Wiscombe Park - Manor Farm / Wildlife Autosport Hillclimb

NMC
Oct 20, 2021
7 min read

Updated: Oct 21, 2021

The final Wiscombe event of the 2021 season was held on the 25th and 26th September. Saturday was a very challenging day with the hill being deceptively greasy for the morning practice run. Weather wise, there was very low cloud and everyone was hoping that the day would improve. However, illustrating just how tricky the conditions were, the very experienced and quick Simon Clemow – Radical SR1 - had a very big “off” at top Esses on the entry to Sawbench on his first timed run. Fortunately Simon was unhurt – the same cannot be said of the car, and Simon and Dave Greenslade could take no further part in the meeting. Not much of a consolation, but in his only timed run, Dave set a time of 39.19s which ensured that he won Class D1.

Over lunch, the drizzle started which then turned into heavier rain for a good hour. This left the single seater runners in a quandary....Ben Bonfield stopped rasping his slicks and decided to opt for wets. With two timed runs in the afternoon there was a chance that if the drizzle stopped the hill may dry a little...and so it did! This enabled some drivers to set their quickest times in their third timed run.

The “save of the day” award must go to Stephen Holland in his very quick Caterham Hayabusa – his third run was aborted with a red flag...so he was the last car to run up the hill at the end of the day. As Stephen was lining up for The Gate, the car went into a number of lurid spins, off the tarmac and into the wet long grass....it looked like a heavy impact was inevitable....but fortunately the wheels just dug in enough as the car slewed sideways, to anchor it and he stopped about a foot from the barriers. A very relieved driver headed back to the paddock....and maybe an underwear change!

The cars were joined by the members of the NHCA on their bikes and sidecars.

In the Wiscombe Championship both Rod Eyles – Alfa Romeo 4C - and Steve Wareham – Morris Mini -were on their “A” game winning Class A3 and A1 respectively. In Class A2 James Hudson – VW Golf GTi 45.33s – just pipped Jon Langmead – Lotus Elise 135R 45.45s. In Class A4 Simon Neve – Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 6 43.32s - narrowly beat Steve Clarke – Subaru Impreza 43.45s. In the Rally Car Class D3 John Simpson – Ford Escort Mk2 44.77s - clinched it from Tim Porter – Darrian T90 45.08s.

Top Ten Times

Andrew Forsyth – OMS CF04 36.82s
Ben Bonfield – Jedi Mk4 38.20s
Tony Wiltshire – Ralt RT34 38.48s
Dave Greenslade – Radical SR1 39.19s
Rod Thorne – Pilbeam MP43 39.31s
Tom Williams – MWR Storm 39.98s
Andrew Mathis – OMS PR 39.99s
Tim Pitfield – DJ Firecat 41.20s
Paul Reynolds – Caterham 7 41.29s
Stephen Holland – Caterham Hayabusa 41.39s

And on two wheels, it came down to tenths separating the top three.....how close can it get!

Peter Short – KTM 43.07s
Paul Jefferey – Honda CR 43.09s
Tommy Hodges – KTM 43.10s

Sunday produced much kinder conditions on the hill from the outset and it remained dry and overcast all day. The hill was in perfect condition and drivers were reporting that grip levels were good in the morning practice run. The meeting followed the same format as Saturday – one practice run and one timed run in the morning, two timed runs in the afternoon. The bike competitors of the NHCA had two practice runs, and two timed runs after lunch.

We were promised a great day of hillclimbing for the last Wiscombe meeting of 2021, and that’s exactly what the good crowd that lined the hill got! There were a number of drivers that set PB’s - a perfect way to finish their season. Amongst those, were, in Class A3 Harry Harris – Mazda MX5 – 45.85s finishing second in Class. Finishing third in Class was Colin Churchill – Renault Clio – with a 47.18s - also a PB. Another happy racer in Class A3 was Keith Seume in his gorgeous Porsche 914 with a 52.59s PB – that made the long trip up from Cornwall all the more worthwhile!

In the single seaters, Andrew Mathis – OMS PR – set a PB of 38.49s. It has been a great year for Andrew as he has been getting to grips with the OMS and he has been getting quicker all the time. I am sure we will see more progress in 2022.

In the Bristol MC Vincenzo & Sons Bristol Challenge, it was a great debut for Thomas Alderton in his MX5 Mk1. Steady progress through the timed runs saw him finish on a 49.06s finishing 7th in Class. Pekka Tulokas rounded off another good season in his MX5 Mk3 with a Class win – 47.20s - from Ollie Jenkins and Michael Bartlett. It was also good to see Simon Clemmow back out today in an MX5 after his bad crash yesterday in the Radical SR1. It was his worst crash in 26 years of hillclimbing. The Radical has now been stripped down, and although it needs a lot of repair work, we will see Simon and Dave Greenslade back out in the car next season.

In the Tillicoultry Quarries Wiscombe Championship, all the main contenders had a great day. Rod Eyles – Alfa Romeo 4C – won Class A3 – 42.79s. Steve Wareham – Morris Mini – won Class A1 – 46.06s. And Jon Langmead – Lotus Elise 135R – won Class A2 – 43.23s. Rod. Steve and Jon had an overnight wait whilst the final scores were calculated....and on Monday it was Rod who was announced as the Champion, from Steve and Jon.

It was a close battle in Class C2 – or the Tuckey Class – as three member’s of the Tuckey family compete against each other, all in fast Ford’s. Both Neil Tuckey – Ford Fiesta – and current Wiscombe Champion, Jonathan Wright, - VW Golf GTi - set the same time – 44.60s. To decide, the winner of the Class, the next best time of each driver is taken into consideration on “count back”, and it went to Neil – a 44.80s to Jonathan’s 44.96s. Nathan Tuckey – Ford Ka Sport - took third in Class on a 44.68s.

In the battle of the quickest cars for FTD, it was Andrew Forsyth – OMS CF04 - who made it a memorable double – FTD on Saturday too - with a 36.62s final run – two tenths quicker than his Saturday FTD. There was frantic work going on in the paddock around Andrew’s car during the lunch break. He had a brake pipe split on his first timed run in the morning, although he still completed his climb. It was all hands on deck as a number of other competitor’s, including Roger Coote, weighed in to help Andrew re-plumb his brake pipes. This goes to show how friendly the hillclimb paddock is – if one driver has a problem, others rally around with tools, knowledge, parts, to ensure that a fellow competitor can still complete their weekend. Fantastic!

Ben Bonfield – Jedi Mk4 – won Class E1 with a 37.31s run, and second fastest overall. This completes a great season for Ben and he awaits confirmation that he is this years ASWMC Hillclimb Champion. He is confident that he can still squeeze more out of the Jedi in 2022 – Jedi owner, John Corbyn’s ex works chassis.

A close third overall was Tony Wiltshire in his Ralt RT34 with a 37.45s on his final run. Tony has recently fitted new Avon’s and this has made a big difference to his times. More to come from Tony in 2022 in the beautiful Ralt.

Well the Wiscombe motorsport party is sadly over for another season. Highlights? Well probably the biggest one is that spectator’s could return for the National meeting in July after Covid. It was also great to see Wiscombe sponsor Wallace Menzies crowned 2021 British Hillclimb Champion – back to back titles for the Flying Scotsman or Big Stones as he is known on Twitter! All the drivers have provided us with great entertainment as always.

Top Ten Times

1 Andrew Forsyth – OMS CF04 36.62s

2 Ben Bonfield – Jedi Mk4 37.31s

3 Tony Wiltshire – Ralt RT34 37.45s

4 Rod Thorne – Pilbeam MP43 37.91s

5 Tom Williams – MWR Storm 38.47s

6 Andrew Mathis – OMS PR 38.49s

7 Mike Williams – MWR Storm 40.23s

8 Robert Clarke – Empire Evo 00 40.24s

9 Paul Reynolds – Caterham 7 40.58s

10 Adrian Lewis - Empire Evo 40.77s