Turbo Dynamics brothers - Peter and Simon Marsh were narrowly defeated by John Forsythe - who set FTD in his 3.5 Pilbeam. Report below:
Last Sunday, 13th September saw the 266th Meeting at Gurston Down near Salisbury, which is regarded as one of the best venues for speed hillclimbs in the country and also boasts design-in-part by the late, great hillclimb-legend Tony Marsh. Poignantly, two of Tony's three sons, Simon and Peter Marsh, competed in the Championship/Challenge at Gurston this year, which is perhaps what made the events so enthralling as the skill, which has followed through their bloodline, shone through.
This was the fourth and final round of the '2009 Gates of Brockenhurst Gurston Down Hillclimb Championship' and the 'BARC (SW) Top Ten Challenge' and a very exciting meeting it promised to be. Despite being exhausted from working over thirty-five hours between Thursday morning through to Friday evening, Peter, MD of Turbo Dynamics, was determined to achieve good results over the weekend following his success at the last meet on 29th-30th August. For Peter, the main aim was to try and extend his points and position in the Top Ten Challenge, which runs in parallel with the Championship and sees points being awarded to the 10 fastest registered competitors at each qualifying meeting, irrespective of which class they run in. Sunday's Top Ten Challenge round promised to be a nail-biter of a finale following the previous meeting, which saw Peter's brother Simon Marsh and John Forsyth in joint 1st place, Dave Gardner - the 2008 Top Ten Challenge Winner - in 2nd place, James Blackmore in 3rd and Peter in 4th. Peter only stood a mathematical chance of winning the Challenge whilst brother Simon had everything to play for. Peter had said, following the last meet, he thought the best result would be if he and Simon were to take 1st and 2nd place in the event. But then on the big day, news came that the favourite to win: Dave Gardner, sharing the 3.5lt V8 ex-Formula 1 engined Pilbeam MP58, had retired following the National round on 29th-30th August.
This made way for a three-way fight, between John Forsyth and the Marsh duo: Simon and Peter. The first practice run in the morning saw Peter set the pace with 29.15 secs at 131mph over the line. Despite better split and sector times, Simon recorded a time of 29.65 secs at 125mph; the run marred by a big understeer moment at the 'Ashes' corner. This was followed by John Forsyth in the big 3500cc Pilbeam MP58 with a 29.71 and 135mph terminal speed. James Blackmore in the 1.6lt bike engined OMS CF09 was as always very quick stopping the clock at 29.99 seconds. In the second practice run Peter's time of 28.29 secs and 134mph over the finish looked good, but despite their split and sector times being within a couple of hundreds of each other, Simon pulled out a 28.16 and 132mph. Peter was then dislodged to 3rd place by John doing a 28.24 run with 138mph terminal, leaving all to play for in the timed runs of the afternoon. James Blackmore slipped to 5th through losing 500th of a second off his first practice time. Roger Cock was 4th in practice with a 29.77 in his 2litre Pilbeam MP54.
After lunch came the race runs. Exuding determination, Simon got off to a fantastic start setting a jaw dropping and personal best 27.46 second run whilst both Peter and John slipped backwards from practice times with 28.47 and 29.06 respectively. However, a one/two looked on the cards at that stage for the two Marsh brothers. Then came the second and very last round where the spectators edged closer and a noticeable hush fell as everyone held their breaths. Coming in 3rd place overall was Peter with 28.28 secs, in 2nd place after an exceptional run was John with 28.05 secs, but proudly claiming 1st place, F.T.D, and the Challenge title was Simon who completed round two in 27.73 secs and had the fastest time, from round one, of 27.46 secs.
Simon finished on 28 points ahead of John on 27 and Peter (who only competed in three of the four rounds) on 24 points. In the local Championship scores are made against class bogey times and that left the brothers, Simon and Peter, with 1st and 2nd places in the Championship by class (Racing Cars over 2000cc). Left vying for the overall Championship title on Sunday following the August meeting was Sarah Bosworth - driving a 1.8 Lotus Elise, Jules Freeman - in his 2.0 Subaru Impreza and Nigel Watkins - in a 3.6 Porsche 964. Keen to win, the trio competed to the best of their abilities and didn't disappoint; all setting new personal bests in their 'do or die efforts'. However, it was Sarah who claimed the title having successfully negotiated the course and its quirks, reaching an amazing 29.10 points - a point clear of both Nigel (2nd place on Sunday) and Jules (3rd place). In this overall Championship Simon was 15th with 18.93 points and Peter 22nd with 17.54 points.
Another good show came from regular local competitor Chris Cannell, owner of Car and Commercial Services in Salisbury, who was driving his twin-engined 2600cc Force SR8. On his final run of the day, he managed - to the delight of his fans - to get to the top of the hill and, more impressively, get into the 29 second-bracket. Challenge winner, Simon said, "Since my Father died, being able to carry on driving the Gould with my brother Peter has been a great help emotionally. I must point out that Peter has been a lot quicker in his first season in the car than I was and this has really pushed me on. Peter's success would have really impressed my father who was always keen to see the car's potential realised." Asked how he felt, Peter said, "Despite finishing the season hungry for more, I am really pleased for Simon and his victory is well deserved. I am sure our Dad would be extremely proud of him and we will have to see what next year's Championship and Challenge will bring! For me personally, there is a small sense of some unfinished business at Gurston!"
