2024 Speed Championship - Round 10 - Prescott Hillclimb
Guy Staudt | Published on 11/12/2024
Two AMOC competitors were present for the last round in the 2024 Speed Series at Prescott near Cheltenham, the Hillclimb circuit run by the Bugatti Owners Club. We had Mark Chandler, in his trusted DB7 i6 and Guy Staudt in his V8 Vantage S.
Peter House and Nigel Grice had planned to be present but declared forfeit, Peter taking care of his wife who had recent knee surgery (recovering well!) and Nigel knackered his back heaving amps and speakers at a recent gig (music is his second – or first? - love beside racing).
After quite a few rainy days before the event (big puddles on the single lane road leading to the venue) the day was bright and clear – fabulous hillclimb weather but a few degrees colder than last year.
The AMOC drivers were allocated a grass area to park but luckily found terrace J to be completely empty and with the go ahead from the marshals established themselves next to the Ferrari and 500cc drivers. A very practical choice as both AM drivers had their runs right after the Ferraris.
The first practice run started at an unusually early 8.30 and although the sun was out, the track was damp, allowing for the back end of the cars to become unstable in corners and on acceleration. Tricky but fun!
The second practice run was red flagged around 11.00 after a car hit a stone wall 2 feet thick and possibly there for ages. Although hitting a wall or a stack of tyres is not a totally unusual thing to happen, this accident was very special as the stone wall was 100 yards after (!!) the finish line. Was the driver so happy or unhappy with his run that he forgot to brake or was there a mechanical issue? The front end of his Subaru was much demolished and the run was interrupted for 30+ minutes, thus 2nd practice only finished at 1.15pm.
After the lunch break at 2.15pm, the Bugatti drivers had the honour to go first on their timed runs; Mark and Guy had their run at a late 3.30pm and recorded a time well slower than their 2023 best runs. Cautious driving or colder track?
Both were hoping for a faster 2nd run but sadly, with the Aston crews ready at 5pm on the starting line for their second timed run, the day was brought to an end after Anthony Attwood’s Ferrari Dino 308 GT4 suffered engine problems and spilled oil on part of the track, requiring much work to get the track safe again. With only the 2 Astons left to go up the hill, the AMOC drivers decided to not do a second run possibly as late as 5.30pm in fading light and maybe some oil left.
The 500cc were definitely the kings of the hill, fabulously fast and their best drivers recording run times well ahead of some Ferraris and both Astons. Incredible!
Please visit the Bugatti website for full results (https://www.prescotthillclimb.co.uk/)
Results as per first timed run:
Mark Chandler (DB7 i6) 55.16s
Guy Staudt (Vantage V8 S) 55.72s
Report by Guy Staudt