Boom Bang-a-Bang
The first 2015 MSA British Hillclimb Championship rounds got off to a shaky start for many competitors at Prescott Hill Climb on Sunday 26th April.
Whilst most drivers were wondering whether their winter modifications would prove effective, they had not given any thought to what was about to happen. The unexpected came in the form of a drive by noise meter placed near the bridge at Orchard Corner. The majority of competitors thought this would be of no consequence to them as they had passed the noise checks during the 2014 season; however this proved to be far from the truth.
With one noise infringement your time was disallowed, with a second you were excluded from the meeting and it caught many people from across the classes. Consequently some drivers relied on only one timed run to count towards their final class position. The new procedure also affected the British Hillclimb Championship Top Twelve Runs Offs in both qualifying runs and the run off itself.
In class H the 600cc racing car class OMS Hornet drivers Gary Hill and Harry Pick both had to fall back on their first timed run as each of these two drivers had their second time disallowed for noise infringement. Gary won the class with his first run time of 44.51 whilst Harry settled for second in class on 44.68 seconds.
The 1100cc racing car competitors found themselves in the same situation, with three drivers unable to improve on their morning climbs due to second run times being disallowed. Mark Goodyear took second in class in the OMS Hornet with his second run time 40.78, with Simon Andrew's OMS 28 in third on 41.40 seconds. Top six in class were rounded off with Bernie Kevill taking fifth in the OMS 28 on 42.16 and young Matthew Ryder share driving the Goodyear Hornet in sixth with his best time of the weekend 42.40 seconds. James Wilson in an OMS PR he shares with his father Ian, set the faster time of the pairing on a 43.53 Also in this class was an earlier OMS RA in the hands of owner Ian Davies.
OMS PR: photo S. Owen
George and Richard Brown have fitted a turbo charged 1137cc Honda into the ex-Bob Penrose OMS CF07 to run in the 1600cc racing car class. George was the faster of the two by a second on 42.90 to finish fifth in class just ahead of OMS 2000M driver John Stockley in sixth and then Richard. Steve Spiers was the only other OMS in class, shaking down his CF04 following winter engine work and a smart new paint scheme.
Ian Fidoe finished third in the newly created normally aspirated 2 litre racing car class with his OMS CF09-tkd V8. Whilst in the forced induction 2 litre category Lee Griffiths also finished third with his turbo charged OMS 25 on 41.91 seconds. In view of the many disallowed times following first timed runs, Lee qualified for the first Top Twelve run off where he finished just outside of the points in eleventh position.
Trevor Willis OMS 28 V8: photo S. Owen
Top Twelve runner Trevor Willis also fell foul of the noise meter and had his first competition run time disallowed: which was also a Top Twelve qualifying time so he couldn't compete in the first run off. His second run of 37.55 placed him second in class and qualified him for the second run off where he finished 3rd overall to score his first British Championship points in 2015.
The dawning of the silent electric competition car may come sooner than we thought.
To view the British and Hillclimb Leaders point tables click here. For the event results click here and to view individuals times and splits click here.
Date: 27/04/2015 | Author: L.Owen