I’ve just returned from two days in Devon at Wiscombe Park where I competed in two hillclimb events organised by the Woolbridge Motor Club.
These were rounds 7 and 8 of the HSA Championship and unlike last year when the Sunday had to be cancelled due to atrocious weather, this year both Saturday and Sunday were dry. A little chilly on the Sunday and always threatening rain, but we had a nice dry track on both days.
There was no Formula Ford class on the programme so I was entered in the 1100 – 1600 Racing Car class with a few OMS, a Pilbeam MP62, Fyrth Crosse in his Formula 3 Ensign and a lovely old Cooper T65 and I was the only Formula Ford to enter. However, the HSA championship operates outside event class boundaries and I was only concerned with the HSA Formula Ford class record of 48.53 set in a Quest in 2006.
I don’t know why, but my gear selection woes returned at Wiscombe and every other run was blighted by a missed gear. In fact my first run stopped short of the finish line as I found myself in neutral at Martini and the severe incline after the bend stopped me dead. Very embarrassing. I did it again too on the Sunday when I understeered up the bank at Wis Corner, thought I’d damaged the car and so drove up slowly. Too slowly it turned out, as I again came to a juddering halt just before the line.
However, it was not all doom and gloom as my last run on the Saturday was a 47.62 giving me the HSA Formula Ford class record and (I calculate) 15 points.
There’s some discussion on the HSA Forum at the moment about the pros and cons of various scoring systems, wet and dry times and hard and soft class records. Maybe it was a soft record and maybe my new record is still a soft record, but come and get it, is what I say! Let’s have a handful of FFs at next year’s event. It’s a beautiful setting, everyone is very friendly and it’s well run, so don’t let the proximity of the trees put you off!
Sunday started well with me shaving two hundredths of a second off my best time in practice so I was hopeful of bagging another haul of points in the afternoon. However, it was not to be. As already mentioned I hit the bank at Wis Corner on my first run and my second run was 47.66, which was four hundredths of a second too slow. 4/100 ths! I’m definitely going back next year. There’s a soft record to be had 😉
Here are a few photos from the weekend.
Many thanks to Fyrth for all his words of encouragement and wisdom. There’s another blog to have a look at – www.fyrth.com .
I’ll post some more photos in the HSA Facebook Group.
Until next time!
Was a great event , looking forward to the rest of the year.
Well done Bob. Seems engine is ok then!
Best wishes
Alan