Category: News

Round 5 of the Bugatti Owners Club FASSI Classic Speed Championship took place on Saturday 8th June at Llandow Sprint Circuit in South Wales, a venue that has been graced by such motorsport legends as Graham Hill and Roger Clark.

The event is organised by the Bristol Pegasus Motor Club and attracts an interesting mix of cars from road going saloons through to single seat racing cars. Drivers complete 1¾ laps through the long straights & sweeping bends of the 0.9-mile circuit.

The FASSI Classic Championship fielded 11 cars across the pre 1977 saloon & sports car classes & with dry weather we were blessed with perfect driving conditions.

The circuit is great fun but high speed so at first it is quite daunting before you settle into the groove. All competitors were gunning their cars knowing there is plenty of run off and low likelihood of hitting anything. Several drivers pushed the limit with Mark Maynard taking his Hillman Imp straight on at Control Tower bend after some late braking & our own Graham Hill spinning off in the Mini Cooper S at the Devils Elbow. No harm done.

Handicaps were set at fastest practice time ready for the afternoons timed runs. With no competitors having competed at Llandow in recent memory this was the only option. This worked well for the best drivers who all consistently zoned in on the 93 to 96 second mark but created an advantage to the less experienced who were still improving.

After the first timed run in the Saloon Car Class just half a second on handicap separated Leigh Carter in the Fiat Abarth 695 SS (follow the link to join Leigh in-car) from Matt Clarke in the Mini (follow the link to join Matt in-car & see how it should be done). Leigh got brave on the second run holding 4th gear flat out round Glue Pot bend to shave another two seconds off handicap to pip Matt to class honours. Third place went to Mark Maynard in the Imp.

Dominic Cheater pushed his Porsche 914 to the edge despite driving to & from the event & was rewarded with Sports Car Class honours with 3.71 seconds under handicap. Gary Cox was second in the Reliant Scimitar Coupe with the fastest time of the day of 90.57 seconds & despite coming off the track & failing to complete his second timed run. Third place went to Dave Fripp in the Fiat Abarth 124 Spyder.

After five rounds the Saloon Car Class Championship leader is Matt Clarke (Austin Mini) & the Sports Car Class is Dave Fripp (Fiat Abarth 124 Spyder).

All the FASSI drivers were buzzing off the experience of competing around a high speed sprint circuit & look forward to returning next season.

Many thanks to Tony Smith for the excellent photography & to all the staff & marshals at Llandow Sprint Circuit for a well-run event.

Click here to go to the championship photo gallery. 

Congratulations to Liam Williams of S E Broscombe Ltd who is this month’s #fassifriday winner.  It was a fierce competition as ever but we loved this image of the FASSI F400E ‘True Reflection.’  Liam wins a whole host of FASSI merchandise including a FASSI x LAS Helmet, body warmer, FASSI x GALA luxury leather work gloves and pouch, NEW retro sweatshirt, T shirt, cap and key ring.

Check out all of our May winners here: #fassifriday gallery – Fassi (fassiuk.com)

Rounds 3 & 4 of the Bugatti Owners Club FASSI Classic Speed Championship took place over two days 25/26 May at Prescott Speed Hill Climb. Prescott Historique sees over 150 cars from nine decades take to the hill in celebration of hill climbing through the years.

The FASSI Classic Championship fielded 30 cars across four classes which made for a great photo by Steve Shelley on the start line with all the drivers in their FASSI Championship caps gathered around Simon Braithwaite’s Ford Escort RS1600.

Saturday was a lovely day of sunny weather & perfect driving conditions with Prescott buzzing with a large crowd.

It was great to see the new for 2024 class for pre-1986 saloon cars represented with three entrants. Clive Berry took the class honours in his Chrysler Sunbeam 1600TI from Christopher Dewe in the Alfa Romeo Sprint Veloce after Steve Dymoke retired his Alfa Romeo Alfa Sud.

The pre-1977 sports car class had 11 drivers battling it out. A notable highlight was Garry Cox breaking the magical 50 second barrier in the Reliant Scimitar Coupe with a 49.91, usually the preserve of the racing car class. Scuderia FASSI’s Dave Fripp took the class win on his first drive at Prescott in the Fiat Abarth 124 Spyder from Oliver Slater in the Ginetta G15 with both drivers showing serious championship winning intent. Third place went to Steve Akers in his returning Lotus Elan S1 GTS, his 2022 championship winning car.

A highlight of the pre-1977 saloon class was an incredibly close battle for second & third between Matt Clarke’s Mini & Simon Braithwaites Ford Escort RS1600. Both drivers were on the limit demonstrating spectacular car control with Matt just one hundredth of a second faster on scratch time. Simon edged it on handicap to take second place in the class. Alistair Clark managed to shave 0.69 seconds off his handicap to just take the class win in the Triumph Vitesse MK2 to add to his Shelsley Walsh success.

The pre-1986 racing car class featured the return of last season’s championship runner up, Peter Thurston in the Mallock Mk4 U2, with the fastest time of the day at 46.06 seconds & second in class. First place went to Ben Fisher in the Mallock MKII with Jeremy Rivers-Fletcher in third after a quick car swap into his Triumph Special after a mechanical failure on his BB Special.

Sunday started with rain & a wet surface for the first practice runs before drying out & we somehow dodged the heavy showers for the rest of the day.

Graham Hill joined the pre-1977 saloon car class in his Mini cooper S, a car built specially to take on Matt Clarke’s Mini. A battle royale ensued with Matt just taking scratch time honours by 0.17 seconds from Graham with a 50.52 run. Simon Braithwaite’s Escort joined the fun & chased the Minis down, pipping Matt by 0.18 seconds to level their score over the weekend. Graham was under his handicap time however by 0.14 seconds which was enough for a second place in class from Ian Stringer’s Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint GT in third who pulled a blistering final run out of the bag to go under handicap. The consistent Alistair Clark in the Triumph Vitesse MK2 turned it up another notch to take first place with a drive under his tightened handicap time.

A few spots of rain started to fall as the pre-1977 sports cars took to the hill for the final timed run which motivated all drivers to go for broke while it was still dry. Dave Fripp was leading the field after the first timed run in his Fiat Abarth 124 Spyder, but previous champions Steve Akers in the Lotus Elan & Ben Cross in the MG Midget pushed him down to third despite Dave recording his fastest run of the weekend.

Christopher Wigdor joined the pre-1986 racing car class in his Mallock U2 Mk6B/8 & was just beaten by 0.09 seconds to a class win by Jeremy Rivers-Fletcher with Ben Fisher in third despite some difficulties with the Mallock denying him a second timed run. Fastest time of the day went to Peter Thurston again with a 45.92 in his Mallock.

Clive Berry had the pre-1986 saloon car class to himself on Sunday so collected maximum points again for his Chrysler Sunbeam 1600 TI.

With four rounds completed Alistair Clark leads the pre-1977 saloon car class in the Triumph Vitesse MK2 with three straight wins to his name. Scuderia FASSI’s Dave Fripp has made a dream start to the season & is leading the pre-1977 sports car class in his Fiat Abarth 124 Spyder. Ben Fisher is looking like Max Verstappen with a big lead in the pre-1986 racing car class in the Mallock & Clive Berry’s back-to-back wins sees his Sunbeam heading up the pre-1986 saloon car class.

Many thanks to Steve Shelley & Max Hawkes for the excellent photography & to all the staff & marshals at Prescott Speed Hill Climb for a well-run event.

Click here to go to the championship photo gallery. 

It’s two wins out of two for a perfect start to the season for Temple Grafton Cricket Club 1st XI

This weekend saw TGCC 1st XI take on Stratford upon Avon at The Grafton Cricket Ground. The team were resplendent in their FASSI sponsored kit & blessed with perfect cricket weather.

Stratford batted first and amassed a decent score of 181 all out off 40.3 overs with Ed Harris taking an athletic catch on the boundary to deny Stratford’s Liam O’Neill a six & his first career 50.

Stratford’s opening bowlers were quick & accurate & TGCC slumped to 33 for 4 before joint players of the match Gaz Barry & Alex Beesley rallied with a fantastic partnership of 82 runs for the fifth wicket. Playing against his old club Alex sustained a lot of friendly ribbing & hostile bowling on his way to 42 runs off just 31 deliveries. A great knock of 36 off 50 by Lewis Billborough & an unbeaten 49 by Gaz got the job done with eight overs to spare.

A great victory full of character & determination sees TGCC top of the Cotswold Hills League after the first two games.

Round 2 of the Bugatti Owners Club FASSI Classic Speed Championship took place at Shelsley Walsh Hill Climb on Saturday 4th May.

Shelsley Walsh is the oldest motorsport venue in the world still to run events on the original course and is older than Indianapolis, Le Mans or Monza. The hill is a steep 100m climb over its 914m length & a favourite venue for high powered cars.

This year the 15 competitors were blessed with dry, warm & sunny conditions in contrast to last year’s torrential rain, with the entrants split evenly across the saloon, sports car & racing car classes.

The sports car class saw two championship debutants with Oliver Slater in the Ginetta G15 & Dominic Cheater in the Porsche 914. Oliver quickly found his feet, improving his times with each run & beating his handicap time by 0.5 seconds to take the class win. A great performance first time out. Gary Cox took second in the Scimitar with Dave Fripp third in the Fiat Abarth 124 Spyder, which was enough to see Dave leading the championship sports car class after two rounds.

Another controlled drive by 2023’s champion & ‘King of the Hill’ Alistair Clark saw him take saloon car class honours from Matt Clarke in the Austin Mini & Martin Saunders in the Ford Escort Mk1, all within a few tenths of their handicap times. Matt has put down his marker with back-to-back second place finishes to lead the saloon car championship.

Martin Jones registered the fastest time of the day at 33.25 seconds in his Brabham BT21 on his way to racing car class honours, shaving 0.2 seconds off his handicap time. Ben Fisher brought the Mallock MkII home in second which leaves him & Martin neck & neck in the championship. It was good to see Christopher Wigdor & his Mallock Mk6b back on the hill & he blew away the cobwebs with a solid third place.

Many thanks to Stuart Wing & Max Hawkes for the excellent photography. The variety of their images really captures the essence of a great day of classic motorsport – top work gentlemen. Finally many thanks to all the staff & marshals at Shelsley Walsh for a well-run event.

Click here to go to the championship photo gallery. 

Congratulations to Ryan Glover of MRA Transport Ltd who scoops first prize this month for his wonderfully abstract photo ‘Chicken Run’ which shows his FASSI F710RA in the background.  Ryan wins a FASSI x LAS Helmet, luxury FASSI x GALA leather work gloves, body-warmer and merchandise pack of hoodie, T Shirt, cap and torch.

For all winners visit our #fassifriday gallery www.fassi.co.uk/gallery

FASSI UK are pleased to welcome L7 Lorry Loaders to our authorised service network.

L7 Lorry Loaders unites three of the industry’s most experienced engineers in Dave Fripp, Paul Tingle & Mat Munn, creating a dynamic independent with strength & depth.

Operating mobile workshops radiating out from Leamington Spa, L7 Lorry Loaders offer inspection, maintenance, service & repair. All are equipped with the FASSI service laptop & have key FASSI spare parts on board.

Dave Fripp – 07866 602219
dave@l7lorryloaders.co.uk

Paul Tingle – 07771 429114
paul@l7lorryloaders.co.uk

Mat Munn – 07547 954741
mat@l7lorryloaders.co.uk

FASSI UK are a vigorous supporter of the independent crane repair sector through our authorised network of 15 dealers & service partners with 46 active service engineers nationally.

Through the FASSI Training Academy our field-based product support engineer, Ken West, continually develops the skills of our installers & service engineers.

The opening round of the 2024 Bugatti Owners Club FASSI Classic Speed Championship took place at Loton Park Hill Climb on Sunday 14 April.

The Loton Park Speed Hill Climb course is 1475 yards (1349 metres) long & is extremely challenging for competitors with a wide variety of corners and a changing character as an ascent progresses. We were blessed with a break from the rain with a dry & largely sunny weekend allowing all competitors to enjoy driving their cars to the max.

The Italians were well represented with two Alfa Romeos & the Scuderia FASSI pairing of Dave Fripp in the Fiat Abarth 124 Spyder & Leigh Carter in the Fiat Abarth 695SS.

In the saloon car class Ian Stringer came out on top bringing his Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint GT in 1.12 seconds under handicap. Matt Clarke in the flying Mini Cooper was second with Martin Saunders’ Ford Escort Mk1 in third.

The Sports Car Class had two cars competing with Dave Fripp’s Fiat & Gary Cox in the Reliant Scimitar Coupe. This was Dave’s first outing in the new car, so he built up speed steadily & beat his handicap time by 1.06 seconds on his second timed run for a class win. View the in-car video at the bottom of the page to join Dave on his winning run.

Gary is always in a separate battle for scratch time honours with Matt Clarke’s Mini & Simon Braithwaite’s Ford Escort RS1600 resplendent in ATV Today sponsorship livery. Just over half a second separated these three on the day with Gary just edging it with a time of 61.18 seconds.

The Racing Car Class saw father & son Phil & Ben Fisher dual driving the Mallock MK11 with Ben taking the class win from his father who finished third. Martin Jones took second place on handicap in his Brabham BT21C with the day’s fastest scratch time of 56.25 seconds.

Many thanks to Stuart Wing for some great photography & to all the staff & marshals at Loton Park for a well-run event.

Click here to visit the FASSI Classic Championship photo gallery.