced great results for him. He commented “Wallace is fast everywhere!”.
Wiscombe’s biggest meeting of the year on Sunday did not disappoint and for the near record crowd that lined the hill, it was non stop action. I guess we could have always expected the weather to play a big part in the day, and it sure did!
The British Hillclimb Championship Run Off’s provided a surprise when Alex Summers, currently second in the Championship, did not qualify for the morning Run Off 1 – his run badly affected by a sudden downpour. Three times Champion Trevor Willis was another surprise non qualifier. Trevor’s last 3 events had produced disappointing results, so his engine has been rebuilt, and Wiscombe was its first event. With some big names missing, this opened the door for the rapid Somerset driver Jason Tunnicliffe / Empire Evo 2 to finish 6th in the Run Off with a 39.12s. Sadly, the conditions caught out Darren Gumbley and Richard Spedding. Darren survived his spin unscathed, however, on the entry to Sawbench Hairpin, Richard’s "works" GWR Raptor veared from the left and mounted the bank on the right hand side - the car suffered significant damage ending his weekend.
Top 5 - Run Off 1
1 Wallace Menzies – Gould GR59M /3.3L Cosworth XD 34.78s
2 Sean Gould – Gould GR59BJ /4L Judd DB4 35.44s
3 Scott Moran – Gould GRW59 / 4L Judd DB4 36.18s
4 Matthew Ryder - Empire Wraith / 1.6L Suzuki 36.96s
5 David Warburton – Gould GR59 / 1.6L Suzuki 37.93s
The afternoon Run Off 2 had a more familiar look about it...but with the upper reaches of the hill unlikely to dry out, drivers were facing a difficult tyre choice. The top choice was treaded wet tyres on the front, and slick tyres on the rear. Despite the conditions, it was Wallace Menzies awesome Gould GR59 that led the way as it popped and banged its way across the Wiscombe landscape.
Top 5 - Run Off 2
1 Wallace Menzies - Gould GR59M /3.3L Cosworth XD 37.31s
2 Sean Gould - Gould GR59BJ /4L Judd DB4 38.17s
3 Paul Haimes – Gould GR59 / 1.3T Suzuki 38.97s
4 Scott Moran – Gould GRW59 / 4L Judd DB4 39.05s
5 Eynon Price - Force TA / 1.6L Suzuki 39.23s
Although Alex Summers qualified for Run Off 2 his run was disappointing and he finished 6th with a 39.24s. This means that Wallace has now opened up his lead at the top of the Championship – 182 points – with Alex on 159 and Sean Gould on 135 points. So far this season Wallace has won 12 Run Off’s to Alex’s 5.
Away from the National Championship, it was another great day for Andrew Forsyth/OMS CF04 who set FTD with a 42.61s run and Ben Bonfield/Jedi Mk4 won Class T5 with a 45.09s from Mike Williams/MWR Storm 48.52s and Andrew Mathis/OMS PR 46.16s
In the Tillicoultry Quarries Wicombe Park Championship Rod Eyles / Alfa Romeo 4C finished the weekend still in the lead, but it was all change below him – Steve Wareham (Morris Mini), Jon Langmead (Lotus Elise 135R), Steve Hill (Caterham 7 Superlite) and Ben Bonfield (Jedi Mk4) all moving up and James Hudson and John Simpson losing ground – its going to be a close battle to the end – will Rod be adding another title to his long list of sprint and hillclimb achievements?
In the Triple M / Pirelli HSA Speed Championship, Rob Thomson / Renault Clio 172 had an incredible weekend – on Saturday he took 3.5s off the HSA class record, and again lowered it by another 4/10ths on Sunday. He came to Wiscombe in second place, and with two maximum scores, left Devon leading the Championship. This has given him 9 maximum scores to date with the best 9 results counting, he is now certain to clinch the Championship from defending Champion, Andrew Webber / Lotus Elan +2.
A selection of my photo's from this event are available to view on the Wiscombe Park Facebook page:
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