Oliver and Sandra Tomlin - MP97 photo courtesy of Full Frame Photographic, copyright © www.fullframephoto.co.uk We’ve had quite a stunning first season with the new MP97. Having been out of an unlimited capacity hillclimb V8 for 10 months, both of us were a bit rusty. However, the improvements offered by the chassis, aero and gearbox package were very quickly apparent and all we needed to do was drive as fast as the car could go! That sounds very easy, but the speed of this thing was simply breath-taking. Some of our data logs show acceleration as a constant – i.e at 130mph it is still accelerating at the same rate as 70mph….! This is something we hadn’t experienced before. I haven’t mentioned the Judd engine as this was a very similar spec to our previous car. The 4-litre Judd is a wonderful thing and gives awesome torque from 5,500 all the way to 10,500. Indeed one of my troubles was that with a 6-speed gearbox and a closed-loop paddle shift, changing gears was TOO easy!! We found speed by shifting less and letting the Judd work its magic. The handling of the MP97 was exactly what we expected from a Pilbeam – user friendly, with no weak-spots or surprises. This was further proven by my brother-in-law Morgan Jenkins, who got into the MP97 for one-day and took 2nd FTD! The next day he was sent back to his Vauxhall engined MP87 (half the power) and was able to take 1st FTD!! Mick will no doubt confirm the number of uncontrollable grins from our season. One of the biggest highlights was that Sandra (my mother) qualified for two runoffs. This was made all the more special as I had made her into a Grandmother for the first time at Shelsley and we believe that she is the first Granny to score British Championship points! Not that she wishes to be regularly reminded of the Granny bit! We also made our debut as a double drive in a Top 12 runoff at Gurston Down. Sandra was very pleased, as although finishing 12th, she was in the same 31 second bracket as the 5 people in front of her, some of them at their home hill. My most memorable moment of the season was the second Championship round at Shelsley. 129mph into Bottom Ess was equal fastest for the weekend. It was also incredibly frightening, but the car was absolutely planted with no hint of uncertainty. I also did my first ever 24 second run up Shelsley which is quite a performance marker. We’re both really looking forward to next year. Sandra is after some PBs of her own as I have set 3 new ones this year. It’s all looking really good! - Oliver Tomlin 15-10-09