There were seven drivers with six cars at the Gurston Down June hillclimb and the weather was warm, dry and sunny.

Practice

Everyone completed the first practice OK. But on second practice Darrell Woods in his Staride went straight on after Deers Leap instead of following the left hand bend and he ended up in the marshals post where he had to be pushed out so that he could continue up the hill. Alistair Dent had fuel problems (needle in the float bowl was jammed closed) and failed to make second practice. New comers Tim Ross and Ted Sharp bought an RGR with a Triumph unit engine from New Zealand last year. They stripped it down and re-built it as it hadn’t been run for six years and this was their third outing with it. They were struggling with their gearing, but managed to complete both practices.

Darrell gets his Staride off the line

Timed Runs

On the first timed run Mark Riley got his left foot jammed on the brake pedal linkage, when he left the line and tried to change gear he pressed down the clutch and at the same time he also pressed on the brake! He realised what was happening and decided to change gear without the clutch for the rest of that run! Patrick Riley was pleased to have put in his best timed run at Gurston Down and John Dent forgot to put his car into top gear as he neared the finish, but despite that he finished first. Alistair Dent slide sideways at Ashes, due to trying too hard!

Mark put in an impressive second run which put him in the lead, Darrell was only a few hundredths of a send behind John’s best time and Tim decided to do some crop harvesting!

Alistair gets of the line in the Hornet

John in his Cooper

Results