That was the verdict of a former national hill climb champion on his first visit to Shelsley Walsh at the weekend.
Young driver Zach Zammit had travelled over with his family from Malta, where he was crowned hill climb champion in 2012, to compete in the MAC‟s Speed into Spring event and admitted to being "overwhelmed" not only with the venue itself but the wonderful welcome from officials and fellow competitors alike, culminating in the fact that his mother was invited to hand out the awards at the end of meeting presentation ceremony.
Driving the brand new Empire racing car, built by Bill Chaplin in Somerset, Zach took third place in the 1600cc racing car class, being closely pipped by local fast lady Tina Hawkes in her Force PC, who herself lost out by a mere 2/100ths of a second to class winner and racing car constructor Steve Owen, in the works OMS 28.
The season has started well for Tina Hawkes, from Worcester, as she qualified for both Top 12 run-offs - for the quickest dozen cars of the day - at this meeting, and was also nominated as „Driver of the Meeting‟ at last weekend‟s season opening event at Prescott Hill Climb, Cheltenham.
The Speed into Spring meeting was a round of the Midland Hill Climb Championship with very close results in most of the classes, while some disruption to expected results was caused by sudden downpours, effecting many runs and times. Simon Moyse, of Bicester, took the honour of Best Time of Day with a time of 26.80 seconds in his beautifully sculptured Gould GR59 racing car.
Other class wins saw Paul Jones take the under 2000cc road-going production car class in his Lotus Elise, with Nigel Burke winning the over 2000cc class in his Subaru Impreza.
Bromyard driver Joy Hoyle won the specialist road-going class, driving a Hayabusa-powered Caterham 7, beating her co-driver Ken Evans and all 16 other male competitors in the very closely fought class.
The modified classes for under 1400cc cars saw the traditional Minis come to the fore with a class win for Tim Dennis closely followed by Carlton Jones and multiple record holder Sarah Bosworth, from Sheffield, took the honours in her Lotus Elise in the under 2000cc class, saying: "Being my first season in the modified car class we are still changing the settings on the car but I was delighted to win the class against such tough opposition and in the changing track conditions."
Reigning Midland champion Mike Turpin, from Hereford, driving his Vauxhall VX220 yet again emphasized his domination of the over 2000cc modified class by winning with a time two seconds quicker than second placed driver Duncan Andrews, in his highly modified Porsche Cayman SVR.
Adding a different spectacle to the weekend were cars depicting the diverse models produced over the years by the AC Car Company, with Simon Davies, setting a fastest time of 44.23 in his 5-litre Cobra MkIV CRS.
The ever-popular Paul Matty Sports Cars Lotus Championship saw wins for Jane Millward in her Lotus Elan S3 sports car and Gordon Morrison, in his Lotus 61-69 Special racing car.
Competitors in the Porsche Club of GB National Hill Climb Championship staged a round at the event producing a win for Andrew Norris in his 911 Carrera, while five cars took part in an invitation class for sports, saloon or utility bodied cars with side valve engines, leading to a class win for Neil Bennett in his Batten Special V8.
Richard Jones, driving a Brabham BT29X won the pre-1971 racing car class, followed by Alan Goodwin in his Aldon AL3, with Rodney Eyles winning the pre-1992 class in his Ralt RT3.
A class for drivers holding „B‟ licences and new to the sport is sponsored by Cheltenham Porsche Specialists and saw a win for Simon Cox in his Mini Ritz, followed by John Stevens in a Renault Clio and Shaun West in a Mazda MX5.
In the racing car classes, nearly 20 drivers competed in the 1100cc class with an emphatic win for Chris Aspinall in his Empire Wraith, from local drivers Simon Andrews in his OMS 28 and Simon Fidoe, also in an Empire Wraith.
Tim Davies won the 2000cc normally aspirated class in his Pilbeam MP88 and Terry Davies won the over 200cc class in his own TDK Reynard.
In the Midland Championship run-offs, held at the end of the morning and afternoon sessions, it was first time wins for south Shropshire driver Neville Rollason in his OMS 28 and Warwick driver John Chalmers in his Ralt F302 respectively, adding great excitement to an already very successful weekend.
