Apologies to readers of the regular Tuesday MG blogs which will return next week. On Sunday I attended the Speed Hill Climb at Prescott in search of a couple of Lotus models for Saturdays Lotus blogs.
On arrival in the paddock I found much more than I bargained for, this GSM Delta Ford will feature in a forthcoming blog thanks to the owner Clive Scott who told me all about the car and his families involvement with it’s manufacture. Clive finished the day forth in a class of 15.
For a moment I thought this Ginetta G12 might be yet another car once owned by David Render, but Nick Stephens told me that this was not the case with his Ford Zetec powered example.
Derek Kessell has owned this Maguire Mini Cooper S for 24 years, it has never been raced and only ever used on hillclimbs. It was originally built with a Mini Clubman estate / station wagon body.
The tyres on Bill Chaplin’s Force Empire DS600 Suzuki show how tricky the conditions at Prescott were on Sunday Morning, full wets on the front and intermediates on the back, notice also a wild array of tweaked aerodynamic appendages that would not look out of place on a Formula One Car which helped Bill claim third fastest time in a class of 12.
Tina Hawkes driving her OMS Hornet Suzuki turned around her third fastest timed run in the lottery morning conditions, seen here, to a fastest time in class in the dry afternoon run.
Last week I received an e-mail from John Biggs owner of the Kayne Special III, above, asking if I could put him in touch with Colin Cooper who built the car. When I met John on Sunday he told me that Colin had come to visit Prescott on Saturday and that they had a long chat about the car.
I know this is not a property blog, BUT, Pardon Hill House just has to be one of the most desirable properties on the planet for any motorsport enthusiast. You can see the Prescott Hill Climb course right in front of you from the benches right outside the back gate. Here’s hoping my lottery numbers come up before it is too late !
In the wake of the successful Lotus 79 in 1978 almost all open wheel cars the following season were built to take advantage of ground effects with varying degrees of success. Future Ferrari and Mclaren F1 driver Stephan Johansson was one of several drivers who started the 1979 with a Chevron B47, quite possibly the one in the photo above, but switched before long to the more successful March chassis on his way to claiming 4th spot in the 1979 British Formula 3 championship. Chris Bentley Jones who drove the car on Sunday claimed third fastest time in class.
Sandra Tomlin, above, managed to avoid the wooden spoon in class and pip her son Oliver with whom she shares the wheel of the Pilbeam MP97 Judd.
I received a tip off last week that a couple of Lotus 51’s would be at Prescott like the won driven by Briony Serrell above, Brioney finished with 5th best time in a class of 13.
Martin Tippet’s Lotus 51 was suffering from electrical issues and he could only manage 8th best time in class.
My thanks to Les Buck who is seen driving his Lotus 61 above, finished forth in class, for tipping me off last week at Brooklands that this event was taking place.
The two rounds of the Midland Hillclimb Championship main event were convincingly dominated by championship leader Trevor Wills driving the #3 OMS CFO6 Powertec SBD seen above.
Finally just as I was leaving a couple of dozen Jaguar XK’s appeared, including this 1956 XK 140, fitted with easy to clean steel wheels, which reminded me that GALPOT regular Geoffrey Horton would soon be getting up to compete in a Concours event in California with his own example of the model.
Further information on the timing results for this event can be found on Roger Warren’s excellent Resultsman website.
Thanks for joining me on this “Sunday Morning Lotus Hunting” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at an extraordinary FIAT 600. Don’t forget to come back now !
