It was a quiet start to the season with only 4 competitors making their way to Anglesey at the start of April, for the Longton & District Doran Moor Memorial Sprint. Entered in the Saloon Road Going class was James Hunt, who unfortunately had car issues on the day and retired the car after the second timed run. This was to be the flavour of the day, with two of our other drivers in the WAMC Championship. In the Sports Libre class, Terry Brown and Angharad Williams also had to retire due to car issues on their Radical, however they managed 6 timed runs before calling it a day, with Terry achieving a time of 55.35, and Angharad close by on 55.60s. Fortunately, Mike Smith in his Sylva Striker managed both days and on Saturday posted a time of 62.38 on the National Circuit and 101.38 on the International Circuit on the Sunday.
The first Hillclimb of the season saw competitors make their way to Loton for a double header. Once again, a small number of competitors. In the Road Car Class, William Hunt put in some great times over the weekend, achieving a time of 67.26 on the Saturday and then improving some more to set a new target time for the Championship with a time of 65.43 in his Honda S2000. Duncan Morgan also set a new target time for the Championship, posting a time of 60.23 on the Saturday and 61.63 on Sunday, taking 1st in class on both days. In her Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IV, Alison Lock posted two very competitive times in the Modifies Series Production class, achieving a time of 63.28 on Saturday and 62.86 on Sunday. In the Formula Ford Racing Cars up to 1600cc manufactured before 1994 was Carole Nicholls in her Nike Mark 4, and on Saturday set a very reasonable time of 69.61, but come Sunday took a further 2seconds of her time, posting a very competitive time of 67.62 which is very close to her PB for the hill.
Our second Hillclimb took competitors south to Wiscombe Park, for once again a double header of fun, and this time only one competitor made the journey. Wiscombe is not a hillclimb for the faint hearted, some drivers believe that Wiscombe Park is one of, if not the most challenging hill in the championship, with the camber changes of The Esses and then rounding the hairpins at Sawbench and Martini it becomes obvious that this is a ‘drivers’ hill. A demanding drivers hill! Paul Davies in his newly acquired Radical took to the hill, setting a time of 51.10 on Saturday and then on Sunday improving by over 3 seconds, setting a time of 47.88 on Sunday.
The end of April saw the Championship return to Anglesey, this time for the MG Car Club Sprint at Anglesey Circuit. Similar to the start of the year, a very small number made the journey. Dave Ashurst in his Fiat Punto managed to set new target time for the Championship Class on both days, setting a time of 157.22 on Saturday and 127.98 on Sunday. Similarly, Lloyd Bettinson also set some new target times. On Sunday Lloyd achieved a time of 114.94 on the National Sprint Circuit and 94.82 on the International Circuit.
Our third Hillclimb of the calendar was to see competitors take to one of the oldest motorsport events in the world, namely Shelsley Walsh. William Hunt in his Honda S200 posted at time of 44.33 on Saturday and improved by over 4 seconds on Sunday, posting a time of 39.46. Carole Nicholls continued to chase down a PB over the weekend, coming close on both days. Carole posted a time of 39.16 on Saturday and 39.99 on Sunday, showing consistence in her driving skills.
Our second visit to Loton proved to be a little more popular weekend for the Championship Competitors, with 4 championship competitors in attendance, and all in Road Going Cars. Three of the drivers were to be found in the same class, all three driving Fiat Abarth’s, competing against once another for a class win. Duncan Morgan succeeded in winning the class with a time of 60.65 and close behind taking 3rd in class was Hugh Elliott with Mary Elliott posting a time of 63.97 on the Saturday. This was to be the flavour of the day for the three Abarth drivers; competing in the Titan X Top Ten Challenge, which saw Duncan Morgan take 2nd overall, Hugh Elliott 5th and Mary Elliott 8th. Our forth Championship Competitor William Hunt fought it out amongst a class of 35 cars, William managed to improve on his last visit to the Hill, subsequently setting a new Target time once again for the championship. William achieved a time of 66.58 on Saturday and 64.48s on Sunday.
Sunday at Loton was just as competitive for the Abarth drivers, Duncan set a quicker time on Sunday, posting a time of 60.44, with Hugh Elliott posting a time of 62.02 and Mary Elliott a time of 63.98s.
Returning to Wales and our third sprint of the Championship Calendar saw 9 competitors take to the National Circuit at Pembrey. Both days proved to be very hot and due to the low numbers in attendance on the day plenty of additional runs were afforded to the drivers. Dave Ashurst in his Fiat Punto set a time of 151.98 on his second time run. William Hunt’s quickest time of the was achieved on his final run of the day (ie T4) setting a time of 134.31. Mike Smith in his Sylva Striker set a very competitive time of 129.43 on his second run which was to be his best run of the day. Garry Morgan having only just got his car ready for the BARC Summer Sprint weekend with hours to spare, managed to set a very time of 123.08, just 0.29s off the targe time for the class and secured 1st in class on the day. Alison Lock also managed to achieve a great run, posting a time of 124.58 in her Mitsubishi Lancer Evo.
As we have come accustom to seeing from Lloyd Bettinson, each time he attends an event, he simply keeps improving with each and every run and continues to ‘knock it out of the park’ when it comes to setting new target times. Saturday saw Lloyd setting a time of 110.99 and coming 13th overall, which included 9 British Sprint drivers! Lloyd was piped to 10th overall by two Radical drivers and an OMS !
The Sports Libre Class at the BARC Wales Summer sprint weekend saw 6 Radical compete against on another, with 3 from the WAMC Championship. Terry Brown not content with driving one car chose to drive two, a Radical and an Escort ! Terry set a competitive time of 115.83 on Saturday but was pied to 3rd in class by Angharad Williams who posted a time of 113.54. Paul Davies in his Radical Clubsport experienced a few mechanical issues but still managed to achieve a time, posting a time of 128.38 on the day.
Sunday saw the return of the Sun and the drivers, and once again some additional runs were awarded to those who wanted them. Sunday saw the drivers take to the Clubman circuit, with Dave Ashurst posting a time of 164.01s just 0.15s of the class target time. William Hunt managed to set a new target time for the Championship class, setting a new time of 145.73 for potentially next year.
Similar to William, Mike Smith also managed to beat his class target time, by just under 2 seconds, with a time of 137.7s, as did Garry Morgan, improving by just over 2.5s, with a new target time of 133.22 now potentially set for 2024. Due to a few technical issues, Alison only managed to complete two of the fours runs afforded to her, but managed to set a very competitive time on her first run of 132.92 and secured 1st in class.
Lloyd Bettinson achieved his best run of the day with his first timed run, posting a time of 122.83 in his STM Pheonix, proving once again that the car and driver are very much in sync.
The Sports Libre class which consisted of three Championship competitors, saw Terry Brown take 3rd in class this time with, posting a time of 118.12 with Angharad 4th in class with a time of 122.76, and Paul Davies 131.76.
Staying in Wales for our next event, Competitors took to the Brecon hills for the Fiarfield Motor Company Epynt Hillclimb. Dave Ashurst posted a time of 74.59s on Saturday (just some 0.78s off his target time), and 76.23 on Sunday. Duncan Morgan posted a time of 60.52 on Saturday and improved on Sunday setting a time 58.80 on Sunday. Similar to Ducan, Huw also followed suit, having a better day on Sunday. Hugh posted a time of 60.10 on Saturday and achieved a time of 59.41 on Sunday. Mary however found Saturday to be her better day posting a time of 63.40s on Saturday and 63.52 on Sunday.
A change of car for Carole Nickols, luckily having a Mini to opt for. Carole’s best day proved to be Saturday with a time of 71.80s and Sunday 72.28s. First time for us to see David Nursey compete in Championship this year, similar to Carole, Saturday proved to be the better day for David, Saturday – 68.02 and Sunday 68.54
Garry Morgan in Vauxhall Chevet managed to secured some great times over the weekend, setting a time of 54.77 on Saturday and 55.32 on Sunday whilst trying to address some gremlins in the car.
Whilst some of the Championship Competitors took the Welsh hills, others went south to Wiltshire, to Gurston Down Hillclimb. Paul Meadows took the hill in his Renault Clio and posted two very competitive times over the weekend, 38.82s on Saturday and 37.81s on Sunday which potentially may be a new target time for 2024. Also in attendance was Alison Lock and similar to Paul, also set some great times, 36.47s on Saturday and 37.35s on Sunday in her Mitsubishi Lancer Evo.
Joining the weekend’s record breakers was Lloyd Bettinson, in his STM Pheonix with a time of 34.24s on Saturday and then on Sunday managed to improve slightly setting a new Target time of 34.05s. Similarly Paul Davies in his Radical also managed to set some great times, beating the target time for the class by over 2 seconds, posting a time of 35.62s on Saturday and 34.61s on Sunday.
Luke Trotman having rebuilt his Force HC, was out at Gurston, and set some fantastic times. Saturday was 33.46 and Sunday 33.14 so some challenging times set for the Championship Class.