The 10 or so HSA Competitors who decided on the trek to Norfolk were rewarded with a spendid double event weekend of high class Sprinting. Even the weather played ball by being dull and overcast on Saturday but sunny and warm for Sunday.

This was the 1st time that the HSA had attended the new'ish 100 sprint circuit. ALL of those attending considered the track superb, the race spec tarmac proving excellent grip and some very interesting high speed corners all run on a counter clockwise 1 3/4 circuit sprint. It was also 2 rounds of the Championship.

Whilst Saturday started damp and slippery the day ended with lots of new HSA records being set, top runner was Martin Webb in the Dallara with an 87.01s whilst Tony Jarvis recorded 89.1s3 in the same car. Richard Arrowsmith driving the Force topped the HSA class with 92.42s.

There were 54 entries from the Caterham Academy series on Saturday led by Henry Heaton at 103.60s. 

Sunday saw a higher track temperature, superb grip and most of Saturday's HSA records were improved upon. Tony Thomas in his, surprisingly only MX5, achieved a 112.57 closly followed by Peter Hubbard, Marcos, with a 114.91s. Unfortunately Keith Murray in the Audi dropped a valve on his 1st run so could not improve on a blisstering 93.19s Saturday time.

Fyrth Crosse decimated his Saturday time with 96.03s, Mark Patterson at 101.91s got the better of his driving partner Robert Pallet at 107.19s in their Jamin FF.

Johathan Plowe attended Sunday and found his delightful Fiat X19 reluctant to go round corners suffering dramatic understeer but achieved a creditable 124.65s

Overall an event definitely for the 2014 calendar.

After a disappointingly wet start to Saturday practice, Sunday proved to be a perfect day with many of the 25 or so HSA competitors setting PBs .

However Simon Andrews had a BIG off after crossing, cartwheeling the OMS and losing two wheels. Pleased to report I saw him walking across the paddock as I left showing no signs of damage, only to his bank balance.

Geoff Stallard was out in his newly finished Elan and recorded 34.49 for 2nd in Class P1, Johnathan Plowe had his newly aquired Fiat X19 running very well for a 39.52. Hugh Whitcomb was out again in the Mini Cooper S after a years sabbatical and quickly got down to a 39.54, beating Peter Hubbard's Marcos time of 40.26 in Class O for Classics.

A great show of 10 Flatheads in Class Z saw Neil Bennett's last run of 39.55 top the class with Mark Brett close behind at 39.73.

Trevor Willis won both of the Avon/BMTR run-offs with a best of 24.21 - wow, that is quick!

Another weekend and competitors in the 2013 SBD/HSA speed championship were heading west, either to Worcestershire or to North Cornwall. Both weekend affairs, Rounds 9 and 10 were held at Werrington, two separate ‘B’ club events, held on a private estate available only one weekend every year. There was a modest and enthusiastic HSA entry and it was good have a numbner of West Country residents competing.

It was raining Saturday morning and despite voices of doom in the paddock the track was dry by P2 and remained so for the remainder of the weekend. With the top half of the track resurfaced, completing the work started in 2012, quick times were expected and the good crowd of spectators on both days were not disappointed.

Fastest driver on both days was SBD/HSA championship contender and local resident Terry Graves in his sparkling Gould GR37, 34.14s and 32.61s, the latter a new hill record. On both days he was chased home by another SBD/HSA championship contender, Andy Dinner in his Pilbeam MP82, again a local resident!

There were plenty of other class records whilst SBD/HSA contenders were breaking the championship records in profusion.

Sunday the 28^th was cooler and overcast, the weather forecast suggesting rain later although it in fact remained dry. The FTD again went to Ed Hollier on 36.18s, this time from Mike Lee in his 1600cc OMS with 37.93s.

16 cars represented the SBD/HSA Speed championship. Peter Hodson was alone in his interesting Smart Roadster in HSA class A1, 54.92s and 9pts. Just one MX5 and Nigel Hodson secured 11pts whilst in A3 Adam Pemble battled with Brian Marshall, the former’s Celica on an impressive 46.19s resetting Saturday’s record. Records then seemed slightly more difficult, Stu Hill’s Westy in B1, Chris Howard-Harris with his Caterham in B2 fresh from Goodwood the day before, messrs Satchell and Drowne in C2 with their interestingly fast 205 and Geoff Kershaw in B3 with his Sierra, all just short of their class records but good points scores all the same. Clive Worcester broke this pattern with a very quick 41.93s in his Radical resetting the HSA record.

Richard Arrowsmith again held a lead over Stephen Loadsman in class I, this time the Force around 1s ahead. The Crosse Ensign reset the class J record on 41.95s whilst Bob Ridge-Stearn missed a new class J1 record by a frustrating 0.05s. Class W2 and both drivers of their shared Ralt broke the class record, John Burton on 40.69s ahead by 0.23s from John Opie.

Results here.

On the first busy weekend of the 2013 speed event calendar there were hillclimbs at Wiscombe and Prescott and a sprint at Goodwood. Apart from visiting Goodwood the SBD/HSA Speed Championship was also invited by Woolbridge Motor Club to both days of their spring weekend at Wiscombe, for many years a regular feature of the HSA programme.

The weather was dry on both days and the track in excellent order following resurfacing in 2012. Saturday saw Ed Hollier starring, following his two BTDs at Gurston the previous weekend. His 1600cc Pilbeam MP62 took BTD on 36.57s, chased home by Adam Steele in the 1000cc Martlet AS1 on 36.79s.

Nigel Hodson and Chris Falcon shared the MX5 class, Nigel on 52.48s securing 11pts to Chris’s 7. Neil Duncanson had overheating issues with his Audi, the thermostat not receiving the right messages; nonetheless he secured class A3 from Brian Marshall’s 944t with a new class record of 46.40s, Brian also breaking the record, 16 and 15 points respectively. This pattern continued, Stu Hill’s Westy in B1, Colin Satchell and Paul Drowne in their shared 205 in B2, Geoff Kershaw and his bright Sierra in B3 and Clive Wooster’s Radical in F, all setting new HSA class records on what was obviously a pleasant day on track.

Richard Arrowsmith ad Stephen Loadsman closely contested class I, Richard on 43..32s just 0.43s ahead, 9 and 7 points respectively, Stephen harassed having lost the seal from his smart new tyre pressure gauge, despite a comprehensive examination of the paddock. The Ensign of Fyrth Crosse established a new standard in class J whilst Bob Ridge-Stearn stroked his Van Dieman FF to 47.62s, a new class record and 15pts. The regular Burton/Opie Ralt RT3 battle was settled in favour of John Burton on 42.27s. The day finished in good time with the prizegiving in the paddock.

Results here.

The Bognor Regis Motor Club had the unenviable task of running this event on a day when the entry and ambient conditions conspired to make the local noise restrictions a serious problem. Lengthy delays and numerous exclusions culminated in a rather strange outcome for FTD. After the first runs Bill Gouldthorpe in his OMS CF08 was sitting at the top of the times but received a warning of excessive noise levels. On a ‘two stikes and you’re out’ basis if he elected to take his second timed run and exceeded the noise limits he would have been excluded from the results so he elected to sit out the second run in order to preserve his time. On the second runs Malcolm Boorman in his OMS 2000M just shaded Bill’s time of 149.21s with a 148.51s to take FTD. An unsatisfactory situation but that is how it was.

Other likely contenders for FTD ran into mechanical problems with Glynn Sketchley’s Force sidelined with a broken starter and the SBD OMS 25 of Steve Broughton, still trying to get in some early season track time, had a piece of spark plug fall into a cylinder and destroy a piston. Also looking possible for FTD Steve Miles’ Van Diemen managed to trigger all five ‘drive by’ noise meters and so was excluded along with John Bradshaw (Striker) and the Phelps’ (Aries). Mike Smith (Striker) lost a head gasket, Chris Bennett (Van Diemen) had a misfire and Caroline Pashley had problems with her Jedi.

Third FTD went to Ian Catt is the very smart ‘new’ Wealden Engineering/Empire replacing the similarly liveried OMS SF2 he had previously campaigned. Father, Frank, spent a year re-engineering the Empire chassis (the third to be produced) and updating the bodywork and aero. For the first time out Ian was very pleased with the result.

Chris Fulke-Greville and Andrew Till finished one two in the 2000cc Roadgoing Production class and the MXs finished in the order Tony Thomas, Pedro Moriyon and Stephen Dally. In the well supported large ‘kit car’ class it was all Caterhams with Chris Howard-Harris and Lynn Gilbert finishing one three in their shared Superlight, seperated by Michael Sankey’s similar car and ahead of a horde of SELOC Elises.

Chris Bennett and Dennis Pickett enjoyed a close and private battle in their Formula Fords, which just went the former’s way on this occasion.

The BRMC used a different format to the usual Goodwood Sprints this year with the start taking place at the end of the pit lane and the return to the paddock just after the chicane. This shortened the distance a little to 1.8 laps and meant the chicane was used just once. Overall, competitors seemed happy with the arrangement.

Results here.

BARC(SW)’s opening meeting of the year at the Wiltshire hillclimb staged a tense duel between Ed Hollier’s Pilbeam-Hayabusa and James Blackmore’s similarly powered OMS 25. After Blackmore had taken a narrow first run lead, a mistake at Karousel let the hard charging Hollier through to take his first ever Gurston FTD in his immaculate and highly developed, now fuel injected, MP62.

A seventeen-strong HSA entry were on hand to contest round five of the Championship, with five drivers scoring Gurston class wins. Neil Duncanson, Colin Satchell, Fyrth Crosse and Steve Boother all topped their respective timesheets, first time hillclimber Boother’s OMS-Kawasaki emerging with a fine 1100cc racing class victory on aggregate after matching times with regular Gurston front-runner Euan Kemp’s similar machine.

In the dedicated five-car SBD/HSA Speed Championship saloon and sports car class, Stuart Hill finally demolished Simon Braithwaite’s ten-year-old Gurston record in his Westfield as he held off Mike Smith’s Sylva Striker. The battle between Andrew Till and Chris Fulke-Greville also changed the order at the sharp end of the HSA table, Till's time in the Clio giving him the series lead with C F-G and the Integra promoted to second equal, level with Duncanson, who had romped home in his big Quattro to a two and threequarter second 2-litre roadgoing win over Shaun Fudge’s Impreza. Satchell moved into ninth and with co-driver Paul Drowne made it a 2-litre ModProd one-two in their rapid Peugeot 205.

Crosse enjoyed his usual duel with fellow Historic class regular Geoff Hunt, the Ensign-Twincam keeping clear of Hunt’s immaculate Lotus 22 by sixteen hundredths in a class which also saw the first appearance of Nick Stephens’ Ginetta G4 with 1700 crossflow, which he’d wheeled out of storage to replace his familiar G12-Zetec.

Elsewhere, HSA contender Tim Pennington’s Westfield SE squeezed past Mike Williams’ SEiW, moving up to fifth equal on the HSA table, level with the absent Steve Miles. Clive Wooster battled hard in his sports libre Radical-Suzuki to trail rapid Gurston regulars Jonathan Gates (third FTD in his Force-Hayabusa) Keith Diggle’s WEV with Cosworth BDG power and Gates’ co-driver Peter Sexton.

Results here.

After seeing snow at the first three rounds of the SBD HSA Championship, competitors were greeted with gazebo and awning destroying gales during the morning practice runs. Heavy rain over the lunch period ceased leaving a drying track which was almost dry for most of the second runs.

With Trevor Willis not making an appearance it was left to Will Hall to take FTD (47.97s and the only driver under 50s) and get in some early season practice ahead of his British Hillclimb Championship campaign.

Elsewhere Mark Laws went well in the large Series Production class to keep ahead of Brian Marshall’s Porsche and Adam Pemble’s Celica which posted a fail on its second run. Things were tight in the Roadgoing kit car class where Chris Howard-Harris’ Caterham just edged out Tim Pennington’s Westfield by 0.09s after being behind on the first run.

Andy Dunbar took a comfortable win in the Mod Prod kit cars in the Westfield he shares with Daughter Debbie who finished just ahead of Adam Phelps’ Ariel Locost. In the same class Michael Andrews, having forsaken his Peugeot, was having his first competitive run in a MK Indy which he had driven to the track arriving a little damp while Father Simon (OMS 2000M), had to give second best to Alex Summers’ Force PT in the 1100cc Racing Car class. Gordon Hick had to retire with a bent suspension after the first run.

Giving up their respective Ginettas (at least temporarily), Rob Pallett and Mark Patterson were having their first ever runs in the ex Cox family Jamun M91 Formula Ford and  both were enjoying the experience immensely and Mark was very pleased to finish only 0.35s behind winner Bob Ridge-Stearn.

Paul Jarrett took the 1600cc Racing Car class in his OMS 2000M (after Jos Goodyear non started the GWS Raptor following practice) from Mark Goodyear in the OMS Hornet and Fyrth Crosse’s venerable Ensign LNF3 which was going well after a change of jets in the carbs.

Results here.

After lots of prayers, the day dawned dry but damned cold. Even with snow flurries during scrutineering a dry track was promised.

22 different Championships were invited, including the British sprinters, and about 75 competitors assembled. Therefore the 13 or so from the HSA formed a good contingent.

With a race meeting scheduled for the afternoon, the sprint's tight schedule (excluding the British run-off) was accomplished by 12.30. But allowing only two timed runs, it was not helped by various excursions to the grass and 360 degree turns on the track.

James Pile in the Mini Cooper was just pipped by a Honda Civic in Class 1 and John Brookes in the Porsche 996 got the better of the three Marcos GTs. Neil Dunkerson entertained in the Audi Quattro, as did Ivan Russell in the Ford Anglia.

HSA newcomers Daniel and Dennis Pickett in their Quest FF86 ran just 0.09seconds apart.

Overall a great day, very well organised. Roll on the next meeting!

Results here.

The weather was no kinder to competitors at Castle Combe for Round 2 of the SBD HSA Speed Championship than it had been at Mallory Park the week before. Freezing temperatures, snow and a biting wind greeted those brave enough to make the trip. With a damp and greasy (after oil went down early in practice) track times were slow and cars were twitchy with many tales of offs and no traction.

Although it stopped snowing mid morning and a drier line emerged in the afternoon times remained off the pace with FTD going to Terry Holmes in his Lola Tegra Judd on 134.51s which he later improved to a 121.13s during the Bristish Sprint Run Off.

Plenty of SBD HSA competitors were present with Keith Murray's impressive mod prod Audi being the fastest non single seater with a 151.15s run. In the big series production class Toby Harris' Ford Puma put in a fine perfomance with a 159.03s run while former Champion Nick Mugglestone saw off the rest of the MX5s.

As usual the competitive small kit car class saw close competition and a good story to boot. Mike Smith with a new exhaust cam in his well known Striker (now the engine is to the same spec as the other familiar Puma Zetec engined cars) not only saw his friend Bob Bellerby beat him by nearly a second in Mike's own Sylva Riot but they both lost out by another second to Paul Barker who was sharing Mike's Striker!

Father and son, John and Adam Phelps were seperated by four seconds (Adam coming out on top) with their Aries Locost although they would maybe have gone quicker if they had chosen slicks for their second runs as other competitors were doing.

In the single seater classes mention must be made of seventy something Bill Gouldthorpe in the SBD OMS CF08 who won the 1600cc class and came 6th in the Top 12 Run Off. Carole Torkington sharing the same car also made the Top 12 Run Off after very little seat time in the car.

Bob and Anne Adams managed to get in some decent runs in their Royale RP30 after being troubled by a misfire during practice.

Steve Broughton in the new SBD OMS 25 (with fly by wire throttle and much else besides) took the competitive 2000cc class from a charging Scott Pillinger in the DSP OMS.

Results here.

About 115 competitors braved the elements at Mallory Park on 17 March for BARC’s season–opener. This featured rounds of no fewer than ten 2013 speed championships, with the majority of runners coming from the SBD HSA, BARC SBD, Service Hydraulics and MGCC-Luffield contests.

The event was dominated by the weather. Early morning rain turned to sleet and then snow, which caused some problems with the timing gear and so after a number of delays, there was time for only one practice run.  Fortunately, the snow turned back to rain at lunchtime, and two competition runs were then taken, the first in very wet conditions, the second after the rain had stopped. The track never dried, however, and this was not a day for setting new records.

Gary Thomas set FTD in his newly acquired Force PC, at 65.53 seconds, followed closely by Malcolm Boorman (OMS 2000M) at 66.31 and David Tilley (Toleman T9280R) at 67.48. Mention must also be made of Colin Satchell in his Peugeot 205, who had been second fastest after T1, but was fourth fastest at the end of the day with 67.79 – a superb achievement by a saloon-based car, albeit significantly modified.

In addition to Gary Thomas, Colin Satchell and David Tilley, a number of HSA championship contenders were also event class winners, including

Andrew Till, Renault Clio Cup, 1400 to 2000cc standard saloon and sports cars

 John Brookes , Porsche 911, over 2000cc standard saloon and sports cars

John Bradshaw, Sylva Striker, up to 1700 cc road going kit/replica cars

Alan Mugglestone, Raw-Fulcrum, over 1700cc road going kit/replica cars

Ivan Russell, Ford Anglia 105E, up to 1400cc modified limited production cars

Geoff Kershaw, Ford Sierra T/C, over 2000cc modified ltd production cars

Clive Wooster, Radical SR4, up to 1700cc sports libre cars

Richard Arrowsmith, Force PC, up to 1100cc single seat racing cars

Steve Miles, Van Diemen RF, 1601 to 2000cc single seat racing cars

Peter Caiado-Gillett, Van Diemen RF84, pre 96 FF1600, F First & Club B cars

Congratulations to all the organisers at BARC, marshals and timekeepers for running the event through very difficult circumstances.

There is a good video of the event on GoodwoodRRC Channel's YouTube section here.

Official results here.

The HSA attracted a full entry for their traditional Championship finale at Curborough on October 13^th. The two top stories of the day were another fine FTD for Glyn Sketchley in his Force PT and the REIS Championship win for Matt Hillam in his SBD Westfield S2000.

Neither driver had an easy time with Sketchley being pushed hard by the 1100cc cars of Darren Gumbley, Simon Andrews and the Spencers  while Hillam faced the prospect of Mark Paterson (Ginetta G15) and 6 time former Champion John Palmer (Westfield Sei) ready to pounce should he falter.

In the event a rain shower half way through the second timed runs meant that the results were largely determined by competitors’ first runs. Paterson had a problem on run 1 which meant he was unable to threaten Hillam who had already done enough for a maximum points score thus putting the Championship out of reach. Meanwhile Palmer scored well by breaking the existing HSA Class record and overtook Paterson for second overall in the Championship.

Stu Hill, who has had a stellar season in his Westfield, transformed by the replacement of the Crossflow with a Toyota 4AGE motor, scored maximum HSA points (although second in Class on the day to John Loudon’s stunning 32.80s run)  and Adam Pemble was the other HSA competitor to set a new Class record but fell one point short of Brian Marshall in the larger Roadgoing production class.

Things couldn’t have been tighter in the 1100cc single seater class with Gumbley just taking the win from the following Simon Andrews, David Spencer and Jim Spencer who were covered by a hundredth of a second!

Despite Mark Paterson's poor day he still did enough to hold off a late challenge from Rob Pallett (Ginetta G33) to win the Ginetta Owners Club Speed Challenge.

The class winners run off had a different feel to it this year as it was run in damp conditions with Pete Gillett getting closest to his best competition run in his Van Diemen RF84 and taking the Alan Payne memorial trophy.

So, despite the best efforts of the 1100cc drivers it was left to Sketchley to take FTD in his Force PT. After starting the year in his Megapin, Glyn is now far more at one with the Force after balancing the two front dampers and softening the rear and is planning a full year with the car in the British Sprint Championship in 2013.

Results here.

Final 2012 REIS HSA Speed Championship positions after Round 29: Matt Hillam 138pts; John Palmer 134pts; Mark Paterson 133pts; Rob Pallett 126pts; David Spencer 124pts etc.

With the 2012 season shortly a thing of the past, contenders gathered at Shelsley Walsh for Round 28 of the REIS/HSA Speed Championship. This was the last Shelsley weekend of the season, two ‘B’ club events, both well supported although with contrasting track conditions. Saturday was slippery for practice followed by a dry track for the competition. The track remained dry on Sunday morning but the forecast rain started around midday to continue for the rest of the event.

A number of REIS/HSA entrants did not compete, mechanical problems taking their toll on Saturday, many having decided to make a weekend of it, others dissuaded by the weather forecast. That said, 27 contenders lined up Sunday morning in the optimistic hope of improving their championship positions. The rain put paid to that and whilst the track wasn’t slippery, it was just slow and unless mentioned below everyone scored only 1 time point.

Two MX5’s contested class A2.1 both having the honour of, on the day, being relatively fastest of all against their class records, Ken Morris and Tony Thomas taking 4 time points with Ken sneaking the class win on 45.07s. Class A3 saw Adam Pemble push his Celica to a competative 38.70s ahead of Mark Laws, Adam with 3 time points. Class B2 and Mathew Eady in his silver Ginetta G4 and appreciating it’s roof  headed the Gale family Westfield on 41.09s whilst Martin Depper, alone in class C1 took 3 time points with  37.62s. Class D had 4 competitors, Adam Phelps in the Aries taking the win on 36.80s with Martin Jones close behind on 37.01s in the Striker. Nick Stephens was alone in class F with his brilliant yellow Ginetta G12 on 39.09s, to be followed by a large class I in which Simon Andrews was the winner and fastest HSA time of the day on 33.41s in the OMS shared with Bernard Kevill, who following him on 33.93s. It was nice to see the Jenkins family turbocharged Terrapin, Mike driving today and 42.52s in class J. Tony Jarvis and Martin Webb were the regular combination driving their Reynard in class K, Tony taking the honours on 35.70s but only 0.08s ahead of Martin. Geoff Stallard headed David Bennett in class V, the TVR Vixen on 42.03s. With Chris Jones retiring his pretty Mallock Mk.8 Fyrth Crosse was alone in class V, the Ensign on 37.80s. Finally Jeremy Smithson kept his Merlyn ahead in the Formula Ford class X, 45.29s, 0.44s ahead of Mike Broome in his Elden. The day's results are here.

Following Shelsley there have been no changes in the Top Ten positions although points are tight at the top.With the final round at our own Curborough Sprint on the 13 October there is still the opportunity for improvement and if you have not already entered Eric Morey can still accept your late entry.

On day 2 of the NSCC’s Sprint weekend at Thoresby Park Glyn Sketchley’s Force PT reversed  day 1 positions by taking FTD with a 42.68s run from Adrian Clinton-Watkins’ Westfield SeiW who posted a 44.69s.

Former HSA champion Tony Thomas was on good from taking the up to 2000cc Standard Production class in his Mazda MX5 from Rodney Ellis’ Lotus Elan and Leigh Andrews’ Mazda RX8. Richard Abraham couldn’t repeat his Saturday win in the small kit cars, coming home third behind Pete Rosenthal’s Fisher Fury and Emma Bennison’s winning Striker.

The small mod specialist prod class saw Nigel Cresswell’s Fisher Fury (46.15s) take the win and fifth fastest overall by less than half a second from Terry Everall’s Westfield Megablade on 46.51s. Eric Morrey’s normally very rapid Clan Crusader had some transmission problems and finished further back but still set a new HSA Class record.

A good performance was put up by John Bunting, over from Nigeria for a few events, in the Jedi he shares with HSA photographer David Garnett by taking third FTD with a 45.96s.

Unlucky HSA competitor of day 2 was Wil Ker, when his rapid blown Mini suffered an ECU failure in practice. However, he was able to share brother, Ben Hamer’s similar car for the timed runs and beat him by nearly three quarters of a second!

New HSA Class records were set by Andrews, Thomas, Marshall, Morrey, Ridge-Stearn, Cashmore, Paterson and Stallard. Another max score of 17 took Mark Paterson to second in the overall HSA Championship table.

Results here.

REIS HSA Speed Championship positions after Round 27: Matt Hillam 134pts; Mark Paterson 133pts; John Palmer 129pts; Martin Depper 123pts; Brian Marshall 123pts; Rob Pallett 121pts; David Spencer 116pts;  Graham Cashmore 114pts; Geoff Stallard 110pts; Phil Skipp 108pts etc.

Adrian Clinton-Watkins took his mod specialist prod Westfield SeiW to an impressive FTD on day 1 of the NSCC’s sprint week-end at Thoresby Park with a 44.63s from Glyn Sketchley’s familiar Force PT on 45.08s.

With four timed runs on offer there was plenty of opportunity for some interesting class battles to develop. In the mid size mod prod class Tim Burrill and Bob Smith had a close fight in their shared Peugeot 205GTi with Smith winning by a tenth of a second. In the small kit car class Richard Abraham took a good win with a 49.48s run and Tony Hart’s Renault 5GT Turbo was on its usual fine form winning the large mod prod class with a 50.38s.

There were 5 Libre/Supersports present and Ian Medcalf’s 1.4 Fiat 500 gave Baz Wheeler’s Escort RS a fight for second place (losing out by two tenths) behind Peter Beer’s winning Escort. Unlucky competitor of the day was Peter Hubbard; his Marcos V6 suffered electrical problems in practice but managed to get out for a timed run near the end of the day thanks to the assistance from what at times seemed like half the paddock!

New HSA Class records were set by Abraham, Ker, Hart, Paterson, Cashmore and Williamson and Mark Paterson’s max score of 17 took him ever closer to the top of the Championship table with his Ginetta G15.

Results here.

Darren Gumbley only needed one timed run to take FTD (49.79s) at Loton on Saturday September 8^th in his Force PT and be the only driver to break 50secs. He was closely followed by Simon Andrews’ OMS 2000M (50.17s) and David Spencer who beat brother Jim in their shared Reynard 883 by one hundredth of a second! All in the 1100cc Racing Car class.

Things were also tight in the small kit car class where Stu Hill, showing impressive pace in his Toyota engined Westfield, came out ahead of former HSA Champions John Palmer and John Bradshaw.

With good weather and 33 HSA competitors present it was no surprise that many HSAA Class records fell with Tony Thomas, Adam Pemble, Mark Laws, Brian Marshall, Rob Pallett, Martin Depper, Tony Hart, Darren Gumbley, Simon Andrews, David & Jim Spencer, Stuart Cariney, Les Buck and Mike Broome all beating the existing records!

More to follow.

Results here.

The Sunday part of the Ty-Croes double header event saw a new circuit for the HSA with the ‘One lap of the full International Circuit’ layout, as used at the BSC round. This features Church Corner, one of the fastest we see all year, and ‘The Banking’ a large (3^rd gear for most?) banked hairpin, which is really quite a challenge, especially when it’s a bit damp as it was for first practice!

Fortunately (luckily?) the weather forecast was spot on and it rapidly dried and by the second practice was bone dry and the sun was out for the rest of the day – lovely.

Both Ken Morris, Alan Mugglestone & Brian Marshall repeated their Saturday successes, and Rich Stephens joined the runners in the over 1400 saloons and took that class too. The kit car boys of John Palmer and Stu Hill took the challenge to John Loudon but to no avail however some stunning times were done by all three with Palmer and Hill setting identical times but Palmer taking the place (and close the Championship gap to Matt Hillam) by virtue of having a faster second time. The larger class again fell to Rob Pallett's Ginetta G33.

In the Mod Prods Matt Hillam again showed everybody the way, but behind the rest were at it tooth and nail, great to watch, and it’s worth spending some time looking at these cars in the paddock, some excellent innovation and engineering going on.

The small single seaters saw the Spencer brothers Reynard fixed and David took the class, followed by Jim and Paul Masters in his Jedi. In the larger class John Graham wheeled his Dallara 397 to good effect to snatch FTD at 80.94s from Glyn Sketchley back in his Force PT.

A great weekends sprinting was had by all with a lovely venue and a great event organised by the Lancs & Cheshire / MG Car Clubs.

Results here.

REIS HSA Speed Championship positions after Round 24: Matt Hillam 134pts; John Palmer 129pts; Mark Paterson 113pts; Martin Depper 112pts; Brian Marshall 112pts; Phil Skipp 107pts; Rob Pallett 105pts; David Spencer 101pts; Chris Bennett 95pts; Stu Hill 86 pts etc.

The 1^st & 2^nd of September saw 19 HSA contenders make the journey to the Island of Anglesey and the superb Ty Croes circuit – if you’ve never ventured this far West you really should add this venue to your ‘Must Do’ list as in the opinion of this humble scribe it’s a superb venue! The entry, boosted by the Westfield and MG car clubs, saw it just shy of a 100 competitors ready to do battle over the 1 & 7/8^ths lap of the National circuit.

Saturday dawned dry but a bit windy, not that it seemed to slow anybody down, and there were some very close battles throughout the field.

Ken Morris won the standard sportscars, and Alan Mugglestone just pipped Nick to take the ‘roadgoing but tweaked a bit’ variety – both under the old HSA class record, the larger road going class going to Brian Marshall . The smaller engined Kit Cars were lead by John Loudon ahead of Stu Hill and John Palmer, the larger Kits was won by Rob Pallet who also lowered the record.

Onto the Mod Prods and Matt Hillam was the class of the field his time took a chunk off the record for a comfortable class win to maintain his Championship lead, though this well supported class had some superb battles in it right down the order.

The small single seaters next and Dave Spencer just held onto the win in front of Paul Masters as Jim Spencer broke their Reynard on his first timed run – cue a very long night and many thanks to the circuit for the loan of a Pit Garage and a MIG welder superbly wielded by Jim Henshaw – at his very first event too!  The larger single seaters saw FTD (100.76s) taken by Bill Hutchins in the 2.8 Pilbeam MP58 and saw Bob and Ann Adams also out in their very pretty Royale.

The Sports Libre and Classic classes were a Ginetta benefit, with Nick Stephens taking the former in his G12 and Mark Paterson in his G15.

In the HSA Championship new class records were set by Nick & Alan Mugglestone, Matt Hillam and three Ginetta competitors, Nick Stephens, Rob Pallett and Mark Paterson.

Results here.

The BHC moved to Gurston Down and joined the HSA, round 22 of the REIS/HSA Speed Championship, 27 contenders entered, 23 scoring points. A slippery start for Saturday’s practice due to overnight rain although the track was dry enough on the second run, affairs then disrupted by a lunchtime electric thunderstorm after which few chose to take their third practice run. Race day Sunday and the track was moist, sun and breeze steadily drying the surface so that whilst the fourth practice was slippery, competition runs enjoyed good track conditions.

Some ‘A’ licence HSA competitors were spread around the paddock whilst the majority were in the two specific classes – HSA Sports & Saloons, Sports Racing & Racing, the former well supported by The Flat Heads, creating their usual fascinating contrast to Gould, OMS and Force with a pic of Jeremy Turnbull’s car on Gurston’s web site.

A first visit for class A2 at Gurston and Leigh Andrews set the new HSA record in his RX8. Mark Laws and Brian Marshall contended class A3 with Laws squeezing ahead on 40.41s and 16pts. John Palmer, Martin Depper and Paul Webster were each alone in classes B1, C1 and C2 and set new records, 15 pts each, Palmer winning his Gurston class. Hard work in class D, 4 cars trying to get near Matt Hillam’s record, Adam Phelps closest in his Aries, 10pts his reward. Also 4 in class I, Simon Andrews taking the win and a new record so 17 pts plus a 2^nd in the Gurston class. Fyrth Crosse also beat his target in class W, 15pts and also a Gurston class win. Sharing W2 and the Ralt RT3 Messrs Opie and Burton were separated by only 0.02s, in the formers favour, also winning his Gurston class. Mike Broome missed the record by 0.02s in class X although staying ahead of Jeremy Smithson. Four Flat Heads shared class Z and Jeremy Turnbull led the pack from Phil Wells.

Results here

REIS HSA Speed Championship positions after Round 22: Matt Hillam 126pts; John Palmer 115pts; Martin Depper 112pts; Phil Skipp 107pts; Brian Marshall 102pts; Chris Bennett 95pts; Simon Andrews 85pts; Mark Patterson 85pts; Adam Pemble 83pts; Graham Cashmore 82pts; Geoff Stallard 82 pts

At the Three Sisters Sprint on Sunday 5^th August, organised by the Chester and Lancs Motor Clubs, David Spencer scored his first ever FTD ahead of brother Jim in their shared Reynard Kawasaki 883 by the narrowest of margins (69.99s to 70.01s!) and Paul Masters’ Jedi MK6 (70.86s).

It was also the first FTD for the car which was built up over the winter by Jim Spencer and uses a Reynard 883 F3/F5000 tub mated to a home built sub frame which carries both a standard 1000cc Kawasaki ZZR engine and the orignial Reynard rear suspension located in its original position. The engine is mounted slightly to the right in order to use the standard wishbones and 2012 has been a familiarisation year with chassis development being kept for later so an FTD this soon was most welcome.

Paul Masters was also happy with his third overall as he was running a near standard Yamaha R1 engine following the blow up of his normal race engine a couple of weeks earlier at Blyton Park.

Running a 2 Lap configuration for this event meant it was a new venue for the REIS HSA competitors. Unsurprisingly there were few Roadgoing HSA competitors present owing to the List 1A tyre rule in force at the meeting although the MX5s were represented by Michael Tindale in his green example.  Mod Prod saw Tony Hart (Renault 5 GT Turbo), Phil Skipp (Vauxhall Astra Gsi) and, out for his first event of the year, ass’t HSA Championship Co-ordinator, Chris Flavell in his SPOOX engineered Peugeot 205 GTi. In the large class Tony Hart was unstoppable taking the win by three and a half seconds from Adrian Crawley, Stewart Tranter and Phil Skipp in fourth.

Dave West (Peugeot 106GTi) took a good win in the popular large series production class while Rich Stephens (Peugeot 106 Rallye) followed David Wiggins (Peugeot 205 Rallye) home in small series production.

There were six Formula Fords present (7 if you counted Neville Carr’s classic Lotus 61) with Andrew Henson easily outpacing the rest of the closely fought competition, which saw local specialist Peter Ibbotson (Spartan FF81) ahead of Chris Bennett’s Van Diemen. Paul Webb was on for taking maximum HSA points in his Van Diemen but wiping out the timing equipment on his final run unfortunately saw his time disallowed!

Results here.

REIS HSA Speed Championship positions after Round 21: Matt Hillam 126pts; Phil Skipp 107 pts; Brian Marshall 100pts; John Palmer 100pts; Martin Depper 97pts; Chris Bennett 95pts; Mark Patterson 85pts; Adam Pemble 83pts; Graham Cashmore 82pts; Geoff Stallard 82pts; etc.

With another warm and sunny day for the second part of the WSCC's Blyton double header Glyn Sketchley (Force PT) emerged as fastest on the day with a 59.70s and neither he nor Steve Miles able to better Steve's Saturday time.

In the battle of the Honda S2000s Martin Rowe again got the better of Roger Fish while Dave West reversed positions with Bob Smith. Race engineers, father and son, Alan and Nick Mugglestone engaged in some family rivalry in their well sorted Mazda MX5 with only three tenths separating them at the end with Alan ahead. Sarah Bosworth took the up to 2000cc Prod Sports Car class in her familiar Elise.

It was status quo in the small kit car class with John Palmer taking max points with a new record ahead of Emma Bennison and John Loudon with Rich Abraham doing well to take fourth despite being without 3rd gear! Stu Hill again came a close second in the HSA Championship class as he took the Westfield class on the day.

Problems with engines cutting out and refusing to run seemed to be the order of the day as Matt Hillam was unable to take his final runs leaving him second to Craig Sampson in the large Mod Kit Car class while Matthew Eady's pretty Ginetta G4 wouldn't run so Mark Paterson let him set a time in his Ginetta G12.

Pete Gillett (Van Diemen RF84) was again well ahead in the Formula Ford class although a slowly improving Chris Bennett (Van Diemen RF89) managed to take max HSA points and close up to within 1.7s by the third run. He reckoned he might have caught Pete by Thursday if they had carried on!

With Paul Master still 'hors de combat' in the 1100cc Racing Car class Martin Pickles' Jedi managed to shave a couple of tenths off Paul's Saturday time on the last run of the day. As steve Miles and Glyn Sketchley battled in the fast single seaters John Graham (Dallara F397) began getting faster to finish up third fastest overall.

Results here.

Despit Matt Hillam's problems he has moved into the overall lead of the Championship and has completed the minimum of 9 rounds so he will be dropping scores from now on. Phil Skipp jumps into second and is the first to start dropping rounds. Six time Championship winner John Palmer moves into joint third with Brian Marshall.

REIS HSA Speed Championship positions after Round 20: Matt Hillam 126pts; Phil Skipp 104 pts; Brian Marshall 100pts; John Palmer 100pts; Martin Depper 97pts; Adam Pemble 83pts; Graham Cashmore 82pts; Geoff Stallard 82pts; Chris Bennett 81pts, Geoff Hedges 81pts etc.

Steve Miles (Van Diemen RF96) set a new course record and became the first driver to get under 60s with a 59.62s to take FTD on the first day of the WSCC's double header at Blyton Park.

After days of rain the track was still damp in places as practice started and a new excuse of "I slid off on the slugs" was heard as the track was covered with them as they crawled off the waterlogged fields nearby! Slick organisation saw three timed runs follow a couple of practice runs.

Fierce competition began with the first class, Standard Production, with Martin Rowe (Honda S2000) beating Roger Fish's similar car by a hundredth of a second. In Roadgoing Production (up to 2000cc) Dave West's Peugeot 106GT1 was pipped for the win by 0.09s by Bob Smith's 206GTi. In the small Kit Cars an upset looked to be on the cards as Emma Bennison (ex Bellerby Striker Peugeot) was fastest in practice but the old master (!) John Palmer dipped under 70s to take the win from Emma and a strangely off form John Loudon. In the HSA championship stakes Palmer's strongest competition came from Stu Hill, running in the Westfield class, who was a scant half second behind.

Geoff Kershaw's rapid Ford Sierra took the up to 2000cc Mod Prod class but behind him Martin Depper had a massive battle with Tony Hart's Renault 5GT turbo taking second by 0.03s. In the large Modified Kit car class Craig Sampson and Matt Hillam battled it out for the win in the SBD Westfiled with Craig winning by 0.3s.

Paul Masters only managed one run in the 1100cc racing car class before the Jedi broke but it was still sufficient to take the win. Pete Gillett was on the pace from the off in the Formula Fords and won easily while the other class runners slowly got up to speed. Bob Ridge-Stearn took the HSA win and points over the first two runs.

Geoff Stallard, out in his Ginetta G12 only managed one run before the gremlins struck (probably electrical) but still won the pre 73 classic class.

Results here.

BARC Wales and Welsh Counties CC organised the second of only two sprints to be held at Llandow this year on Saturday July 14th. Despite forecasts of rain the day stayed dry until after the end of the second runs and Ian Cameron headed the timesheets with a 70.80s in his OMS Hornet.

It wasn't an easy FTD as the car is fitted with the standard Suzuki motorcycle slipper clutch, which made the twistier sections of the Llandow track difficult to negotiate smoothly. Just behind came Matt Hillam in the SBD Westfield, now fitted with a full roll cage, on 72.54s with a new HSA class record and leadership of the HSA Championship.

There were a number of notable performances. David Pearce, driving in his first ever sprint, won the over 2000cc Series Production class in his mother's Impreza, beating both her and HSA competitors Adam Pemble (whose Celica had starting problems at a service station on the way to the meeting!) and Brian Marshall. John Loudon in his very powerful Puma Zetec engined Westfield was setting PBs in practice and went even faster on his first run, posting a 78.27s leaving John Bradshaw's Striker struggling to keep up in second place.

In the over 2000cc ModProd class, Andrew Meek just beat his son Geraint by 0.4s in their shared Impreza while in another fast Westfield, Tim Nunn set an impressive 74.60s.

Providing some variation in the entry, Peter Hodson was out again in his Smart Roadster but found that the automatic gearbox had a mind of its own, changing gear in unexpected places! It was also good to see Ifan Davies' Davrian Mk6, which he was sharing with Mandy Bartlet, out on track and setting a new HSA class record.

New HSA class records were also set by John Bradshaw, Phil Skipp, Martin Depper and Jeremy Smithson.

Results here.

REIS HSA Speed Championship positions after Round 17: Matt Hillam 98pts; Brian Marshall 92pts; Phil Skipp 83 pts; Graham Cashmore 82pts; Geoff Hedges 81pts; Richard Jenkinson 73pts; Martin Deppr 69pts; Adam Pemble 69pts; Simon Andrews 68pts; John Palmer 68pts; etc.

Simon Andrews was sharing his OMS2000M-Suzuki with Steve Filkin for this event and the pair set the pace amongst the HSA runners, Andrews finishing third in the 1100 racing car class and setting another new HSA class record in the process.

Aside from the single seaters, John Palmer took a roadgoing specialist class win (and new HSA record) in his Westfield ahead of Allan and David Warburton, who struck mechanical problems with the record-holding Caterham. Eric Morrey took the ‘B’ licence class win in his Clan from Ben Hamer, who was running his new Mini Turbo for the first time and sharing it with Wil Ker, who despite holing a piston in his own version in practice, took the opening ModProd class win in the borrowed car from Andy Russell’s Ginetta G15.

Results here.

REIS HSA Speed Championship positions after Round 16: Brian Marshall 84pts; Graham Cashmore 82pts; Matt Hillam 82pts; Geoff Hedges 81pts; Richard Jenkinson 73pts; Simon Andrews 68pts; John Palmer 68pts; Phil Skipp 68 pts;  Rob Pallett 62pts; Mike Broome 58pts; etc.

24 HSA competitors scored points at MAC's June 30th Shelsley Walsh meeting with no fewer than 8 beating the previous HSA class record.

Tony Thomas, returning to his MX5 put in a fine first run to set a new record but was pushed all the way by Ken Morris. Mike and Bob Gale both beat the existing record with Father Bob less than a second in arrears of Son Mike.

Matt Hillam set a new record in the SBD Westfield and won the large and competitive class of Westfields. Simon Andrews and Bernard Kevill both beat the existing record in their OMS 2000M and finished one two in the popular 1100cc Racing Car class.

Martin Jones and Jeremy Bulmer were out in the factory Striker with Martin taking the Mod Spec Prod class win by 0.16s from fellow HSA competitor Nick Stephen's Ginetta G12.

Finally well done to Martin Depper (Mini Cooper) and Mike Broome (Elden FF) for their new records.

Results here.

Sunday 24^th June saw nearly 200 competitors attack the famous Prescott hill. Billed as the Mid-Summer Speed Fest, the event included rounds of the TTC Group Midland Hill Climb Championship, the AVON/BMTR Top Ten Challenge, the REIS HSA Championship and the Midland Speed Championship. After three dry and breezy practice runs the previous day, heavy overnight rain had almost dried out when race day dawned, but sadly rain then fell again to dampen proceedings for most of the first runs.  However, conditions then improved considerably to allow dry second runs in the afternoon.

Master of the conditions, both wet and dry, was Trevor Willis in his 3.3 litre OMS-Powertec SBD. He comfortably won the over 2000cc racing car class and both Top Ten run-offs from Will Hall in the Force-Nissan, setting FTD at 37.66 seconds in the process. Midland Man of the Meeting was awarded to Morgan Jenkins. Driving his 2-litre Pilbeam MP87 –VX, he won the 1600-2000cc Racing Car class from Stephen Day and Tim Davies, and also took a 6^th and a 3^rd place in the two Top Ten run-offs.

Prescott marked round 14 of the REIS HSA Championship. Some of the contenders ran in HSA-only classes, while others mixed it in the “open” classes,  and there were some notable performances from the HSA runners.  Robert Lancaster-Gaye won the merged Road-Going Production Car class in his Porsche GT3, and Wil Ker won the up to 1400cc Modified Limited Production  class in his turbocharged Mini, setting a new class record. Tony Hart won the won the 1400 to 2000cc division of the Modified Limited Production class. Eric Morrey really pressed on in the Clan Crusader, winning the HSA Road Car class from Martin Watts in the Yamaha-powered Sylva Riot R1. Jim Spencer took the “B-licence” Racing Car Class in his Reynard-Kawasaki, and Simon Andrews was second in the well-supported  600/1100 cc Racing Car class in his OMS-Suzuki behind  Chris Aspinall’s Jedi-Yamaha. Mention must be made here of Bill Chaplin, who driving the only 600cc car in the class, took 3^rd, within 0.44 seconds of the 600cc record, placing him at the top of the Prescott Gold cup standings after the first two rounds.

No Prescott meeting would be complete without a strong field of classic and historic cars, most of which were contenders in the Paul Matty Sports Cars Classic Championship. (See photo of paddock scene). Richard Jones in his Brabham BT29X-Cosworth won the pre-1972 Racing Car class on scratch, but Ed Tyack in the Ginetta G16-BMW took the handicap award for the combined Racing and Sports Racing class.  Although Stuart Cairney was quickest overall, Matt Clarke won the  pre-1972 Saloon class on handicap in his very rapid Austin Mini, placing him at the top of the  overall Paul Matty Championship standings.  The large Classic Sports Car class was won on both handicap and scratch by Geoff Stallard in his immaculate and very quick TVR Vixen.  The Bugatti Car Handicap was won by Colin Bullock driving a Bugatti T51.

Tony Hart, Simon Andrews, Geoff Stallard and Les Buck all broke the previous HSA records for classes C2, I, V and X respectively.

Results here.

REIS HSA Speed Championship positions after Round 12: Brian Marshall 84pts; Graham Cashmore 82pts; Geoff Hedges 69pts; Matt Hillam 65pts; Phil Skipp 62 pts; Richard Jenkinson 59pts; David Spencer 56pts; Bob Adams & Geoff Stallard 54pts; etc.

A rare occasion greeted competitors on Sunday – sunshine and lots of it in spite of a non too optimistic forecast earlier in the week. Numbers were down a bit on the day but not so much to make the place look empty and gave competitors three practice runs and two timed runs. The diversity of cars at speed events is one of the attractions and Curborough didn't disappoint  with several Flatheads (historic Ford V8 based racers and hot-rods) , large and small single seaters and  a collection of saloon and sports cars covering over forty years – and all driven to win.

During practice, times reflected the near ideal conditions and the morning went off  almost without a hitch with only a couple of wayward moments on the track. Amongst those laying down the markers were the very rapid Escort of Graham Bindley nudging 100mph over the line and the explosive Pilbeam of Tony Luxton and Bill Hutchens.

Times continued to be nudged down for the last practice. After lunch we all looked forward to some hard charging timed runs. Unfortunately a couple of cars dropped out with mechanical issues including Ben Hamer with gearbox and engine issues on the recently built turbo charged Mini 

The timed results largely followed the form of the morning but none the less produced some great action with the rally cars in Class R2 sliding their way out of the hairpin, a blistering drive from Simon Thornley in the Westfield, the tyre smoking flat heads posting times that surprised more than a couple of people and the FTD of 28.56s from Gary Thomas in the Force PT.

Thanks must go to the Owen Motor Club, marshals and other officials for the days great entertainment.

Gary Thomas - FTD

Results here

REIS HSA Speed Championship positions after Round 13: Brian Marshall 84pts; Graham Cashmore 82pts; Matt Hillam 65pts; Geoff Hedges 57pts; Bob Adams, Ian Skipp & Geoff Stallard 54pts; etc.

Despite an ominous weather forecast and a brief shower mid morning the Sunday event at Pembrey on June 10th turned out to be warmer and dry for all but a couple of competitors.

Matt Hillam managed a maximum score and take the over 1800cc Mod Specialist Prod class. Ten other drivers set new HSA records and scoring well again were David Spencer (another class win) and Bob Adams. Brian Marshall and Graham Cashmore both set new records on their way to identical scores to maintain the gap between them at the top of the Championship table.

After a good run on the Saturday Fyrth Crosse went one better on the Sunday with an excellent time of 114.86s in a forty year F3 Ensign with a 1.6 Twin Cam continuing a good run of form over recent weeks.

For this week-end, former HSA Champion Tony Thomas had selected his Ginetta G20 from his stable of race cars (!) but had a troubled time on Saturday with a set of old slicks fitted to the car. A change to some newer treaded tyres on Sunday transformed the car and the driver's confidence and yielded a 10 second improvement in times.

Results here.

REIS HSA Speed Championship positions after Round 12: Brian Marshall 84pts; Graham Cashmore 82pts; Matt Hillam 65pts; Bob Adams, Phil Skipp & Geoff Stallard 54pts; etc.

The Summer Sprint week-end at Pembrey included rounds of the British Sprint Championship and the REIS HSA Speed Championship along with the Westfields and TVRs. Naturally the BSC competitors stole the show and a report of their exploits can be found elsewhere on this site.

19 HSA competitors attended with some quite mixed results over both days. Saturday was fine and clear but rather cool for the time of year. Graham Cashmore in his Davrian was the only competitor to set a new record on his way to 15 points but this was equalled by Matt Hillam in the SBD Westfield by dint of having plenty of other cars in his class. In fact on the day, Matt was beaten (by 0.35s) for top spot in the class by SBD Boss, Steve Broughton, having one of his occasional outings in the car.

Also scoring well were David Spencer, fast getting to grips with the Reynard 883, Martin Webb (Reynard FVL) and Bob Adams (Royale RP30). Current Championship leader, Brian Marshall, was going well in his Porsche 944 and again scored good points.

Elsewhere Tim Nunn was an easy winner in the large, up to 1800cc Mod Specialist Prod class by over two seconds, Chris Bennett managed to keep ahead on the Formula Ford class despite losing time from the previous year and John Palmer, in his familiar yellow Westfield, ran out of competitors in the small Roadgoing Specialist Production class after being well ahead after practice.

Results here.

A healthy entry of 100 cars was thinned out a bit by some non starters (including my Gilbern that blew a head gasket the evening before) which meant that the order of the day would be three practice and two timed runs. Even with a few cars missing the variety of machines was the usual range to keep even the most ardent petrol head interested - a very standard Fiat Panda who had returned to speed events due to budgetary reasons, a very expensive looking Mercedes Benz SL63 AMG, 'Kermit' – aka a lurid green Cox GTM, some very rapid single seaters and a gaggle of Morgans (is there a collective noun for Morgans?) The hot dry track ensured that the first practice went off without any major mishaps apart a couple of graceful spins and Adam Pemble's Toyota Celica GT-4 developing what in most circumstances would have been a terminal split in the exhaust manifold, but luckily he found somebody in the workshops at MIRA who could weld it up, he went on to make good use of the repair in the timed runs to get the class win - you wouldn't find that service at our more picturesque venues! The timed runs after lunch saw the expected increased commitment from drivers and the mornings practice times were in nearly every case easily beaten. The single seaters revelled in the fast sweeping course with a class win for Bill Hutchins in class K & L driving the Pilbeam MP58 that included the fastest time of the day (43.79) and the fastest recorded speed (136mph) . He had what appeared to be an expensive tailor made engine blanket that was in fact a horse rug, I don't think my partner would be so accommodating! Amongst the other highlights were the very entertaining and rapid Peugeot 106 Gti of David West recording a 57.06 in class A1 & A2, the various rumblings and smoking tyres of TVR's, Jags and Mercs in class A3 and Peter Hubbards bunny hopping Marcos – a result of some miscalculations on the rear axle set up, cured in time for the second run to take the class win. The usual thanks must go out the MAC, the marshals and other officials that provided a great days entertainment. Jonathan Plowe

Results here.

Post script. The small Roadgoing kit car class had a very competitive entry and a big battle ensued. After the first run John Palmer's Westfield was 3 hundredths ahead of John Loudon's similar car with the Strikers of John Bradshaw and Mike Smith not far behind along with Richard Abraham's Westfield. On the final run Loudon found half a second to take the win from Palmer who was 1 hundredth outside the HSA Class record. Bradshaw couldn't improve but still took third from Abraham and Smith.

Terry Graves made it a double at Werrington on May 6th with an FTD time of 38.02s.

Heavy showers arrived in the afternnon which meant that times were slower than the morning and so no records were threatened. Anne and Bob Adams repeated their Saturday performance with Anne just aheadafter the first timed run only to lose out on the second.

Fellow HSA competitors Matthew Searle (VW lupo 1.4 TDi) and Peter Hodson (0.7 SMART Roadster) battled in their class in their more unusual cars with Matthew coming out ahead and being one of the few competitors to score well in the HSA Championship.

Photos courtesy and copyright of Jeremy Rundle of http://www.jrs-photography.co.uk/

Results here.

Terry Graves and his Gould GR37 were the only 'big banger' present at Werrington on May 5th and duly took FTD with a 32.93s.

The South West was able to escape the worst of the poor weather afflicting the rest of the country and the event was run in good conditions. A handful of HSA competitors and members made the trip including Fyrth Crosse, who despite setting a PB on his seconed practice run suffered a mechanical problem and his Ensign LNF3 had to sit out the rest of the meeting.

An upset was potentially on the cards as Anne Adams was ahead of husband Bob after the first timed run in their Royale RP30 but a mistake on the second run changed the order. Keith Harris went well in his Jamun M90 (40.38s) while Steve Loadsman was still getting to grips in

Matthew Searle (VW Lupo) and Mike Broome (Elden FF) both scored well in the HSA Championship.

Photos courtesy and copyright of Jeremy Rundle of http://www.jrs-photography.co.uk/

Results here.

Rodney Thorne, in his Pilbeam MP58, took FTD at Wiscombe on Saturday in 44.26s on a day of heavy showers and changeable conditions. Runner up was Dave Gardner in his Empire 001 on 45.04s

With 7 major and 20 minor incidents the Woolbridge MC did an excellent job in the difficult circumstances. However, with conditions forecast to be even worse (and they were!) for the following day the Sunday event, which was to be HSA Round 7, was unfortunately cancelled.

The Saturday event did see 4 'Flatheads' make an appearance with three of them running in Roadgoing Series Production - well they did make rather a lot of Model Ts! The quickest of the four was Neil Bennett  in his Batten Special and they made for an interesting and different sight for the spectators and other competitors.

An 'off' for John Phelps removed an oil pipe from the Aries, which he shares with son Adam, and earned him some less than encouraging comments! However, the damage was repaired in time for Adam to give Graham Beale's Ginetta G33 a good run for the class win, missing out by 0.3s. Ex HSA Champion Tony Thomas was having his first outing in his Ginetta G20 and promply left the track but fortunately without damage. Another ex Champion John Palmer was going well and was easily the fastest of all the Roadgoing Specialist Production cars present while Stu Hill won the Westfield Championship class in his similar car.

Clive Wooster was the fastest Libre car present despite the track and conditions being less than ideal for his Radical SR4. Adam Pemble, returning to the HSA Championship in his Celica GT4, was having his first hillclimb and up against some stiff oppostion of Evos, Imprezas and Cosworths. Nigel Hodgson badly damaged his MX-5 and we hope it isn't too long before we see him back on the tracks. The rest of the HSA contingent all had stories to tell but survived the day!

Results here.

In the REIS HSA Championship Brian Marshall has taken an early lead on 47 points, closely followed by Geoff Hedges on 43 and Mike Smith on 41 but there is a long way to go!

Tony Wiltshire took a convincing FTD in his ex.Tony Marsh Gould V6 on both days of Gurston Down’s opening double-header of the season. Saturday’s REIS/HSA round at the Wiltshire hill had the best of the weather as on a cold but mainly dry track, 14 contenders scored Championship points.

Simon Andrews got the biggest points haul, 17, with Bernard Kevill on 14 in their shared OMS-Suzuki as Andrews chased home 1100cc racing class winner Dave Gardner. Rob Pallett split the single-seater pair on HSA points with 15 in the Ginetta G33, running second in Gurston’s dedicated HSA saloon and sports class to Mike Smith (pictured - www.everleyphotography.co.uk), whose 12 point score moved the Sylva Striker driver up to second overall in the Championship. Brian Marshall, running third, bagged 13 points and planted the Porsche Turbo firmly into the series top three.

HSA members scored four wins in total, Tim Richardson. Matt Hillam and Nick Jeffs joining Smith in heading their respective Gurston classes.

Results here .

Practice, two timed runs, a third timed run for best improvement, on a cracking track, £99 and all done and dusted by midday. Welcome to Sprinting Tunbridge Wells Motor Club style and if Lydden Hill were located in the Midlands they would be turning competitors away in their droves.

As it was there were a fair few HSA Championship competitors and members enjoying the Spring sunshine on a track, still dusty following the previous week-end's Rallycross event, despite the organisers best efforts to clean the circuit.

Ian Catt took FTD in his OMS SF2a with a 72.17s time just ahead of Steve Boother's OMS 2000M. In the same class it was good to see HSA member Glyn Sketchly back out after a recent illness in his immaculate (this doesn't really do justice to the car though) Megapin Mk9 which he has owned for 20 years or so.

Dennis Pickett won the Formula Ford class while John Brookes scored well in his Mazda MX-s, setting a new class record and Mark Patterson was another competitor to gain good points in his Ginetta G15. George Harris encountered electrical problems during practice and had to retire.

Photos courtesy of Matt Bristow

Results here and photo gallery here.

The third round of the 2012 REIS HSA Speed Championship saw a large contingent of HSA championship competitors including Rob Pallett in his Ginetta G33 (pictured by Bob Ridge-Stearn) and members brave a wet and windy Loton Park on Easter Monday.

Although the rain wasn't too heavy it continued throughout the day and only brightened up by the ttime it got around to the prize giving.

FTD went to Roger Moran in his Gould GR61X with a 56.60s on his final run a second ahead of son Scott on 57.58s.

Both Triangle and Museum corners were very slippery, catching out many drivers particularly those in single seaters. Fortunately most cars emerged unscathed although Paul Tinsley's recently acquired Jedi needed the recovery vehicle to return to the paddock.

Well done to Wil Ker who won his class by 4 seconds and to Geoff Hedges and Brian Marshall (photo courtesy of Shireen Broadhurst) who scored well in the HSA Championship.

Results here. Photo gallery here.

Glorious sunny and still conditions greeted competitors for the Great Western Sprint at Castle Combe on March 24th. The HSA Championship was making its first visit to the classic Wiltshire circuit and so there were new records to be set.

10 competitors scored points and would have been more if not for a couple of no shows and mechanical issues. Richard Jenkinson and Geoff Hedges (photo courtesy of Chris Bound), in their shared Renault Clio, continued their close battle begun at Mallory with Geoff coming out ahead by about a second - not much on times in the 160 second bracket.

Even closer (a quarter of a second) were Tony Jarvis and Martin Webb in their shared Reynard FVL  with Tony just missing out on the British Sprint Top 12. Mike Smith put in a strong time in his Striker only just losing out to an ACB10 shod Fury.

So after just two rounds Geoff Hedges and Mike Smith are tied on 29 points for the lead of the Championship.

Results here and photos are available from Chris Bound and Steve Kilvington.

What a start to the 2012 REIS HSA Championship! Glorious early March weather greeted competitors to Mallory Park on Sunday 11th March (Bob Ridge-Stearn's  photo shows Geoff Stallard and his Ginetta G12 in the Spring sunshine) for the first round of the REIS HSA Championship.

Steve Miles took FTD for Mole Racing in his familiar Van Diemen RF96 with a 55.01s narrowly followed by Jonathan Toulmin in his Marengo (the Force still without an engine) to win the 1100cc class and take good points. In fact the warm weather meant that many competitors were setting record times to give themselves the best possible start to the season.

Mike Smith and Richard Abraham had quite a tussle in the small Kit Car class with Mike just coming out on top. Clive Wooster put in a good performance to take Sports Libre and Paul Webb came out on top of a largish Formula Ford class where Bob Ridge-Stearn having his competition debut in a single seater had an unfortunate mishap in the paddock. See more on his blog.

Championship newcomers Richard Jenkinson, Geoff Hedges and Leigh Andrews were out in the Series Production class while it was good to see Ivan Russell back in his Anglia after his Shelsley engine problems in 2011.

Full report will appear in Speedscene and results can be found here.

More photos at Motor Sport in Focus and Trofeo 2000.