http://www.completekitcar.co.ukFrom the very dawn of the genre, kit cars have been used in motorsport – and it’s a
tradition that continues. Our Race Diaries contributors compete in various disciplines
and update us in every other issue on what’s happened on track and in the garage.
RACE DIARIES
74 September 2019ALASDAIR
SUTTIE
Discipline:
Hillclimbing
Races:
Sylva Leader
Championship/Series:
BHC Leaders
Championship
Age: 41
Occupation:
Motoring journalistA small shower while we queued for the start further dampened
hopes of learning more about the track and so it proved with a
65.89sec run.
On Sunday morning, the track was still cold and chat about
the weather continued to dominate every conversation. Even so, I
was encouraged by a 62.27sec run in nal practice. Come the rst
competition run of the weekend and the track was dry over its
entire length and several other runners had put in personal bests
and were knocking on the door of class best times.
e Sylva hooked up well o the start and I took as tight a line
through the rst left-hander as I dared. en it was press-on stu
to Oak Tree before the slightest of lifts o the throttle, back on it
to Garden Gate and up to Junction. Into Meadow and hold it at
in third to the brow-cum-crest at East Brae, down to second and
then a quick shift back to third for the Esses.
I knew a decent time was on the cards as I dropped to second
for the nal corner and needed third before the nish line to keep
momentum going. In the end, the Sylva and I stopped the clocks
on 59.10sec, which was by far the best time so far and meant I
dipped below the 60sec mark which had been my main aim given
the weather.
en I saw fellow competitor Alex Hazlewood was only
three-tenths faster in his rapid Austin-Healey Sprite. It was all
the incentive I needed and a more committed run through the
infamous Tunnel section and through the Esses bagged a time of
58.83sec – a personal best and enough to win the class by 0.1sec.
Chu ed? I felt like I’d won a grand prix. Maybe I should prepare
less more often.A
fter the previous report about a lack of
progress on work to the Sylva, I should
perhaps maintain that approach. e reason
being that, other than checking tyre pressures
and carrying out a spanner check, I just turned
up to the Doune Hillclimb in June and ran very well.
Pre-event preparation was more about guarding against the
changeable Scottish weather in mid-June. It proved to be time
well spent sorting out the car cover and stashing an umbrella
in the boot of my support car. As John Pick will attest, the
conditions at Doune were far from predictable and made
consistent improvement by no means a precise science.
Saturday morning started o with a cautious approach as the
track is always cold and ‘green’ as competition cars have not run
up the 1350-metre course for two months. Even running as the
last car in the nal batch, I wasn’t about to set the timing charts
alight with this run and so it proved with a time of 66.35sec.
Not an issue in my mind as I’m always a bit of a slow builder
over the course of the weekend. I usually treat the rst run as an
opportunity to re-familiarise myself with the twists and turns
of the hillclimb. at proved to be the case with a second run
of 61.87sec, so I was happy with the progress of this practice
session and was looking forward to the third and nal run of
Saturday to complete the day’s warm-ups.
However, the weather had other ideas and it had been
raining before my batch’s run. With drivers in the previous
group returning with tales of how the track was dry-wet-dry-
wet and changing all the time, it wasn’t the moment for bravery.In action at Al’s local Doune hillclimb. Dipped below the 60sec mark, which was Al’s aim.PROPER PREPARATION
Minimal preparation turned out well when
it came to Al’s performance in the Doune hillclimb.
Pics: Hunter Motorsport Media074 Race Diaries.indd 74 01/08/2019 12:47 pm