Compres 041

FERRARICOMPETITIONRESULTS

CompRes

THE NEW FERRARI F60

ISSUE 041 JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2009

CompRes Chevy Chase, Leeds Road, Selby, North Yorkshire YO8 4JH T: +44 (0) 1757-702 053 F: +44 (0) 1757-290 547 E: cs.man@btinternet.com

CompRes is available by subscription and is published 10 times a year for the FERRARI OWNERS’ CLUB

FERRARICOMPETITIONRESULTS BUONA FORTUNA! We wish all Ferrari competitors the best of fortune for a successful and, most of all, enjoyable 2009 season.

Although the current economic news is generally dire there are some good bits which give us cause for optimism.

Petrol prices have substantially reduced from the frightening levels of a few months ago, which makes the cost of getting to events far more affordable. And if you are in the market to change your Ferrari, second-hand prices have tumbled to create some real bargains.

We shall continue to make sure, in all our negotiations with race and other event organisers, that we get the very best value for money for Club members taking part in motor sport. We really want you to enjoy this season’s terrific programme of events to the utmost!

PETER STUBBERFIELD It is with great sadness that we record the death of our longtime President, PETER STUBBERFIELD. Peter died on 17th December aged 98 years. Following a private interment at Bridgnorth Town Cemetery on 9th January, there was a Service of Celebration and Thanksgiving at the Parish Church of St Mary Magdalene at Bridgnorth, attended by his dear wife, Kay, relations and some of his many friends.

As many of you will know, in the later years of his life Peter was unfortunate to suffer ill health which prevented him being able to attend Club events.

However, despite his lack of mobility, he was both sharp and amusing to the last.

On a personal note I shall miss him greatly. He regularly dropped me a letter and always expressed his interest and support of the competition activities of the Club. His letters always consisted of a section giving a detailed report on his latest medical condition. It was rather like reading a concise and accurate MOT analysis.

In his last letter to me, written in the summer, he reported “I have been given a bed with electrical controls and now lie longitudinally southeast to northeast. Fortunately my brain is the only part of me which is good, particularly on Club matters and maths. My doctors tell me my present trouble is stress, and I think it must have started with all the hard work I had to put in with Enzo Ferrari and Colonel Ronnie Hoare.”

Peter was always very appreciative of the work we have done over the years in running the racing. He seemed to enjoy reading Ferrari Competition News and its successor CompRes and was a big fan of our regular glamour girl ‘Miss Tonks’, always asking after the health of this fictitious young lady.

As a humble tribute to the memory of a truly fine gentleman and dear friend, we are reprinting in this issue an interview we had with Peter some twelve years ago entitled ‘Taking Tea with the President’. We hope it will help recall some of his long and fascinating life.

We send our love and best wishes to Kay at this time of her profound loss.

2009 RACE CALENDAR There have been one or two amendments to our race programmes since the last issue of CompRes and our circulated group emails.

The reasons for the changes are many. For example those ‘professionals’ who run Donington Park (and, so we are led to believe, the British Grand Prix in 2010) managed to ‘double book’ Aston Martin Owners’ Club’s contracted weekend in May with Britcar’s request for the same weekend.

Pistols at dawn were avoided after some argy-bargy, the matter being resolved by giving Britcar the Saturday and Sunday, and AMOC a reduced programme on the Bank Holiday Monday. As guests of AMOC we have been obliged to organise one race each for our two race series instead of the original plan of double headers.

The final 2009 Ferrari race calendar is now as follows, although we cannot (like HBOS or RBS, perhaps!) give an unconditional guarantee!

May 4

Donington Park

May 29-31

Spa-Francorchamps (x2)

June 13/14

Brands Hatch (x2)

July 18/19

Snetterton (x2)

August 31

Castle Combe

September 4-6

Zandvoort (x2)

October 3

Oulton Park

The dates and programmes are exactly the same for both PFfc Classic and PFO Open, with

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Photos: SwiftyPix

the exception that at Castle Combe we are combining the PFOs with Porsches to add an extra bit of relish (or even sauerkraut, perhaps!).

PRE-SEASON KARTING and DINNER The date for the Pre-Season karting enduro race at Thruxton outdoor circuit is confirmed as Saturday, 28 March. This will be followed by the traditional PreSeason Dinner, to be held, as last year, at that oasis of culinary delights, the Madagascan Gin Palace in nearby Newbury.

Pirelli will be block-booking a number of rooms at the Hilton Newbury North, and will arrange the necessary transport to convey us from the hotel to the restaurant, and hopefully back again at the end of the evening.

The necessary instruction sheets and booking forms will be available shortly. If you wish to join in please contact us as soon as possible to request the paperwork.

REGULATIONS The packs comprising Regulations, entry forms and other paperwork have now been posted out to competitors for all three of our Club race and hillclimb series. We shall appreciate it if drivers will complete their registration as early as possible so that everyone is in the information loop.

If anyone hasn’t received their pack, or would like the details of one of the other series in addition to the pack they have already got, please contact Anne Swift as soon as possible.

END OF SEASON DINNER “End of Season Dinner?” we hear you say, “But dammit, we haven’t even started the season yet and you’re already talking about an event that happens when it’s all over! What’s going on?”

Well the truth is, a

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Two shots of the magnificent Tortworth Court in South Gloucestershire.

staggering number of people plan their marriages not just months ahead but often years ahead. So if we want a particular venue it is necessary to beat these hopefully happy couples even if we don’t want to join them. Which is the reason we have made sure everything will be in place and booked for our event when we want it.

The date is Saturday, 21st November 2009 and the venue will be the four star Tortworth Court Hotel. This magnificent ancestral estate lies in the South Gloucestershire countryside with a history as interesting as the beautiful landscape that surrounds it. Although its history strongly features Lords, Knights and Dukes, today its wonderful

Victorian splendour has been enhanced, at mind boggling expense, with every luxury to give you a truly memorable weekend. We promise you won’t be disappointed.

We shall be publishing the usual detailed run-down and joining instructions later in the year. In the meantime, make sure you have the date firmly written in your diary!

ITCR 2009 These initials stand for an Introduction to Circuit Racing, an initiative first introduced in 2007 which proved to be very popular.

We are repeating this course on Tuesday, 20th October 2009, again at Mallory Park circuit.

Gary Culver has once more taken on the task of organising the workshop and, learning from the experience of the previous course, will be making a few changes to improve the experience for those Club members who wish to learn more about racing their Ferraris.

Although full details have still to be finalised, the day will feature instruction by a few wellknown International racing drivers as well as many of the Club’s ARDS instructors. It will be possible to take the ARDS course leading to obtaining the MSA race licence, including if necessary the vital medical examination. Startline technique as well as circuit driving will be included.

The course will not only appeal to absolute novices but also those Club competitors who wish to improve their skills.

In order to give maximum possible time to drivers on a oneto-one basis, the number of places available will be strictly limited, and the course is really aimed at those who seriously wish to take part in the Club’s competitions.

Full details of the course will be published a little later in the year.

BAGS OF DELIGHT

Photo: Scuderia Fotografia

At last the Caracalla Bagaglio luggage has arrived from Italy

Our sponsors, Caracalla Bagaglio, can supply a range of superb Italian luggage to grace any Ferrari tipo.

and should have now been delivered to every Ferrari race competitor who qualified to receive one. The bags were well worth waiting for!

Many of you have contacted us to express your delight with your bag and asked us to pass on your thanks to Simon Jordan, the moving force behind this brilliant enterprise.

Simon has requested that drivers make a point of taking their bag to the first race in which they compete this year, and get someone to take a photograph of you with the bag alongside the

competition number of your race Ferrari. He would like to use these for marketing purposes. If you would like to send your photograph to us here at Chevy Chase as an email attachment, we will collect them all and transmit them to Caracalla Bagaglio.

Simon also reminds everyone that his company can supply luggage purpose-made to suit various Ferrari models. The bags shown here are ideal for your 599 and come in nero with rosso stitching. Mmm!

SILLY Bs ‘In the Spring a young man’s fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love.’ If Tennyson had been alive today and a Ferrari owner, he might have written ‘turns to thoughts of racing’ instead.

Although it is still some way off Spring, those two northern lads, Chris Butler and Mark Buckland (the famous Bs), certainly know how to enjoy themselves in the close season. When they met up in Northumberland recently their thoughts lightly turned to slot car racing.

Under the bemused gaze of Clerk of the Course Dave Clark, primed with several glasses of ‘lunatics’ broth’, and giving a fair imitation of Michael Schumacher (Butler) and ‘Mad Willy’ Mairesse (Buckland), they seem to have totally lost control of their Enzos and 430s. We can only hope that sanity returns by the time the season starts.

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PIRELLI CALENDARS 2009 Pirelli calendars are as rare as hens’ teeth. We are therefore fortunate that MARTIN PALLOT has kindly agreed to let us have nine for our Club competitors.

To make sure everyone has an opportunity to have one of these valuable and very collectable calendars we have allocated three to each of our Club series: PFfc Classic, PFO Open and PFHC, the hillclimb Championship. And to provide a worthwhile incentive to register early, we shall draw three names at random from the FIRST 12 REGISTRATIONS we receive for each series. The lucky winners will be sent their calendars in the next few weeks.

had to shelter from the hot sun under an ‘EasyUp’.

WITT GAMSKI

‘Joker’ (double points for a chosen round) been played by Top Cats at a critical race.

Witt says he misses racing in one of our Club’s series but sadly we cannot accommodate his highly developed Ferrari tipo in our PFO. However, we wish him and his brave little team good fortune next season in whatever racing they choose to do.

In the last issue of CompRes we had intended to tell you how WITT GAMSKI, previous PMFC champion and long time supporter of our Club racing, had fared in the 2008 season with his Ferrari 360GTC. Unfortunately pressure of space prevented us including Witt’s report so we are making amends now.

The series chosen was the 2008 NEWS FROM OZ Britcar When GEOFF DARK made his championship, annual trip to Australia in late where Witt’s Witt Gamski in his 365GTC at Silverstone. autumn he met up with our old car was up pal LEN WATSON. Len was against some serious opposition, CAUTIONARY TALE competing in the Noosa ‘The Hill’ not least a trio of highly financed Classic Hill Climb, an event that F430s with professional and semi We received the following embraces some 170 cars of every -professional drivers. The 430s amusing story from COLIN possible marque. develop around CAMPBELL which he spotted in 80 to 100bhp his newspaper: more than There was this unbelievable Witt’s car, with bargain Ferrari advertised for other varied £50. Seeing this offer in the local machinery newspaper, a prospective buyer producing rings the vendor to ask if it is a anything misprint. A female voice assures between 500 him it is genuine. He goes to and 750bhp. view the car, and there it is on Witt the drive outside a moderately shared his 360 well-to-do home; a splendid, with team bright-red Ferrari Testarossa. mate Keith The middle-aged woman Robinson and who answers the door says she is put in some happy to take cash. He asks to blinding see the documentation and performances, everything is in order. Finally, including unable to suspend his disbelief Len Watson and Geoff Dark share some amber fluid. lapping Brands any longer, the buyer looks the Indy in a very Len was driving his faithful vendor in the eye and asks why respectable 47 seconds. Their 308GTB that he campaigned in she is selling so cheaply. nd MJC-liveried car finished in 2 the UK in our PFfc Classic series “It’s simple, really,” the place in Class 1 of the back in 2007. The car is now vendor sighed. “My husband ran championship, behind the Top registered in Australia with the off with his secretary and sent Cats Mosler and ahead of the Mdistinctive plate ‘RED LEN’. We me a note saying I could keep Tech F430GT3. It was a fantastic are not sure how he fared in the the house but to sell the car result which could even have event but clearly the pair of them and send him the cash.” been a first place had not a

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Taking tea with the President

Peter Stubberfield looks back on a lifetime of automobiles

A

S WE ALL KNOW, 1997 is a landmark year for the marque Ferrari writes JOHN SWIFT. It is the celebration of fifty years of manufacture of the world's finest performance cars, give or take a year or so (the exact date of the start of it all is slightly blurred). But for us in Britain, it is a doubly special

occasion. It is the thirtieth anniversary of the formation of the fledgling Ferrari Owners' Club (under the aegis of the Bugatti Owners' Club) and the twentieth anniversary of the formation of the 'independent' Ferrari Owners' Club, as we know it today.

With these milestones very much in mind I set out for Shropshire, to see the man who probably had more to do with the second of these two dates of

significance than anyone else: the Club President, Peter Stubberfield.

Peter and his wife, Kay, live quietly in retirement on the outskirts of Bridgnorth. Their comfortable home commands an eagle's eye view over glorious rolling countryside, with Peter's one time battle ground, Shelsley Walsh, just over the other side of the Wyre Forest. Inside their house, all the evidence is there of

Peter Subberfield hard at work in the T35B at Shelsley Walsh.

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an unmitigated motoring enthusiast: a study bulging with almost every known work on Ferrari and Bugatti, combined with fine models and other memorabilia associated with the two marques. And in the lounge, a glass fronted cabinet houses a huge collection of silver trophies that bear witness to Peter's many successes at the wheel of his beloved ex-George Easton type 35B Bugatti in years gone by.

Peter retired from the chairmanship of the Ferrari Owners' Club in 1988, after being at the helm for a period of eighteen years. He was not our first but our second chairman and his period of office covered a significant epoch in the Club's history. For the benefit of newer members I will come back to these formative years later on.

Peter makes no secret of his seniority. He is a sprightly eighty -six, born on 24 June 1910 at St Leonards, a small seaside town perched on the coastline of East Sussex. His father was chauffeur to an ecclesiastical family and was mustard keen on anything mechanical - he spent most of his leisure time racing primitive motor cycles at Herme Hill and Devonshire Park.

When Peter was only four, WW1 broke out. The bishop's sleeve-valve Daimler was hoisted on to blocks for the duration and Peter's father went off to join the RASC. He served with distinction, being awarded the Croix de Guerre and bar for his services in France.

When the war ended, his father returned to St Leonards to continue with his chauffeuring duties. Young Peter assisted in getting the Daimler into roadworthy order again, well remembering helping to remove all the Vaseline from the big car's plated parts. He seemed to have inherited his father's zest for speed and enjoyed hurtling around the local roads on his Raleigh bicycle ("He was quite mad!" interjects Kay) and inevitably had the odd incident.

On one occasion, coming down a 1 in 8 hill at high speed, brake failure on the Raleigh caused him

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to somersault over the top of a prototype Matchless 4-wheeler, alarming its test driver. On another occasion he and his brother collided, a double fractured arm causing Peter to have 13 weeks off school.

It was during this enforced absence from school that Peter realised that what he really wanted to do more than anything else was to get involved with cars and motor bikes. This was easy for him, because his father had now formed a car hire company.

There were Daimlers for weddings and other, less stately, cars for use as taxis. Not yet sixteen, Peter held only a motor cycle licence. Nevertheless, he taught the local policeman to drive in one of the hire cars.

The motor business flourished and in 1935 his father built bigger and more imposing premises. They became agents for SS, Riley and Morris, and also a number of makes of motor cycle including Scott and Matchless. Bill Lyons, whose SS concern was the forerunner of Jaguar, became a friend of Peter's father. An SS1, supplied to a local lady, developed incurable clutch slip and Lyons's advice was sought. "Cut open the top of the clutch housing with tin snips and then rivet it back when you have done the repair" was Lyons's helpful suggestion.

A motorcyclist customer with a spark plug problem on his Brough -Superior was Lawrence of Arabia. After that he often called in to the garage to chat about bikes.

Peter, of course, had the use of the garage's demonstration bikes but he also owned a number on his own account. His first was a belt drive ImperialJAP, bought for the princely sum of thirty shillings. Later, he took charge of a fiercesome supercharged Scott, which had been prepared for Brooklands but, due to the ear-splitting racket it made, was only allowed out on the track for a maximum of half-an-hour. He wisely removed the blower for road use.

By the time the second world war broke out, the garage

business was going from strength to strength, with Alvis added to the list of agencies. But then everything ground to a halt when the Canadian forces commandeered the premises in late 1939.

Peter was in a reserved occupation. His considerable practical knowledge of mechanical engineering was applied to the war effort at Cowley, where Lord Nuffield had allocated one of his factories to the repair of Spitfires. Peter was put in charge of the airframe section and it was here that he met Kay, who was one of the several skilful ladies who were expert in replacing the aluminium skins to damaged fighter wings and fuselages. They were married in 1946.

After the war, Peter and Kay moved to Maidenhead. Peter joined a local caravan distributor as manager and, five years later, formed his own company. His car at that time was a 1½-litre International Aston Martin which he had bought in 1939 and, when visiting Elstree speed trials, met Ernest Stapleton. Stapleton took him along to Prescott and the seeds of speed hillclimbing were sown.

The idea of hillclimbing immediately appealed to Peter but his Aston was simply too heavy and too slow to be competitive. He looked around for a suitable competition car, with thoughts of a Q-type MG in mind. He went to Jack Fairman's emporium and it was there he saw this rusty T35B Bugatti standing in a corner. Fairman had entered the car for Shelsley Walsh and it was agreed that if the car climbed the hill successfully Peter would buy it.

In the event, it did manage to get to the top, albeit very slowly; ÂŁ650 changed hands and the Bugatti was towed home behind the Aston.

The car was overhauled, new Hepolite pistons fitted, and much to Peter's surprise he won his class at the August 1946 Prescott. It was the first of many wins with the car.

Peter with his Bugatti-engined Special in the late fifties.

The Aston tow car was replaced with a type 46 Bugatti, bought from Holland Birkett, and then later by a more powerful type 50. The arrangement worked well: when trailing the T35B to the Bo'ness and Rest and be Thankful hills Peter was stopped by the police for doing a highly illegal 72mph (the speed limit for trailers was 30mph at the time).

Fellow competitors on the hills at that time included famous drivers like Dennis Poore, Ken Hutchinson, Bob Gerard, Syd Allard, Joe Fry, Ted Lloyd-Jones, and the master himself, Raymond Mays. Peter reckons that on a good day his Bugatti almost had the legs of Mays' R4D ERA on acceleration.

Peter had an old injury probably from one of those early bicycle crashes - which meant that a joint in one of his legs would occasionally pop out of position. Kay was able to push it back into place but it was a nuisance when at full chat in the

2-seater Bugatti. So, in 1949, the car was rebodied as a single seater. Peter's leg was now able to be wedged tightly in the narrow cockpit and there was no further trouble with the offending joint.

Peter and Kay were competing most weekends during the season and it made sense to have a transporter that could also double up as a temporary home at the hills. A Bedford Duple bus was acquired, most of the seats removed, and space made for the Bugatti. Sleeping and washing facilities were installed and this formed the Stubberfield mobile base for several seasons.

The initial taxing of the Bedford caused some problems.

The local taxation office wanted to register it as a commercial vehicle but Peter insisted it was a car. The difference in duty was considerable so Peter decided to take his case right to the top. He wrote to Winston Churchill, explaining that the bus was no different to the bag of a plumber.

In both cases, they carried the tools of their trade. It just so happened that the tools of Peter's trade included a racing Bugatti!

The plan worked. Churchill wrote to the tax office and the bus was promptly deemed to be a car.

For many years a copy of Winston's letter was kept under the driving seat of the Bedford, to show to any inquisitive policeman if the need arose.

Not that the police were always unhelpful. Peter recalls one occasion, at Bo'ness, when one of the Bugatti's pistons disappeared through the exhaust port and made a large hole in the cylinder wall. Peter was looking at the smoking wrecked engine when a voice said "I think I can fix that. Let me have an old piston and I'll have it all ready for you to collect in the morning."

The voice belonged to an enthusiast, a Mr Bell from Glasgow, who undertook to work through the night to reline the cylinder block and turn down a Renault piston to fit.

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Peter and Kay drove the bus to the outskirts of the city and spent the night in a lay-by. The police were curious about the parked Bedford but, after hearing Peter's explanation, escorted him to Bell Engineering where the engine was refitted. They tried to start the car but the engine was reluctant to fire up. The police stopped all the traffic and, with the Bugatti suddenly springing into life, escorted Peter

Peter did most of the work on the Bugatti himself; there wasn't any part of its often peculiar mechanicals with which he wasn't very familiar. But Kay was also able to turn her hand to the spanners if required. One time, Peter was ill in bed and the Bugatti had to be prepared for Shelsley at the weekend. The engine had developed a water leak and a mechanic from a nearby garage had been asked to

The President in jovial mood chats to the late Jim Wallis.

on a test run on the road.

They got back to Bo'ness with ten minutes to spare. And, much to everybody's delight, not least Mr Bell’s, Peter broke the class record!

The faithful Bedford bus put in some pretty impressive performances in getting the Stubberfield equipe from one hillclimb venue to the next. On one memorable trip they left Rest and be Thankful, near Loch Fyne, at 8.30pm and drove the 550 miles to compete at Prescott the following day. In spite of fog and failing lights due to a broken dynamo belt, they pulled into the Prescott paddock at 7.30am.

There aren't many competitors who would contemplate such a journey today.

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come round to fix it. The Bugatti's complexity defeated him. "Leave it to me," said Kay. She donned a pair of overalls and, to the mechanic's surprise and embarrassment, fitted a gasket and cured the leak with all the skill of a regular race engineer.

Keeping the racing Bugatti going was not easy; there was negligible financial assistance from the motor industry at that time. Peter remembers that one of the best deals he had was from the oil manufacturer Newton, who would supply a couple of gallons of their Notwen engine oil free of charge at the start of the year, and a gallon of gear oil at the end.

But sometimes Peter was lucky. An unknown person

telephoned him one day, said he had watched the 35B at Prescott, and asked if he would be interested in buying a few Bugatti parts he had in his garage. He explained that he had to leave the country in a hurry and could Peter go over without delay. He went along to Ladbroke Grove the following day and was astonished to find row after row of 5 and 10-gallon drums, each filled with Bugatti parts and immersed in engine oil. There were cranks, blocks, pistons, in fact every Bugatti item imaginable.

This new-found benefactor asked if ÂŁ75 would be alright for the lot, which Peter agreed to without blinking. Just as he was leaving, the owner called him back to say that he could also have five large lathes, three small ones, and an engine gantry if he wished - and included in the original price! These spares kept him going for the whole time he campaigned the Bugatti.

Towards the end of the fifties Peter had the idea of building a hillclimb special. A titanium chassis frame, weighing just 86lb, was made by Horace Richards and formed the basis of the new car. A 2.3-litre supercharged Bugatti engine was built up from the bits acquired from the Ladbroke Grove garage and mated to a self-change Wilson gearbox. A step-down transfer box enabled gear ratios to be easily changed to suit any particular course. Most of the other parts were of Riley origin.

To clothe the special, the body from a Grand Prix Alta was bought from George Abecassis at HWM. The new car was tried out at an airfield at Abingdon, under the interested gaze of a helpful CO. The car certainly seemed to fulfil all Peter's hopes, recording a time of 10.2 seconds for a standing start Âź-mile.

And then, at the end of 1957, Peter had a serious illness.

It was the end of his competitive motor sport. The special was disposed of and the much loved T35B was sold to Frank Wall.

The Bugatti had been such an amazingly successful car. His

short course Prescott time of 44.87 secs, set in May 1957, remained unbeaten by a Bugatti for nearly 25 years.

Although he was now unable to compete at Prescott, Peter maintained active links with the Bugatti Owners' Club. He had joined the Committee in 1950, become a Council member in the following year, and chaired the Competition Committee for seven years, from 1953 to 1960. But now his main concern was his thriving caravan distribution business.

Among several notable customers, he remembers selling a caravan to Errol Flynn when he was making a film at Elstree. He bought it back when shooting had finished and had no trouble in selling the famous, and possibly now notorious, caravan at a profit!

Peter's 'everyday' cars at this time included some contemporary sporting machinery. An Aston Martin DB4 Vantage was replaced by a Jaguar XK150, fitted with a very special engine by Lofty England's team at the factory. And then followed a succession of Bentleys, including an R-type and a couple of Mulliner coupés.

In 1969, Peter was driving past the Maranello Concessionaires showrooms at Tower. He spotted a Dino 206GT and immediately fell in love with it. He made an appointment to see Michael Salmon the following day and, following a memorable and spine chilling road test with Michael shouting "Don't use the brakes! It'll get round this next roundabout without slowing!" he bought it. He took it to Prescott a couple of weeks later and was greeted by Ronnie Hoare and Tony Rippon, the BOC chairman who, seeing the Ferrari, asked if he would like to become the chairman of the Ferrari Owners' Club.

At this point it may be useful to relate something of the formation of our Club. Peter is understandably reluctant to tell the whole story - the eventual split from the Bugatti Owners'

Club was not without a certain amount of friction and dissension between the parties involved - so I will attempt to tell this part of the story myself, with not a little help from Godfrey Eaton's writings at the time.

During 1966 it was realised that fewer and fewer Bugattis were to be seen at Prescott, either competing or in the car park. It was Tony Rippon, the then chairman of the Bugatti Owners' Club, who suggested that it might be a feasible idea to form a club for Ferrari owners.

After all, the Bugatti was considered by many to be the crème de la crème of pre-war sporting machinery, and Ferrari was undoubtedly the leading racing and sports car manufacturer of post-war times.

The injection of Ferrari interest into the BOC would revitalise a club that might otherwise wither on the vine.

The Council of the Bug Club liked the notion, and Colonel Ronnie Hoare of Maranello Concessionaires was approached to see if he could get Ing Ferrari to approve the idea. Mr Ferrari had no objections and the Ferrari Owners' Club was registered in January, 1967. There were two directors: Tony Rippon, who became chairman, and Jack Perkins. Godfrey Eaton, who was at that time the secretary of the BOC, also became the secretary of the new club.

Although 1967 was the year the Ferrari Owners' Club came into being, some three years previously Geoff Willoughby had started the Ferrari Register. This came into being after Geoff had visited Silverstone and seen a pair of David Clarke's Ferraris in the paddock. He was intrigued by these rare Italian sports cars and quite soon afterwards told Ronnie Hoare of his idea of starting a Ferrari Register. Later, when Geoff heard about the formation of the new Ferrari club, he wrote to Tony Rippon to tell him about the Register. Rippon was pleased to take Geoff’s expertise on board and the Register was absorbed by the

FOC. Geoff himself was soon very much a part of the running of the FOC, just as he is, of course, to this day. Students of the history of the Club are referred to Geoff Willoughby's article on the subject in the Summer 1992 edition of Ferrari magazine.

The administration of the new FOC was eventually handled by the Ferrari Affairs Committee of the Bugatti Owners' Club, consisting of Rippon, Geoff Willoughby, Wolf Zeuner and Godfrey. One of the first events the FOC organised was a parade of Ferraris up Prescott hill in September 1967, when no fewer than 93 cars ascended the course.

And that brings us to 1970, when Tony Rippon handed over the chairmanship of the thriving Ferrari Owners' Club to Peter Stubberfield. Under Peter's stewardship the Ferrari membership numbers continued to grow. By 1975 the original 50 to 60 members had become over 500 and it was clear that a separation from the Bugatti Owners' was not only feasible but also necessary. Ferrari owners were now providing the bulk of the membership subscriptions to the joint Club, but the spending of these funds was entirely in the hands of the BOC. The Bug Club's need for finances was centred on Prescott whereas owners of the Italian marque were keen to have events such as Goodwood and overseas tours.

The inevitable separation of the two clubs was not without its difficulties, some of the BOC Council members feeling that the Ferrari people were exceeding their original mandate.

By now, Godfrey had departed from the BOC and joined the Ferrari Owners' as secretary, operating from his office in Newbury and producing, initially at his own expense, the Ferrari magazine.

The split formally occurred in January 1977. The FOC paid the sum of £4,500 to the BOC for the goodwill and the breakaway was complete. Any wounds that were

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Peter and Kay in their Daytona, photographed in France on the 1976 Rallye International Ferrari Bugatti.

inflicted at the time are long since healed, and I believe the two Clubs and their members continue to have a mutual respect for each other.

Throughout this time Peter and Kay continued to enjoy their Ferraris. In 1970 a new Daytona joined the Dino in the Stubberfield garage. Peter recalls the two cars as being completely different in character.

The Dino is remembered for its terrific handling and for being completely controllable. With its lower weight, he suggests the 206 might even have been superior to the later bigger engined 246GT Dino.

In contrast, the Daytona was "a brute at low speeds." On the open road, things improved and it was wonderful on the circuit at

Goodwood, where he could indulge in full blooded 4-wheel drifts. He says: "Someone complained about 'that old silver haired man' driving far too fast on the track."

The Dino was eventually sold to the owner of his old T35B Bugatti, the redoubtable Frank Wall, and the Daytona was exchanged for Shaun Bealey's dark red Ferrari 400i. Peter speaks affectionately of this, his last Ferrari. “It used to go like the clappers. Shaun had ordered the car with Daytona cams and the engine was quite superb." I myself remember how quick this car was. At a Ferrari meeting at a wet Oulton Park in the eighties, Peter was asked to lead a procession of Ferraris round the track for a few laps. By the end

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Neil Woodford Rory Fordyce Chris Rea John Watts Witt Gamski David Wild David Tomlin John Anderson Sally Maynard-Smith Sandra Dent Jackie Winnard

of the first lap he had driven the 400 so fast that none of the following drivers was in sight.

In April 1988, Peter decided to relinquish the chairmanship of the Club although he continues to be our much respected President.

His only regret is that he and Kay cannot attend many of our meetings, although he has promised that they will come to at least one in this celebratory year. Now, that would be nice!

This article first appeared in Ferrari Competition News in January 1997.

14 17 21 22 23 24 27 29 30

Colin Campbell Nicky Paul-Barron Marco Attard Nicholas Chester Graham Reeder Nick Taylor Richard Moseley Richard Allen Lee Leighton John Seale John Warner

RA’s HILLCOMMENT Time for Meditation is fast running out with only a month or so before that opener at North Weald on March 15. Not the most idyllic setting for the onset of our 2009 Ferrari motorsport activity, but still a good place to blow the cobwebs away, besides being very safe for exploring the outer limits of both your car and yourself. After this bleak Essex outing there is a just a month before taking in the aesthetic pleasures of Bouley Bay on Easter Monday.

Good News for this season with petrol now under a pound a litre, you will save about £20 per event entered. Sounds like a good reason to buy a tipo that is not too economical. In today’s Sunday Times I spotted a nice 360 in the mid-forties and even a 430 Spider for £77k, or how about a 4000 mile 612 for £80k?

With the new car market stalled and the used sector very soft, there will be more temptations out there. I spoke to a Club member today who had recently taken delivery of a 599. Worried about the depreciation? “Not a bit,” he said, “it is not going down as fast as my shares!”

Photo: Andrew Holman

The British Hillclimb Championship Awards Dinner at Chateau Impney in early

January has now become a regular date for many of our hillclimbers. Christian Mineeff makes the arrangements and on this occasion we had two tables and twenty people. The organisers very kindly include our series in the presentations, and this time they covered the first three finishers: Jon Goodwin, Chris Butler and Andrew Holman, who all went away with a warm feeling (and the same old trophies!).

The NEC Autosport Show is another regular outing in January for many of us and apart from the opportunity to check all the amazing new race technology, you cannot fail to bump in to Club members and any number of other people you know. Most of us made a beeline for the Pirelli stand – the coffee is nice and the girls even nicer.

Martin Pallot was on hand, but as he had a bad cold I buttonholed Wayne Nickless to get the low down on the current PZero that was updated a year or so ago.

This latest version has been getting some great reviews in comparative tyre tests both here and in Europe, of which more anon.

Talking Tyres reminds me about the latest cars where you press a button on the dash to check the tyre pressures.

My 575 has this feature and I often mused as to the workings – a bit of a mystery really as there is no sign of any electrics near the wheel. Must be magic I thought until the car was serviced in December, when Jon Goodwin is re-presented with his trophy by Ann Prior at the British Hillclimb Awards Dinner. the garage

phoned up and said the wheel sensor batteries were on the blink. As they are sealed units I needed four at £172 + VAT each.

Being a cheapskate I said forget it, I would go to Halfords.

Anyway these units broadcast a signal picked up by the car’s management box, and are on all the time. Replacing them means, of course, tyres off and on plus wheel balancing afterwards. At the NEC there was a company selling a set of four wheel sensors, which are part of the valve assembly, with a small dashboard readout panel for £175. This sounded very worthwhile as their unit shows temperature as well as pressure.

Even more on tyres and something you, like me, may have missed. Last August Auto Express carried out a mammoth comparative test checking out all the important parameters on fifteen premium highperformance tyres. Usually in this type of test the tyre with the best dry grip – the one we want is not so hot in the wet.

Remarkably, Pirelli’s latest PZero was top in both dry and wet handling. It did well across the other tests too, and came out the comfortable winner overall.

Great, but can you get them? No problem apparently - I was assured by Pirelli at the NEC that availability will be much better this year.

The Best Hillclimb Ferrari has been speculated on in these columns before, and as you will recall we are not necessarily talking the fastest here - I am sure the 430 Scuderia will inevitably take that accolade. As you know, I am understandably keen on the F355 in this context, but got to considering the other day that the various tipo 348 variants have had, and continue to have, great success in our

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competitions. I have owned and driven just about all the others used in the Ferrari class but not the 348, so can only speculate on exactly why. The F355 certainly does have a notable straight line speed advantage, but the 348 pulls back some of this with much better low-down torque, and quite different gearing with its five speed gearbox – often advantageously ensuring fewer gearshifts. Both the 355 and the 308/328 series cars have to use third in places where the 348s can hang in there still in second.

Additionally, our regulations help with a fair amount of improvement allowed to the 348 but very little to the F355.

Photo: Richard Allen

Andrew Holman took me to the NEC Autosport show for my second visit on the way back from Chateau Impney. As you know he is a keen sort and had me going round the entire exhibition, when normally all I do is try to pretend not to notice the relatively unclothed girls that abound there. After looking over many of the stands, I steered Andrew on to the AWS Racewear display. Official suppliers to Peter Everingham and your columnist, these people soon had him kitted out in a really smart

Good read! Andrew Holman dons his new race suit to peruse the pages of CompRes.

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new suit at a favourable price (see pic).

Christian Mineeff is a man with everything and therefore a bit tricky come birthday time – High flyer. Mineeff takes to the skies. especially when it is big car is completely standard, and one like fifty or sixty. Fiancée Liz they are now looking to upgrade had the answer on January 18th the suspension a little. when she discovered an outfit giving white knuckle rides in Jon Goodwin continues his fighter jets. Better still they have strenuous life adventure - just a two seat Hawker Hunter, a very returned from three weeks in rare machine indeed. A fabulous Austria, he and Pauline are now looking aircraft, the Hunter came off to New Zealand for five into service with the RAF in the weeks. He has a couple of fifties and was one of the first of cracked ribs too, and I asked the supersonic fighters. Top Gun whether this was snowboarding Christian (see pic) took off from off-piste. “No,” he said, “I fell Kemble in Gloucestershire and over a terracotta pot in the was in the air for 45 minutes, garden!” flew over Prescott, and suffered Pauline Goodwin many of an aerobatic routine too. you know has one of those nice Christian admits to not being that Ferrari California “GTB/Spider” keen on flying and also prone to tipos on order. Apparently claustrophobia. Fortunately the Ferrari are going to build hers Hunter has side-by-side seats, quite soon, though the first UK not the usual configuration for cars are not supposed to arrive fighters converted to two seaters. until April. I guess this means He got on fine and found it a Pauline’s should arrive soon sensational and truly memorable afterwards, and there is talk that experience. Back to the hills, she may enter it for one of the Christian insists that he will be PFHC rounds. That would be competing in that silver 360 seen great! out late last year, and not the Chris Butler our man in the 430 he is rumoured to have north has already opened tucked away. negotiations with the Dunblane Richard Prior has not taken Hydro for the PFHC Doune the F355 plunge that he was adventure in June. He learns deliberating upon, and will they have expended large campaign his familiar and very amounts of capital on extensive successful 348ts for another improvements to the hotel, and season. You can expect some will be delighted to have us back. really close competition between They promise to reserve all the him and Andrew Holman’s 348tb, front of the hotel for our cars to as they battle for the big point park up. scores.

The PFHC Season ahead Charles Haynes is talking looks just as exciting as ever. of selling his very nice 348GTC Besides Doune, the other and getting something he is less overseas event - in Jersey at scared of damaging. Seems a Easter - is set for a good turnout shame as we presently have at with fourteen entries so far. Our least half of the RHD 348GTCs in reserved accommodation is all the UK active in our series. taken, but there are a handful of Meanwhile, Tracey Haynes is rooms still available. If you want having her chassis attended to – to compete at Bouley Bay, but the 328GTB that is. Her steadily have not yet booked in there may improving times are all the more still be time!  creditable when you consider her

For many of you, a workhorse seems to be a prerequisite for selection as your ‘other car’, a vehicle that can tow a trailer loaded with a Ferrari or alternatively transport all the bits and pieces that go with it. And these workhorses are invariably of Japanese manufacture and, so they never get stuck, usually equipped with 4-wheel drive.

During the summer, when there was a bit of a hole in the hillclimb programme, Andrew Holman bought a small racing yacht (as you do) which came with its own trailer. He chose a Nissan X-Trail Sport to haul his new acquisition and just to do his bit for the environment, it runs on gas. Nick Taylor recently reshuffled his pack of vehicles and he also chose a Nissan 4x4, in his case a Navara, which does yeoman service in ferrying his two sons in their University moves, although they obviously took a shine to it and commandeer it for surfing trips to Newquay.

Three years or so ago we did a feature in CompRes on Ferrari competitors’ ‘other cars’. We knew you all have at least one Ferrari but we didn’t know what you have chosen as your everyday vehicle.

Here is an update. on wheels; it has three rows of seats to accommodate all his large family including two dogs;

its 4.2-litre turbo diesel engine does 25mpg; and finally it’s totally politically incorrect!”

Eulogising on his 4wd Audi Allroad 3.0 diesel is David Tomlin who enjoys the vehicle’s reliability and towing capability, although he points out “it isn’t a great driver’s car”. Another David, David Edge, has a similar machine, a 4x4 Tuareg 2.5 diesel, which is eminently useful for hauling all his stuff around Europe including a large trailer which accommodates his F40.

When David is in Belgium he snaffles his wife Margaret’s Mini Cooper S. This car has the advantage of limiting Mrs E’s baggage and, even more

Nice Hair ‘Any colour as long as it’s black’ is Jeff Lester’s motto and he is also Nissan Navara 4x4 pick -up equipped. As you see from the photo, he and his lady believe in a nice black coiffeur to match the colour of their cars.

A LHD Toyota Landcruiser is Peter Rowley’s 4x4 of choice, since he spends most of his time bowling down the boulevards of France. The reason for choosing this mighty machine is that “it isn’t cool, so less chance of being nicked; it is the ultimate autoroute cruiser – an armchair

Jeff Lester and his lady like to be smartly turned out.

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importantly, restricts the amount of stuff Mrs E can buy.

Still on the all-wheel drive theme, Club director Richard Preece runs a Suzuki Grand Vitara in 2-litre petrol format.

This has no trouble in doublingup as a large kennel for the family Labrador. Richard’s hobbies include shotgun and rifle shooting and the bonnet of the Vitara seems to be just the right height to use as a rest for sighting-in. Traction is excellent and the vehicle was once used to pull a stranded Discovery out of a ditch.

British and Best?

The good old British Land Rover is not without its aficionados. Chris Compton Goddard drives a LPG Range Rover as a tow vehicle for his Ferrari-carrying trailer. He finds it comfortable, fast and safe with lots of space for all his race impedimenta. David Hathaway also bought British, his everyday car being a ’54 plate Disco. He reports that “it runs like a watch, having covered over 145k miles in a little over four years, never broken down, it tows the Ferraris to race meetings and has taken 7 people to Twickenham.” Since it’s silver, it never gets washed.

“I’m probably one of the very few Club members driving a car made in Coventry,” claims Sean Doyle. His everyday (and every night) vehicle is a TX1 London black cab. His 1998 taxi has a 2.7-litre Nissan diesel engine and 120,000 miles on the clock. It is fairly important for Sean since he is a London cabbie.

He loves driving what is an icon recognised throughout the world, and thinks its best feature is its renowned turning circle. He doesn’t disappoint with ‘Guess who I ’ad in the back of my cab the ovver day?’ Among the more famous: Ewen McGregor, Ivarna Trump, Ali Butler . . .

Living ‘Oop North’, a 4x4 is a necessity for Chris Butler. He chose a Mercedes ML320 to tackle the rugged path to his old farmhouse up in the North

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Pennine hills. Since it’s an automatic, wife Ali teases him that he is getting old. It is right on top of the job as a tow vehicle for Chris’s trailer (which his previous Land Rover Freelander wasn’t.).

When the going gets really tough, as it quite often does in the Scottish Highlands, something even more robust may be called for. John Shirley’s choice of weapon is a 1960 Massey-Ferguson 135 tractor which he uses for feeding the cattle every week. This vintage tim’rous beastie still has its original registration plate 355 JAS which it came with when F355 racer John first bought it. What a coincidence is that?

Running a non-Jap 4wd is Gary Culver, whose Volvo XC90 is “a great workhorse and the dogs love it!”

Before we leave the allwheel traction club, there are a few competitors who prefer those loud Nipponese rally cars.

William Moorwood drives a Subaru Impreza estate which he finds to be practical and good for towing his Ferrari 308GT4. He says that living in Surrey, a Chelsea tractor is not an acceptable proposition. The Subaru’s traction ability comes in useful if there is any sign of snow and ice, which forces BMWs and the like to become becalmed in the country lanes. Another Subaru fan is Andy Grier, who likes his Impreza Turbo’s great straight-line performance, immense grip, brilliant handling and economy. He finds it very difficult to criticise although “it isn’t as pretty as the SMS 328GTS, but there again, neither am I.” After five-and-a-half years, John Day still has his Impreza STI with the Prodrive engine.

The car now has 85k miles on the clock but apart from needing a new clutch it has never gone wrong. John eschewed buying a Jeep when he bought a trailer for his Ferrari and put a tow hook on the Subaru instead.

Mike Furness chose a similar rally device – an Evo 10

which replaced an Evo 8 which he ran for three years. “I first bought one of these due to the necessity to spend less money on cars and instead get a new bathroom (politics!)”. He reports that the new model is slightly better looking, with even more performance and improved handling. He also likes some, but not all, of the electronic gizmos: “I do not need to be told what my mpg and average speed is but I do like the fact that any CD I play is downloaded onto the internal hard drive, and I don’t need to have it in the car again.”

Size Matters When size matters, there are few who have more room than Mike Reeder. His everyday mode of transport is an LDV 400 Convoy 17-seater minibus which has “unashamed super performance” from its diesel engine. Since diesel-engined vehicles seem to be winning all the races these days, he says he may enter it for the 24 Heures du Mans . . .

It almost hurts me to log the Porsche-owning Ferraristi, but there are quite a few. Rory Fordyce, who we have yet to see in the PFO series with his allegedly mind-boggling ‘S’ class Ferrari, fields a 997 Turbo. This is Rory’s second 997, and he says it is “the complete tool”: 25mpg when commuting, a decent enough boot for shopping, and four seats (two for luggage, not people). Its 4x4 transmission serves him well in bad weather and the build quality is extremely sound. Rory must surely be going OTT when he comments “It blows all the other cars I have driven, and pulled alongside, into the weeds for sheer speed.”

Another Porsche owner is John Watts whose 993 (silver, of course) is one of the last aircooled cars. It sleeps out, conveys the Watts family to the Alps twice a year with skis on its roof, and its skittishness in the snow is easily tamed by fitting chains. Without the chains he says “it is best driven backwards

Richard Fenny's lovely Citroën Traction Avant.

for optimum comfort.” One interesting fact I wasn’t aware of: “Inside you can fit a complete Wickes bathroom including toilet, shower tray, basin and taps.”

PFO front runner Tim Mogridge reckons his Porsche Carrera 4S is hard to beat as an everyday car. It’s fast and fun to drive and Tim likens it to a gokart. It has four seats – “okay, two of them for very small people” – but that seems to be acceptable for ferrying his daughters to school. “Yes, they whinge, but the stereo and extraloud sports exhaust drown them out.” The biggest drawback, says Tim, is that the Porsche simply doesn’t feel special and all his friends poke fun at his “Beetle”.

Deutsche Marque BMW is another preferred marque for Ferrari racers.

Hillclimber Barrie Wood prefers the older models and currently has a 1990 325i Touring. His philosophy is to buy the model with the biggest engine so that he has the advantage of better brakes and suspension. He usually pays between £1,000 and £1,200 and drives the car for four years. His present BMW has 204k miles on the clock and he

now has to make a decision on whether to revamp it or take it to the scrapyard.

Nicky Paul-Barron owns a rare BMW Z3M coupe, one of only 117 cars sold in the UK. He loves it and feels frustrated by it in equal measure. Sometimes he wishes it was automatic, quieter and bigger, but on any journey there are always at least a few moments of true driving satisfaction.

A BMW 330d Touring serves Andrew Duncan as his everyday transport – the engine is chipped to provide extra excitement. He reports the car is “relatively quick, frugal and understated.” However, if he tires of the BMW he has other interesting cars in his stable: three Morgans – a 1998 Plus 8, a 1937 4/4 and a 1928 Threewheeler.

Also a BMW fan is John Marshall who has a black (of course) 330d Sport as his shopping car. Its appreciated qualities are massive mid-range torque, economy (500+ miles on a tankful of diesel) and supermarket friendly small doors.

What he hates is a feature called ‘Brake Assist’. “Someone has found out that some drivers fail to press the brake pedal hard

enough in an emergency, so Brake Assist monitors the speed at which the driver applies the pedal. If it’s much quicker than usual the clever system trebles the power assistance. Now what happens is that I am gently cruising up the bypass with a takeaway curry on the front seat when a lorry pulls out. No problem - I apply the brakes quickly albeit gently. The onboard computer thinks it must be an emergency so it decides to help with some heavy brake boost. The wheels lock up, the ABS fizzes under my foot, and the curry ends up in the footwell.

How stupid is that?”

“Another feature on the car, which I only recently discovered, is the lift pump. By mistake I filled the car up with petrol but realised my error before driving off. I phoned Dearly Beloved who picked me up and after I had collected loads of cans I found it very easy to pump out all the petrol using the car’s own lift pump. I only had to disconnect one Jubilee clip, push a bit of garden hose on, and then pump all the fuel out by turning the ignition on and off. I’ve saved all the petrol which will be enough to keep the lawn mower going all year”.

Golf pro Charles Haynes finds the large boot of his C-class Mercedes useful for accommodating the tools of his trade while his wife Tracey prefers the comfort, reliability and robustness of her Saab 9.3 1.9TDI, her second Saab in a row.

Forza Italia!

For devotees of Ferrari, it is perhaps surprising there are not more owners of Italian ‘A to B’ vehicles. Bucking the trend is Philip Whitehead who thoroughly loves his silver Alfa 156 2.0 Twin Spark for its modern good looks and general nippiness. On the down side, he is less enthusiastic about its rattles and squeaks, particularly when cold.

Another Italian car lover is Peter Fisk whose everyday

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Photo: David Hathaway

motor is a 1995 giallo fly Maserati Ghibli KS (Kit Sportivo).

It is a 2.8 Ghibli with the KS package of uprated brakes, suspension and nice OZ split rim alloy wheels. He says he only bought it because he has always loved them in yellow. Apart from being used for business the car gets regularly exercised on the track and is “as unreliable as an Italian car should be: regular clutch changes, the odd distorted valve guide, and electrics with a mind of their own.” “With close to 300bhp in a short wheelbase car, and no traction control, it’s a fun drive in the wet.” Peter has always loved Italian cars and claims that his Ghibli is the best of the Maserati Bi-turbo series, with its extended wheel arches making it look as if it’s spent too much time in the gym.

Over on the other side of the world, Len Watson enjoys the quiet comfort of his Jaguar XJR, a car he took to Australia on his retirement in 1994. He says the car is ideal for “a retired hooligan who would rather spend his money on racing” and he expects it to last another 10 years in the sublime climate of Queensland rather than rotting in the salt of northern England.

Yorkshireman Peter Rogerson’s ‘A to B’ machine is an Aston Martin DB7 Vantage with Tiptronic automatic transmission. He says the car suits his workday ethic, with occasional sporting opportunities from its powerful 6.4-litre motor.

Water supply problems seem to afflict Astons. Peter’s previous DB7 had lousy windscreen wipers while his current car suffers from a leaking radiator (it is going back to the dealer for the fourth time).

Architect and keen hillclimber Sergio Ransford, you might expect, would have a slinky Italian car as his second string vehicle. Not so. His everyday transport is a dark green Ford Fiesta 1.4 which was the new shape, but now isn’t.

This modest maid-of-all-work has 79,000 miles on the clock but allows Sergio to run the Ferrari.

Big Hitter. David Hathaway’s 5-litre TVR Griffith has all the ingredients of a 21st century hooligan’s machine. And you can almost smell the aroma of the fibreglass and glue . . .

It has sufficient space for his needs – “it’s a van with windows after all” – and the registration ends VRV which denotes the way it’s driven. It means ‘widow’ in French, which keeps his excesses in check.

Hardly an every-day car is Colin Campbell’s 1951 Aston Martin DB2. It has lots of provenance: ex-Peter Clark, finished 13th at Le Mans in 1951 and 7th in class there in 1952.

Colin paid £1,000 for it four years later and has raced it ever since.

Vive La France Richard Fenny confesses his Citroën Traction Avant 11B Normale is not actually his everyday vehicle but it is one of his cars. It was built in Paris in 1950 – “a good year”. He likes these ‘Maigret’ Citroëns a lot, ever since watching the detective series on TV. To drive, it feels remarkably modern and with its wide wheelbase it corners really well. Richard’s cruising speed is a leisurely but very comfortable 100kph and a nice car can be picked up for a moderate £6k or so. With plentiful spares available from specialists in France and Holland, it is a practical car to run even these

days, and Richard delights in its suicide doors, wavy bumpers, French yellow headlights and the boot shaped to take the spare wheel.

There are a couple of competitors whose second cars are more in the mould of their Ferraris, only more hairy. Chris Compton Goddard owns up to driving a massive 6.3-litre Dax Cobra, with the hood down when the sun shines in the summer.

Also in the list of rorty sportscar owners is our pal David Hathaway who can easily become a hooligan when at the wheel of his 5-litre TVR Griffith.

He says “One experienced racing driver from Chevy Chase has told me that I will probably be facing the wrong way up (or is it down?) the road when I try to push the TVR too hard. He also tells me I should employ a race mechanic full time to keep the thing going.”

David adds “My wife refuses to ride in it with the top off, which has got to be a plus.”

Feel sorry for Pauline Goodwin. She apologises for not having any everyday cars that aren’t Ferraris (although she has two bicycles). Her daily transport is a 550 Maranello, a car she describes as “the most fantastic vehicle I have ever

Photo: Scuderia Fotografia

Caught between weddings and photographic assignments, ‘Bucky’ Buckland was seen at a well-known Yorkshire circuit exorcising his ‘53 Wraith. Asked by a course official the horsepower of his elegant machine, Bucky tersely replied “Sufficient.”

owned.” She concludes “How lucky am I that I can’t join in with your feature!”

In complete contrast to Pauline’s situation, our Chairman, Richard Allen, tells us that cars are such a compromise that he cannot get along with fewer than three everyday cars. For local journeys around the narrow Suffolk lanes he uses a Fiesta 1.6 Ghia, which handles well, has climate control, is reasonably economical and is comfortable with its Land of Leather interior.

For longer trips he uses his BMW 330M Sport Touring in which he enjoys its good turn of speed and superb handling. However, his favourite ‘A to B’ is a 10-year old Volvo V70 which has 100k miles on the odometer. This paragon of Swedish engineering “could teach BMW and Mercedes a thing or two about seat design. The Volvo has shifted everything imaginable over the years, is surprisingly nice to drive, and is supremely comfortable.”

heavy tilt-bed trailer with a Ferrari on board. The other is a BMW 523i SE saloon which is simply far and away the best BMW of the nine I have owned to date. Fuel consumption is so important these days, and the petrol-engined 2½-litre Previa manages 27mpg, dropping to 19mpg when towing. The BMW is also fuelled by cheaper petrol and is astonishingly frugal, regularly returning 35mpg even when driven at illegal speeds (we don’t have speed cameras in North Yorkshire). A manual gearbox

probably helps its outstanding economy. Since I don’t care too much for the current 5-series (with an aversion to daft large diameter road wheels and tyres which destroy the ride quality, the irritating iDrive, and Chris Bangle’s weird styling) I shall probably keep this exemplary BMW for some time to come.

My wife Anne has finally parted with her long-serving 1984 Mk2 Golf GTi after 14 years.

The car was in such good nick she obtained over 60% of its price when new when she sold it at the beginning of last year.

She has always nursed a nostalgic love for her two brilliant white Alfasuds, probably the best small cars ever built (despite their propensity to rust), so the obvious replacement for the Golf was another Alfa Romeo, a 147 Twin Spark. This stylish little car is pokey, easy to drive and, so far, hasn’t given a moment’s trouble.

So that’s it – a fascinating collection of stories about such diverse machinery. It is clear that variety makes the world go round! Thank you everyone for letting us know the secrets of your ‘other cars’.

Yorkshire Stable That just leaves the management at Chevy Chase Towers. Your scribe relies on two commendable vehicles. One is an automatic Toyota Previa, a big MPV that swallows a vast amount of kit for use at the circuits as well as lugging a

Citron Pressé Tailpiece

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Photo: Jon Goodwin collection

S IS TRADITIONAL at this time of year, John Swift asked me, as winner of the Hillclimb Championship, to pen a few words for CompRes. John also mentioned that it is the detail rather than the bare competitive results that people like to devour.

It is my belief that my interest in motor sport began at a very early age so I decided to go back to the very beginning. As long as I can remember, I have always had a weakness for cars and speed. Born during the Second World War and also

growing up in a large family of six boys and one girl, created an environment of competition between us on just about anything that moved! We lived in a large house - it had to be to accommodate us all - with a drive that encircled the property, so we had a natural race track outside our front door!

At that time, we moved on from racing pedal cars to old bangers or cars bought to restore; my brothers and I could never quite resist the temptation of just giving a quick run around the track before restoration began. I remember a particularly nice open Lagonda that one of

Mojave desert, California. Jon stands with designer Bert Rutan in front of the space ship for his 2010 trip in space to 328k feet. The ship accelerates to Mach 1 in 8 seconds, to Mach 4 in 30 seconds.

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Photo: Scuderia Fotografia

WINNERS’ TALES: JON GOODWIN

my brothers had purchased for £25. It was a crying shame that it was to end its days on top of the rockery, as in those days the damage was too expensive to repair. I felt I must have some natural talent somewhere along the line as I was nearly always quickest in whichever car we used.

As a teenager, I would have loved to have taken up motor racing but on a wage of £7.50 a week it would have been more than difficult. So I took up my second sport of wild water canoeing which was far cheaper!

After two years I was selected for the National Team and spent ten wonderful years representing my country in competitions worldwide. It was then, at an event in East Germany, that I became acquainted with my extraordinary wife Pauline; we both went on to compete at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games. During this time we also took part in noncompetitive events including the first British canoe expedition covering 225 miles of the mighty Colorado River passing through the Grand Canyon.

Another first for me was tackling the Marsyandi River, found between the four peaks of Annapurna in the Himalayas, and also winning the longest canoe race in the world, a 326 mile Arctic Canoe Race involving paddling 87 miles non-stop on day one. I have also successfully raced across the deepest ocean in the world, from Molokai to Oahu,

Hawaii.

Throughout this period I worked full time as md running a wholesale sweets, chocolates and tobacco business, becoming the largest individually owned operation in the UK. One of our then customers, Bargain Booze, an off-licence chain, was accounting for over 15% of our total turnover which was dangerous in a low margin concern. The opportunity arose to purchase their business, along with 90 franchised shops in operation at the time. At a later date, after expanding the chain to over 500 shops, I sold the business to Pernod Ricard on my targeted retirement age of 55 years. All of this proved quite profitable which enabled me to fulfil my dream of owning a Ferrari.

In 1987, I purchased a second-hand silver Mondial 8 from Graypaul Motors, Loughborough. Then, in 1990, I purchased my first new Ferrari, a red Mondial t, which I still own and use as my race car in the Ferrari formula classic Series. It now has 86,000 miles on the clock. At that time, Pauline and I visited the factory and watched the car being assembled. We took the opportunity of watching the Italian Grand Prix, which was taking place at that time at Imola. I used this Mondial for my first Ferrari competition, at Curborough in 1991, turning up

to compete in shirt sleeves and without a timing strut! I managed to fabricate a strut from a nearby tree; how times have changed!

Hill climbing suits me better than circuit racing because it is an individual run competing against the clock. Indeed, it is the same timing principle that I used during my canoeing career. One only has one’s self to blame for a poor result!

This is very different from circuit racing, sitting on the grid alongside twenty-five other petrol heads and all heading for the same corner.

Hill climbing also has the Jon spent a week with fellow astronauts at Necker advantage that Island in the West Indies. Here he is with Sir Richard Branson, who is the main man in the it is ten times Virgin Atlantic Galactic project. cheaper than circuit racing but, more importantly to me, What fun I have had takes up far less time; most competing in this year’s Hillclimb events are completed in one day.

Championship. I never set out at This enables me to pursue my the beginning of the season other activities. Last year, for thinking that I might win. The example, I competed in a car combination of using the oldest rally from Peking (Beijing) to and newest tipos in the series Paris in an Aston Martin DB6. It proved to be a winner. It has not took six weeks, taking in the Gobi been easy changing from the 44Desert, Mongolia and East to year old 250 GT Lusso, with cart

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Photo: Jon Goodwin collection

Photo: Jon Goodwin collection

Philadelphia. Sub-orbital GX and GZ spaceflight training pictured by the centrifuge. Jon managed 6g.

West of Russia, covering a distance of 10,000 miles.

Happily, our eldest son David was my co driver. It was David who took my place in the Classic race at Donington in July when he used my faithful old Mondial. I had been called away to Philadelphia to take part in some centrifuge training towards my future flight into space with Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic outfit. It was in 2004 that I signed up and became one of 84 founder members worldwide hoping to experience space travel.

With taking part in physical activities in my younger years, I still have the desire to keep fit.

Cycling is at the top of my list.

Since retiring at the age of 55, I have managed to cycle from Lands End to John o’Groats in the UK and coast to coast in Spain, France, NZ and Australia (Adelaide to Darwin). On these rides, 100 miles per day is the target although in Australia I managed 161 miles.

Photo: Jon Goodwin collection

On the 2008 Celtic and Scottish Malts Rally with his 1965 Sunbeam Tiger.

Weald, who was driving on well worn tyres. A number of competitors, after purchasing

Photo: Jon Goodwin collection

springs and live rear axle, to the ultra-advanced 430 with nearly 500bhp on tap.

I decided to miss the first round, at North Weald, a venue that holds little attraction for me, in favour of a week’s cycling in sunny Spain. North Weald is an airfield by design: flat, invariably windy, and with a course marked out by cones. Pauline my wife, who never misses an event if she can help it, informed me that it rained horizontally non-stop, and as you are probably aware, regulations state that we are not allowed to trailer to an event, so we compete on standard road tyres. It’s the luck of the draw if you have turned up to compete with grippy minimum tread tyres and it is set to rain! It was clear to see by the results at North

Pauline and Jon at Machu Picchu in Peru, October 2008.

They cycled from 16k feet in the Andes to acclimatise for their 4-day 28 mile hike over the mountains. Although they camped out the two of them did have the assistance of four porters, a chef, and a guide.

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new tyres, buff them down from a tread of 8mm to around 4mm.

Goodness only knows what the environmentalists would think of that!

Prescott was next up. Again, I was unable to compete as it clashed with the Classic Malts Rally. I love this event and in 2008, entered my 1965 Sunbeam Tiger. A distance of 2,000 miles was covered during the week with three days rallying in Ireland and then four in Scotland. Although it was held in the month of April, it was dry enough to have the hood down the whole way and early enough in the year to see very little traffic.

Round 3, Harewood, was the first event where I used the 250 GT Lusso. The 250 really suited this hill and fortunately I was able to come away with 20 maximum points. Harewood is a great event for both competitors and spectators alike; you can look down from the paddock to 95% of the course with the superb Yorkshire countryside beyond.

Round 4 and Prescott again!

This hillclimb is set in the beautiful Cotswold countryside and is a course that offers a technical and challenging ride.

Here, I decided to use the 430, which made for a totally awesome drive. After the start, the first left hander ‘Orchard’ is taken nearly flat, then it’s hard on the brakes for ‘Ettores’, an extremely tight hairpin, with wide

with it uninsured. Fortunately, it doesn’t occur to me.

In practice, I managed to be only one tenth of a second slower than the more modern tipos because I was able to use the lower power to better advantage.

So, the 20 maximum points became very rewarding.

Loton Park, on the Welsh boarder, is my favourite hillclimb.

I have held the Ferrari record here since 2000 in my F355.

Loton is a fast hill where the 430 should have won but Chris Butler, in his 355, had other ideas and was to break my string of five consecutive maximum 20 points.

Chris is an exceptionally talented driver and had a sterling drive to beat me by one tenth of a second. Perhaps unfortunately for competitors in the Championship, I believe Chris has yet to reach his full potential!

Andrew Holman (affectionately known as ‘Mad Dog’ Holman) led the Championship early on with some very controlled driving but towards the end of the season it was Chris Butler who would not let me off the hook. It was not until the second Harewood, in September, that I managed to clinch the Championship in the 250 Lusso with 20 maximum points.

2008 was a great year with the challenge of using two very different tipos - any driver’s delight! The season closed with

me taking three new hillclimb class records and the much coveted Championship, and collecting the trophy at our best ever End of Season Hillclimb Dinner at Aspley Guise.

Thanks must go to Richard Prior, who excelled in taking over the daunting task as organiser from Richard Allen. RA had organised the series in an exceptional manner for many, many years. Also I would like to offer my grateful thanks to my mechanics, Nick Davis and Nigel Royle of R & D Automotive, who keep my heavily thrashed cars functioning in A1 condition.

On the administrative side, many thanks must go to Anne Swift for taking care of all the background paperwork which must take an inordinate amount of time. Thanks also to the website team who posted the results so very promptly after the events, and to Sally MaynardSmith for her expertise in organizing our superb End of Season Dinner.

To conclude, our hillclimb Championship is renowned for its great camaraderie and competitiveness; thanks indeed must go to my fellow competitors and friends alike. Last but not least very many thanks to my wife Pauline for her support in everything I attempt!

Photo: Jon Goodwin collection

entry and narrow exit. This reverses the norm of slow in and fast out! Next, a short blast holding second gear on the rev limiter (as too much time is lost going up and down the box) to the very steep left-hand hairpin called ‘Pardon’. It’s hard on the power to the Esses with a blind approach. Apparently I take a different line to the one taught at the Prescott Hillclimb School, not that I have ever attended! The final bend, ‘Semi-Circle’, has no crash barriers and trying too hard here can drop you over the edge and down a steep grassy slope as a couple of Ferrari competitors have found out. In harnessing the power of the 430, I managed to knock 0.49 of a second from my class record set in the F355 back in 2002.

The Sprint at MIRA (Motor Industry Research Association) was next. Here the 430 proved very difficult to extract her full potential. I’m comparing this to the F355 that I campaigned for eight years, which is much more user-friendly and can be driven with gay abandon. The first bend at MIRA is a never ending left hander. Pushing hard created too much understeer, which meant it took too long to get onto full throttle before the ensuing straight. Not until my last run did I take that bend relatively slowly and this worked a treat.

One and half seconds were sliced from my first official time. This gave me a new course record and 20 more points in the bag.

Doune in Scotland is the most awesome hill climb in the UK. Those who have driven Brands Hatch Circuit in Kent can liken it to taking the thrilling Paddock Hill Bend and repeating it five times consecutively! The hill is exceedingly narrow with vertical sides of wood, Armco, large trees and rock. Most bends are blind, and adding to that a dose of very wet weather, created a pretty exhilarating climb. It is interesting to watch competitors climbing out of their cars in the collecting paddock at the finish as they are visibly shaking. It would be pure madness to a lot of people to even compete in the 250 Lusso, let alone compete

Jon with his Aston Martin DB6 with which he competed in the Tour Britannia in early September 2008.

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Photo: Peter Everingham collection

My Motor Sport

PETER EVERINGHAM This is an occasional feature where we ask well-known Ferrari Club drivers what makes them tick. Our Club Secretary, Peter Everingham, is an avid motor sport enthusiast, which is just as well because he deals with it almost every day of his life.

His experience is vast, having competed at the wheel of a wide variety of race cars, from sports machinery to single-seaters. On the circuits he is a formidable competitor but his driving is never less than scrupulously sportsman-like. He doesn’t have as many opportunities to race these days as he would like but it is always a pleasure to see him on the grid.

Earliest motor racing memory:

Most memorable motor racing moment:

Seeing pictures of my father’s Amilcar at pre-war Brooklands, it fired my imagination! Then he showed me some pictures of himself and brother Jack, legs in plaster after they both broke legs in an accident in the car – very impressive: wooden splints and both in bathchairs. Put me off till I was about 10!

Watching my wife Suzanne do her first race in our modified Midget at Brands Hatch Indy Circuit and coming second overall with a sub-55 second lap.

First car:

Photo: Peter Everingham collection

Mini, bought by my parents on the understanding I worked to pay for its upkeep. It was confiscated during my first term

at Sandhurst since Junior Cadets were not allowed cars and I was found out! This did not amuse my father much.

Best personal racing moment: Winning the 1984 FIA Historic Championship (on points if not by name - GT, up to 1600cc) after being offered the car at the start of the season by a friend.

Worst personal racing moment: Having a fairly bad accident in my hand-built Stiletto bodied Turner (2 years build in an unheated garage in Rheindahlen) at Colmarberg, Belgium after the brakes failed at the end of the main straight. Then Suzanne trying to get out of Belgium over the border into Germany without papers and with a wreck on the trailer, and me in bits in the back of the camper with Polly screaming. Not a lot of fun and the German border guards were not very helpful!

Favourite circuit:

Early days. Racing the MGA in 1970.

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Pau, quite the most original and daunting street circuit, unchanged since first used in the

Photo: Peter Everingham collection

1930s and a challenge in any car.

Opening it requires the removal of street furniture, traffic lights and so on but you still have to negotiate a mini roundabout on the frightening run back down to the start finish straight!

Favourite hillclimb venue: Fleron Hillclimb in Belgium.

Around 8km long and one of the few European climbs I have competed at and won.

Who were your motor racing heroes: Nuvolari, Ascari, Hawthorn, Moss, Clark and Hill What change(s) would you like to see in motor racing/ hillclimbing:

laps by the Clerk of the Course, who surely must have a radio!

What do you enjoy most from being a competitor within the FOC: The company; and being one of the few people to race a Ferrari, which I never expected in my life to do!

What do you like least from being a competitor within the FOC: The competition – they're too good!

Photo: Peter Everingham collection

Too many to list here; some simple things like the MSA accepting European crash helmet safety standards (imagine Massa looking for a BS helmet for the British GP!) to increase choice and reduce cost; accepting that seat belts do not deteriorate (unless damaged) and don’t need replacing every 3 years (what price an MOT in my 328 with 20 year old belts). That, and more effectively run race meetings without the awful waste of time for example queuing at scrutineering and interminable

Zwartkops 2007

Sporting motto: Christ, how much? I’ll fix it myself!

Personal favourite competition car: Too difficult to choose really. I love single-seaters, a pure form of the sport, but have always wanted to drive a Lola T70 – such a beautiful car.

Which do you enjoy the most – hillclimbs or circuits: I enjoy both but have spent the majority of my motor sport years on circuits. I would love to do some of the great European hills, Mont Ventoux and so on, but until the opportunity arises circuits offer me more choice.

Current Ferrari(s) owned: A 328GTS

“I love single-seaters - a pure form of the sport.”

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THE 2008 CHRISTMAS SWIFTY D

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Here is the solution to the Christmas cryptic Swifty, with the usual motoring and Ferrari flavour, which we set you in the last issue of CompRes. Prizes were promised to the senders of the first three correct solutions to be opened on the closing date of 12th January.

The first three correct solutions to be selected by our RSM (Random Selector Machine (how is that for advanced technology!) were sent in by TRACEY HAYNES, RICHARD PREECE and BARRIE WOOD, each of whom win a Ferrari Owners’ Club pen generously donated by Anne and Peter Hughes, our Club regalia specialists.

There were several others who submitted correct solutions but were unlucky when we set the RSM into motion. Congratulations to each of the winners and commiserations to the gallant losers.

FOR SALE Rare 348 GT Competizione One of only eight RHD examples built and no 40 of 50.

Registered 1st Jan 1995.

Carbon kevlar boot, bonnet, doors, sills 18” Speedline 3-piece split rim wheels, carbon race seats with harnesses.

Only 32,000 miles with fsh.

£39,995

Contact Charles on 07764170011

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