Sunday 13th September marked the much anticipated return of the Marsh Brothers to the renowned Gurston Hill climb Course in Salisbury. Peter Marsh, who is the Founder and Managing Director of the Christchurch based turbocharger specialists Turbo Dynamics, and his brother Simon, are the sons of the late multi-discipline sportsman Tony Marsh.
Tony Marsh, who co-designed the Gurston Hill climb Course in 1967, enjoyed a successful racing career which spanned over five decades and included Formula 1 and 2524 hours at LeMans. His record six British Hillclimb Championship titles is an achievement which still remains intact today.
It was a long awaited return for the brothers who have both enjoyed previous success at the course.Simon secured a top 10 finish in Round 28 of the 2009 Championship and Peter, after taking a 12 year break from racing, secured a third place finish at the Gurston round that same year.
Sunday marked a return to the track after a four year break for the brothers as competitive racing is only a hobby they pursue when time allows. Both brothers co-drove Simon’s 400+ horsepowered 1.3ltr supercharged Hayabusa DJ Firehawk, which features an innovative electrical set up involving a specially adapted speed sensor taken from a Turbo Dynamics supplied BorgWarner EFR turbocharger and a Motec ECU.
Gurston have coined the competiveness of the duo the ‘Marsh Mêlées’, because as soon as each took their turn behind the wheel all ‘team orders’ went out the window as both Simon and Peter both went ‘pedal to the metal’ with only one thing in mind – beating each other across the line!
Despite some original downshifting issues it didn’t take the brothers long to get back into the swing of things with both putting on impressive performances, securing a 1-2 victory in the 2 litre Racing Car Class. However it was Simon who was pipped to the post by his younger brother with Peter taking the class victory with a time of 30.24.
Peter’s dominant display also secured him the second fastest time of the day overall, second only to regular Gurston Championship contender Peter D. Smith in his 1.6lt Force with a time of 29.15. Smith ended up 2nd in the Gurston Top Ten Challenge and 14th in the overall 2015 Meadens Skoda Gurston Hil climb Championship.
Peter commented: “It was great to be back out at Gurston competing with my brother Simon and sharing a his racecar. Together with Steve Hurst of GWR Motorsport and DJ Racecars, he has done a fantastic job designing and building the car – the acceleration & power really is awesome and I had forgotten what an adrenalin fix driving the course is!”
“The last time I was at Gurston was in 2011 when I was behind the wheel of the HybridTurbos.com sponsored Nissan GT-R where we successfully took on a Porsche 911Turbo S GT3 and actually set a new track record – so being able to follow on from that achievement is a fantastic feeling… plus beating my big brother who normally has the better of me!”
“Both Simon and I are hoping to get out on the track a lot more next year if time permits… and if I’m still allowed to co-drive his car after ignoring team orders that is!”
Elizabeth Jarrold
