AUTOSPORT, OCTOBER 28, 1966
TORBAY MC
ODDICOMBE HILL-CLIMB
Final West Country hill-climb of the
season, held by the Torbay MC at their
pleasant seaside venue at Oddicombe, took
place in glorious weather, but was marred by a
nasty accident at the end of the meeting in-
volving John Grafton and a marshal.
The 850 saloon class contained Mickey Tarr,
Mike Frowen and Jackie Purchase, but none
of them could get near the Mini of Brian
Preston. Preston assaulted the hill in fine style
and shattered the existing class record with a
magnificent 43.25 secs. The battle for second
place raged between Mike Frowen and his co-
driver Jackie Purchase, Mike coming out on
top by 0.2 sec. For once Mickey Tarr who
was running on "choppers" due to tyre failure
after a practice shunt, was well out of the
hunt.
Class two, for 1000 cc saloons, saw a very
neat drive by W. Watson, who took his 997
Mini-Cooper to a class win in 44.13 secs. John
Symons took class three in his "Tatty" Elf
with the amazing time of 41.15 secs. Bill
George brought his 1071 Mini-Cooper S into
second spot some 5.5 secs behind Symons.
Guy Rodgers (Cortina) climbed in 43.75 secs
to take the first spot in class four by 1.6 secs
from Dereck Swann (Cortina).
Class five, for modded Minis, was a cracker
from the word go. Gerry Smerdon was in
fabulous form with his 1293 S, for he took
just 39.41 secs to climb the hill, which was
BTD for a long while. As Gerry was the only
driver to break 40 secs, interest was centred
on the battle for second spot in the class
between the mildly tweaked 1275 S of farmer
John Fry and the very hot 1071 S of David
Dacosta, who was making one of his rare
appearances. Finally the extra ccs told, and
after a fine drive by both drivers John stopped
the watch at 41.03 secs, just 0.22 secs in front
of David.
Class six was the Spridgefire class and, as is
usual in this area, was really well supported.
No one broke the elusive 40 secs mark, but
Peter Bow in the ex-Amie Lefevre Midget came
very close, taking the class with 40.12 secs.
The season-long battle between John Nicholls
and Roger Doige in the Sprite continued, and
was also the battle for second place in the
class. After the first runs Roger led, and then
on his second run really turned on the heat,
ascending in 41.85 secs. John left the line
looking very determined indeed and the result
of a really ten-tenths effort was 41.80 secs,
beating Roger by just 0.05 sec.
Class 8 was dominated by one driver,
Vaughan Hatton in his immaculate E-type.
Vaughan hurled the beast up the hill as though
it was a Mini and controlled the power
superbly to record 39.25 secs. Second man was
Rod Harper in his Morgan who, despite giving
away over a litre and a half to the E-type,
finished only 0.8 sec. behind Vaughan.
The last class, for large sports cars, looked
like being a battle between John Grafton
(Cooper Monaco-Buick) and Ken Haskell
(Lotus Kenford). Grafton had experienced
gearbox trouble in practice, but after much
hard work in the paddock he came to the line
minus first gear, which on such a steep hill as
Oddicombe is really a very great disadvantage.
However, he set out to show Haskell who was
boss, and his time of 39.45 secs, although
slower than the E-type in the preceding class,
was well clear of Haskell in the Lotus Kenford.
Haskell only managed a best time of 40.21
secs and was being pushed by Cliff Howse,
who ushered his elderly Lotus 6 MG to the
top in 40.95 secs. All eyes were on Grafton
for his second run; although slow off the line
due to the lack of first gear, once on the move
he did not ease up at all and, having nego-
tiated the final hairpin, really hit the power on
the finishing straight. But on the small kink
near the finish line the car got away from him
and hit first one bank and then the other,
finally shooting off the course beyond the finish
line into a tree. Unfortunately a marshal was
hit as John left the road and it is thought
that he may have a broken leg. The car was
not too badly damaged and its driver was
unhurt. During the incident the car actually
passed through the finish beam, demolishing the
gear on the way, but the watch had stopped
at 37.69 secs which was easily BTD. The
class thus went to Ken Haskell.
ROBIN BOUCHER.
RESULTS
BTD: J. Grafton (3.5 Cooper Monaco-Buick),
37.69 s. Class winners: B. Preston (Mini), 43.25 s;
W. Watson (1.0 Mini-Cooper), 44.13 s; J. Symons
(Riley Elf), 41.15 s; G. Rogers (1.5 Ford Cortina),
43.75 s; G. Smerdon (1.3 Mini-Cooper S), 39.41 s;
P. Bow (MG Midget), 40.12 s; C. Matthews (MGA),
46.39 s; V. Hatton (3.8 Jaguar E), 39.25 s; K. Haskell
(Lotus Kenford), 40.21 s.
With thanks to Michael Oliver.
What date was this event?
RGDS RLT
Edited by Rupertlt1, 10 May 2020 - 14:58.
