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.

Porsche Rennsport Reunion VI - PCA Scholar-Friedman Cup

John Seidell in a 1997 Porsche Boxster leads a 911 at the Corkscrew.

The Porsche Club of America (PCA) is the largest single marque racing series in the World with 2000 licensed racers and 32 sanctioned races a year.  This is amateur club racing but forms one of the seven races at the Rennsport Reunion.  At this meeting they race for the Scholar Friedman Cup, which is named after two of PCA's founders who started the racing series in the early nineties.  One of those founders, Alan Friedman, was actually racing.  As you will see below a large variety of cars take part.

Alan Friedman racing a 1973 Porsche RSR.

The Porsche Rennsport Reunion is a unique event, that is held once every three or four years, dedicated just to classic and more modern racing Porsches, their drivers and the men and women who made it all possible.    Porsche Rennsport Reunion VI held over four days in September 2018 was again located at Laguna Seca like the last one in 2015.  No surprise as Laguna Seca is in California, which also happens to be the biggest market for Porsche.   This year the event was subtitled The Marque of Champions - a name that speaks for itself.  The event was also part of Porsche's 70th birthday celebrations.

A large variety of cars take part.  Here a fairly standard Porsche 944 is overtaken by a RileyDaytona prototype.

On the wonderful 2.238 mile Laguna Seca road course, seven groups of Porsche cars raced over the weekend.  The PCA Scholar-Friedman Cup event was for the amateur club racers of the PCA.  Fifty cars started the race.

The lead cars on their pac e lap at the Corkscrew.

The Race
What was nice about this race was that we saw a number of cars that we hadn't seen race all weekend.  It was also nice to see the fastest car have to fight for victory.  Great club racing.

Eventual winner was this 2008 Riley Daytona Prototype driven by Pierce Marshall.

The early leader was Robb Todd in a 2018 Porsche GT3 Cup car.  He eventually came second.

Third place went to a 2015 Porsche GT3 Cup driven by Jesse Menczer.  He won his class.

In sixth place came a 2016 Porsche GT4 CS driven by Chris Bellomo.

This 2012 Porsche Cayman R came ninth driven by Geoff Isringhausen.

Rich Polk finished tenth in this 1973 Porsche 911

A 2000 Porsche Boxster driven Jan Sussman finished thirteenth.

Claudio Kaempf came seventeenth in this 1970 Porsche 911.

A very popular car was this 2000 Boxster S in Highway Patrol colors driven by Chris Murray.  It finished nineteenth.

Twentieth was this 1981 Porsche 911 driven by Sean Neal.

A 1986 Porsche 911 driven by Evan Close  came 35th.

A spin for this 1972 Porsche 911 RSR in qualifying.

A beautiful 1981 Porsche 911

For my recent Motor Sport blogposts click here.

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. 

A 1998 Porsche Boxster driven by Trygve Isaacson.