Mud Mud Glorious Mud
These were the conditions that greeted Nicholson McLaren British Hillclimb and Guyson Scottish Hillclimb Championship competitors on Saturday morning, following torrential overnight rain at Doune Hillclimb in Scotland.
The rain continued in heavy bursts throughout Saturday worsening the paddock conditions leading to huge quantities of mud being deposited on the access road as cars moved around the paddock. Drivers spent the day paddling around in the mud washing their cars and tyres.
By Sunday the rain had ceased and a brighter day dawned. Morning timed runs delivered three OMS 25 cars into the first of the days Top 12 run offs, Trevor Willis in the V8 car with Tim Wilson and Steve Owen in their 1600cc OMS 25's. With conditions continually improving it was a real challenge for drivers to balance their cars on the changing track surface. Only Tim scored points. Trevor had a disastrous run, he caught the grass as he launched off the greasy start line causing him to lose valuable time and then further into the climb the gearshifter selected neutral. The auto system should attempt the gear change for a second time if it fails on the first occasion, this did not happen & Trevor had to manually select the gear, by which time his challenge for valuable British Championship points had been lost and he finished in 11th place out of the points. His main rival in the championship Roger Moran scored well, widening the points difference between the two drivers & taking the advantage.
The track continued to dry throughout the day & when the afternoon timed runs commenced times were more akin to what spectators expect at this venue. The second British run off included drivers who failed to qualify in the mornings damp conditions. Only Tim and Trevor qualified, Tim scored points again and so did Trevor this time, to maintain the staus quo between himself and Roger. But with 2 more championship run offs at Loton Park next weekend all is still to play for, there is an outside chance that Trevor could snatch 2nd overall in the British Hillclimb Championship.
Date: 19/09/2011 | Author: L.Owen