As Goodwood celebrated the 30th anniversary of the Festival of Speed, Kent’s Jake Hill extended his remarkable run of Touring Car success.

Hill took his third successive ‘Tin Tip Heroes’ title at the legendary West Sussex venue in the spectacular Ric Wood Motorsport-prepared Calsonic Nissan Skyline R32 GTR, and with it setting a new class record for the 1.16 mile hillclimb.

After recently taking Two Wins and a Second Place at Oulton Park in his Laser Tools MB Motorsport BMW 330e M-Sport in BTCC, before sweeping all-four Wins in the 1999 Nissan Primera GT at the inaugural Super Touring Power event at Brands Hatch earlier this month, 29 year-old Hill returned to Goodwood after a years absence, re-united with one of his all-time favourite racing machines.

“I first drove Ric’s Calsonic Skyline in 2020, and we Won at the Goodwood ‘Speedweek’ shootout held on the circuit that year. We then won the traditional Hillclimb shootout last time we were here together in 2021, although this was in Ric’s HKS-liveried machine. Last time we set a time of 48.96 so the goal is to see if we can improve on that time in the Calsonic car,  and ideally try and Win the ‘Tin Top’ category once again”

Taking to the demanding ribbon of tarmac on Friday morning for practice, Hill immediately set a strong time, ending up second overall and first in class on a wet and tricky surface. 

“I’m really pleased with that for our first run, the car is working brilliantly and I feel I’m in the groove quickly which is essential here – we’ve seen a few people get caught out here already this weekend – so we can build on that during Saturday'”

However the Festival of Speed organisers were forced to make the difficult decision to cancel Saturday’s event on safety grounds, as the local area had dangerously high winds forecast, meaning all involved would now regroup for Sunday’s activities.

“Such a shame, especially for the fans who had tickets and some who had travelled down already, but we have to respect the decision made as it would be unthinkable if the weather did cause any harm, so we will go again on Sunday”

Taking to the Hill on a bright and breezy Sunday morning, the sleek blue machine launched into action, and  swiftly blasted to a new class record with a 48.85 second run.

“Really happy with that! That was a bit edgy in places, but the car, tyres, engine are all working so well, I think we might even be able to improve further if the conditions stay the same”

With ITV1 and Sky Sports both showing the Shootout runs live, a mixture or Sports, Single-Seater and Hillclimb Specials all charged into action, with Marvin Kirchofer’s spectacular V10-engined McLaren Solus GT car setting a blistering time, ahead of Michael Lyons 1977 British Grand Prix winning McLaren M26  and Adam Smalley’s Porsche 992 GT3 Cup Car. But the wildest run of the afternoon was the 1983 Subaru GL Family Huckster Wagon, driven with huge verve by American Extreme Sports tar Travis Pastrana, who just edged out Lyons to take runner-up spot.

For Hill’s final run he attacked spectacularly from the outset, skimming the grass and sliding wide as a result of dirt dragged on the circuit by the previous two Rally machines. Committed as ever though, he stayed on the power and set a sensational time of 48.18 seconds – smashing his own record by almost 7/10th of a second to take a dominant Tin Top Heroes class win once again.

“That was wild! I think I lost a tiny bit off the line, but a fair bit more sliding on the dirt left by the Rally cars – so to make up as much time from there on to improve my time the way we did was brilliant. A huge ‘thank you’ to the whole Ric Wood crew – Ric, Mark, Graham, Ollie, Phil and Jenny – for another amazing Goodwood experience, and of course to His Grace and everyone involved in organising the event, not forgetting the amazing fans, marshals and staff of course.  Plus Sebastian Vettel was a total legend this year – I’ve loved it!”

“I’ve also had a great time on my partners Diamondbrite’s stand, along with my BTCC rival Tom Ingram, and also represented BMW on their stand, as well as doing some demo drives in their amazing EV’s up the hill, plus got to attend the Goodwood Ball on Saturday night with my fiancee Hannah, so it’s been a really busy but hugely enjoyable few days”

Hill now heads back into BTCC action at Croft in North Yorkshire on 29th & 30th July, aiming to build on the success at Oulton Park and the recent Donington Park Goodyear tyre test. 

“Croft is a real favourite of mine – I won my first-ever car race in Ginetta Juniors in 2009, and made my BTCC debut ten years ago there, plus took a Win in BTCC in 2021, so it’s a circuit I have had some great days at – and I am feeling confident we can be really strong again here this year”

Qualifying for round 16 of the Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship will be shown live on the ITV Sport YouTube channel and online at ITV.com at 3.20pm on Saturday 29th, with Rounds 16, 17 and 18 all shown live on ITV4 at 12.10pm, 2.35pm and 5pm on Sunday 30th July.

“The championship is much closer after Oulton Park, and I am sure it will be as tough as ever, but we are in a good place with the car, so I’m really looking forward to seeing what we can do”

Photos supplied by Matt Wood from MAW Imagery.