Loton Park
British and Midland Hillclimb Championship 28/29 sept 2019
Loton Park was the setting for the final round of Hillclimb season in 2019.
Challenging mixed conditions were the order of the weekend with the hill seeing various states of "slippy-ness" over the course of the weekend. Runs took place in full wet, damp, greasy and near dry conditions.
My class was populated by Midland championship regulars and some local specialists. Rick Leddy would be the man to beat in his Audi TT RS. The local man has been unbeaten at the venue all season long.
Practice in wet conditions was opportunity to experiment with damper settings. I felt more comfortable with the settings softened up, the car seemingly braking away more slowly and providing me with more sensation of grip.
Sadly Roger Banks ran into issues with his Golf R , experiencing more fuel delivery issues - meaning a retirement from the meeting after second practice.
I finished the day second in class on a 60.96 somewhat away from the fast Audi in the drying final practice. Times were close for 2nd 3rd and 4th with just tenths separating the best of the rest group of myself, Sean Toms stunning spec C Impreza and Andrew Collins in his TT S.
The overnight forecast was grim, meaning tomorrows competition runs would be in wet or damp conditions.
Sunday dawned reasonably bright , but the track remained wet following an overnight soaking. A track walk shortly before the competition runs were due to start revealed a damp and greasy surface. I remember driving in similar conditions a year ago and being disappointed with my run due to overly cautious driving. This time I set off with the mindset that the grip will be better than I think. I went off the start attacking like I would on a drying track, despite the conditions being far worse. This meant I would definitely not under drive to the conditions.
The car was sliding though every corner and a 63.51 was recorded. A full 2 seconds quicker than I managed in similar conditions in practice. The run was good enough to take the first run win, beating the dominant Audi by just 5 hundredths of a second!
The onboard:
The mood of happiness soon evaporated on the second competition run. Conditions had much improved from the morning so expectation was of faster times. However my car lost power and cut out several times on the upper portion of the hill before grinding to a halt just past the finish. Damn it!
The previous seasons MAP sensor wiring issues had raised their ugly head again. An attempt to fix it in the paddock was made to ensure I could get home. Our attempts seemed to have failed with the car refusing to start and the battery seemingly giving up too.
The decision to call the AA was made. The prospect of being recovered home on a truck filling me with dread. What a way for the season to finish. I packed my wet belongings into the car. This would likely be a very long evening. After 30 minutes or so of moping around, I thought to try and turn the car over one more time..... The car fired! The engine running seemingly as normal! After managing a lap of the paddock with no issue, my spirits were back on a high! The test of it holding out for the long drive back to southampton remained. Thankfully the car made it.
Highs, lows an highs again all within the space of a few hours.
The season has been brilliant, coming away with 2x class championship wins was a serious surprise (Road going over 2000cc class win in both the Midland and the British Leaders championship) Next season I am sure this feat will prove to be much harder with a likely influx of competitors eyeing to win a place at the prestigious FIA hillclimb masters.
Time for some winter upgrades!
Take home car of the event?
Sean Goulds new GR59 Judd please. Here is the car just after it broke the outright hill record on the second run off. Im off to buy a Euromillions ticket!