The Sound of .......silence

After the April visit of the British Hillclimb Championship to Prescott there were a lot of mutterings and heated words about the noise abatement policy and enforcement undertaken by the Bugatti Owners Club and noise was once again an issue at the hill when the Championship returned in September - but this time it was a lack of it. Suddenly on the Sunday morning all went quiet - Jerry Sturman was cut off in his prime, the time display froze at 31 seconds and the sound of engines in the paddock stopped.

I must admit that my first reaction was that some local spoilsport had finally got fed up with it all and had called in the law to stop proceedings but as it turned out it was only a power cut - not restricted to the hill but in the local area. Eventually a generator enabled the timing to continue (though not the commentary which came back later when mains power was restored) and cars began to run again, but up the hill we were still in the dark about what was happening, though rumours quickly spread via the marshalls who were still in radio contact.

And that made me think about how problems like this should be communicated to spectators - should the marshalls have been encouraged to shout out to the spectators to tell them what was happening or, it being Prescott, with its commentary box perched high on its knoll, could we have had some sort of semaphore signalling system from up there!!

On closer inspection, here we have Jerry and Eddie Walder trying to figure out what is happening but I am just wondering if they realise that the floor beneath them seems to be heading in a generally downhill direction and maybe there should some ballast at the other end!!

It was a lovely late summer day at Prescott and Ettore's Field was full of families enjoying the sunshine and their picnics.

The early morning delays, which were then added to by problems for a couple of cars, led to the lunch break being cancelled which meant that our men and women in orange had a long day though there seemed to be sufficient numbers at some posts for a shift arrangement to be used to give them a break in turn.

At Prescott in April we were grateful for their expertise in the wake of Steve Hemingway's crash and during practice this weekend they had another serious off-course excursion to deal with when Chris Westwood went straight on at Pardon and vaulted the barriers in his Lotus Exige which must have been a frightening experience for him.The area behind Pardon is a walkway for spectators and we were lucky that it was quiet on Saturday and there were no casualties. A video showing the start of the accident is here. Fortunately Chris was able to walk away, battered and bruised, but once again a lucky escape for one of our competitors.

The battle for the Avon Tyres / TTC Group Leaders Championship took another twist at Prescott when Ed Hollier was unable to start on Sunday and Colin Satchell broke his own class record in winning a class with enough entrants to give him a maximum ten points.

His time of 44.51 took over half a second off the time he set in April (45.15) to break Richard Marshall's record that had stood since 2003 (45.39) and adds to other records he has set this year at Barbon and Harewood.

It is all going to come down to the last round of the season, even though I read somewhere that Ed may be out for the rest of the year. If that is the case then a class win for Colin at Loton would be sufficient for him to take the Championship as long as there enough people in the class to get full points - in June there were 9 starters so let us hope they all come out again. I have not forgotten that we have a round at Doune before then and while it would be great for Colin to get another class win there, it will not be easy with a number of fast Scotsmen and a record nearly 2 seconds lower then any of them were capable of in June.

You may think I am obsessing about the Leaders Championships in recent blogs but the people who chase that title are real enthusiasts who rack up many miles and they need to be on their mettle at every round as there are usually one or two classes where there is a solitary serious contender and a win every time out (with a few records thrown in) is often needed to win the overall title. Add in the problem of maybe being in a class with a low entry on some occasions and the quest becomes harder. The latest positions can always be found on the BHC website and the situation after Prescott is here.

This focus on the Leaders since Tim Wilson took over its organisation is great as previously it was almost impossible to find out the situation, it seemed to me as an outside observer.

Right, far too many words so far - more pictures needed. As we get to the end of the season it is always hard to find new cars to photograph, though obviously the Multi-Car Challenge helps out this season - this time at Prescott it was a Subaru WRX STi for David Finlay, flying solo this week. Cool number plate.

Another couple of cars I had not seen previously, this year at least, were Graham Boulter's pretty little Kudos Coupe with a 1.7 Alfa Romeo engine which was entered in the Modified Specialist Production category which has been pretty dormant this season

and Richard Walker's 2 litre Swallow DR14 from 1986, entered in the Classic Racing Cars. This car has been around the speed scene for quite some time and scored points in the British Sprint Championships with Stuart Webster back in 2001 and 2002.

However, the coolest car was Andy Clarke's immaculate Austin Mini Countryman - you do not see many of them on the hills but....

 I am sure that some of you will remember the more modified version shown below in 1980

which was driven by John Meredith and built by Ginger Marshall who we have mentioned before in connection with Reliant Kittens.

While searching for this picture I also found this one and, for all those too young to remember, but who have been fascinated by the Mannic Special, this is Nic Mann's V8 engined Morris Minor turbo

Colin Satchell was not the only one to set a new class record at Prescott. Mark Spencer (below) took Roy Standley's Class A2 record with a time of 46.08 (against the old record of 46.42), partly helped by having a re-run and thus slightly warmer tyres, but he has now taken both the Shelsley and Prescott records in the last month and the talent that was shown when he won the Midland title all those years ago is obviously still there!!

Ben Tranter added another Formula Ford record to his collection taking 0.84 seconds off Andrew Henson's mark in his Vector TF93K (I hope this picture is Ben but it could be his co-driver Rob Spedding - apologies).

Alex Summers also set a class record in the over 2-litre single-seaters with a time of 36.26, which was 13/100 ths quicker than Will Hall's record while the final record breaker was Ian Moss in his Ford Escort Mk1 who lowered his own record, set just last month, in the pre-1971 Classic Saloon Cars class.

It was a day for fast times and others came close -  Roger Moran was only 3/100ths away from Darren Luke's Class B target and won the class in Joy Hoyle's Caterham  - Suzuki and Chris Aspinall's was just 16/100ths off Adam Steel's up to 1100 c.c. record in another massive field of 22 single-seaters (8 of them shared).


Pete Tatham was a newcomer to the class having traded up from his 600cc Terrapin to a Force HC while there were a couple of runs (for Bernard Kevill and Scott Sheridan) showing up on Resultsman as NTR - no time recorded - that is usually because of a noise problem - but I never found out if that was the case on this occasion. As both of these were shared cars and must have made about 10 runs each up the hill over the weekend the selection of 1 run as being 'noisy' would indicate an issue with the reading or maybe a blip of the throttle at the 'wrong' point. The Empire Wraiths continued to rule the roost with Chris Aspinall and Simon Fidoe finishing first and second with Darren Gumbley in 4th split by Tom Poole's Empire Evo (see Gurston blog) in third.

Mike Andrews had a great run to 5th position and best of the Forces

and then we had David Spencer adding more variety in 6th in the Kawasaki engined Reynard.

Richard Summers was sharing with Lindsay this week and took a good 7th in the DJ which has been driven by at least 4 different people this year.

I tried during this event to find a few different places to take photos - my little Sony seems to be fairly good when light is consistent but when there are patches of sun and shade it does seem to get a bit confused sometimes. The two photos above were taken in the esses where there was a patch of sunlight big enough to accommodate a car, but later on in the day, when the photo of Mark Spencer was taken the sun had moved and the light became more dappled.

The approach to Pardon had a bright area early on though I was shooting from a shaded area but I got some interesting reflections off shiny exhausts and bodywork:

John Pick's AMS Murtaya

and Craig Spooner's Westfield

I still also carry around a camera that shoots with film and I often find I get better pictures with that, especially when I am panning, as the camera takes the picture when I press the button and not a few tenths of a second later. The problem is finding a processor for the films but Boots still does them though they tend to set the exposure level at the lowest common denominator so that some shots which are maybe slightly over-exposed get worse as they try and ensure that the more under-exposed ones are brighter.

So I hope that the pictures here and in the other blogs give you enjoyment though they may not be as sharp as those from Zipp!!

Now I know I put this picture here for a reason........

Of course, how could I forget - the BIG story from Prescott was Wallace Menzies run-off double. (Yes I know it is a picture of Tom New but at least the car and the location are correct!!).

Fastest in Saturday practice he slipped to third in the first qualifying runs and then went 0.85 faster in the run-off (36.20) easing ahead of Trevor Willis (36.29) and Scott Moran (36.37) and with just Alex Summers to go (Moran the second qualifier having gone up earlier as the slower driver in the double-driven car). Summers' time was 36.21 - and it was a win for the Scotsman by the smallest of margins!! From my calculations that works out at about 11inches at the average speed they were doing - so simple solution, Alex - longer nose!!

Tom New also scored good points with 5th place in the shared car (the same position he qualified in).

In second qualification Wallace ran a 36.70 to qualify second behind Scott Moran. (36.63). When it came time for Wallace's run-off attempt the time to beat was Trevor Willis' 36.37, which Wallace had already beaten earlier. This time it was 35.80 from the Scot and when Scott Moran only managed 35.94 the double had been achieved. Tom New finished 8th in the car this time.

A fantastic day therefore for the Tillicoultry Quarries team with Dave Uren in addition bouncing back from a first qualifying off to finish in 5th place in his little Force.

Coming from North of the border as I do, I have always made sure of speaking to Wallace at every round - that is when he is not too busy!! And I don't just mean working on his own car - if there is a fellow competitor with a problem you will see Wallace there lending advice and muscle power if necessary . We all know that hillclimbing is a friendly form of motor sport and the delight and respect shown for Wallace's success after a difficult time last year and the efforts to get the new (old) car to work were clear for all to see.

And here is the man and the car but in the wrong location - this is at Doune which just happens to be the next and penultimate stop on this roadtrip.

It is a slippery slope......

It has been a bit hectic for your blogger the past 10 days and so apologies for the delay in reporting from Gurston on Bank Holiday weekend. The day after the event I was off to Heathrow to fly out to Belgrade in Serbia to attend the annual World Curling Congress and then I had to leave there before the final banquet to ensure that I got back in time to get to Prescott on Sunday. So been catching up with myself this week!

Now there may be some of you of course who have still got no idea what curling is all about in spite of the publicity every 4 years when the GB teams strive to get their hands on a medal or two at the Winter Olympics - so here are a few clues:

And that is what I spend my time doing in the winter - but enough - let's get back to the hills.

It might not have been slippery because of  ice at Gurston but conditions were tricky all day with winning class times generally being about 2-3 seconds away from records. The afternoon class runs got the worst of the weather and a number of drivers packed up early as there was no improvement to be had in their time. The two run-offs were won by Scott Moran with times in the low 26secs range compared to his time of 25.37 from last year. Gurston has always been a happy hunting ground for the GR61X and it has only been beaten three times out of the last 24 run-offs held at the Wiltshire hill (by Martin Groves and Tom New in GR55s and Wallace Menzies in the Firestorm).

It was a difficult weekend for the New / Menzies team with Tom having an off at Ashes in the first run-off, fortunately without major damage, but with only 7 cars due to run before it was Wallace's turn. A generous interpretation of the 2 minute rule allowed Wallace to run and, in spite of the steering wheel being at an odd angle, he did enough to finish 8th. He later scraped in to the second run-off in 11th place, as the weather improved for later runners, and then found 2/10ths over his first attempt to pick up 4th place while Tom, having qualified 3rd, slipped back to 7th.

At the end of the day, as the car was packed away ready for Prescott just a week later, there must have been the frustration of another not-quite-there weekend in the air.

 
Will Hall has decided that there is too much to do to his AER engined Force after his Shelsley accident and is sharing Graham Wynn's Force for the rest of the season but, although he qualified twice, he failed to score a point at Gurston. In the second run-off this was because Graham had damaged the front of the car in his qualifying run,

and now with only 1 point scored in the last 8 run-offs (including Prescott) Will's 5th place in the Championship is under threat from Tom New who has only failed to qualify for one run-off all season (equal best with Alex Summers). However, closing fast on the pair of them is Dave Uren who is picking up his little Force by the scruff of the neck and daring it to go faster. A superb 3rd and 5th at Gurston took him above Jos Goodyear, and left John Bradburn behind too.

It was also a good day for Alastair Crawford who, after a fairly barren spell since Barbon Manor, scored a career-best 4th place in the first run-off and followed it with a solid 6th.

The class of the year for me has been the 600-1100cc racing car class with another tremendous entry of 21 cars at Gurston (of which 18 started). The times were spread slightly more than at other hills but it was Simon Fidoe in the Empire Wraith at the top, taking his 5th class win of the year. He was closely challenged, however, by Tom Poole in the Empire Evo, just 0.14 secs back on the first and only competitive run that was possible. Here he is on the run up to Ashes.

You will notice that the car is for sale (at least it was at the time) and as it was only finished in June this year and has posted some good results I am sure he has had a lot of interest in it.

Third in the class was Simon Andrews in his OMS 28 and then 4th (just 1/10th behind) was Bradley Hobday in the Jedi Mk4. Bradley is competing in the HSA Championships this year (in which he lies 3rd) and also in the British Sprint Championship where he lies 7th, having started the season with 3rd overall at Castle Combe (amazing feat at such a power circuit), though he has has missed the last two double-headers at Knockhill and Kirkistown. The Jedi is now a much rarer beast on the hills these days though of course it was the first mass produced motor-cycle engined car for this class and, initially, the up to 600cc class .

Roger Moran was sharing Lindsay Summers' DJ Firehawk this week and was 9th overall in the middle of a bunch of 6 cars covered by 0.68secs.

A welcome addition to the class was Sam Lester in the Force also driven this year by Martin Jones and Lindsay Summers - a steady run in 33.33 was a fraction slower than her best practice run and was good enough for 13th.

The incredible whooshing Mannic was there again - and it was an interesting perspective to watch it, from further up the hill, coming down from the start. You get an almost overhead view of the shape of the car as it descends and for a brief instance it looked a flying rectangle! The car is so low and flat!

It was also the first time I had seen Chris Cannell and Sue Hayes' Empire Evo sportscar

Compare it to Ed Hollier's Empire Evo single seater

The Empire follows on from their previous twin-engined Force SR8 (seen here in May) and it is always good to see new and innovative cars on the hills.

Colin Satchell took another class win in Class C(ii) but only scored 6 points as there were just 3 starters in the class while Ed Hollier won his class and got a full 9 points which  moved him ahead in the Leaders Championship for the first time this season. Colin has to start dropping points now and this meant that he was actually 6 points behind (though all would change at Prescott).

When the Multi Car Challenge team saw what Toyota had provided for them their initial thought was that maybe they had not understood the term hill-climbing and had decided that a Sherpa (as made by Leyland) was called for and so they sent their nearest equivalent:

In actual fact there was a tiger lurking behind for them this week - a GT86 sporting a rather garish jungle-pattern paint scheme.

I suppose they had the tank at Shelsley and now here was a "Tiger in their tank" - I didn't check for the tail hanging out of the fuel filler (all of you under 40 can ignore the popular culture reference - just us old guys reminiscing!!)

At BHC rounds there are always a number of classes of cars running after the big single-seaters to enable the qualifiers to get ready for the run-off and  I quite often see people leaving the trackside at this time before returning for the Top 12, but there are always some interesting runners in the 'buffer' classes, whether they be one-make classes or, as at Gurston, National B Licence Holders. So a little focus now on these vital contributors to the running of a BHC weekend. With only one class the variety of machinery at Gurston was large with many of the entrants maybe only appearing at Gurston throughout the year.

Fastest overall was Pete Hammock in his OMS CF04 (sorry no picture of him), but second was another of the growing band of Empire Evos, this one driven by Tony Levitt

Third was Martin Watson in his Westfield

 and 4th was Peter Steel in a Mallock Mk20.

At the other end of the calss we had Mazda MX5s, a Tiger Sports, a couple of Minis (Dave Lord's example below)

and the Datsun 240Z of debutant Hannah Stapley, who was sharing with it with her sister Stephanie who was driving it in the Modified Series Production Sports car class (the picture is actually of Stephanie on her run).

and here is the same car driven by Dee Stapley back in 2008

And you do not see many of these Westfield XTR2s around either (this one driven by Craig Russell)

So don't wander off for your burger or a wee after the big single seaters, stay at the fence and enjoy the variety of cars that grace British hillclimbing.

One feature of Gurston, that I think is unique, is the comprehensive timing display at the start - not only showing the running time of up to 2 cars on the hill but also retaining the time of the car just finished until the next one finishes and also, at the bottom, the fastest speed and time of the day. Of course if you watch that all day the you will miss the cars on the hill but for those who have only got time to see how their driver and rivals are doing then it is great.

So - a final look around the paddock and the farmyard before leaving and we see the dance of the gazebo - folders in full swing - note the placement and co-ordination of the participants - you can quickly tell the professionals from their amateur partners! Must say that the spectators don't appear to be too impressed by their efforts!

And then just around the corner there is the BMTR tyre store!!!!

Oh and I forgot - favourite cars of the weekend: Simon Purcell's Lotus Exige is so understated and subtle in its colouring that you forget how fast it is until it goes!

And then two older cars with a lot of history behind them: Adrian Lewis' St Bruno Roughcutter

and Fyrth Crosse's Ensign now resplendent in Mike Wilds' Dempster Developments colour scheme:

And final tips if you are going to Serbia - Air Serbia are better than you might imagine and you cannot get Serbian currency in the UK.

For whom the bell tolls...

St Andrews Church at Shelsley Walsh has a 12th century nave with a 13th century chancel while its 15th century screen is the finest in Worcestershire. For over 800 years, therefore, the stones of the old building have been welcoming worshippers.

And for the last 110 years worshippers of another kind have been gathering just a couple of hundred yards away to watch cars of all shapes and sizes climb up the side of the Teme Valley, and the MAC meeting on 16th August included a celebration of that milestone. From the oldest car in attendance, Hicky Hickling's 1911 Sunbeam 16/20

to the newest,  David Finlay and Alisdair Suttie's massive Audi S8 (of which more later),

through cars of every decade, the history of Shelsley Walsh was portrayed. Oh, and there was also the important business of Rounds 25 and 26 of the Avon Tyres / TTC Group MSA British Hillclimb Championship and rounds of the Avon Tyres / TTC Group MSA Hillclimb Leaders Championship and the BMTR Tyres Midland Hillclimb Championship. With a total of approximately 225 cars and drivers to get safely up the hill, many of them temperamental (the cars and not the drivers.....unless you know differently), it was going to be a challenge to get it all done in a reasonable time. 

So there was an early start to proceedings with Anthony Record leading the way in his Proton Coupe at bang on 0915. He was at the top 39.74 seconds later which was a bit quicker than his 13 hours on the back of a rescue lorry (the car, not Anthony who I am sure was safe in the cab) on the way home from Harewood early in July! Nine hours later and Scott Moran rounded off the day with a 23.14 sec run to win the second of the day's Top 12 Run-offs! In between there had been some evocative runs from cars that define Shelsley's history, some fierce competition in the classes, a couple of collisions with the bank and some records broken.

It was a cool morning - just 6 degrees when I drove into the car park and the racing cars were still mostly asleep under their covers waiting to be stirred into life.

The odd one or two had 'slept' in the open - and some would need a bit of demisting before being brought into action - Colin Satchell certainly cleared his windscreen well as he shot to another class win, fortunately this week with enough entries to enable him to add 9 more points to his Leaders total and thus go back into a one point Championship lead, this time over Ed Hollier who also won his class, while previous co-leader, Alex Summers, only managed second behind his co-driver, Scott Moran.

Alex and Scott of course co-drive the unique Gould GR61X - NME which at the weekend chalked up its 150th (and then 151st) BHC Championship run-off victory - the most successful car in BHC history continues to hold sway over the rest of the field. I am sure most of you know what it looks like these days but just in case you don't, here it is at rest in the Harewood paddock earlier this year.

The 151 victories stretch back to its first season in 2005 when Roger Moran gave it its maiden victory at Craigantlet and then Scott won both run-offs at Prescott in September that year, with Roger second both times. And here we are 10 years later, and it is another double 1-2 with Alex and Scott sharing the spoils. Of the 151 wins Scott is responsible for 130 of them with Roger for 16 and Alex for 5. I don't have to hand the figures for the second most successful car but I would imagine it is the Gould GR55B, which is currently run by Wallace Menzies and Tom New, which gave Martin Groves 4 titles between 2005 and 2010.

And those two cars between were responsible for the ten fastest times on Sunday - Tom at 23.68, Wallace at 23.54, Scott with a 23.35, 23.60, 23.48 and 23.14 and Alex with 23.37, 23.05, 23.60 and 23.19 The only other drive to get into the 23 second bracket was Trevor Willis with a 23.82 and a 23.87 in the run-offs.

And if you have never been to a BHC hillclimb you may not actually know what these drivers look like as we tend to focus on pictures of the cars and so here is a shot taken during the prizegiving on Sunday - unfortunately Alex is speaking next to me but the others are there - from left - holding the baby - Scott Moran; in the middle advertising his company Tillicoultry Quarries, Wallace Menzies; sitting looking coy on the car, Trevor Willis, and on the right, Tom New. The man in the grey shirt, by the way,  is the most important though, as he is Tim Wilson, BHC co-ordinator who, when driving, appeared in 36 BHC run-offs and scored 65 points with a best of 5th at Doune in 2007

So we had no outright records among the top single seaters, with Martin Groves' mark of 22.58 still standing from 2008 but the winning run-off times of 23.05 by Alex and 23.14 by Scott were both within Groves' class record, which can however only be broken in the class runs!

We did however have two new records in the Classic Racing Cars classes - Richard Jones in his Brabham BT29X (pictured below in June) reduced his own pre-72 record (set a year ago) from 29.02 to 28.85

while Stuart Ridge took away Andrew Henson's 2009 record in the 1972-1985 class by just one-hundredth of a second (26.72 to 26.73) in his Pilbeam MP53-01 (below) just one of many representatives of the marque present at the weekend.

Throughout the 1980s and 1990s the various Pilbeam chassis were the choice of most of the top hillclimbers in the country - between 1977 and 1997 Pilbeam mounted drivers won 17 out of the 21 British Hillclimb Championships in R22, MP40, MP43, MP47, MP50, MP51, MP53, MP58 and MP72 models. Two of the non-Pilbeam championships were won by Chris Cramer  - firstly in a March 782 / 79B but then, in 1985, in the first of David Gould's self-named products - the Gould 84. Unfortunately the only picture I have from that era of the car is this rather fuzzy, and tilted, one taken at Crossing in August 1985

but here was Chris back in the car on Sunday 30 years later

And just for comparison - his best time in August 1985 was 27.99 (though he did a 27.05 at the June meeting) and in 2015, after just a few runs, he was down to 30.63 and I am sure there was more to come in the driver, the car and the tyres with some more time. Those of you interested in motor sport trivia might also like to know that that it is an Andy Priaulx helmet that Chris is about to put on - helped by his sons Marc and Eric who were themselves promising racing drivers in the 1990s, both getting into Formula Renault while Marc also drove a Reliant Kitten on the hills - see my earlier blog here , when it was run by Dave Whitehead.

The other non-Pilbeam champions in that era were Ray Rowan in 1989 in his adapted Toleman which he called a Roman - Ray is currently part of Will Hall's team, and David Franklin in 1978 when he did the unique hillclimb / sprint Championship double in a March 782 - David was also at Shelsley at the weekend driving one of the small number of Jaguar XKSS's that were made - the road going version of the D-Type.

And there was one other class record set at the weekend.In Class A2 for Roadgoing Series Production Cars over 2000cc Roy Standley had been below his existing record of 31.71 with a 31.58 in practice, which of course does not count as a record but, come the day and it was Mark Spencer in his Porsche 996 Turbo who put together what he says was a perfect run to take Roy's record with a fabulous 31.50 time. Mark, pictured here in the Bouley Bay paddock was Midland Hillclimb champion in 1997 in a Ford Escort Cosworth but then took some time out before returning to the hills with this lovely 'Porker'.

In doing some research on Mark I discovered that his business is the production of scale models of tanks - and I do not mean the small Airfix or Tamiya kits you built as a boy (maybe you still do), but instead radio-controlled ones of up to 1/4 scale - see his website - so be careful not to annoy him - you may find yourself at the wrong end of one his products!!!

Maybe that was why the Multi-car Challenge boys turned up in their own version of a tank this weekend -

 
reputed to be too big to fit into one of the Shelsley 'garages' it was relegated to the Orchard car park along with the rest of the A1 and A2 runners - but what is this - Sunday morning and there is a gap where it should be

Alisdair said that David was away getting it washed and polished to look its best but I reckon he had had a call from the local taxi company to go and collect a fare from Worcester railway station!! And certainly later on in the day he was spotted in the paddock looking for all the World like somebody waiting for a taxi to take him back to the far reaches of the Shelsley estate

and right on time his ride appeared - how much to get to the Orchard, squire?

On the track however the car was fast - David had reckoned that they would get into the 35s with it but  immediately they were doing 34s and at the end of the day the best time was 33.03 - not bad for a road going behemoth - read Alisdair's thoughts on the weekend and enjoy an in-car view of a run here and also check out their facebook page here. Next time out at Gurston it will be a Toyota GT-86.

An interesting facet of the weekend was the sequence of runs celebrating the 110th anniversary - all the runs were timed but a number of the cars were not officially given a time as they were defined as 'demonstration' runs - it seems that if you can run unsilenced if you are just doing 'demonstrations' and so the hill was alive once again with the sound of unsilenced Chevrolet V8s - but you know what - it was actually quite painful to hear them after years of getting accustomed to the silenced versions - in the 1970s I loved the sound of screaming 1600s and rumbling V8s, and maybe that is why I can be a bit deaf at times, but I do not think I could stand a whole day of them now.

For me the stars were the two David Hepworth cars - the basic Cooper-Chevrolet which is as it was when it was last climbed, complete with bashed nose cone

 
and the 4wd Hepworth FF, one of the stars when I first started watching hillclimbs

David Hepworth set a time of 29.64 seconds in 1971 and his son, Andrew got it down to 35.77 on Sunday afternoon on 42 year old tyres!!! Check out their facebook page here for the sights and sounds of the car doing some tyre-warming.

Other stars of the show were ERA R4D, which was driven to the British title by both Raymond Mays and Ken Wharton -another glorious sounding machine

the Alec Issigonis designed Lightweight Special with just 750cc

and the road-going McLaren M6 GT driven by triple champion, Martin Bolsover, the only man to win it in a sports-racing car, the Pilbeam MP43 (which I believe is the one now owned by Rodney Thorne).

Another aural and visual overload at Shelsley Walsh and the huge crowds once again showed that they must be getting it right. A number of the people at every hillclimb are new to the sport and I love seeing and hearing those people's reactions to some of the things we take for granted over the years but nothing, and I mean nothing, ever prepares them for the sight and more particularly the sound of the Mannic - Beattie. Nic Mann does not bring it out to play very often these days  and so even us old hands get a thrill every time we hear it being charged up at the start and the whine gets higher and higher until they unplug it and Nic gets to the line before taking off like the proverbial bat - consistently under 1.9 secs for the first 64 feet.

Just one example of the ingenuity that is given free rein in hillclimbing, but there is another we must not overlook, one which is running better and better every week it seems and whose 64 feet times were on a par with the Mannic all weekend - Allan MacDonalds Mini Evo - another car which makes jaws drop at its sight and sound - best 64 feet time at the weekend was 1.84 compared to the Mannic's 1.83 - in other words, nothing at all, and his last run of the weekend was 28.93 seconds. Here he is at Barbon Manor last month

And then there was the Aston Martin, driven by Matt Nicoll-Jones - a GT4 Vantage, 

normally seen in the British GT Championships - here it is in the gravel at Rockingham back in May.

The car was at Shelsley because of the Stratstone connection and is not really sorted for the hills and this was reflected in its times - best being a 34.44 - Nicoll-Jones is a fine circuit racer having won Ginetta Championships in the past and also the British GT4 Championship in 2008.

And there was more, much more happening but I think we are probably at the stage where you are crying enough and so it comes to the very difficult task of picking my 3 favourite cars of the weekend. By this stage in the season I have been seeing the same cars week after week and so, while some of those may be favourites, I am going for ones that are not regulars on the BHC tour - so firstly how can you not like a car that is the colour of Kermit - David Connell's VX220

Secondly Roger Jones' March 712 - one of that company's successes and this example is pristine and reminds me of my youth (and I need a lot of reminding about that these days)?

And finally one of the many 500OA cars that were participating - but this is not one of the common Coopers or Starides but the unusual Iota of Stuart Barnes - unusual for a 500 because of the long bonnet.

Next stop Gurston Down as the Championships head toward their conclusion at Loton Park in September. Alex Summers' best weekend since Doune, back in June, when he also scored 19 points, has put him well on the way to the title barring any misfortune but there is a tight battle going on for third place as we have Trevor Willis on 154, Wallace Menzies on 152 and Scott Moran on 151- but Wallace is at a distinct disadvantage when it comes to dropped scores as both Scott and Trevor are able to count all the points they score from now on as they have already had 6 zero scores while Wallace at the moment would have to drop 14 points. With Scott not going to Doune it looks as though Trevor may retain his number 2 for next year.

However, as Will Hall can testify after his Shelsley accident, there is nothing as certain as uncertainty. Will's current 5th place is under some threat from Tom New who has outscored him 26-1 over the last two weekends while there is a ding-dong battle going on between Dave Uren and John Bradburn for 8th and 9th where Dave has had the advantage by 28-13 over the last three meetings and is now one point ahead. Jos Goodyear is stuck on the 87 points he had before his accident and may slip from his current 7th place to a season ending 9th unless Alastair Crawford, who has also been scoring less well in recent rounds can find his early season form and average just over 6 points from the remaining 4 weekends when he would sneak above Jos, but if not he should still be safe in 10th as Eynon Price is 26 points behind.

As usual there will be pictures from Shelsley going up on my Flickr page shortly.