THE 40th running of the Werrington Park Speed Hillclimb took place over the glorious bank holiday weekend on Saturday, May 5 and Sunday, May 6, courtesy of the stunning country park at Werrington near Launceston.

The event was run by Plymouth Motor Club at the venue, with the very kind permission of the Williams family, who for 40 years now have been happy to have their peaceful weekend disturbed by noisy racing cars.

The event attracted nearly 100 cars on each day, many of whom were contending at least one of six qualifying championships and some travelling from all parts of England and Wales to take part.

The cars, ranging from sports cars originally built in the 1920s, single seater racing cars, historic and classic cars and modern cars, were split into 18 classes.

Spectators were in abundance, the car park being full on Sunday afternoon for a while. Many were families able to enjoy springtime in the sunny park as well as all of the interesting cars that were racing.

Because of the ideal conditions, fortunately there were very few incidents, apart from the terrifying crash of Jerry Walters in his beautifully restored 1968 Mini Cooper. He unfortunately lost control approaching the finish line and rolled over, but apart from a few bruises was thankfully unhurt, thanks to the roll cage and other modern safety devices fitted.

The perfect track conditions helped some of the competitors to break class records, but the fastest overall track record of 32.61 seconds remained intact, despite the very focused efforts of Ben Wheeler, from Kilmington near Axminster, in his immaculate, 1551 cc, Empire Evo 2, single seater racing car, who did however manage the fastest time on both days, but did break the original class record of 33.78, quite an achievement.

Other class record breakers were:

Ian Ingleheart (Plymouth) in his 1700cc Westfield Cosworth (38.81); Steve Ellis (Saltash) in his 1998cc Ford Escort Mark 2, (40.33); Keith Harris (Stockton-on-Teme, Worcestershire) in his Jamun M90 Formula Ford (40.07).

The most notable record breaker was Simon Kelleway from Northam driving his very well prepared Vintage Riley Sprite sports car. With a best time of 54.91 he broke the original record by 6.97 seconds, a brilliant effort.

For many years Peter Locke has been the events co-ordinator and it has now become a family affair with his whole family being involved.

His wife, Linda, is the secretary of the meeting, his youngest daughter, Debbie, is the Results Office and his eldest daughter, Jenny, is the Clerk of the Course. Jenny is the youngest female Clerk of the Course ever to be appointed by the MSA (Motor Sports Association).

See this week’s Post for the results.