Got to share this here as I'm really pleased to have got a mention in a front page story on Pistonheads link in relation to hillclimbing my Coupe.

Whilst I probably have more experience at Harewood than Al who wrote the story it was interesting to see his time in the 595 Biposto which was less than 1/10 faster than I was, and the weather was better on Sunday than Saturday when I was competing.

Excellent, well done

Great stuff! I keep meaning to come along to a Harewood hill climb, as one of my workmates races in the series!

Nice one.

Have you any in-car video you can share?

Your car will sound much better than the 500

You should Nick, it is a great venue for spectating with a view of almost the complete track from the paddock and other good viewing spots. Next event is June 7th - let me know if you are going as I may have a spare ticket to save you the cost!

I have some video, bought a camera last week so first time I've used it. Haven't had chance to edit it yet to get rid of the waiting before the start but will post it when I have.

Here you are - https://youtu.be/r4rrRY-J3G0

Excellent, well done

It is an interesting mention I read the article at breakfast this morning and thought "Cool". One would expect the 50k 695 to be fast but the Coupe keeping up, most impressive.

To be fair to Al who was driving the Biposto, as he says in the article, the first time he drove the car was down to the start for his first practice and I have a little more experience in my Coupe! Great that it wasn't too far ahead of mine though, and considering how many miles mine has now done (194k) it keeps up pretty well on the hill with other cars.

My target for this year is to get under 70 seconds, based on individual sectors I can do it, but need to get lines right all the way to manage it - I'll keep trying!

That looks loads faster than it does watching form the hill.
The last corner looks rather tricky too.

When my wife watched the video she said it didn't look very fast! The last corner is tricky and I know I'm not brave enough on the entry, always braking before I should but it is a reflex action with my right foot not doing what I am trying to tell it! Possibly that is because I have marshalled on that corner quite a few times and know how far cars can travel if they leave the tarmac. It is a while ago now but the only time I have ever seen the underside of a Caterham was when marshalling there, and it was still the right way up. The gravel used to be raked differently and it launched the car into the air. Leaving braking later for the first part of the corner would involve fairly heavy trail braking in the first part of the curve - at least I might hit the scenery backwards

Are you running in standard production or modified production class?

There isn't a standard production class at Harewood so it is the modified road-going class I run in. Main limits that imposes are on tyres and bodywork in that the silhouette has to be as original. Mine is pretty standard though, just some Eibach springs/Bilstein shocks with some negative camber and a GTec chip altered from the way Fiat/Pininfarina built it.

Having sprinted a Coupe in Production class several years ago, I would suggest that your biggest time gains would probably come from an uprated rear ARB and a Quaife differential

Neither mod would make it any less usable on the road, but the sharper turn-in from the ARB and the ability to drive hard out of a corner would shave several seconds off your Harewood time - the ability to punch out of the tighter corners will be the biggest gain

Certainly looking at those mods Nigel, might go for the pair on the ARBs and trying to justify the cost of the diff to myself! Trouble is, in reality I can't hope to get close to a class win as there are regular competitors in the class with Mitsubishi Evos with 600+ bhp - they gain a second from me in the first 64ft!

That looks like a real blast.

And your car sounds much better than the porky 500!

It is great fun!

Don't get to pay much attention to the sound whilst driving, the helmet muffles much of it but I have had a few spectators and marshals say they like the sound. And that is with a standard exhaust.