Loton Park Hill Climb - 14th April 2018

Yesterday marked our first championship outing under the ANWCC and our first competitive climb at Loton. A couple of years ago we attended a school day here as we were beginning our racing lives and fell in love with the place. Its a shame it took so long for us to return for an event, but it was most certainly worth the wait.

We arrived (as usual) early to the track so we could walk to course and get a feel for grip/corners. Walking up the hill it reminded us of how tight the course is and any mistakes into the scenery would likely involve a tow truck home. There is barely any room for error and in most places you could lay down and touch both ends of the tarmac. Under foot we could feel the wet conditions hadn't lifted over night, leaving a very greasy tree sap covered surface. 

Back down the hill we gathered ourselves and headed out for the new drivers briefing. Usual stuff, be safe, red means stop and oh yeah this is probably the UK's most demanding hill climb. Oh tits. As we discovered heading out on our first practice, what a scary place. The greasy conditions meant no grip and plenty of tail action on an already limited width. The launch felt fairly clean with an expected amount of slip but as soon as I hit the brakes for the 1st turn, I thought I was going to have to use the bailout gate. It just whistled on with the ABS going crazy making sure I was awake. Surprisingly at this point me and Ray were splitting the pack. I expected the FWD cars in this condition to slaughter us (also regulars at Loton), but we were holding our own. 

Que practice two with drying conditions from plenty of cars covering the track with accompanying sunshine, we both shaved a healthy amount of time of practice one. Ray chipped off nearly 5 seconds and with me seeing 7 seconds of the first outing putting me in 4th in class. Nerves bubbled over dinner waiting to start the first timed runs. Sat on the start line for the first timed run, I was nervous. Given the changes between practices, I wasn't sure where the grip was going to be or how/where to attack. Well this is how it looked.....

Amazing I had managed to squeak into 2nd placed just a head of a very fast MK3 MX5 by 0.05s. The fiesta had a blistering run setting a 62.68 (a PB I overheard, may be wrong). The super fast clio had a bad run, going off circuit. At this point I was expecting the MX5 and Clio to put in a solid second run, pushing me out of the top spots. Sun continued to bless the track, leaving a mostly warm and dry surface. Lining up for run 2 I was thinking the other chaps were going to push me out so try just push a little and learn more about the course. I again exceeded the first corner braking point as maximum grip had clearly not arrived yet on that bend. The rest of the pedal felt a bit scruffy, but surprisingly I shaved off nearly 2/10ths. Ray had a cracking final pedal apart from a mystery gear change we he felt robbed him of a 63s lap. Overall he managed to chip away a set 64.34 putting him in the 8th out of 18 cars. The spread for the top 8 was very tight over about a 1s difference. Unfortunately the other chaps failed to improve on 1st timings, meaning I took 2nd place in my first ever attempt at Loton. Chuffed is an understatement.

 I'm really happy with the days events and bowled over with the results. We both had a cracking pedal and its been a joy to final climb Loton. We both now have some datum points to work from and try improve over the coming years. I want to say a massive thank you to Ray for helping get the car prepared and making it such a fun and exciting day. Big cheers to my Dad for coming along to support as well as the usual reprobates (Lee, Alex & G). Thanks to Lee for the action snaps.