on the Hills at Gurston
Saturday 20th June saw the first of several hillclimb meetings where duo Simon and Peter Marsh compete against each other sharing their late fathers’ British Racing Green 2.5 litre V6 Opel Cosworth engined Gould GR55. Speed Hillclimbing launched Andy Priaulx into his triple FIA World Touring Car Championship winning career.
Saturday’s National ‘B’ meeting was Peter’s first drive in the Gould on a track well known to the Marsh family. The Gurston Down Hillclimb course was designed by six times Hillclimb champion father Tony Marsh in 1967 and experienced by members of the family over the years. Peter Marsh, Managing Director of Turbo Dynamics, said “I am delighted with my times today. Gurston has many memories for me from boyhood, it is the closest event to home and today I have bettered my personal best in my father’s car. It has been a very successful day for both Simon and I.”
Simon, dubbed 'the one to watch this season', was already achieving acclaim over his mastery of the Tony Marsh Gould, which was originally to be shared with his father this year. Peter provided him with the sibling rivalry needed to better his previous times on this track. Tony would have been extremely proud to see the united yet competitive front of his two eldest sons during the course of the weekend.
Each timed run on Saturday achieved a personal best for both Peter and Simon. The end of the day saw Simon winning FTD (Fastest Time of the Day) and first in class for his 28.28 sec final run and Peter following a close second, completing the course in 28.77 secs. “It was an amazing start to Peter’s time in the Gould” commented Gail Marsh, wife of Peter and Director at Turbo Dynamics, “it seemed as if he had always been driving it – he proved not only a natural, but that his fathers blood firmly runs through his veins!”
Saturday also showed the united spirit of competitors and spectators alike in raising around £300 for the Tony Marsh Marshalls Fund by completing a competitive timed run in their road cars. They even flogged the plastic bin they made the collection in (after removing the contents of course).
Salisbury based Chris Cannell, owner of Car & Commercial Services, usually drive shares with Sue Haynes, a 2.6lt (twin Suzuki 1300cc engines) Sports Libre Force SR8, but for the charity he took to his 2.0lt turbocharged Mitsubishi against Yeovil-based Roger Cock. Roger, who usually drives his 2.0lt Pilbeam MP54, ran his 2.5lt turbocharged Subaru Impreza STi. Both cars are standard road cars and ones that have been road rivals for many years. A fitting challenge! Both competitors achieved sub 40 times with Chris just topping Rogers’s time.
Sunday 21st June saw the first of the duo's shared drive in the Gurston Championship & Top Ten Challenge meeting, with the competition stepped up in the form of John Forsyth and Dave Gardner in the 3.5 litre V8 Cosworth DFR Pilbeam MP58, Nic Mann with his ingenious jet powered turbo system Mannic Beattie and James Blackmore in the OMS CF04.
Brayspeed Productions strapped a camera to the Gould to show a drivers eye view of the course, giving people a taster for a feature on Motors TV.
Before breaking for lunch Peter and Simon had again topped their personal best times, but this was practice - the real thing was yet to come! The brothers were motivated and pumping adrenalin ready for the timed competition runs of the afternoon.
Peter started the afternoon with a celebrated 28.21, which would have won him FTD the previous day despite this being only his second competitive event in the car. Although his terminal speed was 132mph, his overall time was topped by Simon at 27.76 secs with a speed of 131mph over the finish line! With only one timed run left the gauntlet had been firmly laid down and the brothers had it all to play for.
In his first timed run of the afternoon, John Forsyth stripped all the teeth off second gear changing from first into second, as he came out of the Ashes corner. This robbed shared driver Dave Gardner of his first timed run. A 20 minute gear box repair, having to make a compromise on gear ratios, meant they were back in the running as the rain threatened to come down. A great team effort prevailed, but after John’s second timed run the front anti-roll bar was found to be broken. Dave commented it was likely that it could have been broken all day. This meant he did not get any timed competition runs.
Following a spate of earlier competitors ‘off-roading’, Peter’s second run of the afternoon was red flagged due to Bill Morris having an off at the Ashes corner so Peter had to be towed back to the start line for a re-run. Having been thrown off his focus and with an incorrect setting on the electronics going to the start line he unfortunately did not quite top his first timed run.
Despite this setback, Peter was awarded the much deserved second in class, with FTD going to Simon, who smashed his overall record in an excellent 27.67 secs. – It was a great first dual outing for the brothers, who are entered into the Gurston Top Ten Challenge, in which Simon was running third until this memorable weekend.
Their next Gurston Down competition meeting will be at the Tony Marsh Memorial event on July 19th when Tony's cars will be showcased by his sons and nephew on the hill.
