BHC Tin Top Challenge 2024 - Shelsley Walsh - Rounds 5 & 6

Defending champion Damien Bradley had a successful weekend at Shelsley Walsh in his Subaru Legacy 2,350cc Turbo.  He won the first Tin Top run Off and came second in the other.

 For the second year, the British Hillclimb Championship is holding a Tin Top Challenge this year.  I caught up with this in August at Shelsley Walsh, the previous rounds having been held at Harewood and Wiscombe.  A real mixture of cars take part including road going saloons or sports cars, more modified cars, rally and rallycross cars and out and out specials.  They bring some variety to the British hillclimb scene and support certain British Hill Climb Championship rounds.  A run off takes place at each meeting between the top ten fastest tin tops after the class runs.  The Tin Top Challenge is sponsored by AET Turbos.

This year the championship is close between four competitors including Roger Moran, Simon Bainbridge, Stephen Moore and Damien Bradley all of whom feature in this blogpost.

For the record the fastest Tin Top Run Off time was 27.77 seconds for the 1,000 yard run compared to 22.43 for the fastest single seater racing car.  This looks, sounds and is fast!

All the pictures were taken Saturday during the practice runs.

 More blogposts on the August Shelsley Walsh meeting coming shortly.

Simon Bainbridge in his crowd pleasing Audi engined SBR Crono mirrored the success of Damien Bradley at Shelsley Walsh and won the second Tin Top Run Off and came second in the other.

Leading the Tin Top Challenge after Shelsley Walsh is former British Hillclimb Champion (1997) Roger Moran.  In his Skoda R5 2,000 Turbo he finished third in both of the Run Offs at Shelsley Walsh.

Stephen Moore in this Mitsubishi Evo 6 GSR  2300cc.Turbo finished fourth in both Tin Top Run Offs at Shelsley Walsh.

Paul Howells finished fifth and sixth in the two Tin Top Run-Offs at Shelsley Walsh in this Porsche 911 RSR 3.8.

Robbie Birrell scored a fifth in the first of the Tin Top Run Offs at Shelsley Walsh in this Porsche Cayman GTS 2,500cc Turbo.

Stuart Reid scored a sixth and a seventh position in the Tin Top Run Offs at Shelsley Walsh in this Peugeot 205 1,927cc.

Duncan Andrews scored a seventh position in the second Tin Top Run off at Shelsley Walsh in his Porsche Cayman GT4 3,800cc.

Richard Snow was eighth in the first Tin Top Run Off at Shelsley Walsh in this Porsche Cayman GT4 3,800cc.

Robert Lancaster-Gaye finished ninth in the first Tin Top Run Off at Shelsley Walsh in this Porsche Cayman GT4 3,800cc.

Stephen Darley qualified for the first Run Off but didn't start in this Subaru Impreza 2,350cc Turbo.

Mark Lawrence qualified for the second Run Off but didn't start in this Porsche Cayman 2,500cc Turbo.

John Etherton asserts his copyright to all of the photos on this blogpost.  However, you may post the photos elsewhere on the web as long as you credit the photographer, John Etherton, and this blog post, Rouenlesafx@blogspot.com and provide a link to this page.

John Etherton affirme son droit d'auteur à l'ensemble des photos sur ce billet de blog. Cependant, vous pouvez poster des photos ailleurs sur le web à condition de créditer le photographe, John Etherton, et ce blog, Rouenlesafx@blogspot.com, et de fournir un lien vers cette page.

Jock Ramsey was at Shelsley Walsh in this Opel Manta 1,998cc.  He had been in the Run Off at Harewood.

Other interesting Tin Tops competing at Shelsley Walsh included :

Steve Mundy in his Ford Fiesta 4x4 2,000cc Turbo (a rallycross car!)

Stuart Gilbert in his 5,300cc MGB GT V8.

Nigel Elliot in his Triumph TR7 V8 4,600cc Turbo.

The SBR Crono in the paddock.

The MGB's V8 engine.

5ème Rallye National de la Vienne VHC, 2022

 

The superb Talbot Sunbeam Lotus of Sébastien and Alain Berjot on ES3 breaking for the hairpin.

This rally was run over 9 special stages on Saturday 12th March 2022.  It was well organized by L’A.S.A. Poitou et l’Ecurie Chatellerault Poitou even if there were issues and delays caused by the modern cars leaving the road.

There were just eight starters for the VHC section of the 2022 Rallye National de la Vienna, of which four were Porsches. I saw them on three of the special stages and got a variety of shots using a variety of lenses - all of the VHC competitors are shown below.    The modern rally cars will feature in a future post (with a rather different group of photos).

VHC stands for Véhicule Historique de Compétition and they are classic and historic rally cars.  They compete on speed, just like the modern rally cars and in a number of different groups and classes.  I love seeing them rallying for both the variety and nostalgia.

The rally was centred around Châtellerault in the Vienne department of France but I took my photos at the three special stages as noted below:

ES1 -  Krys - Zone Public 1 - Leigné-les-Bois - The cars could be seen entering the village and then taking a very tight hairpin around a tree before taking a couple of right hand corners to exit the village.  A very popular place to watch the rally and thus I couldn't get a good shot of the hairpin itself.

ES3 - Karting Loisir 86 - Zone Public 8 - Monthoiron - The cars could be seen entering and taking a right hand corner (almost a hairpin) and then accelerating way.  This was another hugely popular place to watch the rally which made it difficult to get a good view.

ES5 - Regional Ascenseurs - Zone Public 4 - Pleumartin - A less popular spot where you could see the cars assembling for the stage and then accelerating way.  A good place to use my fixed length 135mm F2 lens.

I particularly enjoyed watching the Talbot Lotus Sunbeam as it was being driven aggressively and I have a soft sport for these cars having had a one day course on driving these on grass at a rally school many years ago.   Very nice to see a Lancia Beta Coupé and Opel Manta competing as well.  Strangely, I am rather cold towards the VHC Porsches even if I love the modern ones.

ES1 - Entering the village of Leigné-les-Bois

The Porsche 911 3.0L of Valère Jaudinaud and David Delabriere. 

Benoît Charron and Romain Huesca in their Peugeot 205 Rallye.

The Lancia Beta Coupé of Michel and Pascale Taillebuis.

ES1 - Taking the right hand corner in Leigné-les-Bois

Having rounded the hairpin, the Opel Manta of Jean-Philippe Le Cam and Sébastien Sullam head into the right-hander.

The Talbot Sunbeam Lotus was very fast through the village on ES1 crewed by Sébastien and Alain Berjot.  

ES3 - The Hairpin (Epingle)

The Lancia Beta Coupé of Michel and Pascale Taillebuis on ES3.

ES3 - Accelerating away from the hairpin

Benoît Charron and Romain Huesca in their Peugeot 205 Rallye.

ES5 - The start of the special stage

Immediately after lunch and the Talbot Sunbeam Lotus is leading the VHC field as it accelerates away from the start of ES5.

Samuel Lostis and Thierry Devaux accelerate away from ths start of ES5 in their Porsche 964 Carrera 2.  They were top finisher of the Group AJ/BJ/NJ cars and second overall of the  VHC cars.

The Lancia Beta Coupé of Michel and Pascale Taillebuis.

The Porsche 911 3.0L of Valère Jaudinaud and David Delabriere. They finished third overall and second in Group 4/5.

The Opel Manta of Jean-Philippe Le Cam and Sébastien Sullam

Philippe Baudiniere and Maxime Vilmot in their Porsche 911 RS.  They were the only finisher in the Classic Group.

ES5 -off into the distance

Joël Vicaire and Nicolas Jeudy in their Porsche 911S.  They won the VHC rally.

The Talbot Sunbeam Lotus of Sébastien and Alain Berjot. After being very competitive on some stages they finished fourth overall of the VHCs and won Group 2.

The Lancia Beta Coupé of Michel and Pascale Taillebuis.

John Etherton asserts his copyright to all of the photos on this blogpost.  However, you may post the photos elsewhere on the web as long as you credit the photographer, John Etherton, and this blog post, Rouenlesafx@blogspot.com and provide a link to this page.

John Etherton affirme son droit d'auteur à l'ensemble des photos sur ce billet de blog. Cependant, vous pouvez poster des photos ailleurs sur le web aussi longtemps que vous créditez le photographe, John Etherton, et ce blog, Rouenlesafx@blogspot.com et fournissez un lien vers cette page.

This rather nice Renault 5 Turbo was acting as the "0" car for the VHCs.

8ème Rallye Bordeaux Aquitaine Classic - VHC, 2022.

 

This Opel Manta driven by Jean-Phillippe Le Cam and Sébastien Sullam was one of my favourire VHC cars on the BAC 2022.   It eventually finished sixth overall having been twelfth fastest on the first stage seen here.  It won Groupe 2.

The Bordeaux Aquitaine Classic had an exciting field of historic competition cars this year, including a number of Lancias, Porsches, Fords, Opels and the essential Alpine Renault A110.  Touring and GT Cars from 1947 to 1989 that comply to the regulations are allowed and there are a number of classes for various types of car.   25 cars started the rally and 16 were classified after 2 days of rallying over 12 special stages.  Everyone was glad that the rally was back this year after cancellation due to Covid in 2021 and I really enjoyed seeing the VHC cars on my first visit to this rally.

A variety of cars that competed are shown below:

The lead car and winner of the VHC rally was this Porsche 911 930 Turbo 3.3l  crewed by Frédéric Chambon and Stéphane Boucardeau.  They were fastest on 11 out of the 12 stages.  Thus a lot better than in 2020 when they retired with mechanical issues.

Second overall and winner of the Groupe AJ was this Ford Sierra driven by Dominique Castera and Daniel Mirambeau.  They managed to win one stage from the Porsche 930.

Ninth place overall, and second in Groupe 2 went to this Opel Ascona B of  Michel and Sébastien Porcher.

The Alpine-Renault A110 of Olivier Breittmayer and André Leyh.  They didn't finish the rally.

A rather wonderful selection of Lancias graced the VHC section of the rally including two 037s and three Delta Integrales.   The Lancia-Abarth 037 was a Group B 2 litre super charged mid-engined rear wheel driver rally car that won Lancia the WRC manufactures championship in 1983.   The Lancia Delta Integrale came into its own after the Group B cars were banned and won Lancia five WRC championships in the late eighties and early nineties.  It was a Group A front engined turbocharged 2 litre 4WD car.

The Lancia-Abarth 037 of Nicolas Leroy-Fleuriot and Adrien Audibert.   Unfortunately, it went by us relatively slowly and finished last on ES1.  It recovered a little after that but didn't finish the rally. I have seen Nicolas describe this car as a monster, and he had two off-road excursions in this rally, but it certainly looks resplendent in its Martini works livery.

This Lancia-Abarth 037 crewed by Patrick Canavese and Pascal Serre, did finish the rally and was classified eighth amongst the VHC cars.

The only other Lancia to finish the rally (in fifteenth place) was the Delta Integrale of Jacques Suire and Céline Ducournau.

The Lancia Delta Integrale of Alain Lemonnier and Eric Ben Tolila that retired on ES3.

The fastest Delta Integrale on ES1 was this example crewed by Paul Paille and Christophe Gaudin.  They also retired on ES3 which was a shame as they were second fastest on ES1.

This Ford Escort RS1600 Mk1 finished twelfth on the rally in the hands of Frédéric Ducourau and Maxime Vilmot.

Lucas Mathieu and Léa Dardenne in the BMW 318 IS that finished tenth.

The eleventh placed BMW M3 of Eric Faure and Eric Canac.

John Etherton asserts his copyright to all of the photos on this blogpost.  However, you may post the photos elsewhere on the web as long as you credit the photographer, John Etherton, and this blog post, Rouenlesafx@blogspot.com and provide a link to this page.

John Etherton affirme son droit d'auteur à l'ensemble des photos sur ce billet de blog. Cependant, vous pouvez poster des photos ailleurs sur le web aussi longtemps que vous créditez le photographe, John Etherton, et ce blog, Rouenlesafx@blogspot.com et fournissez un lien vers cette page.

Another view of the Lancia Abarth 037 showing the 5 speed ZF gearbox.