Gurston Down Speed Hill Climb hosts the second visit of the British Hill Climb Championship on 27th and 28th August. There are two rounds of both the Avon Tyres / TTC Group MSA British Hill Climb Championship and the Avon Tyres / TTC Group MSA Hill Climb Leaders Championship.
Over 130 cars and drivers will compete in standard road cars, specially prepared hill climb cars and spectacularly fast sport and single seat racing cars. All of them will pit their wits against each other, the clock and the fast, twisty course at Wiltshire’s famous Speed Hill Climb Venue.
The weekend will be full of glorious sounds, smells, skill and speed.
Spectators have unrivaled access to the hill, paddock, cars drivers and facilities, Gurston Down offers. We have excellent catering and refreshments on site too.
You really can’t get closer to the action!
Saturday the 27th August is practice day. There will be three practice runs, two in the morning and one after lunch.
On Sunday the 28th August, there will be an early morning practice followed by one timed run before lunch and the first of two top twelve run-offs. After lunch the second timed runs are followed by the second top twelve run-off. First timed runs typically start at around 10:30.
The Top Twelve Run-Off allows the fastest twelve registered competitors in the British Hill Climb Championship to take an additional run. The ten fastest score points, ten points for fastest, down to one for tenth fastest. These run-offs ultimately determine who becomes the British Champion! The current leader in the championship is Scott Moran, five time champion and hill record holder at 25.37s.
Every driver currently (15th August) in the championship top ten will be at Gurston Down. The weekend will be very important for all of the challengers! So expect there to be spectacular speeds and performances all weekend.
Full Class Preview:
The meeting gets under-way with another visit of The Porsche Club’s National Championship Class has an all 911 line-up. The form book says Peter Turnbull, Jonathan Williamson and Paul Howells should be in the top three.
The Road Going Series Production Car Class up to 2000cc go next, with Adam Greenen’s super quick Honda Civic Type R and Paul Webster, Gurston’s competition secretary in his Mazda MX5 likely to be the top two. Richard Brant and his Clio 172 have been very successful in the Midland Championship this season so it’ll be interesting to see how his first visit goes!
There is only one car in The Over 2000cc Road Going Series Production Car Class. Jamie Powell and his Mitsubishi Evo will have the class to himself.
The Road Going Specialist Production Car Class brings the Warburton’s, David and Allan, Caterham to the hill. So the rest of the class will have their work cut out to win!
Then we will have the up to 1400cc Modified Series Production Car Class. Andrew Russell’s Gineta G15 will have an uphill struggle to over-come the super fast Minis of Neil Turner and James White.
The Modified Series Mini Class has just one entrant, Richard Wood and his Yamaha Mini. Will Richard be looking to improve his personal best? Of course he will, just like every other driver!
The 1400cc to 2000cc Modified Series Production Car Class pits the stunning Peugeot 205 of Colin Satchell against Dee Stapley’s MGF and Christrian Evans’ VW Golf. Colin is a man very much “in form” and will probably take the class win!
The Over 2000cc Modified Series Production Car Class has former Gurston champion, Simon Purcell in his Lotus Exige up against Geoff Tremlow’s beautiful Subaru Impreza, Tim Painter and Andrew Fraser’s stunning Aston Martin Vantage, Mark Walker’s Porsche and the Datsun 240z of Steph Colvin and Hannah Stapley. It will probably be between Simon and Geoff for first place, although the Aston might just be in the mix too!
The Modified Specialist Production Cars Class sees Mike Rudge, Antony Orchard and five other highly competitive cars and drivers. The class win could go to any of the drivers. It will depend on the day!
The Historically Interesting Car Class has a host of beautiful cars competing. Mike Broome’s Alvis Mk17 F3, the Chevron B19 of Amanda and Richard George, Jeremy Smithson’s Merlyn Mk11, Fyrth Cross and the Dempster Ensign LNF3, Geoff Hunt’s Lotus 22 and Hugh Kemp’s Palliser WDF3. These cars are always wonderful to see and great to watch. Fyrth has the form but in June it didn’t go all his way.
The Up to 2000cc Sports Libre Car Class is likely to be headed up by the supercharged Force LM shared by Jonathan Gates and Peter Sexton. Tim Pitfield and his DJ Firecat would make it easy for the Gates / Sexton team. But who will take the win?
The Over 2000cc Sports Libre Car Class sees the Mini Evo of Allan McDonald against Gurston regular Keith Diggle (WEV HCS) and Paul Punnett’s Metro 6R4 Replica. Much too difficult to predict who will be the victor.
The 601 to 1100cc Racing Car Class has a huge entry! Simon Fidoe in his Empire Wraith, Adam Steel (Marlet AS1), Steve Owen (OMS 28), Olivia and Liam Cooper (Force HC), Lindsey Summers (DJ Firehawk) to name just a few. This class will be close class. At May’s meeting the top nine drivers were separated by just 1.5s.
Simon McBeath starts favourite in the Formula Ford Class. Simon in his Swift SC92F, who is the class record holder won’t have an easy time. The class sees Roger Moran and Tony Wiltshire and four other drivers who won’t let Simon walk away with the win. Another class that will be decided on the day.
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The Racing Car up to 1985 Class sees one car and two drivers. The amazing Lyncar Formula Atlantic 5 litre of John Hewett and Mat Morrison is a spectacle in it’s own right and sounds gorgeous!
The 1100cc to 1600cc Racing Car Class puts Ed Hollier in his Empire Evo up against Sean Gould and Eynon Price’s Gould GR59 and Richard Spedding’s GWR Raptor. All of these drivers are currently fighting for the British Championship to ten places so they won’t be holding anything back on the day. But there are six other drivers! Current season form and a top twelve run off place at stake means this class will be fast and close!
The 1601cc to 2000cc Racing Car Class – Normally Aspirated – has five cars and seven drivers competing. Tim Davies’ Pilbeam MP88 won in May but Tim Elmer and Terry Davies and the other drivers will be looking to change that.
The 1601cc to 2000cc Racing Car Class – Forced Induction – brings Dave Uren and Nicola Menzies’ Force PC back to Gurston. Dave is having a fantastic season in the British Hill Climb Championship so Simon and Peter Marsh will have to use every bit of their local knowledge to catch David Uren. The Pilbeam MP101 of Kelvin Broad shouldn’t be ruled out! But Dave starts favourite.
The Over 2000cc Racing Car Class has five of the current top ten contends in the British Hill Climb Championship including five time winner Scott Moran who leads the championship. Trevor Willis (OMS 28) should be back after a crash at Wiscombe Park in July. Wallace Menzies’ Gould GR55 NME, Will Hall (Force WH-XTEC), Graham Wynn (Gould GR55), Tony Hunt and Terry Graves (Gould GR55) and Jason Morant (Gould GR55) will all make Scott work for the win. BUT they will all want to qualify for the Top Twelve Run-Offs!
All of these drivers will be looking for qualifying places in the Top Twelve Run-Off.
The two Top Twelve Run-Offs in the Avon Tyres / TTC Group MSA British Hill Climb Championship will be held after the next three classes. Fastest Time of the Day will probably come during one of these two run-offs.
The SBD HSA Speed Championship – Sports and Saloons Class brings an array of different cars to Gurston Down. The HSA Championship may be a single class but the results are divided up into their correct classes when calculating their overall HSA Championship scores. David Newman (Mazda MX-5) will have Ken Morris’ MX5 to contend will so that will be an interesting battle. The overall class win will probably go to the BMW 330 ci of Sarah and Colin Davies or Colin Bowdidge’s Caterham or perhaps the Raw Stricker of James Robertson.
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The Mazda MX-5 Class sees Dean Cubitt back after various gremlins at the July meeting. He is probably favourite for this class. But there are some new-comers here too, so Dean will need to be on top form!
The BARC South West B Licence Class has a large entry, seventeen cars! James Gibson in his OMS Hornet is seeded first, with Martin Watson’s Westfield and Steve Holland’s Caterham seeded second and third respectively. Jeff Way brings the 7.5 litre Chevrolet Camaro back too.
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Key info
- Location: 1 mile west of Broad Chalke, 9 miles SW of Salisbury, Wiltshire. Turn off the A354 at Coombe Bissett on the unclassified road to Broad Chalke, follow AA signs.
Dates: Saturday August 27th and Sunday August 28thh
Times: Saturday Practice from 0830 until 1500 approx. Sunday 0830 Final Practice then timed runs from approx 1030, followed by First Top Twelve Run-Off, then lunch and final timed runs from 13:00 Second Top Twelve Run-Off.
Admission: £10 for adults Sunday (£6 on Saturday), accompanied under 15s free, free paddock entry, free parking.
Anthony Record – Press Officer Gurston Down Speed Hill Climb – BARC SW