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Liverpool Motor Club

&

Hagley & District Light Car Club

Hillclimb

30^th July 2005

Loton Park

Event Report

(Report courtesy of Steve Wilkinson)

Copyright Steve Wilkinson & Liverpool Motor Club

The annual visit to Loton Park for the jointly promoted hillclimb meant Liverpool Motor Club were playing an away fixture. All the usual suspects were present and little did John Harden know how taxing a day lay in store.

Practice saw a series of shunts the worst of which involved Peter Hamilton in the Speads. The Yorkshireman was heel and toeing as he slowed for Triangle when his right foot slipped off the brake. The car accelerated through the cones. Hamilton braked but it was too late and the car arrowed into the double Armco. The paramedic onboard the rescue unit at Triangle was already into his stride before the car hit the barrier and was on the spot in seconds. An early lunch break was taken and practice didn’t get underway again for nearly two hours as the barrier needed major repairs. Meanwhile Peter Hamilton was ferried to hospital where it was discovered he had two cracked vertebrae and he will remain in hospital for some time yet.

Once practice was finished it was straight into the timed runs with the Road Modified classes. Leading off were the Up to 1400 cars and it was Clare Sullivan who set the pace and maintained her lead on the second runs. Martin Rowe was a close second well clear of the rest. In the two litre division Dave Coveney continued his rich vein of form taking his Elise to victory just ahead of the ever hard charging Russell Herring in the 205 GTi. Mark Warren was a close third as Iain Ball took a sideways fourth place. In the over two litre class the small field saw Paul Wilkinson cruise home in the Quattro ahead of Tony Smith (Capri) and Hugh Walker (Integrale).

The Road Going Kit Car classes were next and in the 1700 class Andrew Griffiths in the Hayabusa powered Caterham was light years ahead of Jim Spencer (Striker) and Nigel Evans (Westfield). The over 1700 class Ash Mason’s usual domination in the Vauxhall powered Westie was challenged as Ken Evans took the lead in his Superlight. However Ash fought back snatching victory second time up the Shropshire hill.

Into the Mod Prods and the Deppers were back at Loton. Martin Depper grabbed the lead whilst Dave saw his second place become third when Mike Geen brought the scarred 205XS into a fine second place. In the two litre class and Stuart Tranter held onto his slender lead throughout. Trevor Lacey (Escort) just kept hold of second despite a second run spin and Robert Tonge’s very green Ibiza was third. Just three over two litre cars made the line and it was Craig Hughes in the well developed Scimitar SS1 that just took the win with Mick Harriman a close second in his Dialynx Quattro Sport. The final Mod Prod class for the Kit Car runners saw Barry Newman put his Megabusa into the lead on the first run and as the rain swept in he held onto the place with ease. Robin Hawker was second in his similar machine whilst Mark Hemingway was a comfortable third in his Caterham.

In the Sports Libre class Howard Parkinson and son-in-law Mark Walton took a one-two in their first hillclimb with the Nemesis-Vauxhall whilst Phil Major was third in the ADR. The 1100 Racing Car class followed and Dave Banner scored a clear-cut victory in his OMS and would subsequently find no-one could beat his time so collected BTD as well. John Chacksfield took second spot on only his second ever visit to Loton whilst Paul Masters was third - the second wet runs were poorly supported by the bike engined brigade. Into the 1600 Racing Car class and local hot shot Nigel Morris scored a comfortable win in the Firehawk. Jonathan Varley was close in second spot with the March whilst Terry Davis brought his Reynard-Suzuki home in third. Once again a lot of drivers chose to miss the second wet runs as there was little point in risking damaging their cars. There were just three over 1600 runners and it was the battle of the co-drivers for top spot. Bill Hutchins just outfumbled Tony Luxton in their MP58-Hart whilst Paul Tinsley brought his 1993 Formula Renault Swift home in a distant third. The final racing car class was for Formula Fords and with Mark Moran crashing out in first practice on his first ever visit to the hill it was left to Andrew Henson to mop up the win.

A small handicap class of Classic cars followed and Sheila Hassall again outfoxed the handicappers taking the win in her Mini Cooper. Peter Hill was second in his Spitfire whilst Terry Rogers in the wonderful Fraser-Nash set the best time on scratch and entertained us all with his press-on style.

The final class was for the Lotus 7 Club Speed Championship runners. It was all down to the first run and initially Tony Abbatiello set the best time however as the runs progressed his time came under threat. First to beat it was Brodie Branch in his rapid Duratec powered Caterham 7. Then David Jackson moved into second in his Superlight before Jeremy Clarke bounced him to third and grabbed the runners up slot in his Hayabusa powered Seven. No one else beat Abbatiello’s time and he took a well earned fourth. Very few of the Lotus drivers took their second runs as the rain badly affected the times.

When the last car was returning to the Paddock John Harden and the crew let out a collective sigh of relief. They had put on a super day’s hillclimbing having been put to the test by the incidents and the weather. They now have just over a month to prepare for the third and final Aintree sprint on 3^rd September when they will be hosting amongst others the SBD Motorsport British Hillclimb Championship – it will be one not to miss!

PS

Latest news on Peter Hamilton is that he has a fracture of T12 and is OK at the time of posting he should have been discharged from hospital and be recuperating at home.

We wish him well and a speedy recovery.