Marsh Duo Competing in British Hill Climb Championship
Avid motorsport fan and Managing Director of renowned turbocharger company, Turbo Dynamics, Peter Marsh is not a new name to the world of Speed Hill Climbing and Sprinting. Middle son of six-time British Hill Climb Champion, the late Tony Marsh, Peter has followed in his father’s footsteps and after a long break from the sport of 10 years, has returned in full force having not lost any of his skill.
15th-16th August saw Peter return to the Shelsley Walsh Hill Climb for the first time in 12 years, along with his elder brother, Simon Marsh for the National Meeting. It was clear to all attending that both brothers have hill climbing in their blood with spectators getting to watch the duo co-driving their late father’s Gould over the weekend.
Simon, already a registered entrant in the British Hill Climb Championship, qualified for both championship run-offs before achieving impressive results of 11th place in Round 27 and, even better, 9th place in Round 28. Unfortunately though, Peter who would have also qualified for the run-off, was not registered for the Championship at that point.
It was a different story last weekend (29th-30th August) however, when the talented Marsh pair attended the National Championship Meeting at Gurston Down Hill Climb. Peter, now registered for the Championship, was eager to qualify for both championship rounds on the Sunday and was looking quick and on the pace in practice on the Saturday.
Despite damp conditions, Peter qualified for the first run-off with the second fastest recorded speed over the finish line at 134 MPH (beaten only by Rob Turnbull); an impressive feat when taking into consideration the finish is on a kink with trees a metre to the right and a field to the left!
Then Peter, despite the drizzle becoming rain, made a “giant killing run” [Toby Moody] coming in 3rd place in Round 29 of the Championship. This brilliant result had Peter up there with the best hill climbers: Rob Turnbull and Roger Moran (1997 Champion and father of the current British Hill Climb Champion). Furthermore, for Peter hill climbing is only a hobby in which he partakes when time allows; for the others it is a full-time passion where they are constantly competing and gaining experience.
Yet more impressive, Peter achieved his 3rd place driving the Opel Cosworth V6 engined Gould; a lesser-powered racing car to that of Rob and Roger’s with some 200 BHP deficit.
The qualifier for the second round of the day - Round 30 of the Championship - was where things started to go wrong for Peter though… He had gone to the line full of confidence for another blistering run despite the conditions. Peter explained, in an interview held following the run, that he’d set the car’s traction control for the wet conditions (heavier rain by this point) in order to help him off the line, but disaster struck and the engine cut out! Unfortunately, the car’s rear wheels had crossed the line on the downhill start and Peter had a failed run.
Peter said, “The qualifying run ended in disaster! It was like a big balloon had burst – I felt really deflated.”
Meanwhile brother Simon, who is currently having a 1500cc Hayabusa engined race car built for him by ADR-Engineering, was treating the event as a test weekend driving ADR’s own “works” CN car: a 2 litre Honda VTEC engined circuit car not set up for hill climbing.
Simon said, “There has been a delay on my new car while we wait for a batch of cranks to come over from America so ADR kindly offered me the use of their works car over the weekend with full team support.
“It was a very successful test weekend and interesting for me, seeing the difference between a hill climb car and a circuit one. - The car I’m having built is not specifically for hill climbing as I hope to use it for sprints and trackdays too, to get some more diverse motorsport experience.”
Apart from being their most local Hill Climb, racing at Gurston Down is always poignant for the brothers as their late father, Tony Marsh, helped design the course back in 1967, and won the first ever meeting there the same year.
Taking his fantastic first round and failed second run into account at the end of the day Peter commented, “I feel elated and deflated at the same time! I think Dad would have been proud of Simon and I though.”
Peter is now ranked 19th (out of 39 positions) in the British Hill Climb Championship, purely from his astounding round at Gurston Down and Simon is in 29th place.
Unfortunately for Peter’s fans though, he has said “I will not be competing in the last two rounds of the British Hill Climb Championship this year due to work commitments, but following the successes this season - both for the business and on the track - I may compete a fuller season next year.”
The Marsh brothers’ recent runs at Gurston Down have also seen them do exceptionally well in both the 2009 Gates of Brockenhurst Gurston Down Hill Climb Championship and concurrent BARC (SW) Top Ten Challenge. Currently in joint 1st place are Simon and John Forsyth, who are both on 26 points. In 3rd place and with a chance of winning the Championship is Dave Gardner. Peter, who has 16 points from just two rounds, also has a mathematical chance of winning the Challenge.
Peter commented that the best result at Gurston Down would be if he and his brother were to take 1st and 2nd place, successfully fending off their rivals. The Marsh duo have achieved this feat before, at two events earlier in the year.
