The Tony Marsh Memorial Weekend bought a fabulous array of cars and motorbikes to Gurston Down Speed Hill Climb last weekend.

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Friday’s weather hadn’t exactly made the weekend look like it could be a record breaker.

The Tom Marsh Memorial Trophy is awarded this weekend to the BARC SW member who is nearest to or breaks their class record. If more than one record is broken, the largest improvement wins the trophy. We were honoured by a visit Peter and Simon’s mother as well as their brother Paul.

Saturday turned out to be a great day for racing. The cars and motorbikes were on exceptional and record breaking form. Many drivers and riders surpassed their personal bests this weekend!

Saturday’s Invited Classes:

The ACSMC ‘Road Legal’ Class had a couple of cars transferred from other classes so there ended up being four in the class. Andy Deeley and his Nissan 200SX took the first place with a very tidy second run, pushing Andrew Bisping’s Renault Clio back to second. Andy Deeley’s second run was a 40.55s.

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The ASWMC ‘Road Legal’ Class went against the expected. Richard Trevail and his BMW Mini John Cooper Works managed to edge out the Lotus Elise of Jon Longmead. Richard’s time was 38.21s.

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The Porsche Club Class were the next out. Fifteen cars fought for the honours. Tim Barber and David Hilton shared 911 GT3 RS took the first two places, Tim (35.47s) beating David by just 0.90s. Graham Rose’s 924S, came in third and Geraint Evans’ 911 took fourth. This class is properly competitive.

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The Service Hydraulics Speed Championship Class ran next. Dave Reed and his Westfield had a good win with a 38.81s run. Richard Jenkinson’s Clio couldn’t stay with the Westfield after Dave put in a sparkling second run.

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The Road Going MX5 Class was won by Mark Crookall in his gorgeous Eunos Roadster RS. Nick Revels’ new Mk2 MX5 just could not match his pace. Nick ran on List 1A tyres which didn’t help his time. Mark Jones and John Wells had a great battle for the third and fourth places.

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The Up to 2000cc Road Going Series Production Car Class went to Adam Greenen, (37.61s) pushing his brother Andy to second. Andy was just 0.15s off his brother’s time in their super quick Honda Civic Type R. Paul Webster and Tim Forster just couldn’t match the pace of the Civic.

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Stephen Moore, last year’s Gurston Down Champion, was dominant in the Over 2000cc Road Going Series Production Car Class. Clive and Jennie Stangle’s Audi TT took them to second and third respectively.

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Clive Skipper with his 2.0 Caterham HPC won the Road Going Specialist Production Car Class beating Adrian Lewis in his 1.4 Westfield Megabusa and Ian Ingleheart in his Westfield SE. Clive’s 34.60s first run was enough.

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The Modified Limited Production Marque Sports Cars up to 2000cc Class didn’t go Graham Beale’s (Ginetta G20) way. Mike Tooth with his Lotus Elise came in just over half a second ahead with a 38.74s second run.

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The 2014 Gurston Champion Simon Purcell in his Lotus Exige really pulled out all the stops in the Over 2000cc Modified Production Marque Sports Car Class. His 33.76s run beat one of Gurston Down’s longest standing records set by Pete Tyler’s Triumph TR8 in July 1997. We understand Pete recently sold the car and had previous said if the record was beaten he would be back!

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The up to 1400cc Modified Series Production Car Class had classic Minis everywhere. None of which were ordinary Minis! Neil Turner’s beautifully presented Mini Cooper S took the class by a good margin with a 36.55s second run. Derek Mullis and David Bean just weren’t on the pace.

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Richard Wood’s Yamaha Mini had a good day, turning in a greatly improved second run, 40.26s in the Modified Series Mini Class.

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The 1400 to 2000cc Modified Series Production Class saw Kevin Plummer and Ian Plummer go head to head in their Opel Corsa. Kevin came out on top with a 36.75s run.

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Mark Walker won the Over 2000cc Modified Series Production Sports Car Class in his 3.4 Porsche Cayman S (35.43s), beating the gorgeous Aston Martin Vantage of Tim Painter and Andrew Fraser. Tim taking second.

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The huge entry in the Modified Specialist Production Car Class, saw Mike Rudge (31.49s), the current record holder in his 2.3 Westfield SEi, win a tough class. Anthony Orchard came second just 0.48s adrift.

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The Historically Interesting Class was won by Fyrth Crosse’s Dempster Ensign LNF3 with a 34.52s run.

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Peter Sexton, the Gurston Down Championship Sponsor, and Jonathan Gates in their shared 1.3 supercharged Force LM fought very hard in the up to 2000cc Sports Libre Class. Jonathan was ahead after the first timed run but Pete didn’t give up and produced a stunning second run, pipping Jonathan by just two hundredths. Pete finished on 29.79s and Jonathan on 29.81s!

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The Over 2000cc Sports Libre Class saw Chris Cannell (Force SR8) win the class from Keith Diggle’s WEV HCS. Chris’ winning time was 30.78s.

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David Cuff with his Jedi was alone in the up to 600cc Racing Car Class, ending the meeting with a 35.54s run.

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The 601cc to 1100cc Racing Car class was James Moore’s (Empire 00) after the first run. He was very much the man of the moment putting together a 30.91s first timed run Murray Wakeham (OMS CF96) came in second, almost two and a half seconds adrift!

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Simon McBeath and his Swift SC92F won the Formula Ford Class. His 37.49s second timed run consolidated his first timed run lead.

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Peter D Smith, with his form and local knowledge, took the 1101cc to 1600cc Racing Car Class with the only sub 30s run in the class. His second timed run came in at 29.38s. Pete Hammock had a good weekend beating his personal best.

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Simon and Peter Marsh with their DJ Firehawk fought hard in the 1601cc to 2000cc Racing Car – Forced Induction class. Simon beat his brother, Peter, by just 0.11s. Simon finishing on 28.58s and earning him the Fastest Time of the Day!

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Anthony Record – Gurston Down Press Officer – BARC SW