Well, after an absence of six years it’s back…. and what can we say except sorry……… sorry to all the people who came to the event and couldn’t get in through the gates due to it being a full house, with pre-booked tickets having priority.
We’ll all learn a lesson for next year – pre-book your tickets. Thanks to the generous support of our headline sponsor, Porsche (and in particular Porsche Centre Belfast) and our several other sponsors, the event returned as the Cultra Motorsport Festival, incorporating the historic Cultra Hillclimb.
What did they miss, well, a cracking day of competition, thankfully no major incidents, no cars wrecked, an impressive display of Porsche cars and memorabilia, rows of displayed classic cars, a Samba band, clowns, facepainting and the glorious sunshine and atmosphere that makes North Down and Cultra in particular the place to be.
It’s hard to beat lying on a well-manicured lawn (thankyou Museums NI) supping a cool drink and watching & listening to competition cars going past as fast as they can be steered. With 90 cars in the hillclimb line-up, ranging from a 1920’s Austin 7 to modern single-seater racing cars with 400+ horsepower, the speeds, times, and noises varied throughout the day.
On noise, our thanks also to the commentating team of Clifford Auld and Chris Fair who between them managed to speak almost non-stop for six hours, with only one ‘Murray Walkerism’ by Chris which enraged one woman in the audience. Apparently, angering only one woman in a period of six hours is a new record for Chris, its normally well into double figures by lunchtime.
Even though this event is not a round of the Northern Ireland hillclimb championship, competition was furious, with every driver launching off the line with gritted teeth and a grim determination. Various driving styles were witnessed, from tucked in clean racing lines to arm-wrestling opposite lock into and out of each corner.
Wayne Clyde in his MX5 experimented with the mathematical style, the shortest distance between two points being a straight line, it was just unfortunate that the second point he chose ended in a large bank. No great damage and he and the car survived to do another couple of runs.
Almost everyone would also have been unaware of an incident about five minutes from the end. One of the last runners of the day was Nicholas Gibson, lining up for his third timed run, the intense sunlight and heat of the day finally had its toll and he burst out of the zip of his racing suit like an over-roasted Cookstown sizzler.
The start line team grabbed a roll of duct-tape and got to work, initially fighting a losing battle as with every bit they tightened and fixed, pink flesh oozed out from a different point. After 2-3 minutes, they had him trussed up like a Christmas turkey and off he roared for his final run, crisis averted.
Gerard O’Connell in the somewhat suspiciously noise legal Red Bull Dallara spun at the manor house, started up again, spun again, Started again…. spun again and then the red mist descended and on the 3rd time, wheel spun the whole way to the finish line. His slowest but most spectacular run up the hill.
So….. apart from a few minor offs, spins and mechanical breakdowns, most competitors had a great time. The full results are available to be viewed at www.resultsman.co.uk/livetiming, there are now several good videos on Youtube, but here are a few highlights of the day.
Fastest Time of the Day, Class 6, Single Seater racing cars, and it was Tim Woodside in his Pilbeam MP82 with a new hill record of 31.17s, shaving 0.4s off the 12-year-old record set by Seamus Morris. This time over the 640-meter course is applaudable, but considering this was Woodside’s first attempt at this hill, it’s nothing short of mind-blowing! Here’s hoping this iconic hill will return next year so we can enjoy watching these big engine cars being muscled up the hill in haste again. It really is something to be cherished.
Class 5, Specials & 4WD, 1st place went to Dermot McCullagh in the tiny 1000cc Casmat buggy with a time of 32.87s (which also gave him 5th overall), fighting off Ian Lancashire in the snorting 600bhp but much heavier 4WD Subaru.
Class 3, 1st place went to Stephen Donnelly in the rare little Renault Twingo RS with a time of 37.99s.
Big old Tom Lawther, 81 years young, in his big old Rover SD1, still giving it lots of elbows and rooty-toot to a time of 41.60s and 63rd overall. It may not be one of the fastest now, but it’s all done (in my opinion) to the best soundtrack of the event, with the big sonorous V8 resonating up through the trees.
Ali Carver, out in the 1928 Aston Martin Le Mans car, worth a sum which includes six zeros, given strict instructions by its owner (Tudor Roberts) to drive the wheels off it. Ali did just that, getting a first in the vintage class with a time of 44.07s and an overall place of 78th, only half a second behind a modern Ford Mustang and an Audi TT, both driven by grumpy pensioners almost as old as the Aston Martin!
That sums up the ethos of the Cultra Motorsport Festival. Men & women, old cars driven by a youngster’s, old pensioners in young cars, cars worth several million pounds, cars worth just slightly more than the fuel put in the tank, cars with an impressive racing pedigree and history, cars that will be used to go shopping next Friday night……… all competing on an even basis and no quarter given.
My favourite hillclimb, an old man in an old car, but unfortunately, by the Motorsport UK rules, you are not allowed to partake in an event that you are named in as an official, so I must take one for the team, help to organise……. then watch jealously from the side-lines. There’s always next year, I have a cunning plan……
Words: COLIN MCBRIDE MBE (Secretary of the Meeting) | Photos: GRAHAM BAALHAM-CURRY [Images must not be used in any way without prior written consent of the photographer]
