May 13th 2007, Shelsley Walsh Hill Climb, Worcestershire

Yet again my racing career follows that of Lewis Hamilton's almost hand in hand.  Just as James Allen was asking “When will Hamilton get his first pole? when will he get his first victory? and when will he make is first mistake?” people were quite literally (not) asking “When will Kev do his first Hill Climb? when will Kev do his first wet race? and when will Kev make his first mistake?” 

All those questions got answered at the Shelsley Walsh Hill Climb.

 

Shelsley Walsh is the oldest motor racing event in the World, holding its first hill climb back in August 1905.  The 914m long track is exactly the same as it was back then, very narrow, very steep (1 in 6 in places) and surrounded by high grass banks.  Oh and just to make things that little bit more interesting it was absolutely pissing it down when we got there!

Signing on, Scrutineering and Drivers Briefing 

Having signed on we were assigned an area in the paddock with a roof which was lucky cos it was raining heavily now. 

The Scrutineering man seemed obsessed with the amount of play in the drivers seat and whether or not the brake fluid cylinders caps came off.  Peter used his charm on him and, despite that, we passed. 

 

Interestingly he took no notice what so ever of the large javelin like umbrella strapped to the roll bar which we planned to use to keep dry once we had completed our run. 

There wasn’t a drivers briefing, so like nearly all the other drivers we didn’t really know what was going off.  And just to make things interesting, it was raining. 

Practice Runs 

Having worked out that we had to get allocated into a Batch for practice, and looking like rejects from The Avengers thanks to the umbrella, we waited in the rain to go out.

 

Unusually Pete went first.  Unlike other tracks once your run was complete there was no way to get back to the paddock other than coming back down the same hill you just sprinted up.  So you were held at the top until that Batch was complete and then allowed to drive back down.  The result was two fold.  Pete didn’t get the advantage of warm tyres and we both got wet waiting at the top (Hence the umbrella)

Practice 1 time    46.80 

Also unusually Pete wasn’t beating me.  His times for Practice Runs 1 and 2 were 47.64 and 45.07 respectively to my 46.80 and 44.95.

 

What was surprising was just how much grip there was considering water was running in torrents back down the hill (I might have mentioned that it rained a bit whilst we where there) This queued up a long conversation as to the benefits of the Yokohama A048R's in both the wet and dry.  The conclusion, no one seems to know!

Practice 2 time    44.95

Timed Runs

There was no sign of Peter as car number 785 (Peters race number) was being called to the Start Line.  He had clearly decided that the only way to beat me was to achieve a Zen like state of oneness with the track, otherwise known as falling a sleep in the car.

He did make it to the line and posted a time of 44.08.

It was incredibly wet by now, mainly due to the heavy rain, but despite that I managed to get to the top and improve my time a little bit more.

 

Sprint 1 time    43.75

Ave Speed 46.1 mph

Fortunately the rain had stopped now and was replaced by heavy  rain.  Peters last run was the best any of us had done so far at 41.40 and finally brought a smile to his face (and stopped his chuntering about being slower than me)

So feeling slightly under pressure I, oddly for me, decided I could beat that time.  After a poor start I got about a third of the way round, tried a little too hard round the left hand "Crossing" corner and promptly crashed into the grass bank!

 

Sprint 2 time    62.09

Ave Speed 32.5 mph

Class E Novice Championship

To see the current Championship Points standings, click here.

Lessons learned for next time 

Don't, what ever you do, chase someone else's time!  It only puts you under pressure causing you to drive that bit closer to your limits.  If I had driven the way I was I may well have beaten Peter anyway!  In the end I just ended up scaring the crap out of myself and covering the car in mud and grass.

Did I mention the rain? 

 

 For a summary of the entire WSCC 2007 Speed Series season click here.