B.A.R.C. SW CENTRE welcomed us to Gurston Down on Sunday, the second day of competition at this hill for the weekend.

Widely recognised as one of the best hill climb venues in the UK. At 957 metres, the track holds the unique characteristic of descending off the start – something that only adds to the spectacle for competitors and spectators alike.

There were six Morganeers entered in this event:

No.                              SpeedMog Class     Model

46        Alan Clark                  9                      Roadster

47        Jane Peck                 2                      4/4

48        George Proudfoot    1H                   4/4

49        James Walter            6                      +4

50        Clive Hall                   3                      4/4

51        Alan Foster                9                      +8

Rain and thunderstorms were forecast, but somehow we escaped the worst of the passing clouds and most of the day was fairly dry.

First practice
We were all assembled and sorted out and scrutineered. Alan Foster wasn’t there so five Morgans were ready to go for the first practice. It was dry and we all recorded good times.

Then there was a sprinkling of drizzle.

As we waited for the next run, a marshal arrived and told Jane that her timing strut was too high off the ground. He measured it with a marked up tape measure. It had never been questioned before, but … Jane fixed it with items from her toolbox: a fold of thick sandpaper and some black gaffer tape.

Then Alan arrived without Morgan. He had some issues with the car and fixing it involving the postal system, too complicated to record here.

2nd Practice (This is the First Timed run for SpeedMog)

There was more drizzle and three of us put our hoods up. The track was slightly moist and we all took it easy. The drizzle became worse as we waited at the top. All our times were slightly slower, except for Clive who’s time was almost the same as the previous run. At this point George was leading on handicap.

LUNCH Break

2nd timed run

The Sun came out and the track was dry. We all improved our times and then started wondering about tyre pressures that we had used for a wet track (lower) now that the track was dry. On the spreadsheet, on handicap, James was on 100% very, very closely followed by Clive and George. It really was down to the last run.

3rd timed run

It was cloudy but still dry. We all went for it. George improved by half a second and James by a quarter of a second. Clive didn’t improve on his time. We collected our printouts, but it was so close that we did not know the result until Clive had consulted the spreadsheet. On handicap James had just pipped George to the post by 0.14%

Result:

First                 James Walter

Second            George Proudfoot

Third                Clive Hall

A great day out in the English countryside despite the dire weather forecast.