The competition for the GTAm. We were entered at Gurston Down Hill Climb on September 10th during the finals of the 2006 Gurston Championship and Top Ten Challenge.

Steve Archer and Tim Cotgrove were driving under the numbers 767 and 67. It was a glorious summer’s day and the nerves were high.

After some very tentative practice runs the boys were up to speed fairly quickly.

As each run passed, run times were being slashed with Steve following Tim’s example on each run and even shaving a few fractions of a second off as he went. Given a few more runs, a full race pace could have been found as the limits of the car are still unknown.

Steve’s mastery of the final corner won him the day with a very respectable 3rd in class, with Tim following 7 hundredths-of-a-second behind in 4th place.

With a splendid outing behind them, the OUMF team were thrilled with the result - especially as the car embarrassed a few experienced hill-climbers in their custom designed machines!

An enormous round of thanks are due to the committee at Gurston Down, most notably Simon and Jane Harratt who bent over backwards to let us race at very short notice.

We must also thank the marshals and scrutineers at the events who gave us such fantastic advice and assistance. It made the day all the more enjoyable and we really felt as though we learnt a great deal about hill climbing, as well as gaining a deep affection for the sport.

For more information about the British Automobile Racing Club at Gurston Down, visit: http://www.gurstondown.org