St Goueno Blog
Entry posted by Marto303
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So after months of anticipation Wednesday 27th May had finally arrived and time for us ( Michelle & I ) to set off on our trip to the St Goueno Hill Climb. We set off for our ferry from Portsmouth to St Marlo at 2.00pm, after an easy run down the A34 we’d soon joined the queue at the ferry terminal and could see ahead another member of Team WSCC Graham ( Windy ) Millar. Once checked in the three of us headed for the terminal bar to get in the spirit of the weekend while we waited to be loaded. The crossing was an overnight run so following an evening meal and a few drinks in the bar chatting to fellow competitors we retired to our cabin for a few hours sleep.
In the morning we joined Graham in his commodore cabin for a complimentary continental breakfast before setting off on the short drive from St Marlo to St Goueno. Just over an hour later around 10.00am we’d arrived at the empty paddock hoping to drop our trailers off but not only were we turned away until 3pm we also noticed that one of Grahams trailer tyres had delaminated and lost a large chunk of tread, so out came the jacks and in true motorsport style the wheel was changed in no time.
Many competitors camp in the paddock however following Grahams visit last year we opted to share a small gite in a village a few miles away and used our time to pop to the gite, unpack and have a cuppa. Time rolled by and no sooner had we sat down than it was time to head back to the paddock and set camp ready for the rest of Team WSCC. We quickly had our paddock area set up banners flying and cars ready, just in time actually as the remainder of the team had arrived, Tim Nunn & Karen, Richard Kerr & Lisa and Paul Morcom and then with a mass joint effort we organised the motorhomes and trailers ready for the weekend.
Now the time had come for us to drive the hill for the first time, all be it still an open road but we couldn’t wait to set sight on the hill and see how it compared with the video’s I’d watch a thousand times before. With Graham taking Tim, Richard & Paul for passenger rides in his gorgeous orange MK2 Escort Michelle & I jumped in the Westy to get a proper view of the road.
Wow this was going to be the most challenging hill climb I’ve driven so far, 2 miles of fast tight & twisty narrow road, steep banks to one side and armco to the other it became very clear there would be no room for mistakes here.
So with the recky runs done and much debate about how to tackle this for practice on Saturday it was soon time to get ready for our first evenings entertainment in the Sal d fete in St Goueno. The hospitality here was exceptional with the organisers laying on evening meals and entertainment all weekend for drivers and their crew, they even provide a free Navette ( minibus ) to run everyone the couple of miles from the paddock to the village centre & back and also to and from our gite so we could all kick back enjoy a few beers blonde, cidre and vin rouge, bring it on.
Friday was a nice relaxing day, as other than signing on and scrutineering in the afternoon we had no other motor sport duties so took full advantage and enjoyed a bit of a lay in ( we needed it after the night before trying to keep up with Tim & Rich in the bar ) followed by a walk to the village patisserie for croissants and pan aux chocolait . When we finally made it back to the paddock not much was going on so we took the short walk across to the Cheval hair pin to watch some of the local historic regularity cars running up the hill, a very enjoyable couple of hours drifted by and it was time to return for signing on. Friday nights entertainment was bigger and better than the night before with a live band playing and plenty good food and drink, again the Plays-kool boys were a bad influence forcing me to have one or two beers too many ;-) When we got home to our gite we had been joined by David Birch & his brother Alan, Ade ACW and a friend of Windy’s Paul who were all sharing the gite next door and spectating for the weekend.
Saturday morning was beautiful bright and sunny, full of nervous anticipation ( well certainly on my part ) as our practice runs started at 9.30am. Unlike our British hill climbs the paddock was not laid out in competitor order, so to get everyone back in order before a run you first get called out to the pre grille. We had been divided into three groups of around thirty who get called out together, on leaving the paddock your given a pre grille number which you go find painted on the road and park behind it. Just as soon as the pre grille has all assembled your taken off in a convoy on the 2.2 mile drive down to the start line.
Finally my group were called and off I set for my first proper run up the hill all be it un-timed, I quite liked that idea as it was a chance to sight the hill without the pressure of posting a reasonable time. It wasn’t far into my first run that the scale of this hill hit home, despite watching last years video’s a thousand times and driving the hill the previous day it only took a couple of corners before I was completely flummoxed as to what was coming next, that would be the challenge to driving this hill fast, memorising the course well enough to attach the corners. Well my first run was fairly cautious but completed without any dramas so I was happy with that. Back in the paddock we all chatted about our first runs, exchanged ideas on how to memorise the course and couldn’t wait to have another go and post a time.
After lunch we were called again, wished each other luck and set off for the start line. Things all started to go a little wayward from here with delay after delay ( breakdowns and accidents that took an age to clear ) then at last it was my turn. My start was ok and the first half of the run went pretty much to plan ( I almost felt like I knew where I was going ) until I was Red Flagged just after the crossing ( a cross roads about half way up ), I pulled over to a marshall’s post only to be told the red flag was a mistake and I should turn around go back down to the start for a re-run. This was the last thing I’d expected and after a stressful 5 point turn I trundled back down to the start line, with one thought in my mind, I now had warm tyres and should take full advantage.
This second start was much better and I set off at a faster pace, to my surprise the next few corners were all in the order I’d imagined, the run was going well I soon recognised the next section which is much faster and even managed to keep my foot half in through the crossing, the next two right handers went well ( including the nasty tightening one which was catching out a lot of drivers ) and I was heading down to the Cheval Hair Pin then just the last two corners and I was done, first timed run over and I thought went pretty well, just needed to see my time which was displayed on the return road, blimey 1min 46s I was very pleased with that. When I returned to our paddock all was very quiet, the girls had all gone to spectate as had Windy so I had a few quiet moments to re -run the hill in my head before I expected Tim & Richard to return as they were a couple of cars behind me at the start.
It soon became clear more problems followed my run as no sign of Tim let alone anyone else, what I didn’t realise was it was Team WSCC causing some of the hold ups. Unfortunately Tim suffered a mechanical problem and had to quit his run half way up, then Richie rather enthusiastically clipped the armoc on the nasty right hander which he seamed to get away with only then to suffer steering failure on the very last corner and collided heavily head on into the water filled barriers, finally Paul returned in his beautiful Merlin having completed a successful run and we waited to hear of of Tim & Richie.
Thankfully the Plays-kool boys escapades were not too serious, Tim’s air box had worked loose and was soon fixed and Richards off ( which looked spectacular on the big screen ) had left his supercharged Duratec unrepairable for the rest of the weekend but more importantly, other than a sore wrist ( no jokes about using the other hand please ) he was fine. A perfect example of why we should ALL be wearing HANS devices if ever one was needed. Due to all the hold up’s P2 was cancelled so that was practice over. Saturday evening was again full of good food, drink and great friends as we all reflected on the days events. ( I seam to remember even finding a bar selling hot dogs and chips somewhere, or did I just dream that ) 
??
5am Sunday morning I woke to the sound of rain lashing down on our gite roof, not good but what can you do, the bad weather looked set for the day. We arrived at the paddock with everything cold wet and soggy, while Michelle sat in the camper with heating on I set about drying out the Silver Bullet which although covered had not faired well overnight. Thankfully I’d done most of the prep for Sunday already so just a check of tyre pressures, get togged up and I was ready, leaving my time free to dry the car out and wonder what this hill was going to drive like in the wet. Soon enough we were called out to the pre grille, time for our first run. Well the conditions certainly slowed everybody, we all returned from our first runs having wheel spun, slipped and slided up the hill safely but non of us made it in under 2 minuets, this was now a very tricky and treacherous hill to drive. Before our next run we had lunch laid on, cold meats, bread & cheese and strangely cidre & vin rouge, shame we had to drive later! With lunch done time to return to the serious part driving the hill, unfortunately the weather had got a little worse over lunch and any chance of having a dry run looked off. Somehow we all improved for T2 ( maybe the wine at lunch ) and now Tim was leading our class, Windy second in his and Paul battling well with the other formula ford in his. We now waited in the drizzle to be called for T3, Windy, Tim & Paul were all eager for their final run but I was unsure, I had a few moments thinking I’d enjoyed my weekend, the car was still in one piece, the weather didn’t look like improving and maybe I should call it a day, thankfully I was talked out of that thought as T3 although still treacherous turned out to be all of our fastest run of the day and we all got round safely.
The final results for Team WSCC were:
Tim Nunn 1m 52.489s 1st in class & 9th overall out of 84 entries
Graham Millar 1m 55.369s 2nd in class & 13th overall
Paul Morcom 2m 01.828s 2nd in class & 24th overall
Martin Harvey 2m 08.904s 7th in class & 36th overall
Richard Kerr NTR
With the cars and kit all loaded we headed up for the presentations and made sure Tim got the reception he deserved as he received his trophy, well done Tim.
That just left the final nights meal which was a quieter affair, still loads of good food, great company with friends old & new and yep you guessed it all the vin rouge you could drink, in fact I think I had a few too many as I don't remember the journey back our gite, lol
So how would I sum up the weekend for any of you thinking of giving it a go next year, hmm, well if you put our Blyton weekend and all your other favourites together your getting close to St Goueno experience, see you there next year!!!!
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