HSA SPEED CHAMPIONSHIP - REPORT ARCHIVE

WEBBER'S SECOND HSA TITLE

Event 29 at Curborough on 09/10/2022
At Sunday’s Championship finale over Curborough’s ‘Figure 8’ course, Andrew Webber and Peter Taylor both ran on their own in their respective classes, Taylor slotted in a record run with the MX5 early on although the Elan Plus 2 driver had to wait until the end of the first runs to reply, but yet another class record left both drivers with 13 records apiece. Although not present at Curborough, Chris Edwards was still hot on the heels of the leaders in his Mazda 323 GTX, finishing a Championship third overall having set ten records in the course of the season. So one of the closest run HSA Championships since the series began in 1998 was decided on a tiebreak, after which Webber was awarded his second title.
          Pekka Tulokas was on record pace, too, which brought the MX5 driver up into a final Championship fourth place, two points behind the three leaders and a point clear of the absent Chris Berrisford. Andrew Till consolidated his Championship top six place after his seventh record of the year in the Focus ST-Line.
           At the end of the day, three drivers were on equal points for tenth place overall, but with one more class record in the bag Graham Blackwell got the tiebreak nod for the place over Tony Kiss, ahead of the absent Simon Clemow and Pete Goulding. Although not at record pace, Sprint Leaders contenders Blackwell and Goulding had a fine scrap for the class win in their similar Mygale Ecoboost single-seaters, Blackwell leading after the first runs until Goulding pulled a 53.58 out of the bag to grab FTD ahead of his rival. However Kiss, who would end the season as HSA class champion, was up against strong opposition in his Van Diemen RF87 in another massive Formula Ford class contesting the Pre-94 Challenge finale. The class was won by Alex Coles in his RF86 and already crowned as the 2022 British Hillclimb Cup winner, the 17-year-old secured the Pre-94 Challenge trophy ahead of Trevor Willis, the 3-times British champion enjoying himself hugely in Richard Summers’ Van Diemen RF 80 and finishing second in class.
          With yesterday’s winner Ed Hollier not entered, the 1100cc racing class went to his rival of the previous day, Martyn Turner. Ben Bonfield was second, not in the ultra-successful Jedi but together with his father Tony, sharing their new OMS-Suzuki 2000M. Sunday was also the final round of the Pirelli Ferrari Hillclimb Championship. Although Dave Snelson had already been confirmed as champion in his F430, ahead of John Kennedy’s svelte California T, both drivers had arrived to fight it out until the end with Kennedy turning the tables on Snelson to win the class by a hundredth of a second! Also among the eight-strong field was Pauline Goodwin, who won the classic section of the Championship in her 328.


 

Andrew Webber - 2022 HSA Speed champion (Steve Wilkinson)


Pete Goulding set FTD in his Mygale Ecoboost (Steve Wilkinson)


With a new class record, Pekka Tulokas secured a Championship fourth place (Steve Wilkinson)


Andrew Till with a record and a Championship sixth place (Steve Wilkinson)

NEW WINNER AT CURBOROUGH

Event 28 at Curborough on 08/10/2022
As HSA Speed contenders assembled at Curborough for Saturday’s opening stanza of the two day Championship deciding weekend, held over the 2-lap version of the Lichfield sprint course, the three drivers at the top of the order were still level on points. But with the third member of the trio, Chris Edwards in his Mazda 323 GTX, not entered for the event, Peter Taylor and Andrew Webber remained the leading contenders.
          A relatively small entry allowed three runs for the afternoon’s competition, all of them counting, although Taylor got off on the wrong foot by spinning his MX5 on the first bend. But second time round he made no mistakes and bagged his twelfth record of the season. Webber was also on record pace in his Elan Plus 2, so both now had set 12 HSA records during the season.
         With a minimum of two runners in each class required for Alan Payne class winners’ run-off eligibility and a number of single car runners on the entry list, there were a number of class amalgamations. This did not apply to the Formula Ford class, since it was the penultimate round of the Pre-94 FF Challenge and there were no less than 24 starters. 2022 BHC Cup winner Alex Coles took the win from Tom Weaver, the current 1100cc OMS Hornet driver reverting to his FF Van Diemen for the occasion. In fact the 1100cc racing class was the second largest, and one of the most competitive, classes of the day with eight starters. Martyn Turner was in charge at first and at one point held FTD in his Empire Evo 2, but after engine problems had twice slowed Ed Hollier’s Honda Fireblade engined Force HC, the Westcountryman produced a flyer on his third run to take the class.
          Andrew Webber’s solo entered Elan Plus 2 was among the class amalgamations for the Alan Payne Memorial Trophy, from U1 to A2. After his class win, Webber went on to take the Alan Payne Trophy for the third time with an improvement over his class run time of 1.11sec, 0.2sec clear of Championship rival Taylor who ran second. Third in the run-off was Tom New, in the process setting a 53.31s FTD in the 550bhp, 2-litre turbocharged Norma sportsracer which he shared with Duncan Barnes.
          An interesting sixth place finisher was 2018 run-off winner Dave Tatham, not driving his usual OMS Hornet, which had been sidelined with a broken gear linkage, but a Jaguar XJR which he’d recently acquired from Mathewsons of TV’s ‘Bangers and Cash’ fame, which he elbowed round with gusto!


 

Tom New set the day's outright pace in his Norma-Honda (Steve Wilkinson)


Andrew Webber bagged his second Alan Payne run-off trophy (Steve Wilkinson)


Webber's season-long rival Peter Taylor took second place in the run-off (Steve Wilkinson)


Dave Tatham exits Fradley in the 'Bangers and Cash' Jaguar (Steve Wilkinson)

Taylor, Tulokas and Webber match each other at Shelsley

Event 27 at Shelsley Walsh on 17/09/2022
At MAC's Harvest Festival meeting at Shelsley on September 17th, HSA Speed Championship front runners Peter Taylor (MX5), Pekka Tulokas MX5) and Andrew Webber (Elan +2) all broke the existing HSA Class records.

Simon Clemow  (Radical SR1) went well to join Taylor in winning his class on the day with other good performances coming from Anthony Earl (Caterham) and Andrew Platt (Exige).

Trevor Willis in a DJ Firestorm took FTD with a 26.15s run.

 

Anthony Earl hurls his Caterham through Top Ess (Rob MacDonald)


Mike Broome's lovely Alexis MK17 (Rob MacDonald)


Rob Anscombe's Empire EVO (Rob MacDonald)


Trevol Willis took FTD (Rob MacDonald)

Goulding's FTD at Hethel

Event 25 at Hethel on 04/09/2022
Relatively few HSA Speed Championship competitors made their way to Hethel to enjoy the fast flowing Lotus test track. Pete Goulding (Mygale Ecoboost) took time away from his British Sprint Championship campaign to take a comfortable FTD of 71.50s over two and a half seconds ahead of his nearest rival, Mark Chaplin (Jedi Mk6).

Geoff Lancaster (Clio 172) and Stephen Laing (Caterham R500) broke the existing HSA class records.

Pete Goulding and his Mygale (library image)

Another FTD for Sketchley

Event 24 at Aintree on 03/09/2022

Glyn Sketchley, driving his Force PC with its 1.3 turbo Suzuki engine, took FTD at Liverpool MC’s Aintree September sprint. The event was run in excellent conditions but suffered from a dearth of entries. However, the plus side was that competitors got their money’s worth with 10 timed runs on offer - even by lunch time, the club had managed two practice and three timed runs. although many competitors decided to call it a day as the temperature dropped and only the novices were improving their times.

Two class records fell, the first at the hands of Paul Gorge, who already held the Standard 2-litre Saloon record in his Citroen C2 VTS, but managed to twice break his record in the morning session carving off a total of 0.24sec. The second record went to Ian Butcher, driving his Honda Integra in the Roadgoing 2-litre class. Butcher had already equalled Fred Currell’s record, set back in 2014 in his Golf GTi. On his third run clipped off another 0.07s before loading up and heading off before the afternoon session.
 
It was a trying week-end for the timekeepers. Overnight, their van had been broken into and all the PCs were stolen. The back-up van was able to bring replacements but they had further problems during the second timed runs when a ‘tank slapper’ off the start-line by Michael Skidmore’s Westfield wiped out the 64 foot beam.

Of the HSA Speed Championship competitors, Andrew Till (Fiesta ST), Peter Taylor (MX5) and Chris Edwards (Mazda 323 GTX) all broke the existing HSA class records with Till and Taylor winning their classes on the day.

 

Glyn Sketchley set the Aintree pace in his turbo Suzuki powered Force (Steven D'Cruze)


Paul Gorge set the first class record in his Citroen C2... (Steve Wilkinson)


...followed by Ian Butcher in his Honda Integra (Steve Wilkinson)

TRIO AT THE TOP

Event 23 at Gurston Down on 28/08/2022
Peter Taylor was not present for Sunday’s event and so was unable to add to his record tally but Andrew Webber and Chris Edwards both reset their class records from the previous day and scored maximums. So at the conclusion of the day’s play, Taylor, Webber and Edwards went away all tied on 153 points with the absent Chris Berrisford still in fourth place on 150.
          Andrew Till made an appearance in his turbocharged Fiesta ST-Line and reset the A1 record and apart from those mentioned above, he was joined in the record-breaking bonanza by Pekka Tulokas and Paul Talbot, plus Dave Greenslade and Simon Clemow in their Radical, Greenslade finally getting the nod over his co-driver. Both broke the record with Greenslade finally getting the edge over his co-driver by four tenths.
          Ben Bonfield fell just short of his record in the Jedi and Anthony Earl once again scored well in his Caterham Roadsport. Historic single-seater exponents Fyrth Crosse and Mike Broome staged a repeat of Saturday’s close tussle with Crosse’s ex.Mike Wilds Ensign easing out Broome’s rare Alexis each time.
          With 5 rounds to go the title will be decided on tie-breakers and so we will possibly not know the champion until the end of the season at Curborough. At the moment Webber and Edwards have broken the class record on ten occasions, with Taylor and Berrisford having done it nine times!

 

Chris Edwards became the third joint series leader (Steve Lister)


Andrew Till joined the record breakers in his Fiesta ST-Line (Steve Lister)


Paul Talbot was on record form each day ... (Steve Lister)


... joined by Pekka Tulokas in his Mazda (Steve Lister)

RECORDS FALL AT GURSTON

Event 22 at Gurston Down on 27/08/2022
Seventeen HSA competitors made the trip to Gurston for host club BARC(SW)’s Championship finals weekend and with three of the top four entrants from our own Championship in attendance, all enjoyed a maximum score at Saturday’s event with an HSA class record. Joint series leader Andrew Webber did so on his first run in the Elan Plus 2 but for Peter Taylor, level on points in his Mazda MX5 and Chris Edwards, close at hand in his Mazda 323 GTX, it took until the second runs to lower the mark. Webber and Taylor now reached the maximum score of 153 while Edwards remained one point behind.
          Other records were broken by Pekka Tulokas with his Mazda MX5 in Class A3, Paul Talbot’s Mini in Class C1 and Ben Bonfield in his Class I Jedi-Suzuki, while Simon Clemow and Dave Greenslade in their shared Radical in Class F and Anthony Earl in his Class B2 Caterham also scored well.

 

Peter Taylor maintained his joint Championship lead in the Mazda (Steve Lister)


Also level on points at the top of the table, Andrew Webber is chasing a second HSA title (Steve Lister)


Dave Greenslade scored well in the Radical ... (Steve Lister)


... as did Anthony Earl in his Caterham (Steve Lister)

Edwards makes it a 4 way fight for the Championship at Wiscombe

Event 21 at Wiscombe Park on 31/07/2022
On Day 2 of Woolbridge Motor Club's National July meeting Peter Taylor (Mazda MX5) failed by 0.15s to better the Class record he had set the day before and Andrew Webber (Elan +2) came agonisingly close (0.06s) to breaking the Class U1 record leaving both on 151 points. If either driver had managed to break their respective records they would have achieved 9 maximum scores and been virtually assured of the 2022 Championship. Just behind, Chris Edwards (Mazda 323GTX) broke the HSA Class C3 record set the previous day by Chris Berrisford (Impreza) to leave both competitors level on 150 points. Four drivers covered by one point!

Elsewhere, Paul Talbot (Mini Clubman), Ben Bonfield (Jedi MK4) and Tony Kiss (Van Diemen RF87) completed their record breaking week-ends by beating the new records they had set the day before.

A record breaking run by Chris Edwards (Geoff Pickett)


Almost but not quite - Andrew Webber (Geoff Pickett)


Allan Mcdonald's 2.4l Mini Evo (Geoff Pickett)


A new HSA record for Ben Bonfield's Jedi (Geoff Pickett)

HSA records fall at Wiscombe as Championship battle heats up

Event 20 at Wiscombe Park on 30/07/2022
On the first day of Woolbridge Motor Club's National meeting at the end of July plenty of HSA Class records were broken along with some interesting and significant results.

With each competitor's nine best scores to count, Andrew Webber (Elan +2) had been on 8 maximum scores since Loton earlier in the month but had missed out on breaking the record at Lydden. Peter Taylor (Mazda MX5) arrived at Wiscombe on 7 maximum scores following new records at Lydden and Three Sisters. In the event Taylor broke the existing record while Webber was half a second shy of the exitsing record putting both drivers level in the Championship.

Just behind the two leaders are Chris Edwards in the highly developed Mazda 323GTX and Chris Berrisford's Impreza - both running in the same large Mod Prod class and, despite sharing the class arrived at Wiscombe with 6 and 5 maximum score apiece. Berrisford took a fine class win and broke the HSA class record on Saturday to level the number of maximum scores.

Elsewhere Pekka Tulokas continued his recent good form by breaking the HSA class record in his turbocharged MX5 as did Paul Talbot in his Mini Clubman, Ben Bonfield in his Jedi MK4 (an impressive 37.69s run after a troubled first run) and Tony Kiss with his colourful Van Diemen RF87.
 

A good class win for Chris Berrisford (Geoff Pickett)


Another good performance from peter Taylor (Geoff Pickett)


Mark Linforth trying hard in his Escort (Geoff Pickett)


Paul Talbot's Mini is beautifully presented and fast too (Nigel Cole)

Record runs at Three Sisters

Event 19 at Three Sisters on 24/07/2022
Only a handful of HSA Speed Championship competitors made the trip to Wigan for LDMC's Mid Summer sprint and for those competitors who felt they still needed to learn the course 12 (yes twelve!) timed runs were offered by the organisers. In the event, only three competitors had the time, energy or tyres left to take the twelth run!

Robbie Birrell (Force PT) took FTD with a 40.12s run from David Spencer's Reynard 883 while the only HSA Class record (A2.1) to be broken was by Peter Taylor in his MX5 which won his class on the day. Anthony Brown (Audi TT) took a class win while Andrew Till (Fiesta ST) and Pekka Tulokas (MX5) were in single car classes.

Peter Taylor broke the HSA Class record (LDMC/Denise Moore)


A class win for Anthony Brown (LDMC/Denise Moore)


FTD for Robbie Birrell (LDMC/Denise Moore)


Andy Walker's Impreza Sti (LDMC/Denise Moore)

Webber almost there at Lydden

Event 18 at Lydden Hill on 16/07/2022
Following his eighth max score at Loton Park the week-end before, Andrew Webber (Elan +2), the 2020 HSA Speed champion, needed just one more to secure the 2022 crown at Lydden Hill. But, despite almost perfect conditions, he was frustrated to come up almost a second short of his own record. 

Other championship front runners including Peter Taylor (MX5) and Chris Edwards (Mazda 323 GTX) closed the gap to Webber with new HSA Class records with Edwards taking a good class win on the day.

Simon Bainbridge (SBR Crono), John Loudon (Force TA) and Steve Brown (Empire EVO 2) also set new HSA Class marks.

Adding some variety to the event was Tony Gomis' Marcadier CanAm sports racer. 20 or so of this French built, spaceframe hillclimb car were produced in the early seventies and it still looks the part to-day.

Perhaps the most notable result of the day was John Chambers' win in the 'standard roadgoing' EV class in his Tesla Model 3 Performance. His time of 80.45s was the second fastest of all the Roadgoing classes, ahead of some quick Caterham R500s, and was only narrowly beaten by one of the Mod Prods.

Andrew Webber, frustrated at Lydden (snapshotpics.co.uk)


Chris Guy's Jedi MK4 (snapshotpics.co.uk)


The impressive Tesla of John Chambers (snapshotpics.co.uk)


Tony Gomis' unusual Marcadier CanAm (snapshotpics.co.uk)

Webber inches closer at Loton

Event 17 at Loton Park on 10/07/2022
Andrew Webber (Elan +2) set a new HSA Class record (his eighth of the season) at Loton Park on July 10 to strengthen his position at the top of the 2022 Championship standings. Chris Berrisford (Impreza) was unable to quite match the new record set by fellow class competitor, Chris Edwards, the day before but still socred well to maintain his second place in the championship.

Pekka Tulokas (MX5) broke the record he had set on the Saturday as did class winner, Dave Greenslade (Radical SR1) who had co-driver, Simon Clemow, breathing down his neck less than half a second behind.

Adam Pemble has been campaigning his 33 year old Toyota Ceilca GT Four for over 10 years and continues to set competitive times against more modern machinery.

Simon Clemow's Radical SR1 (Gail Knight)


Adam Pemble set decent times in the Celica GT Four (Geoff Robinson)


Tony Kiss' colourful Van Diemen RF87 (Gail Knight)

Edwards & Tulokas score at Loton

Event 16 at Loton Park on 09/07/2022
Chris Edwards (Mazda 323GTX) continued his impressive start in his debut season in the HSA Speed Championship with his fourth new HSA Class record on the trot at Loton Park on July 9. He also won his class on the day and then went on to win the Top 10 Challenge with a significantly improved time. He was joined by Pekka Tulokas who set a new record in the over 2000cc Roadgoing Class and is also having a successful season with the turbocharged 1.8 MX5.

Anthony Earl (Caterham) and Dave Greenslade (Radical SR1) both took good wins in their classes on the day. Ben Bonfield (Jedi MK4) was up against strong opposition in the 1100cc Racing Car class and third was a good result. In the same class Jonny Ogden made a rare (and smoky) appearance in the unusual Yamapin R1.

 

Pekka Tulokas' MX5 (Geoff Robinson)


The rare Yamapin R1 of Jonny Ogden (Geoff Robinson)


Carole Nicholls' 'historic' Nike MK4 (Geoff Robinson)

Edwards & Berrisford score as Summers takes FTD at Shelsley

Event 15 at Shelsley Walsh on 26/06/2022
Chris Edwards in his mighty Mazda 323GTX continued his good run of form with a new HSA class record on the second day of the Shelsley Walsh Summer Spree event - but only just. Fellow Class (large Mod Prod) competitor, Chris Berrisford in his Impreza, led after the first run but both drivers found more time on the second run with Edwards finishing just one hundredth ahead. The results moved Berrisford to second and Edwards to fourth overall in the Championship standings.

Elsewhere, series leader Andrew Webber won the small Roadgoing Series Production class in his Elan +2 but was nearly a second and a half off his own HSA record and didn't score as well as he would have liked. In the 1100cc Racing Car class, Stephen Potter posted a good 28.61s run in his OMS2000 while Rob Anscombe (1.6 Empire Evo) went well and earned himself a spot in the MAC Members Run Off where he finished just behind Lindsay Summers (DJ Firestorm) who had earlier set FTD with a 25.60s.
 

Rob Anscombe prepares to leave the line (Rob MacDonald)


Ina Stringer's pretty Alfa Guilia waits in top paddock (Rob MacDonald)


Lindsay Summer's DJ Firestorm (Rob MacDonald)


Gary Hull's Jedi MK2 in top paddock (Rob MacDonald)

Miles takes FTD as leading HSA competitors fight it out at Llandow

Event 14 at Llandow on 25/06/2022
Steve Miles (Van Diemen RF96) took another FTD at the Bristol Pegasus/Bristol MC Llandow sprint on June 25th with a 68.76s run which was the only timed run he needed to secure the victory. The day was interspersed with some heavy showers and many competitors elected to miss runs in the difficult conditions.

Despite the changing conditions, many of the leading competitors in the 2022 Triple M/Pirelli Speed Championship were present and put in very competitive and class breaking performances. Andrew Webber (Elan +2) continued his strong run for the 2022 Championship with another new HSA Class record. Dave Greenslade and Simon Clemow contiued their close and hard fought battle in their share Radical SR1 with the former winning the class by half a second from his co-driver - both under the existing HSA record.

Chris Berrisford (Impreza) and Chris Edwards (Mazda 323 GTX) are running in the same Mod Prod class and lie in the top 5 in the Championship. Edwards won the large class on the day by just 2 tenths from Berrisford and again both drivers were under the HSA class record. 2021 Championship runner-up, Peter Taylor took his MX5 to a new HSA class record to stay in touch with the leaders in the 2022 Championship. 

Stephen Potter had a good run in his OMS2000 to take the 1100cc Racing Car class from Ben Bonfield while Fyrth Crosse took his venerable and immaculate Ensign LNF3 to a win in the 1600cc Racing Car class. Tony Kiss won the battle of the Formula Fords from Simon Broadbridge in their Van Diemens.



 

Best of the FFs. Tony Kiss' Van Diemen RF85 (Tony Smith)


Chris Berrisford attacks the kerbs (Tony Smith)


A class win for Stephen Potter's OMS (Tony Smith)


Andrew Till presses on in the Fiesta despite the conditions (Tony Smith)

Big turn out enjoys fine Prescott

Event 13 at Prescott on 19/06/2022
A strong turn out of 21 HSA Speed Championship compteitors enjoyed a fine Prescott on June 19. In place of the usual classes there were just 12 of them, arranged by Championship which meant that most, but not all, HSA competitors were in their own class. This gave Dave Greenslade and Simon Clemow, visiting Prescott for the first time with their Radical SR1, a good opportunity to take a Class win. Close after the first run, they finished the second a hundredth apart with Dave taking the narrowest of wins. Chris Guy took third with his Jedi MK4.

The battle for FTD was between the Racing Cars of Chris Green (OMS 28) and Stuart Bickley (Jedi) and the pair were never more than a tenth apart with Green taking the honours with a 41.33s run.





 

2nd FTD for Stuart Bickley's Jedi (Allan Rhodes)


Dave Greenslade won the HSA Championship class (Allan Rhodes)


Pau Batey's Rawlson Stiletto (Allan Rhodes)


Lewis Porto's smart MX5 (Allan Rhodes)

Webber pushes on at Barbon as Macdiarmid takes FTD

Event 12 at Barbon Manor on 11/06/2022
Barbon Manor in June should see wall to wall sunshine, but on arrival at the Cumbrian venue for the Liverpool MC/Kirky Lonsdale MC Regional Championship meeting on 11 June the wind was ripping through the valley and clouds filled the sky. Despite occasional sunshine it would remain cold, but the meeting started promptly at nine fifteen with two practice runs and the first timed run before the lunch break, followed by two more timed runs in the afternoon.

The Classic and Period cars provided entertaining battles. Andrew Webber led the Classics throughout in his Elan Plus 2, extending his lead after lunch with a new PB, with former champion circuit racer Steve Cole running second in his Ford Lotus Cortina Mk 1. Webber duly extended his lead in the HSA Speed Championship and is looking a storng contender to reclaim the title he won in 2020.

In the Period Road Car class, Keith Beningfield’s screaming supercharged MG TC led from the start as Mark 5 Bucklers, in the hands of Keith Thomas and Barbon regular Graham Curwen (who also drove his FF Van Diemen RF91) battled for second spot with Curwen’s immaculately restored car getting the verdict.

The large Roadgoing series production class saw Alex Gilchrist-Jones' Evo 9 take the win ahead of Jack Walker's Impreza STi while, in the class for Roadgoing sports cars over 2-litres, reigning Harewood champion Adam Riley, his Honda S2000 supercharged for this year, chopped over half a second off the class record on his first run and lowered it by a further tenth after lunch. He looked set to make it three in a row but his third run ended in a ‘rotational delay’ at Lafone Hairpin. In Modified Production saloons over 2-litres Chris Edwards’ 500bhp, 4WD, 1.8t Mazda 323 GFX closed in on his PB on his first two runs before running sub-26 for the first time, shattering Richard Hargreaves’ record, set 12 years ago, and establish an HSA Class record.

Jim MacDiarmid’s Hayabusa powered, ex Gary Thomas Force PC looked set for FTD initially, but the battling Wood brothers in their smaller Force-GSXR PT and Nick Scott in his Force TA started to close in. Anthony Wood got to within sixteen hundredths of MacDiarmid’s time on the third runs, before his brother Robin took the lead by a couple of hundredths and set a new HSA Class record, surprisingly there being no record prior to the event. The last car on the hill, MacDiarmid was marginally ahead into the fast Richmond sweeper and maintained his lead to the end, snatching FTD on a last ditch effort with Wood second and Scott three hundredths further back.

2nd FTD for Robin Wood's Force PT (Mark Newbould)


Chris Edwards' powerful Mazda 323 (Mark Newbould)


A class 2nd for Jack Walker (Mark Newbould)


FTD for Jim Macdiarmid in the Force PT (Mark Newbould)

Damp end to Pembrey week-end

Event 11 at Pembrey on 05/06/2022
Day two of BARC Wales' Summer Sprint week-end was help on a damp National circuit with the result that competitors were unable to approach their usual times leading to correspondingly lower championship scores.

Championship leader Andrew Webber (Elan+2) and Chris Edwards (Mazda 323GTX) were the highest scorers while Julian Harber also scored well in his Mini Clubman and won his class on the day. Simon Clemow (Radical SR1) demonstrated his wet weather skills by taking the small Libre class from Grahame Harden's Radical PR6 and his co driver, Dave Greenslade with the three covered by less than a second. Simon Broadbridge also went well in the conditions and just edged out fellow Formula Ford Van Diemen driver, Tony Kiss, reversing the positions from the previous day.

 

Dave Greenslade's Radical SR1 (John Surridge)


Perfect conditions for Angharad Williams' Escort MK2 (John Surridge)


Neil Thomas' MG Midget (John Surridge)

Records fall at Pembrey

Event 10 at Pembrey on 04/06/2022
Twenty one HSA Speed Championship competitors took part in day one of BARC Wales Pembrey Summer Sprint, held on the infrequently used Club track with no fewer than eight clas records being re-set.

Leading the way was Andrew Till, in the Fiesta ST beating his own record (set in his MG ZR105) by a massive seven seconds and take a narrow class win by two tenths. Chris Edwards (Mazda 323GTX) posted a similar performance in his Mod Prod class setting a new HSA record by more than 6 seconds and winning the class. Chris has had the Mazda for 21 years, continually developing it into a 500bhp+ monster but only recentyly begun competing in Speed events.

Andrew Webber (Elan+2) was another new record setter to maintain his strong start to the 2022 season and stay on top of the leader board.

The two Sylvas of Bob Bellerby (Riot) and Mike Smith (Striker) made up the small modified kit car class which Bob won, helped by his Pirelli slicks compared with Mike's, ex List 1B, Extremes but by less than half a second. Tony Kiss and Simon Broadbridge had a 'softish' record to beat with their Formula Ford Van Diemens and Tony emerged the winner by a couple of seconds.

A new HSA Class record for Nick Scott's Force TA (John Surridge)


Ceri Morgan's Ford Anglia (John Surridge)


Philip Matchwick's Caterham (John Surridge)

Bainbridge and Berrisford go joint top at Blyton

Event 9 at Blyton Park on 15/05/2022
The second day of the Longton & District Blyton Spring sprint week-end was held on the venue's tricky Outer circuit and saw Simon Bainbridge (SBR Crono) and Chris Berrisford (Impreza) take maximum scores and move into the joint lead of the Triple M/Pirelli HSA Speed championship, overtaking Peter Taylor (MX5) who was absent.

Andrew Webber (Elan +2) and John Loudon continued their strong start in the championship with maximum scores to lie close behind the three championship leaders.

Stephen Laing (Caterham) appeared for Day Two and took a good class win annd joined other HSA competitors winning their classes including Webber, Berrisford, Andrew Platt (Exige) and Phil Archer (MNR Vortx).
 

Chris Berrisford, joint leader of the HSA Speed championship (Anthony Mitchell)


Michael Wilkinson's Fisher Fury at Blyton (Anthony Mitchell)


Andrew Platt, class winner at Blyton (Anthony Mitchell)


Phil Archer, also a class winner at Blyton (Anthony Mitchell)

High scoring day at Blyton

Event 8 at Blyton Park on 14/05/2022
The first day of the Longton & District Blyton Spring sprint week-end was held in fine conditions on the venue's Eastern circuit and saw a massive turn out of 25 Triple M/Pirelli HSA Speed championship competitors in attendance.

The good weather saw plenty of new HSA class records set including Rob Kuschel (Cooper S), Andrew Webber (Elan +2), Phil Archer (MNR Vortx), Chris Berrisford (Impreza), Simon Bainbridge (SBR Crono), John Loudon (Force TA), Nick Scott (Force TA) and Graham Blackwell (Mygale Ecoboost)!

HSA competitors also featured among the class winners including Andrew Platt (Exige), Anthony Earl (Caterham), Archer and Berrisford.

A new HSA class record for Rob Kuschel at Blyton (Anthony Mitchell)


Chris Guy's Jedi MK4 at Blyton (Anthony Mitchell)


Shane Dyson's Renault 5 at Blyton (Anthony Mitchell)


A class win for Anthony Earl at Blyton (Anthony Mitchell)

Cornish mizzle dampens Werrington

Event 7 at Werrington on 01/05/2022
Unfortunately, day two of Plymouth Motor Club's Spring Werrington hillclimb event was beset wit Cornish mizzle which kept the track damp throughout the day keeping times well below their normal, dry levels.

Many drivers restricted their runs to a single practice and a single timed with even Werrington regula and Speedscene columnist Andrew Dinner (Pilbeam MP82) only taking a single practice run. It was left to Andrew Forsyth (OMS CF04) to take FTD and be the only driver to get under 40s with an impressive 38.92s run.

Andrew Webber, Elan +2 (John Wilde)

Records tumble at Werrington

Event 6 at Werrington on 30/04/2022
Day one of Plymouth Motor Club's Spring hillclimb at Werrington was run in clear and sunny conditions, which allowed a number of HSA Speed competitors to set new championship class records.

These included 2021 HSA Speed champion, Andrew Webber in his Elan+2, Chris Berrisford (Impreza), Paul Reynolds (Caterham) and Dave Greenslade (Radical), the latter pushed hard by his co-driver Simon Clemow who was only a couple of tenths adrift. Chris Berrisford's result was enough to propel him to the top of the Championship table while Andrew Webber also moved up amongst the leaders.

Ben Bonfield (Jedi MK4) was a tenth away from his own HSA class record but still won the 1100cc Racing Car class. Philip Montgomery-Swift (OMS 2000M) took FTD with a 32.82s time.
 

Simon Clemow in the Radical (John Wilde)

Taylor extends lead as Broughton takes FTD at Goodwood

Event 5 at Goodwood on 23/04/2022
With another new HSA class record, Peter Taylor (Mazda MX5) further extended his early season lead in the 2022 Triple M/Pirelli HSA Speed Championship.

HSA championship regular, Andrew Till was out in his Fiesta, set a new class record and took the win on the day in the 1600cc Series Production class and Alex Gilchrist-Jones did the same with his Lancer Evo 9 in the 4wd Series Production class.

Andrew Webber had swapped his regular Lotus 47/62 for his Elan +2 and still managed a new HSA class record despite managing only a single timed run.

Tony Kiss and Simon Broadbridge had a close battle for Formula Ford hounous in their Van Diemen RF87s with Tony coming out ahead on the final run. Steve Broughton and Matt Hillam had entered the event in the SBD Dallara as it is their (most) local track and Steve took FTD with a 73.63s run.

Peter Taylor's MX5 (classicrevivalphotography)


Andrew Till at the Goodwood chicane (classicrevivalphotography)


The Van Diemen RF87 of Tony Kiss (classicrevivalphotography)


FTD for Steve Broughton (Kim Broughton)

New records for Berrisford and Wood at Harewood

Event 4 at Harewood on 10/04/2022
At Harewood on April 10th Andrew Platt (Exige) and Chris Berrisford (Impreza) made welcome returns to the HSA Speed Championship, finishing second in their classes on the day and scoring well.

Peter Taylor (MX5) maintained his run of good form to stay ahead of Harewood specialist, Bob Bellerby (Sylva Riot) in the title race while Robin and Antony Wood made a strong championship debut in their 'new' Force PT with Robin setting a new HSA class record.

Paul Talbot took a good 1400cc Mod Prod class win in his Mini 1275GT and Ivan Russell in his familiar Anglia won the very competitive 2000cc Mod Prod class with 0.4s covering the top three.
 

Chris Berrisford on his way to a new HSA record (JCB Photography)


Paul Talbot took a good class win (JCB Photography)


A successful outing for Robin Wood's Force PT (JCB Photography)


Bob bellerby lies second in the Championship in the Riot (JCB Photography)

A cold start at Anglesey

Event 3 at Anglesey on 03/04/2022
For day two of Longton & District Motor Club's Anglesey sprint on the longer International track competitors were faced with a very cold start. Campers reported overnight lows of minus 8°C and there was plenty of frost on the ground early on.

The day warmed up slowly and was bright and clear but the cooler temperatures meant that fewer records were broken than on the previous day. Andrew Webber had the Lotus 47/62, resplendent in Gold Leaf Team Lotus colours, going well for a new HSA class record.The only other drivers to achieve the same success were Simon Bainbridge (SBR Crono), Chris Jones (Force TA) and Graham Blackwell (Mygale Ecoboost).

HSA competitor, Mike Smith, was out in his Sylva Striker but with his 'new' tyres being moved to List 1C over the winter he had to run out of his normal class in Modified but still managed to improve on his 2021 times by over a second.

Simon Clemow was pleased to get to within a couple of tenths of class winning (and new event record holder) Dave Greenslade in their shared Radical SR1.

Peter Taylor again won the up to 2000cc Roadgoing Series Production class in his MX5 and despite just being shy of the HSA record, scored strongly enough to take the lead in the 2022 championship.

 

Peter Taylor led the championship after Anglesey (Neil Lambert)


Andrew Webber's V8 Lotus 47/62 (Neil Lambert)


Ed McDonough in the Dulon MP15 (Neil Lambert)

High scoring day at Anglesey

Event 2 at Anglesey on 02/04/2022
Despite a wet morning practice and dry first timed run, competitors at Longton and District Motor Club's Anglesey Sprint on the National circuit, were able to enjoy improved conditions later in the day with many establishing new class records.

2021 Championship runner-up, Peter Taylor, and Pekka Tulokas were closely matched in their Mazda MX5 with Peter just ahead by a couple of tenths. Bob Bellerby in his slick shod Sylva Riot set a time that would have been respectable in the racing car classes while Dave Greenslade in the Radical SR1 was only half a second off Simon Bainbridge's best in the SBR Crono but still won the RS Interclub Libre class.

Enthusiastic Formula Fordsters, Simon Broadbridge, back for his second season in the Van Diemen RF87 and well known author (look out for a new biography of Pedro Rodriguez!), Ed McDonough in his Dulon MP15 were both enjoying their trip to North Wales but were up against the quick Van Diemens of Sarah Bosworth and Lindsay Summers.
 

Pekka Tulokas going well in the MX5 (Neil Lambert)


Simon Broadbridge searching for grip in wet practice (Neil Lambert)


Dave Greenslade was very competitive in the Radical (Neil Lambert)

Taylor, Berrisford and Bainbridge feature at Cadwell

Event 1 at Cadwell Park on 26/03/2022
A good turn out of competitors for the first round of the 2022 Triple M/Pirelli HSA Speed Championship at Cadwell Park on March 26th enjoyed glorious Spring weather with many scoring well to make a good start to their season.

One competitor making a strong start with a new record and maximum score was Peter Taylor in his familiar Mazda MX5. Peter has been runner up in the HSA Speed championship for the past two seasons (and third in 2019) so a good start to 2022 bodes well.

Chris Berrisford (Impreza) made a welcome and successful return to the championship with a maximum score as did Simon Bainbridge in the mighty SBR Crono V8.

Andrew Platt made a return to the championship after an absence of many years and scored well in his Lotus Exige.

Andrew Platt's Exige (library image by Rich Danby)