New members are probably unaware of a Club trophy that was gifted to the Bugatti Owners Club to encourage any Alpine owners, whether members or not, to compete in their cars at the Prescott hillclimb. These included cars built in Dieppe and all Alpine classes run at the event, the inscriptions read as follows:
Club Alpine Renault Trophy
Presented to Bugatti Owners Club
By the Committee of
Club Alpine Renault 4th November 2007
Awarded Annually to the best overall driver performance in an Alpine Renault in competition over the Prescott season.
The Club trophy is presented at the Annual Bugatti Owners Club awards dinner in November.
The origins of this trophy go back to when I was Chairman of C.A.R. and suggested the idea of the trophy to the Committee. At the time several members of the Club were competing at Prescott which held an annual May meeting called ‘La Vie en Bleu’, a celebration of all that was French. Sadly this event was removed from their events calendar in 2021 which I could never get my head round being a Bugatti Owners Club member.
Initially the trophy was accompanied by a smaller replica for the winner to keep which was sponsored by individual members of the committee. In 2007 the trophy was presented to the Bugatti Owners Club Committee member Allan Cameron who was their Competition Secretary at the time. Sadly, he passed away in 2014 and now the Allan Cameron Memorial Event is held in his honour. At first the Club trophy was awarded to best time at the LVB event as a means to promote entry. The first person to win the award was Barry ‘Whizzo’ Williams. He was a star in Production Saloons and became a one-make ace with titles in Ford Fiestas and Renault 5s. Barry also drove in the Europa Cup Renault GTA Turbo Series in support of the Formula 1 races in the 80’s. Later, ‘Historics’ beckoned and proved an ideal fit for his ability to slide a car to outrageous angles, yet keep it firmly under control. He won several times at Goodwood, notably in the inaugural TT Celebration in 1998 in Nigel Corner’s E-type.
In 2007 Barry double drove Club member Bob Gibson’s A110. Barry’s entry was sponsored by the Renault Alpine Owners Club, crossing the line in 50.19 secs, with Bob only a half a second behind throughout the day. The award was presented in 2008 as it was too late to go into the 2007 event programme but nevertheless a fitting start to the Club’s award track record. Hence in 2008 when I won the award, Barry was also presented his replica award from the previous year. Barry continued to make guest appearances and finally, as his health deteriorated, he hung up his helmet at the end of 2017 and called time on a most remarkable career. Barry passed away in 2018.
Bob Gibson went on to seek his revenge and won the trophy no less than seven times in 2009, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018. Bob remarked that in 2013 he purchased a complete new set of slicks and that year posted his fastest time in 49.42 secs. and gradually went slower over the following years as his tyres lost their edge. A fact I may add later demonstrated by Tony Gomis in 2018 when he fitted new slicks to his Marcadier and shot to the top of the leader board at the French Étretat hillclimb event ahead of his fellow CAR competitors to be crowned ‘King of the Hill’.
In 2010 Club member Nick Wadham broke the 50 seconds barrier and lifted the trophy with a 49.83 sec. run in his beautiful A110. During the lunchtime break he also did a demonstration run up the hill in his F2 Tecno.
Nick who now lives in France, comes from fierce racing stock with his brother Rod and sons all able to show a clean pair of heals to the competition. For many years Nick and his soulmate Sally participated in the Club’s Speed Championship when Paul Godfrey was Competition Secretary. Although I achieved my fastest time ever (50.58 secs) at Prescott in that year driving my A610, Nick still pipped me and took the trophy but to my delight I took the Bugatti Owners Club Victor Ludorum trophy for 2010.
Following Bob’s 2011 success Kevin Jones (of GTO Engineering) set a blistering and to this day unbeaten time of 49.00 secs. dead in 2012. Kevin recalled that it was in his ‘Brown’s of Hereford’ Renault 5, an ex-John Price car on rally tyres. Kevin also still holds the fastest time in the Group B class in this car at Shelsley Walsh and says that of the 32 cars he owns, it will be the last to go!
Tony Hart followed Bob Gibson’s two year dominance in 2015, posting a very competitive 49.69 secs in his R5 GT Turbo. Tony recalled it was the year his race buddy Pete and he shared his car for the first time “On some pretty shagged slicks that were going hard”. No doubt in an effort not to be beaten by his team mate he drove the wheels off it and bagged the trophy for himself.
For the following three years Bob Gibson dominated the event in what is arguably the best prepared hillclimb A110 in the country. Coupled with his undoubted driving skills, Bob may yet see off more modern A110s and see his name once again etched on the trophy. In 2019 driving my GTA Europa Cup tribute car, I achieved a time of 52.30 secs. The Covid pandemic prevented any running of the competition in 2020 but with restrictions eased in 2021 I won again with a 51.70 secs time bringing my competing in the GTA to a close.
Whilst I would like to have my name on the trophy in my latest creation in the coming season, we have many new members with their new A110s, the first car since the originals deliberately built with competition in mind. Perhaps they will be the next generation of winners to lift this unique trophy, after all there is plenty of room under my name.
This article by Tim Jeffrey was originally published in Le Journal no 71, Summer 2022