What's Going On
The British Hillclimb and Hillclimb Leaders Championships made their first visit of the 2016 season to Shelsley Walsh, along with the Midland Hill Climb Championship.
Many drivers were preoccupied with the proposed MSA rule changes that were the latest thread on social media and the talk of the paddock. Much of the weekend was taken up discussing these changes for Speed Events in the UK. To find out what is going on and for more information see the separate news item in OMS News.
Despite all of this, a fabulous weekend of speed hillclimbing took place at this historic venue, helped enormously by glorious weather throughout. OMS cars competed in five racing car classes and featured in the British Hillclimb Top Twelve Run Offs.
OMS Hornet driver Les Buck had a fine weekend in the 600cc racing car class. His best run time of 32.10s was a new personal best Shelsley time for Les: slightly quicker than he went in his 1993 OMS with a Kawasaki ZX10 engine: one of the many OMS cars Les has owned over the years.
The hugely popular 1100cc racing car class had a 28 car entry: the largest class at the meeting. Competition was fierce throughout practice and timed runs, with the final top twelve places in class covered by just 1.03 seconds.
OMS 2000m driver Harry Pick had a fabulous result in only his second event in the Suzuki K8 powered car. Following the morning timed runs he sat in 9th place, but with a tidier second climb he shaved a further quarter of a second off his morning time to climb in 27.35s and finish 7th in the class; 3/100ths shy of a points scoring 6th place.
Harry Pick OMS 2000M 1100: photo Tim Wilson
Steve Owen was 10th overall in class following a disappointing first run time of 27.73s with the OMS 28 BMW. He turned the tables on a surprised group of drivers at the top of the class when he posted a 27.02s afternoon run to finish 3rd in class ahead of Chris Aspinall and Simon Fidoe: the favourites to win this class.
Two OMS drivers were entered in the 1600cc racing car class, though Ian Tucker was a nonstarter following the gearbox breakage at Gurston Down. His engine is now at OMS Racing for a rebuild. Fellow South West competitor Neal Coles in his OMS CF04 improved his times throughout the event and set a new PB time of 28.10s on his first timed run.
Terry and Trish Davis continue to improve their times in their OMS CF09 TKD 2.0 L single seater. Trish set her fastest time of the weekend during morning runs on 28.19s as did Terry. His best run time of 27.42s also secured Terry 3rd place overall in class.
Terry Davis OMS CF09 TKD 2.0 L: photo Tim Wilson
Forced induction cars up to 2 litres is yet another fiercely competitive class. Andy McBeath (OMS 25 1300s) struggled to get on the pace initially and then posted a 27.60s climb during the afternoon much to his delight. Lee Griffiths also in an OMS 25 but with a 1300 turbo engine was on great form. He climbed in 25.27s in the morning, a personal best time for Lee at Shelsley and possibly only Trevor Willis in the V8 powered OMS 28 has climbed Shelsley in a faster time with an OMS. This was also a qualifying time for Lee, putting him in the first Top Twelve Run off.
Lee Griffiths OMS 25 1300t: photo Tim Wilson
Trevor Willis led home the big racing car class, taking the win with his morning run time of 23.63 seconds. This time also set 3rd Fastest Time of Day. Trevor qualified for both Top Twelve Run Offs finishing 3rd in each round. Only three drivers ran in the 23's, Scott Moran winner of both run offs and FTD on 23.26s from the second run off, along with Wallace Menzies who finished 2nd in each run off and set 2nd FTD on 23.643s; also in the second run off.
Trevor Willis OMS 28 V8: photo Tim Wilson
To view the event results click here and to see the BHC and Hillclimb Leaders Championship results click here.
Date: 6/06/2016 | Author: L.Owen