Shelsley was the first Hillclimb I went to. Mike Pilbeam gave me some freebie tickets for the 90th Anniversary event, and at that point I decided that that was where my motorsport future lay. I was still karting then, and the children, who put a bit of a hold on things motorsport related, were yet to put in an appearance.
Until now I’d avoided Shelsley. Gurston doesn’t seem to suit the Panda in the way that Prescott or Loton do, and Shelsley looked to be more of the same. And as things worked out I didn’t put in anything which resembled a decent time. Certainly there was very little scope to close the HSA Championship points gap to Geoff Lancaster. In fact up to 1.4 production is settled now – Andrew Till first, Geoff second and me third. If only I’d done some more events early in the year.
But aside from the points situation it turns out that Shelsley Walsh is an incredible hill to drive. I really enjoyed running there for the first time. A few more runs and maybe the times will fall a little, but that, with any luck, will be with the RF84. No RF84 progress recently however – finger trouble.
Photo’s below by Barbara Marks
