On Saturday April 11, the long winter pause was finally over and the first of 11 rounds in the 2026 AMOC speed series took place at Shelsley Walsh, organized by the Midlands Automobile Club (MAC) near Worcester. With over 100 participants, from modern Porsche 911 GT3 to Formula single seater cars, the event showed the very best of British motor industry and took place on the well known 1,000 yards long hillclimb track, featuring all new tarmac.
To allow the drivers to refresh their skills and test new cars, a practice day was organized on Friday, April 10 attended by 3 AMOC members, Peter House, Tom Whittaker and Guy Staudt. Peter brought his recently bought Vantage GT4, which features a paddleshift gearbox, compared to Peter’s manual GT4 Rallye used in previous years. Tom brought a Vantage F1, the more track focused version of the 4 litre twin turbo. Guy drove his Vantage 4.7 litre, trying out new tyres, as Cup2 were no longer authorized by Motorsport UK on his car.
In the morning the temperatures were very low at 4° and although the track was dry, the tyres lacked grip and all 3 drivers struggled up the hill. The last of the 3 morning runs was more fun and times dropped 10 seconds compared to the early morning run. In the afternoon, the sun continued to heat up the track and the drivers enjoyed the 3 runs with best times of the day, Peter 36.89s, Guy 40.36s and Tom 40.53s. Tom’s car was not delivering the power expected from the 535hp twin turbo engine and he felt something was not working as it should.
On Saturday, Nigel Grice (DB2/4 Mark II), new competitor Harrison Smith (Mazda MX-5) and Peter Watts (DB2/4) joined the fun. Unfortunately Tom’s Vantage F1, already showing some power problems on Friday, had now worrying lights alight on the dashboard and he retired the car. The weather was very changable all day long, with long sunny periods interrupted by short spells of hail/rain. Thus the 1st of 2 practice runs in the morning was on a wet track at 9.00am (AMOC cars were top of the starting grid) and the 2nd run on a dry track resulting in much improved run times of 8s+ between the 2 practice runs. After a sunny lunch break, timed runs started at 1.45pm and just as the AMOC drivers lined up, a short shower ruined all hopes for a fast run. Luckily, for the 2nd timed run around 3.15pm, we had a dry track and everyone improved their times greatly except Peter’s DB2 which was having fuel/carburettor problems.
At the end of a fine race day with all drivers and cars safely past the post, the standings were:
Peter House ( Vantage GT4 ) 39.35s
Guy Staudt ( Vantage V8 S) 40.84 s
Harrison Smith (Mazda MX-5) 45.02s
Nigel Grice ( DB2/4 MarkII) 48.05s
Peter Watts (DB2/4) 67.64s
Next round: Anglesey Saturday , April 18.
Report written by Guy Staudt
View the event photo album:
2026 Shelsley Walsh Hillclimb