Event Preview – 22nd and 23rd July – Midland Speed Championship

Gurston Down Speed Hill Climb hosts more fast and furious motorsport at our July meeting. There are over 130 cars and drivers facing the challenge of the legendary 12 feet wide, fast and twisty course at Wiltshire’s famous Speed Hill Climb Venue, Gurston Down.

The meeting on 22nd and 23rd July has a number of championships visiting as well as round four of the Meadens Skoda Gurston Down Championship and the Cavendish Ships Store Top Ten Challenge.

Saturday 22nd is practice day and Sunday 23rd is competition day.

The visiting championships are the highly competitive BMTR Midland Hill Climb Championship and the Dews Motor Club Championship.

The Formula Ford Festival has twenty four drivers entered. Paul O’Neill, ITV’s BTCC pundit, ex-touring car and British GT Championship driver is returning for his second hill climb event at Gurston Down. He will be sharing Mark Alley’s 1991 Swift.

With unrivalled access to the hill, paddock, cars, drivers and facilities available to our spectators, the weekend promises to be a veritable sceptical of sound and speed. We have excellent catering and refreshments on site too!

The weekend’s event gets underway with Saturday’s three practice runs and one practice and two timed runs on Sunday.

The BMTR Midland Hill Climb Championship has a different class structure to Gurston’s championship. The class a competitor runs in is dependant on the type of licence the driver has as well as the type of car. There are two main categories of licence, B and A. As a consequence, some of the usual class are separated into two.

Here’s the full class preview.

The Record-Designs Road Going Series Production Cars up to 2000cc classes runs first.

The B Licence drivers will go first. This class is a difficult class to predict. Gurston regulars, Russell and Christopher Davies are likely front runners, in the Honda Civic Type R they share but the Renault Clio 172 of Rob Brodie could be in with a shout.

The A Licence class has some very experienced drivers, in some very quick cars. With Gurston regulars, Tim Forster (Lotus Elan), Dean Cubitt (Mazda MX5) and Miles Horne (Peugeot 306) having a few have visitors, Nick and David West (Peugeot 106) and Richard Brant (Renault Clio Sport) looking for championship points and a class win.

The Turbo Dynamics Over 2000cc Road Going Series Production Cars Classes are next to come to the line.

Sarah Fudge has the B Licence class to her self. She’s been going quicker and quicker all season. There’s a great video of Sarah’s personal best on our Facebook page!

The A Licence class has been dominated in the recent past by the class record holder and 2016 Gurston Down Champion, Stephen Moore and his Mitsubishi Evo. Everyone in this class has Gurston experience so it will be as competitive as ever!

Up next is the Fieldfare Trailer Centre Road Going Specialist Production Car Classes.

The B Licence class will probably go to Clive Skipper and his Caterham 7 HPC. His Gurston experience could be the deciding factor in this class. There will be a great video of Clive in action at our June meeting on our Facebook soon.

The A Licence class runs next. Gurston regular, Adrian Lewis and his Westfield Superbusa, will have his work cut out in this class, this weekend. David and Allan Warburton and their Caterham 7 and Raymond Lohr’s Caterham Supersport join Adrian.

The up to 1400cc Modified Series Production Cars Class has a good entry. The current class record holder, Neil Turner, won’t just have the Mini’s of Derek Mullis, David Bean and Julian Harber as competition. Andrew Russell and the lovely Imp engined Ginetta G15 is not going to make it easy. Neil is in a strong position in the Meadens Skoda Championship, so a good result is important.

Next to go will be the Tipadel 1401cc to 2000cc Modified Series Production Cars Classes.

The B Licence class has just two entrants, Scott Hanham and his Ford Fiesta and Laurence Colvin in his MG TF. These two will have a good battle for the class win.

The A Licence class has three entrants. On previous form Ralph Pinder (Peugeot 205) and Martyn Pike (Ford Escort) are likely to be the top two.

The Meadens Skoda Over 2000cc Modified Series Production Car Classes are next.

The B Licence class has two extremes of cars in the line up. The rear wheel drive BMW 325i of Steve Elliott and Jeremy Bloor and the front wheel drive, supercharged VW Polo of Giorgio Demetriou are an interesting match.

The A Licence class has some great sounding cars! The Aston Martin Vantage of Tim Painter and Andrew Fraser, the Porsche Caymans of Mark Walker and Duncan Andrews and the very quick Vauxhall VX220 of Mike Turpin. The winner? It will be the best car and driver combination on the day.

The Gates of Brokenhurst Over 2000cc Modified Specialist Production Cars Classes have good entries and run next.

The B Licence class sees a field of Westfields. With three roughly equal cars and three great drivers, this class will be close. On previous form, Ritchie Gatt and Martin Watson are the fastest two.

The A Licence class sees four Midland Championship contenders up against two Gurston regulars. Mike Rudge and Anthony Orchard usually fight each other for the class win so it will be interesting to see how our visitors add to the mix.

The beautifully presented cars of the Kelvin Jouhar Historically Interesting Cars class take to the hill next. There are two gorgeous cars entered, the Lotus 22 of Geoff Hunt and the Chevron B19 of Richard and Amanda George. Geoff and his black and white Lotus 22 will probably take the class win.

There is a good entry in the Lewis Property Services Sports Libre Cars up to 2000cc Class. The Force LM shared by Jonathan Gates and championship sponsor Peter Sexton will be back after the car’s oil leak has been sorted. Everyone will be looking for Top Ten Challenge points as well as championship points.

Next up will be the Berazzi Wheels Sports Libre over 2000cc Class. Geoff Twemlow brings the lovely Saker GT back to Gurston Down. The Force SR8 should be back after it being an SR7 in June. The value has been fixed so Chris Cannell and Sue Hayes will be a tough team to beat!

The Drynham Project Management Limited 601cc to 1100cc Racing Car Classes run next

The B Licence class has just one entry, William Adams and his OMS 2000M.

The A Licence class, on the other hand, has thirteen entries. James Moore and his Empire Evo 2 has been on sparkling form this year. With a class full of fast cars and really experienced drivers, it will be close. This class is often settled by hundredths of seconds!

As part of the Gurston Down Formula Ford Festival, we have a huge class of cars entered. This class seems to grow at almost every meeting and the class record is coming down too! Simon McBeath, the current class record holder has stiff competition. Not only from ex-BTCC driver Paul O’Neill but from every other driver and car in the class. This class will be won or lost on the day and by just a few hundredths of a second!

The SM AeRoTechniques with Brian and Adrian Moody 1101cc to 1600cc Racing Car Class has a good entry. On present form, Ed Hollier and his Empire Evo will probably take the win. It’s fair to say that the real battle here is probably for second. But Tina Hawks’ recent form has been great. She and her Force PC will be tough to beat.

The 1601cc to 2000cc Racing Car – Normally Aspirated Class has a great entry. There are so many drivers that could win this class. The top five are likely to be: Terry Davis (OMS CF09); Tim Elmer (Dallara F399); Johnathen Varley (March 772P); Roger Cook (Pilbeam MP58) and Tim Davis (Pilbeam MP88).

The 1601cc to 2000cc Racing Car – Forced Induction Class has a small but very fast entry list. If the Gould GR59 of Paul Haimes can behave itself then the class will surely be his. Andrew McBeath and his OMS25 and Kelvin Broad and his Pilbeam MP101 are the other two entrants and should not be discounted.

Then come the main contenders for Fastest Time of the Day, the over 2000cc Racing Car Class. Jason Mourant and his 4.0 litre Judd powered, Gould GR55 and the similarly powered Pilbeam MP97-03 of Sandra and Oliver Tomlin should all be in with a chance of the class win too!

There are two small classes of Sports Racing and Racing Cars up to 1971 and 1985.

The up to 1971 class has just one entry, the Brabham BT29X of Richard Jones. It’s a beautiful car!

The up to 1985 class has three entries. The Pilbeam MP53-4 of Rodney Eyles will start favourite in this class.

The DoctorMX5 Gurston Down Mazda MX5 Class runs next. The current Meadens Skoda Gurston Down Championship leader, class record holder and the winner of the 2016 and 2017 Tony Marsh Memorial Trophy, Mark Crookall is favourite in this class. But Mark is sharing his car with John Davey, the MD of our Top Ten Challenge sponsor, Cavendish Ships Stores. His usual MG Midget dropped a valve whilst competing in France last month. With John, the regular competitors and some new faces too, Mark will be trying hard to score good championship points. He has a good lead in the championship at the moment, can he maintain that lead in a class that is getting more and more competitive as the weeks go by?

Steve Butts, a former Gurston Down Champion, and his Lotus Elise has the Modified Limited Production Marque Sports Cars up to 2000cc Class to himself.

The Over 2000cc Modified Limited Production Marque Sports Car Class has another good entry. Steve Holley and his TVRGriffith, Paul Slade and the Jaguar E Type as well as Graham Beale and his Ginetta. But former Gurston Down Champions, Simon Purcell bring his Lotus Elise which probably means it will be a race for second for the rest of the class!

Last of the classes to run will be the Dews Motor Club Championship. This class is likely to be dominated by the gorgeous Maguire Mini of Derek Kessell. It’s a class of eclectic cars so very difficult to predict. Robert Hiscock as his Caterham and Steve Harris with his Corsa could also be in with a chance.

Then we will have the BMTR Midland Championship Run-Offs. The fastest ten cars registered in the champion, will go head to head from championship points. Fastest Time of the Day could also be had here.

Why not join us?

For more up to date information, check our Facebook link at the top of the page!

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 July 22nd – PRACTICE – 09:00 until 15:00 and Sunday July 23rd – COMPETITION – 09:00 to 17:00.
Admission: Saturday £6 and Sunday £10 for adults, accompanied under 14s free, free paddock entry, free parking.

 

Anthony Record – Press Officer – BARC SW, Gurston Down Speed Hill Climb