Apex, the BARC member magazine and BARC’s 2023 Season Review are dropping through a letter near you soon.
The Turbo Dynamics Championship and the Online Cleaning Technologies Top Ten Challenge are featured on page 61 of 2023 Season Review and the final report of the 2023 year on page 61 of Apex magazine.
After a great season in 2023, we are pleased to detail a list of all the winners.
1st Steve Holland wins THE GUARDS AUTOCROSS TROPHY and £250.00
2nd Ben Bonfield
3rd Andrew Forsyth
1st Steve Butts wins THE WADHAM STRINGER / BRUNTON TROPHY and £250.00
2nd Adrian Lewis
3rd Russell Davies
Class 4 MX5 – Series Production Mazda MX5 Road Cars up to 2000cc
Chris Burch, wins THE RECORD DESIGNS MX5 AWARD
Class 4a – Series Production Road Cars up to 1400cc
John Davey
Class 4b – Series Production Road Cars 1401cc – 2000cc
Russell Davies
Class 4c – Series Production Road Cars over 2000cc – Supported by Turbo Dynamics
1st Steve Cox
2nd Simon Neve
Class 4d – Specialist Production Road Cars
Adrian Lewis
Class 5 – Modified Limited Production Marque Sports Cars up to 2000cc
Steve Butts
Class 6 – Modified Limited Production Marque Sports Cars over 2000cc
Graham Beale
Class 7 – Modified Production Cars up to 1400cc
Jim White
Class 8 – Modified Production Cars 1401cc – 2000cc
Steve Jackman
Class 9 – Modified Production Cars over 2000cc
Stephen Moore
Class 11 – Modified Specialist Production Cars, any capacity
Steve Holland
Class 13 – Historically Interesting Cars, pre 1973, any capacity – Supported by Kelvin Jouhar
Fyrth Crosse, wins the KEIR & CAWDER QUAICH
Class 15a – Sports Libre Cars up to 1400cc
Tim Pitfield
Class 16– Sports Libre Cars over 2000cc
Mike Rudge
Class 19 – Racing Cars 601cc – 1100cc – Supported by Rhiannon
1st Ben Bonfield wins the TOM ELTON TROPHY
2nd Luke Trotman
3rd Stephen Loadsman
Class 20 – Racing Cars 1101cc – 1600cc
Andrew Forsyth wins the A & S RACING TROPHY
Class 20B – Racing Cars Built up to 1985
Peter Hannam
Class 21a – Racing Cars 1601cc – 2000cc (Normally Aspirated) – Supported by New Techniques
Tony Wiltshire wins THE CHAIRMANS CUP
Class 22 – Racing Cars over 2000cc
Paul Crute
MARSH & MASTERS TROPHY – Awarded to the competitor scoring the highest number of points in the Gurston Championship who at the beginning of the season was 65 or over – Jim White
MARSH MEMORIAL TROPHY – Awarded to the BARC SW Championship Competitor who makes the greatest improvement in, or is nearest to, their class record during the two July Meetings – Steve Holland
PENSKE MARSHAL OF THE YEAR – Darren Fry
HEATHER BRAMPTON TROPHY – Awarded to the lady competitor who finishes highest in the Gurston Championship – Jennifer Stangle
TERENCE TATTAM MEMORIAL TROPHY – Awarded to the driver of the highest placed Open Sports Car in the Gurston Championship –Steve Butts
LOGETTE CUP – Awarded to the driver of the highest-placed Saloon or Closed Sports Car in the Gurston Championship – Jim White
PITT TROPHY – Awarded to the driver of the highest-placed Sports Libre Car in the Gurston Championship – Mike Rudge
DORCHESTER PLANNING CONSULTANCY TROPHY – Awarded to the competitor who has not won an award at any Gurston meeting, however, has scored the highest number of points in the Gurston Championship– Rob Brodie
CORONA CHALLENGE CUP – Awarded to the BARC SW member who makes the greatest improvement in a Class Record during the season – Steve Butts
PAT CHANT MEMORIAL TROPHY – Awarded for the most outstanding contribution by a Gurston lady during the season. – Gwyneth Wright
KEITH SALMON MEMORIAL TROPHY – Awarded to the Competitor based on concours presentation AND Championship performance, judged by the Gurston Committee – Graham Beale
PARKHOUSE & WYATT CHALLENGE TROPHY– Awarded to the Championship competitor based on concours presentation throughout the season. Cars are judged by the Gurston Committee on the basis of age, cleanliness, finish, safety and fitness for purpose – Paul Crute
PITSTOP TROPHY – Awarded to “Driver of the Season” who has not won an Annual Award – Dan Friel
THE JOHN FORSYTH ENDEAVOUR AWARD – Andrew Hext
STAN HUNT MEMORIAL TROPHY – Murray Wakeham
A&OE
Motorsport UK has issued revised Formula Ford regulations. These will apply to our Formula Ford Class in the Gurston Championship.
Here’s the link: Revised Formula Ford Regulations
E&OE
We are making some changes to our Championship classes and adding new classes. Here’s a summary, there will be more information once the details are finalised:
Road Cars MX5 Class – MK3 or NC Mazda MX5s will be included in this class. All 1.8 and 2.0 litre MK3s will be permitted. MK3s will be required to run on list 1A tyres and have no modification to their inlet and exhaust manifolds. Forced induction is not permitted as are modifications and remaps to the ECU.
The Over 2000cc Road Car Class – This class will be split into two, separating the four-wheel drive cars from the two-wheel drive cars.
We will be introducing two classes:
Standard Road Cars Class – This class will be in accordance with the MSUK Blue Book regulations, subject to some additional safety requirements.
Rally Car Class – This class will be for Rally Cars.
Fuller details will be published once these have been formally agreed.
The 2023 Annual Awards Dinner is being held at The Stones, High Post, Near Salisbury on the 25th of November 2023.
Get your place using the forms below:
Word Version of Annual Awards 2023
pdf Version of Annual Awards 2023
Places are limited so please get your forms back as soon as you can.
We have a discounted room rate at The Stones for the night of 25th November, including breakfast. Make sure you call The Stones, and mention that you are part of the BARC SW / Gurston Down Awards.
Reg sadly died on 28th September aged 91.
Originally from South London, Reg joined the Hawker Siddeley aircraft company as an engineering apprentice. Later he applied to join British Airways and became a flight engineer. He thoroughly enjoyed the work, and in particular long-haul flights as the stop overs allowed him to enjoy his other passion which was golf at some of the best international golf courses.
His introduction to motorsport was in the 50’s when he rallied a TR2. Later Reg purchased an Aston Martin DB4 which he raced with a friend. However, the cost was such that he had to stop and later purchased a 500. His love affair with Gurston goes back to at least the 1970’s and he regularly competed right through till the 2000’s. Even in his later years he still occasionally competed at Shelsley Walsh, Prescott and Wiscombe. His wife Jean was always at his side encouraging him to continue to use both Coopers. His twin cam powered Cooper T65, and his 1956 Cooper Bobtail which he had restored back to ex-works condition.
Reg never lost his interest in hillclimbing, and always wanted to know how his friends were doing. He always had a wide smile and made friends right across the paddock. He was excellent company and will be greatly missed by all who knew him.
Mike Broome
Here are the 2024 Event Dates, since our original announcement, back in June, we have changed the date of the July meeting:
Sunday 7th April 2024
Saturday 27th and Sunday 28th April 2024
Saturday 25th and Sunday 26th May 2024 – British Hillclimb Championship
Saturday 15th and Sunday 16th June 2024
Saturday 6th and Sunday 7th July 2024 – The Tony Marsh Memorial Weekend
Saturday 3rd and Sunday 4th August 2024
Saturday 24th and Sunday 25th August 2024
Set down day is expected to be Monday 26th August 2024 – a Bank Holiday
DATES ARE PROVISIONAL BUT WE DO NOT EXPECT THEM TO CHANGE
School dates will be published in due course, but these are expected to be:
Tuesday 2nd April 2024
Tuesday 7th May 2024
Tuesday 4th June 2024
Tuesday 2nd July 2024
E&OE
We are sad to announce that Tony Bishop died on the 14th of September 2023.
Many years ago, Tony served as our Chief Scrutineer; those who competed back then will probably remember him. Here is a picture of him enjoying his other passion, vintage tractors.
Rest in Peace.
The 2023 Turbo Dynamics Gurston Down Championship finished on a high after our August meetings.
Our overall champion was confirmed as Steve Butts. Steve has now one the Gurston Down Championship a record four times, quite an achievement.
Here are the class results in the Turbo Dynamics Gurston Down Championship.
| Position | Driver | Car |
Points |
|
1 |
Chris Burch | Mazda Roadster RS |
301.36 |
|
2 |
Richard Morton | Mazda Roadster RS |
270.67 |
Chris Burch, who shares the Mazda Roadster with Richard Morton, has had a great season. The lead in this class, and the overall championship at many points, has been switching between the two throughout the season. Chris finished sixth overall and Richard was thirteenth overall in the championship.
| Position | Driver | Car |
Points |
|
1 |
John Davey | MG Midget / Renault R8 |
266.24 |
John had a great season, at one point he was eighth overall and ended the season fourteenth. The MG Midget has been suffering from minor oil leaks all season. The leak forced him out of the Saturday in August, meaning he dashed home to get the recently acquired Renault R8.
| Position | Driver | Car |
Points |
|
1 |
Russell Davies | Honda Civic Type R |
307.64 |
|
2 |
Daniel Friel | Honda Civic Type R |
305.78 |
|
3 |
Gary Hull | Ford Fiesta ST |
53.24 |
Russell Davies and Daniel Friel, in their respective Hondas, have been swapping places in this class and the overall championship all season. Between them, they took third and fourth in the overall championship with Russell third and Daniel fourth.
| Position | Driver | Car |
Points |
|
1 |
Steve Cox | VW Golf R |
261.31 |
|
2 |
Simon Neve | Mitsubishi Evo |
234.51 |
|
3 |
Clive Stangle | Mitsubishi Evo |
87.45 |
Steve Cox in the VW Golf R has had a great season, not just winning the class but he qualified for a few Top Ten Run-offs too.
The results don’t show how close Steve and Simon Neve in his Mitsubishi Evo were all season. They have been swapping first and seconds in class for almost all of the year’s rounds.
| Position | Driver | Car |
Points |
|
1 |
Adrian Lewis | Westfield |
309.88 |
|
2 |
Clive Skipper | Caterham |
275.71 |
|
3 |
Rob Brodie | Fisher Fury |
259.53 |
Adrian Lewis in his Westfield, had a great season. He not only won the class but came second overall, a great result. Here is another car and driver combination to watch out for in 2024.
Only championship entrant in this class was Steve Butts in the Lotus Elise. His performance throughout the season gave Steve the overall championship and his fourth Gurston Down Championship.
| Position | Driver | Car |
Points |
|
1 |
Graham Beale | Ginetta G33 |
288.65 |
|
2 |
Paul Slade | Jaguar XKE |
198.88 |
|
3 |
Mark Walker | Porsche Cayman |
137.19 |
Graham Beale in the Ginetta G33 had a great season. Qualifying for multiple Top Ten run-offs as well as taking the 2023 class championship and ninth overall.
| Position | Driver | Car |
Points |
|
1 |
James White | Mini |
297.48 |
|
2 |
David Bean | Mini |
207.19 |
|
3 |
Neil Turner | Mini |
74.59 |
James White in his super fast Mini has made this class his own this season. He also finished eighth overall. In the early part of the season, Neil Turner was switching places and points with James but didn’t compete during the second half. These two would probably pushed each other and there may have been a very different result in the overall championship.
Steve had this class to himself this year and scored 96.71 points.
| Position | Driver | Car |
Points |
|
1 |
Stephen Moore | Mitsubishi Evo |
140.76 |
|
2 |
Jim Herbert | Mitsubishi Evo |
118.27 |
Stephen Moore and Jim Herbert in their respective Mitsubishi Evo have been fighting in this class all season. They have been breaking and re-breaking the class record all season.
| Position | Driver | Car |
Points |
|
1 |
Steve Holland | Caterham Hayabusa |
300.28 |
|
2 |
Dan Young |
156.80 |
Steve Holland in his Caterham has had a great fantastic season. Not only leading the class championship, setting a new class record, winning the Tony Marsh Memorial Award, and winning the Online Cleaning Technologies Top Ten Challenge but he’s also finished 7th in the overall championship. Looks like the Awards Dinner will be a busy night for Steve.
| Position | Driver | Car |
Points |
|
1 |
Fyrth Cross | Dempster Ensign LNF3 |
283.84 |
|
2 |
Mike Broome | Alexis Mk17 |
147.11 |
Fyrth Crosse and his Dempster Ensign LNF3 have had another great season full of consistent performances and finishes giving him the class title.
| Position | Driver | Car |
Points |
|
1 |
Tim Pitfield | DJ Firecat |
82.59 |
|
2 |
Craig Russell | Westfield XTR |
66.70 |
Tim Pitfield and his DJ Firecat had significant issues during the season which held his championship and top ten challenge back.
Mike in the Force SR8 had a very good season after acquiring the SR8 late last year. He finished fifth in the Online Cleaning Technologies Top Ten Challenge and it will be an interesting next season now Mike is getting used to the car.
| Position | Driver | Car |
Points |
|
1 |
Ben Bonfield | Jedi Mk4 |
303.24 |
|
2 |
Luke Trotman |
265.23 |
|
|
3 |
Stephen Loadsman | OMS |
241.88 |
Ben Bonfield has had a great season. He has finished second in the Top Ten Run-off and fifth in the overall championship. Various issues with the Jedi he shares with Tony, did not seem to affect his class results. There were great performances by the entire class.
| Position | Driver | Car |
Points |
|
1 |
Andrew Forsyth | OMS |
258.53 |
Andrew Forsyth entered just eight weekend events in 2023. He competed alone in the class. He was third in the Online Cleaning Technologies Top Ten Challenge, had he competed at more events, he may well have been the 2023 Challenge winner.
| Position | Driver | Car |
Points |
|
1 |
Tony Wiltshire | Ralt RT34 |
123.33 |
Tony Wiltshire and his Ralt did not compete for the full season but finished 11th in the Challenge.
Paul Crute in the lovely OMS28 Jaguar is on his own in this class. He finished with 261.76 points and fourth place in the Online Cleaning Technologies Top Ten Challenge. A great season for Paul.
We thank Turbo Dynamics for their continued support of our championship in 2023.
E&OE
Our 2023 season at Gurston Down concluded with a great weekend of hill climbing.
The 2023 Turbo Dynamics Championship was finally concluded after some stunning performances by so many drivers. We thank Turbo Dynamics for their continued support of our championship in 2023.
We are pleased to announce that Steve Butts in his Lotus Elise is the 2023 Turbo Dynamics Gurston Down Champion.
Steve Butts driving the Lotus Elise has had an outstanding season and he becomes the first driver to manage a fourth championship
Second was Adrian Lewis in the Westfield. Adrian has scored consistently throughout the season, but needed to get slightly closer to the class’s target time. But there is always next season!
Third was Russel Davies in the Honda Civic Type R. He and his fellow class member, Daniel Friel, who ended up fourth overall, were chasing each other hard all season. A great performance by them both.
Full Overall Championship Results can be found here:
The Turbo Dynamics Gurston Down Championship SEASON RESULTS
E&OE