Scott Moran powered into the lead of the MCL Motorhomes British Hillclimb Championship last weekend after taking both run-off wins at Shelsley Walsh. Under pressure from his top qualifying rival, Martin Groves spun out of the opening shoot-out and failed to score, but a marginally more cautious runner-up spot in the second run-off (‘I couldn’t afford to drop another round!’ confessed the three-times champion) left Moran with a three point series lead. An on-form Paul Ranson continued his climb up the championship table to fifth place, with second and third in the run-offs. After taking a front corner off the Gould-Judd during Saturday’s practice, Tom New (pictured) recovered brilliantly to finish fourth in the closing run-off, beating co-driver Chris Merrick for the first time.

            The best weather of the year so far prompted several new class records, including the pre-71 racing car mark as Richard Jones and the Brabham-BDA shaved four hundredths of Peter Voigt’s 5-years-old Techcraft-Buick standard.

            Full report in Speedscene 154.

Championship positions after Shelsley Walsh: 1 Scott Moran 97pts; 2 Martin Groves 94; 3 Chris Merrick 71; 4 Trevor Willis 68; 5 Paul Ranson 59; 6 Roger Moran 53; etc.

            Full report in Speedscene 154.

British Hillclimb Championship positions after Gurston: 1 Martin Groves 85pts; 2 Scott Moran 77; 3 Chris Merrick 59; 4 Trevor Willis 55; 5 Roger Moran 43; 6 Paul Ranson 42; etc.

 Anyone wishing to send flowers or to donate to a charity of their choice in Tony’s name should contact the undertakers, Michael Miller & Partners, Buriton House, 27A High Street, Petersfield, Hampshire, GU32 3JR (01730 233244).

 Alternatively, The Marsh family have decided that Tony would have liked to do something for the marshals at Gurston Down hillclimb, with which he was so much involved since its inception in 1967. If anyone wishes to donate towards this, cheques should be made payable to the undertakers and posted to their address (above) with a covering note stating Tony Marsh Motor Racing Marshals Fund. Any queries regarding this fund should be made to Graham Masters, who has kindly offered initially to arrange this on behalf of the family. Graham can be contacted on 02392 828430 (w) or 736217 (h).

 Outqualified by his father Roger (pictured), who topped the Q-sheets with a time that would remain as the best of the day, Scott Moran ran early to bag the second run-off win in similar conditions, making it a family clean sweep on the day. Once again, Groves secured third place despite running almost last. He still heads the championship table, but Scott Moran is closing the gap and after a consistently good weekend, Chris Merrick holds third place.

            Full report in Speedscene 154.

Championship positions after Harewood: 1 Martin Groves 66pts; 2 Scott Moran 58; 3 Chris Merrick 45; 4 Trevor Willis 42; 5 Roger Moran 33; 6 Paul Ranson 27; etc.

            In-depth tributes to HSA members Tony Marsh and Allan Staniforth will follow in Speedscene 154

Dave Gardner, sharing John Forsyth’s well known 3.5litre Pilbeam MP58, broke John’s 1996 record on both days to leave it at 33.94sec, an improvement of 0.87sec. Otherwise a busy weekend with obviously fine track conditions following overnight rains. With resurfacing planned for later this year that record must surely be at risk in 2010?

Another weekend and yet another round of the Richard Egger Insurance/HSA Championship. In fact two rounds with the weekend of hillclimbing at Wiscombe Park. Track conditions started slippery on Saturday but improved with a dry and windy day, Sunday was generally better although interspersed with two light showers. Inevitably there were a few incidents and our John Bradshaw may be sidelined for several rounds following an off with his Striker.

Saturday and Matt Carter took his class award and set a new REI/HSA Championship class A2 record. Geoff Kershaw, Vincent Dubois and Neil Duncanson did the same in class C3, Geoff leading our pack and a class 2^nd on the day by just 0.21sec from Wiscombe icon Jonathan Williamson in this 911. Similarly the two Johns set a new standard in class W2 with their shared Ralt RT3.

Sunday and Geoff Kershaw again set a new standard in class C3 with Vincent snapping at his heals. Class W2 and the two Johns both broke Burton’s Saturday record and split by just 0.03sec!

Both days saw Dave Gardner split the overall honours with John Forsyth in their shared MP58.

‘This is my best start to a season yet,’ said Martin Groves, after two straight wins at Prescott on Sunday raised his tally to three out of four in this year’s MCL Motorhomes British Hillclimb Championship. After trading hill records with him at Loton Park’s opening rounds a fortnight ago Groves’ main rival, defending champion Scott Moran, chased him home each time at Prescott. The Championship is already beginning to look like a two-horse race as the leading pair, split now by just two points, lead the third placed  Deryk Young by a 14 point margin. However there are still 30 rounds to run and, as last year’s runner-up Groves demonstrated after his disastrous start to the 2008 season, anything can happen.

After a two-week break, the British Hillclimb circus heads north for the most hectic weekend of the series. Two rounds at Cumbria’s fast and picturesque Barbon Manor course on May 9^th are followed by a trip across the Pennines to Harewood, the longest hill in the Championship, for two more rounds the following day.

            Full Prescott report in Speedscene 153.

Championship positions after rounds 3 & 4: 1 Martin Groves 40pts; 2 Scott Moran 38; 3 Deryk Young 24; 4 Chris Merrick 23; 5 Trevor Willis 22; 6 Jos Goodyear 21; etc.

Bruce Fullerton has had a March 78B and Lola T460 Atlantic, which are campaigned in the HSCC Championship, stolen from a garage last week.  He is trying to spread the word around the motor racing community to both get the cars back as well as avoiding someone buying car/spares which are stolen.

A full report of both days’ motorsport will appear in Speedscene 153.

            Full report and pictures in Speedscene 153.

Championship positions after rounds 1 and 2: 1= Scott Moran and Martin Groves 20pts; 3= Deryk Young and Jos Goodyear 15; 5 Chris Merrick 9; 6 Roger Moran 8; etc.

Sunday 5^th April saw the opening round of the Richard Egger Insurance/HSA Speed Championship held in bright and dry, but cold conditions at Curborough organised by the MGCC. Overnight campers reported ice on the inside of their tents – Brave!

It was a 2 lap event so all Class winners were establishing HSA record times.  20 Championship contenders finally made the start line with Matt Clarke, running first, but on his own in the Class with a fine 1^st run at 71.23 secs.  The Imp Class saw the Cairney father and son team battle with newcomer Graeme Williamson, father Stuart running out the eventual winner with a 70 dead, some 1.35 secs in front of son, Andrew.

Class A2.1, the Mazda MX5 class saw last year’s winner Barbara Fogden, with the 1590cc engine, battling with the larger 1840cc units of Kevin Hamilton and John Gallagher. Surprising extra competitor on the day was Robert Way since his normal 600cc Jedi had succumbed to fuel feed problems, so Rob used his entry for a day out. Robert led the day with 2 very fast drives and a best of 71.14 secs which compared favourably to the days Class winner John Gallagher at 72.56. Barbara was pleased with her 74.47 secs but needs a gate to stop engaging 5^th instead of 3^rd on her upshifts!!!

Class A2 saw Matt Carter at the wheel of the Honda S2000 stopping the clocks at 67.86 secs to beat the Lotus Elise of Jim Stevens and newcomer co-driver Farid Ahmed. With 2007 Champion John Bradshaw unfortunately a non starter Bob Gale's Westfield took the B2 with a quick 65.26 secs.

Unfortunately last year’s woes continued for the dual driven MG TF of Simon Andrews and Bernard Kevill in Class C2. The engine blew as Simon crossed the line on his first timed run. A cracked liner was the initial diagnosis.

Richard Colwill, on his own in the Class F Radical, did well to run under the magic minute achieving a best time of 59.68 secs.  Five single seaters  concluded the day all running in different Classes. Paul Tinsley 57.14, Chris Machell 59.62, Darren Gumbley running in new tyres at 61.58 and a storming FTD time of 54.64 for Paul Masters in the 998cc Jedi.

The next round sees competitors take to the hills for the first time this season and will take place at Gurston Down on the 18^th April.  A healthy entry list is reported and weather permitting the early season pace-setters form should shine through.

Loton Park on Easter Monday sees the start of this year’s 34-round MSA British Hillclimb Championship. The series is sponsored for the sixth successive time by Mike Endean, this year through his MCL Motorhomes company, and the event will see all 2008’s top contenders in action including former double champion Graeme Wight Jr in the charismatic Predator V10, who takes on a competitive field of big single-seaters headed by reigning title-holder Scott Moran, former triple champ Martin Groves and rising star Trevor Willis.

With his Rover V6 powered Pilbeam appearing at Loton in the hands of its new owner, Cornishman Mike Tregoning, former 2-litre ace Tom New gets his first taste of V8 power alongside Chris Merrick. His successor to the number 10 spot in the Championship, Paul Haimes in the Dallara, heads a strong 2-litre class which also sees the return of another former champion, Adam Fleetwood. The former hill record-holder will partner father Roger in the ex.Wallace Menzies supercharged DJ Firehawk-Suzuki.

Expect more fireworks as Will Hall, now with a bigger Hayabusa in his Force, takes on rapid Welshman Eynon Price and the rest in a competitive 1600 class. Driving his awesome 700bhp Puma-Gould, Endean himself will join the new Mallock-BDG of Chris and Ashley Ward among the sports libres. A good entry of classic racers is headed by defending UK Changes Midland Hillclimb Champion Peter Cox’s beefy Chevron-Rover, while Paul Matty Classic champ Richard Jones in his Brabham-BDA will come under fire from Simon Durling’s Brabham-Buick and HSA stalwart Alan Goodwin’s Aldon AL3 sportsracer in the pre-‘72 class.

With practice on Easter Sunday, April 12, the competitive action gets under way the following day after a final practice session starting at 9.00am

Online registration is now LIVE!

A reminder that the HSA will be present the Autosport Show at the NEC at the end of this week on stand 7040 as guests of our championship sponsor, Richard Egger Insurance. Several members will be there each day, so do pop along for a chat whatever your interest - official, enthusiast, veteran competitor or completely new to the world of speed hill climbing and sprints we will be delighted to see you and be happy to provide up-to-date information and answer questions.

News has just surfaced that the two cars have been recovered, the March untouched and Lola dismantled but everything still there. How pleasant to have a good news story!

Many competitors have already signed up to attend the Awards lunch and it looks set to be a busy afternoon; Steve Wilkinson will be hosting and offering the audience his 'birds-eye' round up of our Championship year,  there are more than 40 awards to be presented, not to mention some interesting photo footage to be seen. Maybe those yet undecided might be pursuaded by news that the provisional 2009 calendar will also be 'unveiled'. A website announcement will follow during the following week.  

As broadcast on the Motors TV channel in November, these two hour-long seasonal reviews are now both available from Brayspeed on DVD in widescreen format. They cover the Nicholson McLaren British Hillclimb Championship and the Gates of Brockenhurst Gurston Down Championship. These specially produced programmes include all the top action and many of Tony Wiltshire’s penetrating interviews as featured on the regular programmes, each with an all-new commentary by Jerry Sturman. For full details and selected video excerpts, visit: www.brayspeed.co.uk

In autumnal Curborough sunshine, John Palmer secured his sixth HSA Speed Championship title in style with a new class record at Curborough on Sunday. ‘Conditions were ideal this afternoon,’ said Palmer. ‘I was determined to break my old record that’s stood for over five years. ‘I’d beaten it before by two hundredths during a run-off, which didn’t count, but it’s good to have taken four hundredths off officially.’ His Westfield Zetec S left Curborough’s 1700 Roadgoing Specialist Production Car mark at 33.49 sec.

            Rival Steve Filkin in his Elise, who Palmer had beaten to the Paul Matty Midland Sprint title only the previous weekend at Curborough, had to also settle for second place in the Richard Egger Insurance backed HSA Championship. However long time series sponsor Alan Goodwin had a field day each weekend, with both cars powered by engines from his Aldon Automotive stable.

            After pipping equally hard trying Mini driver Hugh Whitcombe to the class win on his second run, the spectacular Matt Clarke found another half second to win the coveted Alan Payne Memorial Trophy for victory in the 16-strong class winners’ run-off. FTD went to Jeremy Wilson after not only he but his closest challengers, Curborough expert Glyn Sketchley in his 1100 Megapin-Yamaha and Simon Marsh in the Gould-Opel V6 went a little agricultural on their second runs!

            Full Championship results are now available elsewhere on the HSA website here, and a full report of the meeting will appear in issue 151 of Speedscene.

A delighted Graeme Wight Jr scored the first British Hillclimb Championship victory for his awesome V10 Predator on home turf at Doune, edging out Martin Groves by two hundredths of a second to win the opening run-off. Trailing smoke from a blown gearbox towards the end of the second shoot-out, he all but matched his earlier pace but had to settle for settle for second place after a superb closing effort by Groves. With traces of Wight’s gearbox oil still on the track on the final bend, the outgoing British champion took the win a mere hundredth of a second outside his outright hill record.

Final British Hillclimb Championship positions: 1 Scott Moran 265pts; 2 Martin Groves 247; 3 Trevor Willis 209; 4 Roger Moran 178; 5 Chris Merrick 170; 6 Jos Goodyear 133; 7 Paul Ranson 123; 8 Basil Pitt 96; 9 Deryk Young 76; 10 Paul Haimes 63; etc.

A full set of 1-hour Brayspeed DVDs covering Nicholson McLaren British Hillclimb rounds at Gurston, Shelsley, Loton Park, Doune, Bouley Bay, Le Val des Terres, Wiscombe and Prescott, plus all four rounds of the Gates of Brockenhurst Gurston Down Championship, is now available. For full details and selected video excerpts, visit: www.brayspeed.co.uk

Despite having already lost this year’s British Hillclimb Championship to Scott Moran, Martin Groves showed he’d lost none of his fighting spirit as he stormed to the double run-off win and FTD at Loton Park, resetting Moran’s hill record by three hundredths of a second on his final run with a 44.53. At the end of another typically all-out performance by the outgoing champion, he’d exceeded Moran’s total of wins this year and equalled the new champion’s number of 2008 records.

            Scott didn’t get the chance to retaliate as his Gould was sidelined for the day after a steering rack ball-joint broke – at 120mph on Cedar Straight – during his father Roger’s first qualifying run of the day. Roger escaped unscathed after a happily minor off-course excursion, but with nothing more to prove this year they took the decision to withdraw the car.

            Still with an outside chance of catching Groves on the Championship table, Trevor Willis ran him close in the opening run-off before qualifying top for the second shoot-out, but then spun the OMS-Powertec out of the points at Fletchers. With two spectacular runs in the Predator V10, Graeme Wight Jr gave notice of his intention to return with a vengeance next year with third and second places respectively. The Scot is closing in to threaten Paul Haimes’ tenth place on the series table, and with Haimes also set to challenge fellow class winner Simon Fidoe in a PowerMec Leaders Championship showdown in the remaining round, there will still be plenty to play for at Doune’s Championship finale in a fortnight.

 British Championship standings after Loton Park: 1 Scott Moran 265pts; 2 Martin Groves 228; 3 Trevor Willis 201; 4 Roger Moran 178; 5 Chris Merrick 170; 6 Jos Goodyear 133; etc.

Trevor Willis took the fourth British Hillclimb win of his career and clinched the Midlands based 2008 Avon/BMTR Top Ten Challenge title as he sped to FTD at Prescott on Sunday. With his British title already relinquished to Scott Moran at Gurston a fortnight earlier, Martin Groves won the opening Nicholson McLaren run-off from the howling Predator V10 of Graeme Wight Jr after Willis slipped to ninth after a mistake on the wet track and Moran failed even to qualify. But in the drier second run-off, Willis hit top form with the only sub 40sec run of the day to deny Moran the win.

            With the non-appearance of closest rival Robert Kenrick, Peter Cox clinched the UK Changes Midland Hillclimb title in the big Chevron-Rover B42, giving a huge boost to the increasingly popular pre-86 single seater class on the Midland hills. With two rounds to go, at Loton Park and Doune, the PowerMec Leaders Hillclimb Championship is reaching a climax as a class win for Paul Haimes at Prescott put the 2-litre Dallara driver at the head of the series table, level with Simon Fidoe’s Pilbeam-Millington sportscar.

British Championship standings after Prescott: 1 Scott Moran 265pts; 2 Martin Groves 207; 3 Trevor Willis 194; 4 Roger Moran 178; 5 Chris Merrick 170; 6 Jos Goodyear 118; etc.

Mike Endean, MD of Nicholson McLaren who has sponsored the MSA British Hillclimb Championship for the last five years, announced his continued backing for the Championship at Gurston Down’s BHC event in August. In 2009 the series will be supported by Endean’s company MCL Motorhomes, based in North Wales. For more information visit www.mcl-motorhomes.com

After another weekend of misfortune for the Groves/Ranson team, Scott Moran finally secured his first British Hillclimb title at Gurston Down with six rounds in hand.

            Early runner Paul Ranson slid wide over the Karousel rumble strip in the opening run-off, punctured a tyre with a piece of the Gould’s carbonfibre aero diffuser broken in the incident and spun the car at Ashes. Moran stammered up in fifth place with an electrical problem and with a new wheel and tyre in place, penultimate runner Martin Groves set the outright pace, salvaging a reprieve from what was by now his almost inevitable championship fate and handed the win when top qualifier Jos Goodyear slid the Pilbeam-Judd into the Ashes barrier.

            But when Ranson stormed the Gould down into Hollow early in the second shoot-out, the car coasted to a halt with a broken third gear. With no time for repairs, Groves was unable to take his run. Goodyear made amends for his earlier mistake by taking the second British run-off win of his career and FTD in the process. But this fine achievement was a little overshadowed as with just a second place finish and Groves non-starting, a delighted Scott Moran had easily done enough to secure his first British Hillclimb title.

            Scott’s victory also drew a parallel with Graham and Damon Hill in F1 – together with father Roger’s 1997 title, it marked the first father and son championship winning pairing in British hillclimbing.

Championship standings after Gurston Down: 1 Scott Moran, 262pts; 2 Martin Groves 189; 3 Trevor Willis 186; 4 Roger Moran 171; 5 Chris Merrick, 157; 6 Jos Goodyear, 114; etc.

The event also drew a healthy 33 cars and drivers vying for Richard Egger HSA Speed Championship points. With the entry split into two sections for awards purposes, Chris Jones headed the saloon and sports car section with an enterprising couple of runs in the Westfield – rather too enterprising second time up as he spun off into the Karousel infield in an attempt to get on terms with Simonn Braithwaite’s class record, although the win was secure from defending champion John Bradshaw, who took just one run in the Striker. That could have proved Bradshaw's undoing as Neil Duncanson, no stranger to the venue in the big Quattro, closed to within eight hundredths for a strong third place ahead of championship second place man Steve Filkin in the Elise. Wil Ker howled the Mini Turbo home in fifth, while a fine second run by Richard Colwill hauled the Impreza up through the field to complete the top six.

            John Burton and John Opie ruled the racing section in their Steve Owen built Ralt-Vauxhall RT3, Fyrth Crosse finding a massive second run improvement in the historic Ensign to almost get on terms with Opie as he drew clear of Brian Ball’s tiny Force-Yamaha. A fine scrap between Tony Jarvis and Martin Webb in their shared Van Diemen ‘Pterodactyl’ RF 84 was only settled on aggregate in Jarvis’s favour, after both set identical second run times.

            Full report will follow in Speedscene 150.

The weather gods stepped in to move Scott Moran one step further towards a 2008 British Hillclimb title on the very last run of the day at Shelsley Walsh on Sunday.

            After qualifying top with a new class record, Martin Groves went on to set yet another outright Shelsley record, at 22.58s, and win the morning run-off from Moran. He topped the Q-sheets in the afternoon, too, ahead of his rival. But after Moran had edged in front of Groves’ co-driver Paul Ranson, Groves took his final run just as rain started to fall at the top of the hill. Clocking 135mph on the approach, he was a quarter of a second up on Moran to the Esses before he hit the now slippery tarmac. He controlled the slide, but the time was gone and he had to settle for eighth place, leaving Ranson to score a season-best second place – just three hundredths of a second away from his first ever British run-off win.

            Moran’s series lead is now 68 points and although it’s still mathematically possible for Groves to win a fourth successive British title, he will need a string of record-supported wins over the remaining eight rounds with Moran returning a series of mediocre scores, which seems unlikely given the championship leader’s current form.

            Full report in Speedscene 150.

Championship positions after Shelsley Walsh: 1 Scott Moran 247pts; 2 Martin Groves 179; 3 Trevor Willis 172; 4 Roger Moran 155; 5 Chris Merrick 144; 6 Jos Goodyear 104; etc.

All Coast mufflers feature all stainless steel TIG welded construction and can be repacked.

Two straight run-off wins and a new hill record at Craigantlet boosted Scott Moran’s already healthy lead in the Nicholson McLaren British Hillclimb Championship. Rival Martin Groves’ Gould didn’t even turn a wheel in anger, a gearbox output shaft breaking as co-driver Paul Ranson brought the car to the line for its very first practice run on the high speed Belfast road course. With no spare available, the car was sidelined for the day and Groves could only watch from the sidelines as Moran stretched his series lead to 63 points.

Having equalled former champion Adam Fleetwood’s outright record at last year’s event, Scott carved a whole quarter of a second off the mark on the very last run of the day and with ten rounds of this year’s championship remaining, must now be a strong favourite for the 2008 title.

A relatively small group of British contenders made the trip across the Irish Sea and with qualification certain – provided they completed the course and got a time – several drivers scored their first ever British points. Among them was Andrew Platt who, with two fifth place finishes in his 2-litre Dallara, moved straight up to 14^th place on the championship table. Tom New, however, desperate to gain ground on 2-litre rival Paul Haimes in his absence, crashed out of the opening run-off. Sustaining rear wing and gearbox damage, he failed to add to his score.

            Full report in Speedscene 150.

Championship standings after Craigantlet: 1 Scott Moran 228pts; 2 Martin Groves 165; 3 Trevor Willis 157; 4 Roger Moran 144; 5 Chris Merrick 138; 6 Jos Goodyear 95; etc.

Wiscombe Park celebrated its 50^th Anniversary year in style at July’s British Championship meeting. A cavalcade of hillclimb cars and drivers associated with the Devon hillclimb’s history took place at lunchtime, many of which took part in a special class to commemorate the event. Tony Freeman’s picture shows a small cross-section with British champions Chris Cramer, Roger Moran, Tony Marsh and his famous 4WD Marsh Special, together with Martin Groves and Roy Lane, who between them have taken no less than sixteen British titles.

            Groves and Scott Moran took up the cudgels once again in their duel for the 2008 title, with Groves taking his tenth win of the year in the opening run-off to level with Moran’s total. But in the final shoot-out the ever present Trevor Willis, despite bouncing nudging the bank at Sawbench with his OMS-Powertec, split the battling duo as Moran took the win.

            Full report in Speedscene 150 – or check the Woolbridge MC website: www.woolbridge.co.uk

 British Championship standings: 1 Scott Moran 207pts; 2 Martin Groves 165; 3 Trevor Willis 143; 4 Roger Moran 127; 5 Chris Merrick 121; 6 Jos Goodyear 95; etc.