Pestalozzi - At least the weather was nice...

Pestalozzi is a temporary hillclimb up the access road (track?) of the international children's village near Hastings.  Its got a rather village fete atmosphere with RAF fly pasts, classic car displays and a toilet made from a pig-swill trough and a tarpaulin (photo coming soon in British Motor Racing Circuit Toilets)!

After walking the hill I had thoughts of following Nikki Lauda's example and not racing on such a treacherous course.  The surface could be best described as semi-sealed with more potholes and patching than tarmac in places.  In the few places there was some run off, it was between rather sturdy oaks.  The hairpin was as ridiculously tight as I'd imagined and bordered by railway sleepers, and the top part of the course reminded me of a crappy Blackpool kart track made out of tyre walls.  (Do you get the idea I didn't like?).  I've not got anything against drivers wanting to race here, just maybe its not the venue for an 'all-rounds-count', novice championship.  The only thing more scary than the hill was the return road (read 'field') which had a steep downhill with a 90 degree turn just before a small cliff.  Glad it wasn't wet. 

I took the first practice run as the convey run we never had, cruising up the course to find out what the corners actually felt like from the driving seat.  I had great problems with the hairpin, concentrating more on the railway sleepers on the exit rather than the corner itself.  This part of the hill was more like an autotest than a hillclimb, and I've never been that good at parking (as my rear wings testify - I must have a rogue X gene in there somewhere!).  Jason Sutherland and Richard Mann obviously had more bottle and put in runs of around 40 seconds straight out of the bag (Richard only beat his time by 3 hundredths on his last timed run - I think you should try rallying, Richard!).

On the second practice run Alister Weaver must have got lose coming out of Old Barn and speared off hitting a (hay-bale protected) tree with the passenger side.  Luckily Alister was unhurt, apart from a bit of whiplash, but the car looked a mess.   However, the car was straightened out enough for Alister to do some cautious timed runs.  Call me a wet liberal, but I don't think race tracks should punish a minor driving error with a trip into a tree...  Others who took a closer look at the scenery during the day were Iain Bowler with a punctured radiator, and Colin Hayes with a missing wing. 

I got in a reasonable first timed run, getting the hairpin nearly right (well, not using reverse) for the only time during the day.  Before the second run I took a strawpoll amongst the rest of the Scholars (thanks for being honest guys!) and changed my plan of attack to third gear through Old Barn and second at the hairpin.  Not shifting for Old Barn seemed a lot quicker, but I got a massive twitch on the exit.   I can see where and why Alister went off.  It was all in vain though, as once again I cocked up the hairpin, having to use reverse. 

The final times were very close with several drivers tied to the hundredth - almost too close when its so difficult not to roll at the start, there's only a single timing beam to break and you've got dirty, grassy tyres.  Jason took yet another win with 38.94 (you'd think he'd driven one of these Caterhams before!) and Colin Hayes another second with 39.95.  (The absolute course record is only 34 and a bit).   Paul Butcher got back on form with third and 39.56.  I was twenty-sixth, which is probably one reason for the tone of the report - if anyone's got happier memories, please e-mail them and I'll put them here to give a more balanced view. 

At least the weather was nice... 

Graeme