Doune Hillclimb Week-end 18 - 19/06/05

[Steve Wilkinson]

NICHOLSON McLAREN BRITISH HILLCLIMB CHAMPIONSHIP, ROUNDS 15 & 16

BTD Martin Groves (3.5 Gould-NME GR55B) 37.63s

ROUND 15
1 Groves, 41.13s;
2 Rob Turnbull (2.5 Gould-Opel GR55) 42.66s;
3 Scott Moran (3.5 Gould-NME GR61X) 43.02s;
4 Simon Durling (2.7 Gould-NME GR55B) 43.30s;
5 Graeme Wight Jr (3.5 GWR-Arrows/PRE Predator) 43.63s;
6 Roger Moran (3.5 Gould-NME GR61X) 43.83s;
7 Mike Dean (3.5 Gould-NME GR55B) 43.97s;
8 Trevor Willis (2.0 OMS-Vauxhall CF04) 44.10s;
9 Paul Ranson (3.5 Gould-NME GR55B) 44.22s;
10 Willem Toet (4.0 Pilbeam-Judd/J&F MP88) 44.62s;
11 Stewart Robb (3.5 Pilbeam-DFR/Connaught MP58) 45.60s;
Tim Mason (2.0 Reynard- Peugeot/Connaught 913) DNS (transmission)

ROUND 16
1 Groves, 37.63s;
2 Dean, 38.24s;
3 Roger Moran, 38.80s;
4 Wight Jr, 39.01s;
5 Durling, 39.33s;
6 Turnbull, 39.65s;
7 Toet, 40.37s;
8 Scott Moran, 40.45s;
9 Willis, 41.10s;
10 Ranson 41.24s;
11 Tom New (2.0 Pilbeam-Rover/QED MP88) 42.09s;
12 Robb 47.32s.

The day started wet but by the first run-off the rain had stopped and the track started to dry. Groovey just blasted the opposition away in a superb display of car control. Rob Turnbull was on the pace in the damp with the Opel V6 Gould - the HB engined version staying at home as it was deemed too nervous for the confines of the Carse hill.
Graeme Wight Junior opened the scoring for the Predator with two 'conservative' runs as more problems surfaced.
On the, by now, dry track the second run-off saw Mike Dean come the closest yet to his maiden Hillclimb Championship victory but again Groovey was just too quick!

There were a couple of mechanical problems that afflicted the championship runners: Paul Haimes and Allan Warburton had a broken vave spring curtail their fun whilst Tim and Will Mason were out when the latter broke both driveshafts and the diff at the start line on his first timed run!

I am now off to dry out all the gear ready for next week-end!

[Cameron Winton]

Good meeting with very few stoppages - all competitors should be congratulated on keeping it together in some really tricky conditions.
Moment of the meeting: 1st run off: Trevor Willis catching a big sideways moment around Oak Tree without touching the barriers although it screwed his time.

[Steve Wilkinson]

On Saturday during his second practice run Martin Groves had the briefest of "moments". This took place as he went to stab the brakes for Garden Gate. The crowd at Oak Tree all caught their collective breaths as the car appeared to dive to the left (for those not in the know Garden Gate is a climbing right hander) before arrowing round the corner at unabated speed. When questioned about what the devil he was doing a rather sheepish Groovey owned up to a slight mistake. Apparently he initially missed the brake pedal! So he dropped down a gear had a late stab at the brakes and was back on the throttle to blast up the Tunnel!

On Sunday Stewart Robb, the reigning Scottish Hillclimb Champion, managed to qualify for both run-offs in his 'elderly' ex-Griffiths/Grace/Newton MP58 DFR. In the first he got ot the top of the hill only to discover one of the two exhaust boxes had 'dropped off' during the run. It was finally located after the Finishing Line. This was refitted in time for his second class run and with Stewart into the second run-off he was keeping his fingers crossed that it would stay 'on-board' for his final run. Maybe he should have uncrossed his fingers as he 'skelped' the barriers on the outside(!) of Oak Tree before cruising to the top.

Top sound effect of the week-end was provided by the contenders in the Scottish Autotrader Mini Cooper Cup. Anyone standing at East Brae would have heard the ping-pongs and clunks as the cars pinballed their way through the Esses. I would hate to have the bill for repairs to the barriers let alone the bodywork!

[rescue dude]

FYI Steve, Graeme's engine is 3 litre not 3.5.
Don't know why he keep's putting it down as a 3.5.

[Steve Wilkinson]

Originally Posted by Steve Wilkinson

5 Graeme Wight Jr (3.5 GWR-Arrows/PRE Predator) 43.63s

The results that went into both Autosport and Motorsports News (which for some reason they haven't used!) plus the programme from the meeting all have it as 3.5 litres.

Has anyone bothered to ask Graeme where the extra 500cc came from?

[rescue dude]

Originally Posted by Steve Wilkinson

The results that went into both Autosport and Motorsports News (which for some reason they haven't used!) plus the programme from the meeting all have it as 3.5 litres.

Has anyone bothered to ask Graeme where the extra 500cc came from?

I can assure you it is 3 litre i know the engine very, very well.
Maybe it's now a V11.

[DaveK]

Originally Posted by rescue dude

I can assure you it is 3 litre i know the engine very, very well.
Maybe it's now a V11.

Would that not make it 3.3 ltr

[Steve Wilkinson]

Originally Posted by DaveK

Would that not make it 3.3 ltr

Nice one Davey boy! But surely it would make it 3.3333333333333333333 ltrs

[Woolley]

The question is, does Grame know it's not a 3.5?

[rescue dude]

Originally Posted by Woolley

The question is, does Grame know it's not a 3.5?

No, the question is, how fast is it going to be next year as a 3.2?
Or is that 3.2222222222222222222222222?