Turnaround
Doune Hill Climb in Scotland was the place to be, for followers of the British Hillclimb Championship. Rounds 13 and 14 of the thirty four round championship took place at the weekend, with 18 championship registered competitors making the journey north to this challenging venue just outside Stirling.
If the weather forecasters were to be believed we were all in for a very wet weekend. Friday dawned to a warm sunny day that continued through to sun set; a perfect summer solstice. Saturday proved less favourable, with rain falling on and off throughout practice. Lothian Car Club ran an excellent meeting and offered drivers 4 practice runs on Saturday, along with the customary Sunday morning practice to 'settle' the drivers before the event commences. Despite black threatening clouds from time to time, there was no rain on the Sunday. Drivers enjoyed a dry meeting the first in a long while, which resulted in some long standing class records falling.
A number of Scottish OMS owners were competing, first off being Colin Graham in his 1000cc OMS P/R. His time of 45.96 took 6th in class. Fergus Duncan in the 1000cc OMS 2000M finished 4th in class, just a couple of 10ths off third place on a 44.66
Richard Matossian had an unfortunate coming together with a wall in The Tunnel, that side lined his OMS SC1 for the remainder of the meeting.
Les Campbell took class honours in the Scottish Championship racing car class with his 1000cc OMS CF: a sister car to the ‘Summers Family’ OMS CF frequently seen at British championship meetings.
Steve Owen once again drove his 600cc OMS Hornet, this weekend sharing the car with Mike Fitzsimons who was for many years a regular competitor at national meetings. More recently Mike has been helping British Hillclimb Champion Trevor Willis, attending meetings to mechanic for him. The duo had a trouble free weekend on the track with Steve taking a class win from Mike who finished in second place. However the same cannot be said for their time spent in the paddock where both drivers sustained injuries. Mike received a blow to the head from the trailer roof whilst Steve sustained a blow to his face from the awning.
Trevor Willis on the other hand, didn't seem to put a foot wrong either on or off the track. Having comfortably settled into his new OMS 28 at Doune in either wet or dry conditions, he managed to turnaround his championship challenge and took 2 run off wins, scoring a maximum 20 points. With close rival Scott Moran finishing 2nd to Trevor in the first run off, Scott was then side lined for the afternoon runs with a clutch problem. This left the door wide open for Trevor who maximised the opportunity thrown to him. He not only took the run off win on 36.16 seconds but also set the Fastest Time of Day.
Date: 24/06/2013 | Author: L.Owen