End of season round up

As the 2021 season draws to a close Force Racing Cars celebrate another successful season for its drivers.

John Loudon (1.1 Force Suzuki HC) won the SBD Motorsport UK HSA Sprint Leaders championship while Will Hall (2.0t Force-AER) and Eynon Price (1.6 Force Suzuki TA) finished eighth and tenth respectively overall in the Motorsport UK British Hillclimb championship.

At the end of the season, Olivia Cooper (1.3 Force Suzuki TA) was the fastest lady competitor at the FIA Hill Climb Masters event at Braga, Portugal.

Robert Tonge (1.4 Force Suzuki TA) also had a good year with some strong Run Off showings in the British Sprint championship, finishing an eventual sixth overall.

Double FTD for Gumbley at Loton

At Loton Park for HDLCC's double header July hillclimb, meeting Darren Gumbley took his Force TA Hayabusa to FTD on both days with a best time of 47.62s.

Podium places for Rob Tonge at Pembrey

Four rounds of the 2021 British Sprint Championship were held at Pembrey on June 5th and 6th.

On Day 2 Rob Tonge took his 1600cc Class Force TA Suzuki to a third and then a second place in the two Run Offs beating many larger engined cars.

After the meeting Rob lay a close third in the British Sprint points table.

John Loudon in his 1100cc class Force HC backed up Rob's performances with a pair of fifth place Run Off finishes on Day 2 following a fourth on the previous day.

Two more Run Off appearances at Shelsley for Price

At Shelsley Walsh on June 6th Eynon Price took his Force TA Suzuki to a pair of Top 12 Run Off placings - 9th and 11th - leaving him in eighth place in the overall championship standings.

Also in Force TAs were Darren Gumbley and Liam Cooper who came 5th and 6th in the strong 1600cc Racing Car class.

Hall & Price shine at Gurston

At the British Hillclimb double header at Gurston Down on May 30th Will Hall scored his first Run Off win of the season in the Force-AER WH in Round 4 following a third in Round 3 earlier in the day. A fourth place in Round 5 meant good progress up the Championship leader board but, in Round 6 the car was involved in a high speed roll before the finish line from which, happily, Will emerged none the worse for wear and leaving him third equal in the Championship standings.

Eynon Price (Force TA) again went well, finishing second in the large 1600cc class and scoring a seventh, two ninths and a tenth in the four Run Offs.

Olivia Cooper had a good event with a strong fifth in the very competitive 1600cc class.

Many thanks to Steve Lister for the images.

Force at Loton

At the opening round of the 2021 British Hillclimb Championship at a damp Loton Park on May 16th Eynon Price put in another stellar performance to score a 7th and 8th in the two Run Offs and win the large, 15 car, 1600cc Class by over a second in his Force TA.

The same class also saw Liam & Olivia Cooper (a strong 6th) and Darren Gumbley in their Force TAs as well as John Stockley in his Force SF.

Will Hall went well in the Force-AER finishing just outside the podium places in the Run Offs with a pair of fourth places.

Force drivers go well in early season Sprints

Drivers (including some debutants) of Force racing cars went well in a couple of early season Sprints.

At Aintree on April 24th the 1600cc Racing Car class saw Robert Tonge and Nick Scott out in their Hayabusa engined Force TAs with Robert taking the class win while Nick experienced a problem with a front wing retaining bolt which sadly ended his day. Glyn Sketchley was also present and finished second in the 2000cc Racing Car class in his turbocharged Hayabusa Force PT.

The following day at Curborough, Glyn went one better taking FTD while in the 1100cc Racing Car Class Rally driver, John Stone, made his Sprinting debut in a Force TA, finishing second in class with third FTD.

Many thanks to Anthony Mitchell of AMM-Photography for theses images for which the photographer retains the copyright

A strong showing for Force at Prescott as Price stars

The opening hillclimb of the season at Prescott on April 24/25 saw a large contingent of Force racing cars put in strong performances against some tough opposition.

The standout result was Eynon Price in his Force TA running in the 1600cc Racing Car class. There were 14 entries in the class with cars from all the major manufacturers and Eynon took the class by over a second and qualified strongly for both Midland Hillclimb Championship Run Offs, finishing 6th on both occasions. Still looking for more top end power, a successful season is anticipated.

Will Hall (Force WH XTEC) appeared with a car that had been substantially rebuilt and lightened over the winter with improved mechanical reliability being a major objective. After a problematic practice the team reverted to older settings and aero with good results. Third fastest in the qualifying runs, Will went on to finish an encouraging 2nd and 3rd in the Run Offs.

Also competing in the 1600cc Racing Car class were Kelvin Broad, Darren Gumbley and Liam & Olivia Cooper all in Force TAs. They were joined by John Stockley having his first run in an older, spaceframe Force SF. John qualified for both Run Offs finishing 11th and 10th while Kelvin qualified for the second, finishing 11th.

Darren, having moved up to the 1600 Class and changed to Methanol had fuel pressure problems which hampered his performances and the Coopers had a very enjoyable week-end with Olivia finish 8th in Class.

Many thanks to Stuart Wing of Capture Your Car Photography for the images used here.

Shortened 2020 season summary

With the 2020 Sprint and Hillclimb season reduced to a few late Summer and Autumn events many drivers missed the season altogether while some managed to get in a few events.

Notable performances included:

The standout performance for Force racing cars in the shortened season was at the wet Prescott on October 3/4. In a good field which included a couple of V8 powered British Hillclimb Championship front runners, Eynon Price took his 1600cc class Force TA to FTD on the Saturday. On the Sunday, against a smaller field, his winning margin was 7 secs! Previously, Eynon had taken a 1600cc class win and 3rd FTD at Loton Park on August 30th and backed this up with a second in class on September 27th.

Kelvin Broad did three events at Shelsley Walsh in his 1600cc class TA, getting down to a 26.60s time on September 13th.He also took in the HSA Curborough Sprint double header on October 10th and 11th coming away with a pair of class wins and 2nd FTDs.

Tina Hawkes was at Shelsley on September 19th setting a 27.94s time in her Force PC.

Finally, the Bennett/Jones 1100cc class Force TA returned to the track with the latest spec GSXR motor after nearly 18 months of development. At the Blyton Park sprint on September 19th and 20th Chris Jones won the class with 4th and 3rd FTD times. At the Pegasus sprint at Castle Combe on October 17th he again won his class and was fifth FTD in a strong field.

New/updated cars for 2020

Despite the fact that 2020 has been a 'wash out' for hillclimbers and sprinters so far, this hasn't stopped work on preparing new and updated Force racing cars.

Three new Force TAs are nearing readiness for the return to competition. The first is Robert Tonge's carbon example fitted with an 1440cc RLM Busa and wiring by KP Components. The second is Nick Scott's orange car with a Gen 1 1596cc RLM Busa with the latest MBE 9A9 ECU and wiring by HCI. The final new TA is another carbon car for Paul Rhodes who plans to campaign the car in Scottish speed events and has fitted the ex Eynon Price GSXR engine.

Meanwhile, the Chris Bennett/Chris Jones TA has spent the last 18 months having the latest gen GSXR (L8) motor with VVT and drive by wire fitted. A project that has involved SBD, Daytuner and MBE who have developed parts and software for use in car installations.

Hall's Shelsley double

In one of the closest fought and most competitive British Championship encounters for some time, certainly of the current season, Will Hall took his Force WH-AER to both run-off wins at Shelsley Walsh. Sliding wide out of Top Ess and almost nudging the outside bank each time, he stayed clear of a chasing pack, so closely matched that in the opening run-off even 6-times champion Scott Moran, making a return to the Championship after a couple of month's break, could only finish seventh despite running within half a second of Hall's winning time, which would stand as FTD.

Force TAs score at Wiscombe

Force TAs were in the points at the British Hillclimb Championship round at Wiscombe on July 18th 2019.

Eynon Price was having the first event in his TA with a 1600cc Hayabusa engine and not only won the 1600cc Class but also took a pair of eighth places in the Top 12 Run Offs.

Darren Gumbley carried over his good form from the Channel Islands events with a ninth and tenth place in his 1100cc TA Kawasaki. He also won the 1100cc Class and broke Alex Summers' record!

Not to be outdone, Olivia Cooper took 1.6s off the outright Ladies record, qualified for the second Run Off and finished eleventh in her TA Hayabusa.

Will Hall took a fifth in the first Run Off in the Force WH AER.

Channel Islands news

The British Hillclimb Championship headed to the Channel Islands for its traditional July double at Bouley Bay and Le Val des Terres.

At Bouley Bay on July 17 Will Hall managed a fifth and fourth in the Run Offs, pleased that the Force WH AER was running reliably. Darren Gumbley enjoyed a good event with a couple of ninth place finishes in the 1100 Force TA Kawasaki.

Everyone then moved islands to Le Val des Terres on the 20th. After a 4th in the first Run Off and qualifying equal third for the second Will suffered a start line stall and was out of the points. Darren took another ninth place for his fifth score of 2019.

Price scores at Harewood

At Harewood on July 7, Eynon Price qualified his Force TA for the first Run Off and scored points by finishing tenth in what may have been his last outing in the 1100cc class as he looks to move up a level.

Will Hall's efforts in the Force WH were hampered by breaking the rear ARB - twice and resulting in massive understeer. He still managed to finish sixth and seventh in the two Run Offs.

Hall back on form at Barbon

In re-run of his comeback success in the car at Gurston in May, Will Hall stormed the Force-AER to a run-off win and FTD when the BHC circus travelled to Barbon on July 6. His win and FTD came in the second Run Off following an epic first run-off duel with Dave Uren that saw will miss out on the top spot by 1/100 second.

Kelvin Broad was equally happy, qualifying his 2000cc Class Force TA for both Run Offs, taking tenth place in each and taking his first points of the season.

Eynon Price also qualified his 1100cc Force TA for the first Run Off, finishing twelth.

Cooper (briefly) takes Ladies record at Doune

Olivia Cooper, driving her Force TA, was the sensation of first qualifying at Doune on June 1, setting a new ladies’ hill record and taking it below 41 seconds for the first time. In the run-off itself, she lost out to the previous record holder Nicola Menzies as both ran unofficially inside the old record.

Qualifying for the second run off, on a (temporarily) dry track was highlighted by Nicola regaining her record, lowering Olivia's mark by another 0.18 secs to 40.70s. Gear selection problems towards the end of her run left Olivia unable to respond.

Hall flies at Gurston

In an impressive 2019 debut for his re-engined Force-AER, Will Hall won the opening British run-off at the championship's first visit of the season to Gurston Down. Then, with the fastest run of the day, he qualified top for the afternoon shoot-out. But on his final bid for points, with light drizzle making things awkward for the later runners, a spin in the middle of Karousel put paid to his chances of a run-off double. 'I was annoyed with myself,' he said, 'I knew track conditions were tricky.'

In a very competitive, 17 strong 1100cc Class Jack Cottrill went well in his PT to take a fine second while Olivia Cooper matched Jack's result by taking second in the 1600cc Class with her TA.

Early season news - Sprints

In the British Sprint Championship, former Westfield driver, John Loudon has been getting familair with his ex Michael Andrews PT while Glyn Sketchley (now with second gear!) has been putting in some strong showings in his turbocharged Busa PT including the B event FTD at the May Blyton.

Early season news - Hillclimbs

With the Force WH of Will Hall and the Force TA of Chris Jones/Chris Bennett both waiting on their new engines the early season success for Force hillclimb and sprint cars has largely been in the hands of Eynon Price with his 1100 class TA - getting into the BHC Run Offs at Prescott and Harewood. At Craigantlet, which Eynon missed, Darren Gumbley scored a couple of good tenth places and was joined in the first Run Off by Liam Cooper in his 1600cc class TA.

Force TAs take 1100cc One Two at opening Loton

Force TAs dominated the 1100cc Class at the opening hillclimb of 2019 at Loton Park on March 31.

Darren Gumbley took his Kawasaki engined car to a good class win, 0.3s ahead of Eynon Price's Suzuki engined car. Eynon was giving his new TA its debut and, despite a gearbox problem, was most impressed by the rear end grip and traction.