03 Oct 07
Loton Park hillclimb has some extraordinary bends after blind brows. 'Just remember that it's flat out all the way, with no sudden, invisible bends at all,' said my 4Car colleague helpfully, having completed his run just before us. Then to Weston Park for a last stage with some surprising chicanes, and finally back to Coombe Abbey for the finish.
John Grant won the competition section in that Chevron. The regularity winners were Michael Birch and Jeremy Haylock in another 911 RS, and we kept our fourth slot 39.3 seconds behind. Andrew Frankel came 11th, three minutes and 49.3 seconds behind the winner. So much for the Branz. There were awards for 'promising newcomers', one of which went to a delighted Alona.
And there was a 'spirit of the event' award, won by Patrick Blakeney-Edwards and Andrew Hall in their ancient, ludicrously-powersliding Frazer Nash. At one point their chassis was disintegrating, so they rattled into a garage in the hope of getting it welded. The garage couldn't do it.
'Well, can we borrow your welding gear?' No, because of health and safety. 'All right, we'll buy your welding gear.' Not for sale. And then they rolled the Frazer Nash onto its side on the last stage, doing themselves and car not a little damage, yet still they struggled to the finish, finally limping up in their abraded overalls to get their well deserved gong before heading off to hospital for a check-up.
The Tour Britannia. It's not cheap, but it's an absolute blast.
Tour Britannia part one
Gallery: Tour Britannia 1/2
Gallery: Tour Britannia 2/2
