Category: News

Scuderia FASSI took part in Rallye Prescott on Saturday 4th November, running up the hill in total darkness.

Rallying, despite being strongly associated with Welsh forests and mud, has a firm place in the history of Prescott Speed Hill Climb, with the hill having hosted the RAC Rally several times throughout the 1950’s. November 4th saw the hill and Bugatti Owners Club pay tribute to the awe-inspiring sport of rallying, its drivers, its co-drivers and the cars.

The event featured 100 cars from the early 1950’s right up to modern day machinery, taking to the hill in tribute to their Rally predecessors from times of past, as a fully timed competitive event.

Scuderia FASSI’s Fiat Abarth 695 SS was kitted out with spotlights & joined in the fun with both daylight and evening darkness runs.

Some great photography from Stuart Wing (check out the light trail as our Fiat goes round Ettores!), Max Hawkes & Steve Shelley.

A big thanks to the Prescott team & the army of Marshalls needed to run the day & to Middle Barton Garage for prepping the car for rallying.

Click here for a full list of the runners, times & winners.

After nine rounds the finale of the Bugatti Owners Club FASSI Classic Speed Championship took place at Prescott Speed Hill Climb on Saturday 7th October. The weather was fantastic for the second year running bringing out a large crowd of spectators & a 31 car championship field for them to enjoy.

Morning practice went without a hitch & the stage was set for some fast times & close competition in the timed afternoon runs. All competitors were pushing on, chasing championship finale glory, & the red flags started to mount. Incidents at Pardon & Ettores corners culminated with irreparable damage to the crash barrier leading to the meeting ending prematurely at 4pm.

The FASSI championship field were frustratingly denied their second timed runs so the results were settled without a dramatic final run off. A disappointing end but safety must come first & this is all part of motorsport.

The battle for the FASSI championship overall ‘King of the Hill’ was between Alistair Clark in the Triumph Vitesse Mk2 & John Louch in the Austin A40 Farina. John needed to win the saloon car class on the day & hope that Alistair finished lower than second. John did what he had to do taking first place by just four hundredths of a second, but Alistair put in a blistering drive, taking 1.71 seconds off his handicap for second place ahead of Phil Fisher in the Hillman Avenger & overall King of the Hill honours (by just a single point!).

Having narrowly missed out on King of the Hill, John had the saloon car championship win to enjoy with last years King of the Hill Stephen Akers in the Mini Cooper ‘S’ in second. Third place went to Mark Hobbs in his Escort Mk2 with some impressive points collected in the first seven rounds before mechanical problems ended his season early.

Ben Cross won the sports car championship, narrowly beating his father Tim by just five points in their shared MG Midget. There was a three-way battle for third place with Ian Beattie (Jaguar XK120), Gary Cox (Reliant Scimitar Coupe) & Steve Phennah (MGB) all tied on 35 points. The tie break rule of the most first places, second places etc. separated the three with Ian coming out on top. A great achievement especially as he drives his open top Jaguar to & from every event.

The racing car class went down to the wire with Jeremy Rivers-Fletcher (Triumph Special), Peter Thurston (Mallock Mk4) & Ben Fisher (Mallock MkII) all capable of taking the championship. All three were denied a 12-point round win by the flying Brabham BT16 piloted by Ian Baxter with the day’s fastest time of 45.28 seconds. A great drive by Peter of 45.33 seconds saw him take second place on the day but Jeremys fourth place drive was just enough to see him over the line to take overall championship honours.

Scuderia FASSI returned to saloon class competition after our accident in July left our Fiat Abarth 695 SS at the body shop for two months. We took a sensible pace as we eased ourselves back in both mentally & mechanically. It was great to be back on the hill. Despite our enforced lay off we still managed a respectable championship 8th (Dave) & 10th (Leigh).

Overall Points BOC FASSI 2023 Classic Speed Championship

Thanks to all the Bugatti Owners Club / Prescott Speed Hill Climb staff, Tim Milvain for the task of handicapping (not easy!) and all the Marshals for their tireless efforts all year (especially for recovering our crashed Fiat!). A big thanks from Scuderia FASSI to TCM & his team at Middle Barton Garage for getting us back in the race for the finale.

Thanks to our talented photographers Stuart Wing & Max Hawkes for the great finale photographs. Click here to go to the championship season photo gallery.

During round 7 of the FASSI Classic Speed Championship in July Scuderia FASSI finally ran out of talent & put our Fiat Abarth into the Armco barrier.

The good news is that thanks to the skill & dedication of DTR European Sportscars & Middle Barton Garage we are back in the race after missing rounds 8 & 9. The DTR European Sportscars guys pulled the body straight on their jig, rebuilt & painted the bodyshell before MBG replaced the steering & suspension.

We will be competing in the final round of the FASSI Classic Speed Championship at Prescott Speed Hill Climb this Saturday 7th October. With our new spotlights courtesy of Middle Barton Garage we are also running in Rallye Prescott on Saturday 4th November, with both daylight and early evening darkness runs in a tribute to the wonderful sport of rallying.

Scuderia FASSI would like to thank DTR’s Paul & MBG’s Tony & their teams of specialists for pulling out all the stops to get us back in the race in time for the season finale.

A final thanks goes to the Prescott volunteer marshalling & medical teams for their fast & professional response to our mishap.
Grazie mille!

It was a tough competition this month and a hard decision for the judges but September’s worthy winner is Lee Haze of David Stanley Transport with ‘Optical illusion’.

Lee’s perfectly executed shot of his FASSI F545RA.2 wins him a FASSI X LAS Helmet; NEW FASSI back-pack; a Gilet and merchandise pack with FASSI hoodie, T-shirt, insulated bottle and retro chamois leather and a brand new pair of FASSI x Gala Gloves luxury leather work gloves.

For a full list of winners go to www.facebook.com/fassiuk

Thank you to Ian Pull for sending these photos of a recent job carried out by MRA Transport and their FASSI F820RA crane.

The company was tasked with moving a pair of fantastical sea creatures from Norfolk to the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, London.  The large Shark and the Kraken (legendary and terrifying sea monster if you didn’t know!) are to become part of a brand new play area for children visiting the museum.  The play equipment was designed and built by Norwich based CAP.Co, a regular customer of MRA Transport.

The FASSI F820RA is flexible and compact which contributes to the vehicle’s overall manoeuvrability – key factors for lifting equipment such as this into small spaces.  Combine that with the skills of the FASSI operator for a ‘Kraken’ job well done.

I

Italian classic Abarths vintage & new gathered at Middle Barton Garage on Saturday 1st July.

FASSI UK were pleased to be in attendance with both our 595 & 695 Fiat Abath’s. Our favourites from the day had to be the Ferrari race team mini-bus & the Auto Bianchi Abarth.

Middle Barton Garage has specialised in Abarth, Alfa Romeo, Fiat and Lancia cars for 35 years & built & maintain both the FASSI Fiat Abarths.

FASSI UK are a proud sponsor of Alex Richardson and his cycling crew who are set to embark on an incredible 960-mile bike ride from John O’Groats to Lands End. Alex is a FASSI operator for David Watson Transport, one of our longest standing customers. Sadly, a colleague of Alex’s took his own life and Alex and friends are completing this ride in memory of him. Alex has previously struggled with his mental health and is raising awareness for people who are also struggling.

Along with 6 friends and colleagues, Alex is personally raising money for a charity called the Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM). The charity is leading a movement against suicide, the biggest killer of men aged under 45 in the UK.

The bike ride will start on the 3^rd  June and end on the 12^th  June.  Alex will be wearing cycling gear part-sponsored by FASSI UK and will have a support van alongside him for the whole journey provided by David Watson Transport.

The dates and locations are as follows:

03/06/2023 Dunnet to John O’Groats

04/06/2023 John O’Groats to Dingwall

05/06/2023 Dingwall to Glencoe

06/06/2023 Glencoe to Larkhall

07/06/2023 Larkhall to Penrith

08/06/2023 Penrith to Warrington

09/06/2023 Warrington to Shrewsbury

10/06/2023 Shrewsbury to Portbury

11/06/2023 Portbury to Oakhampton

12/06/2023 Oakhampton to Lands End

Make sure to give them a wave or beep your horn if you see them on your travels.

Alex’s goal is to reach £2000. Donations would be much appreciated, and they can be submitted by following this link:

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/alex-richardson22