Great day at Prescott on Saturday, with over 100 pre war cars taking on some very challenging sections. We arrived slightly later than expected, due to not realising there was horse racing on at Cheltenham, and very helpfully they had closed a road without any warning or diversion signs. That said, I'm not sure we actually missed many/any cars so all was well in the end. There were 2 sections ('Ettore's Exit' & 'Sue's Sidestep') in close proximity above the orchard, both with a number of particularly steep and slippery points which with the rain got more and more chewed up and slippery through the day. The hills were bustling with spectators,mostly congregated by a particularly steep part of Etore's Exit. 'Sue's Sidestep' had a restart which we luckily got a spot by, and got there just in time to see Keith Dobinson master the restart in his 1930 GE Cup, and sail to the top for 25 points. Early on most cars were making it to the upper reaches of both hills, but getting the full 25 points was still a very tough task. As the day wore on, and the rain continued to fall, the lower reaches became more and more tricky, and getting as much as 5 points became a real achievement (on 'Sue's Sidestep' even making gate 2 was extremely difficult).
Here is the video I took, not everyone by a long shot, but hopefully entertaining anyway. I decided to arrange it class by class, with the cars in the order they came past, as the sections changed so much it seemed sensible to do it this way rather than number order.
Results, and some photos of a few of the sevens not in the video.
As I mentioned the Cotswold trial runs a separate class for newcomers (Class 0), with 'The Cotswold Cup' for best performance. There were 22 competitors, and after the 14 hills, top honours went to George Gosling, in (I believe) Grandfather Terry's 1930 EA Sports Replica.
#6 George Gosling 1930 Austin 7 EA 'Ulster' Sports 297 Points Cotswold Cup & 1st Class Award
#20 Harry Painter 1930 Austin 7 EA 'Ulster' Sports 282 Points 1st Class Award
#7 Rupert Coler 1933 Austin 7 EA 'Ulster' Sports 261 Points 2nd Class Award
#22 Miss Sarah Owen 1930 Austin 7 EA 'Ulster' Sports 242 Points 2nd Class Award
#17 Miss Felicity Collings 1930 Austin 7 EA 'Ulster' Sports 240 Points 2nd Class Award
#21 Andrew Summers 1934 Austin 7 Special 231 Points 3rd Class Award
#4 Merlin Evans 1933 Austin 7 EA 'Ulster' Sports 230 Points 3rd Class Award
#15 Martyn Quilter 1930 Austin 7 Special 221 Points 3rd Class Award
Class 1a for standard short wheelbase cars, had 9 Competitors. David Rushton in his 1932 MG M type triumphed facing stiff competition from Mathew Blake (GN), and Charles Gillett (Bugatti).
#110 David Rushton 1932 MG M Type 'Midget' Sports 294 Points 1st Class Award
#109 Matthew Blake 1922 GN Vitesse Sports 287 Points 2nd Class Award
#101 Charles Gillett 1923 Bugatti Type 13 Brescia 286 Points 3rd Class Award
#111 David Johnson 1928 Austin 7 AD 'Chummy' 232 Points
#104 Andy King 1938 MG TA 'Midget' Sports 169 Points
and Nick Beck in his 1929 AD 'Chummy'
There were 49 Competitors in the ever popular Class 1b for modified & special short wheelbase cars, and it was very close at the top. Once everyone had given it their best shot William McVicker sat top of the pile, with his 1927/32 Chummy taking home 'The Howard Powell Cup' for best performance overall. A very close second, Stephen Fathers driving his 1929 Austin 7 'Abbot' Special won the 'Inderwick Cup' for best performance by a vintage car (pre 1931).
#127 William McVicker 1927/32 Austin 7 AD 'Chummy' 364 points Harold Powell Cup & 1st Class Award
#141 Stephen Fathers 1929 Austin 7 'Abbot' Special 361 Points Inderwick Cup & 1st Class Award
#153 Keith Dobinson 1930 Austin 7 GE Cup Replica 360 Points 1st Class Award
#125 Andrew Fox 1937 Austin 7 Special 351 Points 2nd Class Award
#122 Stewart Rich 1930 Austin 7 Paxton Special 349 Points 2nd Class Award
#162 Simon Price 1930 Ford Model A Special 349 Points 2nd Class Award
#132 Hughie Walker 1930/23 Austin 7 – Cleone Special 'VAT 69' 339 Points 2nd Class Award
#155 Peter Tierney 1929 Austin 7 Special 339 Points 2nd Class Award
#150 Donald Skelton 1930 Austin 7 Special 338 Points 2nd Class Award
#166 Joseph Stollery 1934 Wolseley Hornet Special (supercharged) 333 Points 3rd Class Award #158 Michael Pallett 1930 Austin 7 EA 'Ulster' Sports 330 Points 3rd Class Award
#142 Richard Houlgate 1930 Austin 7 Special 328 Points 3rd Class Award
#176 Peter Kite 1921 GN – JAP Sports 328 Points 3rd Class Award
#124 Allan Bruce 1934 Austin 7 EA 'Ulster' Sports 316 Points 3rd Class Award
#131 Matt Johnston 1928 Austin 7 Special 314 Points 3rd Class Award
#165 Keith Hill 1930 Singer Junior Special 309 Points 3rd Class Award
Keith Dobinson, 1930 GE Cup Replica
Hughie Walker, 1930 Austin 7 – Cleone Special 'VAT 69'
Andrew Fox 1937 Austin 7 Special
Michael Pallett 1930 EA Sports
Jennifer Brown 1937 Austin 7 Special
Class 2a for standard long wheelbase cars had 7 competitors, the best score was posted by Matthew Roberts in his 1929 Ford Model A Phaeton, with 32 points over second place Dennis Bingham.
#204 Matthew Roberts 1929 Ford Model A Phaeton 187 Points 1st Class Award
#205 Dennis Bingham 1930 Ford Model A Phaeton 155 Points 2nd Class Award
#201 Luke Roberts 1906 Bianchi 28/40 Tonneau 140 Points 3rd Class Award
#200 Sam Stephens 1930 Ford Model A Roadster 113 Points
#207 Robert Picot 1929 Ford Model A Roadster 99 Points
There were 22 Class 2b, modified and special long wheelbase cars. 43 Points was the margin at the end of the day for Paul Tebbett with his 1932 Riley 9 Gamecock, the only long wheelbase car to reach the top of 'Sue's Sidestep'.
#221 Paul Tebbett 1932 Riley 9 Gamecock 2 Seat Tourer 296 Points 1st Class Award
#228 Paul Jeavons 1924 Vauxhall OE – E Type 30-98 Velox Tourer 253 Points 1st Class Award
#212 Tim Kemp 1930 Austin (20?) – Franklin Special 241 Points 2nd Class Award
#235 Charlie Martin 1928 Ford Model A Phaeton 233 Points 2nd Class Award
#232 Jonathan Miller 1930 Chrysler 66 Sports 213 Points 3rd Class Award
#217 David Knight 1930 Ford Model A Tudor Saloon 204 Points 3rd Class Award
#234 Ben Shepperd 1929 Riley 9 Tourer 202 Points 3rd Class Award
#231 Richard Edmonds 1925 Chrysler B-70 Tourer 197 Points 3rd Class Award
All in all another super day. Hope you've enjoyed reading.
