Prescott in Colour

The third round of the RAC National HIll Climb Championship took place at the Bugatti Owners Club’s Cotswold venue, Prescott, on a miserably cold and wet May Sunday. Alister Douglas-Osbourn (above left) showed fine form, making FTD with his 3.6 litre Cosworth engined Pilbeam during the class runs and winning the top ten run off at the end of the meeting by 0.3 seconds from from second place man Roy Lane. James Thomson (lower left) was trying a little too hard on his last run, going straight on at Ettores, but damage was slight and his final climb in his Hart engined Pilbeam earned him third place. 1980 Champion, Chris Cramer, is obviously getting the ex-Formula 2 Toleman sorted out (above), taking fourth place in the top ten runs, scoring his first points of the season. The large single seater class is not the only one to provide excitement for the spectators – the 500 c.c. cars, epitomised by class winner Ron Warr’s Cooper (left) appeared to be real handfuls in the wet conditions. Prescott would not be Prescott without a Bugatti – the example shown below being Ronnie Symondson’s Type 57S, with which he competed at the very first Prescott meeting before the war and at most others since.