5-4-3-2-1
The count down to the start of the 2013 Avon Tyres/ TTC Group MSA British Hill Climb Championship and Hillclimb Leaders Championship season is over. The first meeting took place at Prescott Hill Climb in Gloucestershire this weekend. The event was also the first round of the Midland Hill Climb Championship supported by TCC Group incorporating the BMTR Top 10 Challenge.
The reigning British Hillclimb Champion Trevor Willis, began his title defence in a brand new car for the season, an OMS 28. The new chassis designed & manufactured by OMS Racing during the winter, incorporates the 3200cc power unit Trevor successfully campaigned last season to take his first British title.
Trevor had no time to test prior to the weekend, but commented that “The car felt good when he drove it forward in the garage” Once the euphoria of the new cars wore off it became apparent that there was a problem with the cars’ electronics. In first practice and less than perfect weather conditions, Trevor was straight on the pace with a sub 40 second run showing the cars’ potential. However he was then hampered by an injector malfunction that was corrected by replacing the set of injectors. Following this there began a problem with the powered gear selector not working on the downshift. The problem plagued the car in the first timed runs but Trevor managed to qualify for the first British Hill Climb Championship run off. Gremlins struck again in the run off, resulting in what could have been a winning run being spoiled when the gear shifter failed to select correctly. Nevertheless, Trevor held onto a 6th place finish with a 38.25 second run and put 5 points on the score board to get his season started.
Work on the car during the lunch break temporarily resolved the electronics issue, to ensure Trevor qualified for the second run off. But for some reason, yet to be investigated on the data logger, the engine sounded flat & lacked its usual va va voom! Trevor’s time of 38.15 was good enough for 3rd place and another 8 points to add to his tally. There is a two week break until the next national meeting at Barbon Manor; plenty of time to resolve these difficulties.
OMS 28 of Trevor Willis (photo courtesy of Tim Wilson)
Class honours were hotly contested, with the 600cc racing cars having been merged with the 1100cc racing cars to field an 18 driver strong class. Gary Hill and Steve Owen drove the ex-David Oldridge 600cc Hornet they acquired last season. Both put in excellent performances, despite giving away capacity & BHP to the 1100cc cars. Steve finished a creditable 8th out of 18 in a storming time of 42.88 seconds. Other notable drives in the class came from Simon Andrews in his OMS 2000M finishing 5th in class with a time of 41.66 seconds.
Mark Goodyear drove his newly acquired ex-Tina Hawkes/ Steve Owen 1300cc OMS Hornet, share driving on this occasion with Mrs OMS: Lynn Owen. Both had a very enjoyable day (It’s impossible not to enjoy yourself when racing with Mark. Ed) Mark put in a superb time of 42.03 seconds and took 5th overall in the up to 1600cc single seater class. Lee Griffiths was having a good day in his OMS 25 following development work during the winter months. He snatched the final Hill Climb Leaders Championship points scoring position finishing 6th in class on 42.17 having been just beaten by Mark Goodyear.
The 2 litre single seater class had only one OMS car, the Ian Fidoe/ Tim Elmer OMS CF09 powered by a TDK YV8. Tim finished 5th overall on 41.73 seconds and Ian 8th on 43.35 seconds, with Tim collecting MSA Hill Climb Leaders Championship points.
Date: 28/04/2013 | Author: L.Owen