The weather forecast looked ominous with heavy rain predicted for the Saturday morning. It was dry and overcast at 07.30 but by the time "signing on" and scrutineering got underway the heavens had opened and torrential rain poured down onto Kinneil Estate. The grass paddock, which had been soft but usable the previous day, quickly turned into a quagmire. Falkirk Council organised some matting to make access and exiting the paddock a little safer but some of the larger cars were still getting stuck in the mud. Practice got underway at 10.00 hrs and David Leigh in "Spider" roared up the freshly laid tarmac to herald the long awaited return of speed hill climbing to the famous Bo'ness track.
Forty seven cars appeared for practice and nearly all found Old Paddock Bend tricky, with the rain and new tarmac surface combining to make for a slippery exit. First practice runs were tentatively taken; Stan Bernard and Tom Wilson setting the pace with Alex Brown and David Leigh close behind. The rain continued to fall heavily but drivers upped the speed and first David Leigh and then Darren McWhirter dipped below 24 seconds, taking a full 3 seconds off their previous times. Quickest of the second practice runs was Tom Wilson, showing his all-action power-sliding style in the Sunbeam Ti with a cracking time of 23.16 seconds. Others below 24 seconds included Alex Brown, Tom MacMillan, Malcolm Wishart and Stan Bernard.
Miraculously the rain eased, and then stopped completely, just as practice closed for lunch. At 14.00 hrs the hill was officially opened by Falkirk Council's Provost Pat Reid in conjunction with Dr Mirrlees and Mrs Mabel Chassels and after speeches by BHCR Chairman Tom MacMillan and Provost Reid, competition got underway. The crowd had steadily risen as the day progressed and about 700 spectators watched the afternoon runs.
The Paddock was proving very troublesome and even the application of a layer of straw didn't help the thick mud from claiming several cars which, of course, then got dragged onto the start line area causing more problems for competitors.
The honour of taking the first competitive run fell to David Leigh in Spider and he scorched up the hill in a new best time of 22.60 seconds. Times continued to fall with Darren McWhirter and Stan Bernard also recording sub 23 second runs before Malcolm Wishart in the beautiful Chevron B16 set a first round best of 22.10 secs.
David Leigh knocked over half a sec off his time with a storming second run of 22.04 seconds. This was almost good enough for FTD until Malcolm Wishart clinched it with a superb run of 21.71 secs closely followed by Stan Bernard at 21.82 secs.
There was some good close competition in the various Classes with Jock MacKinnon setting very consistent times to win the pre 1930 Sports Cars; Scott Goodfellow winning the largest Class of 13 entrants (1946-60 Sports cars); Alex Brown winning the 1946-60 Racing Cars; Tom MacMillan coming out top in the Lotus Elan dominated 1961-73 Sports Cars and Stan Bernard way out in front of the Classic Sports Cars class.
Results - Saturday 9th August
Class 1. Sports cars pre 31st December 1930
24 JOCK MACKINNON Bentley 26.71
26 BRANISLAV SUDJIC Frazer Nash 26.96
23 BRIAN HOPKINS Bentley 4 1/2 Litre 27.27
Class 2. Single Seater Racing Cars pre 31st December 1930
20 DAVID LEIGH GN Spider 22.04
Class 3. Sports cars 1st January 1931 to 31st December 1939
33 TOM McWHIRTER Jaguar SS 100 25.18
32 JIM CAMPBELL Aston Martin 26.79
Class 4. Single Seater Racing Cars 1st January 1931 to 31st December 1939
37 STEVE SMITH Austin 7 26.85
Class 5. Sports Cars 1st January 1946 to 31st December 1960
46 SCOTT GOODFELLOW Terrier Mk2 23.36
41 STEPHEN COOPER Austin Healey Sprite 23.78
42 FRASER EWART Bentley Mk6 24.05
Class 6. Sports Racing Cars 1st January 1946 to 31st December 1960
54 DARREN McWHIRTER Aston Martin DB4GT 22.81
52 PETER SPEAKMAN Chapman Mercury 24.05
53 KEITH THOMAS Buckler Mk 5 26.76
Class 7. Single Seater Racing Cars 1st January 1946 to 31st December 1960
82 ALEX BROWN Fairley Mercury Spl 23.29
59 TERRY WRIGHT Walton Cooper Mk8 23.75
60 DAVID FYFE Cooper 24.34
Class 8. Sports Cars 1st January 1961 to pre 31st December 1973
71 TOM MACMILLAN Lotus Elan Sprint 23.12
163 OLLY ROSS Lotus Elan Sprint
66 JAMIE GIBBON Kougar - Jaguar 23.75
Class 9. Sports Racing cars 1st January 1961 to pre 31st December 1973
68 MALCOLM WISHART Chevron B16 21.71
73 LEON BACHELIER Fisher Spyder Spl 27.67
Class 11. Classic Sports & Saloon cars pre 31st December 1973
94 STAN BERNARD Porsche 911 21.82
79 GORDON MCROBBIE Riley 1.5 26.59
78 JIMMY CROW Ford Escort 26.70
Class 12. Other cars as agreed by the organisers
87 TOM WILSON Talbot Sunbeam TI 23.56
Photos in this report courtesy of Jim Moir
