Wiscombe Results 070511

Conditions were not good; heavy rain during the night left everywhere and everything very wet, and the rain continued until end of morning practice. Yes, the hill was slippery! But everyone was cheerful and friendly as usual and all were enjoying the wonderful village fête atmosphere.

The view that makes all drivers smile!

Fourteen pre 1954 and five post 1954 500cc racing cars made a good entry and were joined by two 1000/1100cc twin engined cars. The entry of 500cc cars included the RGR, Iota, Arnott, JP, Comet, JLR, Hornet, Creamer, Smith, Juno, Cousy, five Coopers and three Starides - Wow! The very well restored Arnott was especially interesting as Dennis Williams has fitted a starter motor to his JAP engine. There may be purists who will not like this, but most members agreed with Dennis that it solves the problem of reliably getting the car to the line, especially if you do not have a mechanic/helper and you are of mature years. With present day health & safety regulations some event organisers are reluctant to have marshal's push start cars and are tiring of delays caused by cars being difficult to start. 500's with starter motors fitted could be the way forward in the future: now there's a subject for discussion at the AGM!

Of course there were trials and tribulations! A broken chain on the Chairman's Cooper was soon repaired, Darrell W came to a halt at Sawbench hairpin with a magneto problem that was fortunately easily fixed, and several cars were being 'fettled' in the paddock. But the worst luck was suffered by Tim Ross and Ted Sharpe with their two cars; one suffered oil pump trouble and the other a clutch that gave up on nearly every run. But most serious was a steering failure approaching Sawbench which Tim controlled well and stopped before any damage was done, except to Tim's heart rate!

The approach to Sawbench Hairpin, where drivers admire the bluebells!

It was good to have John Forsyth enjoying the fun in a 500; John is normally contesting FTD but gave his Pilbeam MP58 to his son Andrew, who only missed FTD by 0.65. The important results follow but I just have to mention Bruce; at the last two hill climbs your 'new boy' scribe has not had a helper and in very wet conditions Bruce has helped and advised to enable me to safely compete, and he also bought me lunch. Thank you Bruce, you are an excellent ambassador for the 500 Owners Association.

Gwen and I spent the weekend at Wiscombe and saw the amount of work put in by Carol Foster and the Officials, Peter Isaac's and "The Team", plus of course the Marshall's, and we thank all of them for making the event so successful and enjoyable.

All the drivers seemed to enjoy this challenging hill, even in the wet conditions, and the results show who are the most brave!

Words and pictures: Alan Hatfield

Xavier Kingsland's Staride