The Marsh brothers Peter and Simon, who have recently made their long awaited return to Speed Hillclimb after a four year break, have been achieving times and reaching speeds in their first two competitions which put them in a league with the sport’s leading competitors.
The brothers, who are the sons of the late six times British Hillclimb champion Tony Marsh, only race as a hobby when time allows due to work commitments. They have been recently competing in Simon’s new350+ bhp 1.3ltr supercharged DJ Firehawk.
Their first event was at the Gurston Down where the commentator called the duo the‘Marsh Melee’ due to their brotherly competitiveness on track. Despite some teething problems it was clear to see the brothers hadn’t lost their touch. They went on to secure a 1-2 victory in the 2 litre Racing Car Class with Peter recording the faster time of 30.24 seconds, making him the second fastest driver of the weekend on the hill, with Simon not far behind with a time of 31.33 seconds. Simon said, “A bad launch and a warning light spoiled a couple of runs for me. The slightest distraction adds so much time.”
Last weekend (18th- 19thSeptember) saw the brothers competing in the two day Autumn Finale at Shelsley Walsh. With gained confidence from their success at Gurston, the duo put onanother respectable performance in the supercharged Firehawk. Peter, who secured a fourth place finish on Day 1 with a time of 27.99 seconds and a fifth place finish on Day 2 with a personal best time of 27.58 seconds, impressively logged some of the fastest speeds recorded during the weekend.
This included crossing the finish line at a staggering 126 mph, which was the second quickest finish speed of the event. He also recorded 119 mph at the speed trap approaching the “S” bend complex – not an easy achievement when racing on a 12ft wide piece of tarmac on 7 year old tyres. The brother’s times were very similar to those recorded by the 2015 British Hillclimb Champion, Alex Summers, when he first drove his supercharged Firehawk back in 2011.
Although achieving slightly lower top speeds, Simon put on an exceptional display of driving securing a Second in Class and overall Second Fastest Time of Day, on both days of the competition with a best time of 27.01 seconds. The brothers did well considering their absence from the sport for four years, the old tyres they used and also getting used to a new car.
Simon said, “It is great to be out competing with Pete again after far too long. Of course we are both 4 years older too! The new car is technically challenging and very quick and we’ve been on a steep learning curve. So it has been a very satisfying weekend. There is still some more fine tuning needed with the Geartronic’s paddle shift system and a possible steering rack problem that caused the car to be virtually undriveable in a straight line but other than that and some other minor details, the car is working well. There is also a lot more to come from the drivers!”
A result of three 2nd FTDs in their first three events puts the brothers on good grounds for the 2016 season, as both Simon and Peter are hoping to get back to the track a lot more!
Elizabeth Jarrold
