The Bugatti Owners' Club 2025 FASSI Classic Speed Championship Season Review
- Dom Bessell
- 1 day ago
- 6 min read
The FASSI Classic Championship is just that, a classic championship in both cars eligible and in its stature. The championship under current sponsor FASSI has seen continued growth and has become the go to place for classic hill climb racing.
The championship is split over three sections, for Saloon, Sports and Racing cars. With both Saloon and Sports split into two year groups. A section for Pre-1977 cars and another for Pre-1991. The racing cars run all together under Pre-1991. Based on handicaps and eligibility for cars running across Standard, Road Going and Modified Production for the Saloon and Sports classes almost anything is eligible (providing its old enough!)
On top of the classes, a new for 2025 Overall Championship was created. To find out the "best of the best" amongst the 5 classes, on equal footing. Lets see how their season went down.
Starting off the season once again was Loton Park, the quaint deer park breaks silence to racing cars in early April for the FASSI competitors. First wins were taken by Alistair Clark in Class 1, Steve Akers in Class 2, Simon Braithwaite was a solo entrant in Class 3 and Richard Morris beat out his shared drive rival Colin Richards to take Class 5. Steve Akers would take the first win in the overall championship after David Fripp beat his handicap time by more than 2.5%
Straight into the season, and the FASSI Championship headed to the crown jewel event. The double header at the sell out Prescott Historique came with a bustling crowed, the FASSI contenders enjoyed continuous support from the spectators in their prominent location in the lower paddock. Split over two single day events, there was double to the opportunity to score well. Day one of the Historique saw a record number of entrants at a single event, 35 drivers taking to the hill in spectacular sunshine. Maximum points in the class championship went the way of Peter Joy in his Lotus Elite. In the classes, Class 1 took the way of Andrew Cross, Class 2 to Peter Joy, Class 3 again went to Simon Braithwaite though with competition this time. Class 4's first event winner went to Daniel Carroll, beating his shared driver James Stott in an MG B Roadster. Finally Class 5 went to Charles Reynolds in a Mallock MK21.
The second day of the Historique again showed fierce competition, with multiple drivers taking large chunks of time out of their handicap, it was all to play for in the overall championship. That went the way of Steve Akers and his Lotus Elan S1. Classes across all the board hotly contested. A fine performance by John Baber in Class 1, Steve Akers in Class 2, Simon Braithwaite for Class 3, James Stott prevailed over Daniel in Class 4 and Phil Fisher took how the most points in Class 5. The Prescott Historique once again celebrated a lunch time photo opportunity, surrounded by David Fripp's Fiat 124 Spider on the start line all dressed in FASSI sponsored t-shirt and cap all looking splendid I must say!
To finish out a small run of Prescott events, the end of June came the annual Members Meeting, a great mid point summer celebration where all members come together to celebrate the hill and competition. The win of the fourth round went the way of Simon Braithwaite and his BMW M3.
The next three events took place at away days. Harewood came first with David Fripp taking the overall win. Shesley Walsh followed and after a tight battle on the verge of handicaps with some exceeding their 2.5% cap, Simon Braithwaite took home a reduced maximum points from the meeting. Then onto Gurston Down, the hill "climb" that famously starts off by going down first before beginning the climb. 18 competitors took the challenge of Gurston, FASSI UK managing director Leigh Carter claimed victory in his little Fiat 695SS.
Moving back to Prescott, the FASSI Championship took its turn at joining the British Hill Climb Championship for what would be their championship crowning weekend. Amongst the chaos of the championship run offs, it would be novice hillclimber Paul Hogan who would take his first ever win, winning both Class 2 and the overall championship for round 8 of the championship. In the other Classes, Class 1 went to Andrew Clarke, Simon Braithwaite in Class 3, James Stott in Class 4 and Richard Morris in Class 5.
A final away day at the non hill climb venue Curborough saw the penultimate round of the season with a fantastic 16 Bugatti Owners' Club Members taking part in the event. An event with rain in the mix both timed runs proved desperate for everyone to secure a good time in fear the conditions could worsen. That indeed did happen with only a few drivers who made mistakes on their first time run making an improvement on the second. At the end of play Andrew Clarke and the Alfa Romeo GTV claimed the full amount available. Another class win fell to David Fripp in Class 2, Sam Wilamowski took the Class 3 win as the solo entrant. Class 4 defaulted to James Stott after Daniel Carroll beat his handicap percentage. Class 5 enjoyed the usual shared drive fight amongst the Lotus 51A drivers, this time heading towards Richard Morris.
Soon the final round was upon the FASSI competitors, much excitement in the air as anticipation grew before the timed runs began. Unfortunately it was not come to fruition, an accident just before the FASSI class was due out produced a lot of oil onto the track surface. A decision lead by Leigh Carter, the sponsor for the championship, a group decision across the contenders was made to forfeit the timed run. A decision made by the clerks earlier in the day meant only one timed run would be available, skipping this run eventuated in no timed runs being record, in the end the round would be declared scrapped with all drivers receiving three points for the event. Two for signing on and passing scrutineering and another for completing a practice run. An unfortunate end to the season however a great spirit was shown by all competitors to come to an agreement with points on the line.
With a curtailed end to the season, David Fripp would be unbeaten to take the overall championship, taking the better of Steve Akers by just eight points. With Fripp taking the overall, Class 2 would then be given to Akers, the two drivers from Class 2 putting a show on above the rest. A stealthy performance by Matt Clarke in an Austin Mini took the Class 1 winning honors, whilst not actually taking an event class win, just to show that consistency is key. Class 3 was wrapped up by Simon Braithwaite, good competition from Sam Wilamowski which we look forward to seeing again in 2026. The MG B duo of Stott and Carroll battled it out throughout the year, eventually by 5 points James Stott would be the better of his friend Daniel. Again another battle we can't wait to see again next year! Finally in Class 5, it was a double duo top 4. Richard Morris the victor of Class 5, taking a comfy lead over shared driver Colin Richards. A father-son affair behind as third place went to Ben Fisher narrowly beating his father Phil Fisher by 2 points in their Mallock MK11.
Leigh Carter and FASSI have been generous enough to write a proper post event report for almost every event as well as a great extensive photo collection including our away dates, I thank FASSI for their continued support of the championship this year. Please follow the link below to dive into the season in a more detailed fashion and to check out the amazing photos!
Our full list of Bugatti Owners' Club 2025 FASSI Classic Speed Championship award winners are as follows:
Overall Champion: David Fripp
Class 1 Champion: Matt Clarke
2nd in Class 1: Andrew Clarke
3rd in Class 1: Anthony Ward
Class 2 Champion: Steve Akers
2nd in Class 2: Ben Cross
3rd in Class 2: Paul Hogan
Class 3 Champion: Simon Braithwaite
2nd in Class 3: Sam Wilamowski
Class 4 Champion: James Stott
2nd in Class 4: Daniel Carroll
Class 5 Champion: Richard Morris
2nd in Class 5: Colin Richards
3rd in Class 5: Ben Fisher
A full set of results can be found below, both the overall championship and the class results.
On behalf of the Bugatti Owners' Club, as the Competition Administrator I would like to thank everyone who has taken part in the FASSI Classic Championship this year. We have seen a record number of registered competitors for the championship this year which looks set to grow again next year.
If you would like to get involved in the championship for 2026, please contact myself the Competition Administrator on comps@bugatti.co.uk You will also find us on stand at the upcoming February Race Retro event.
I look forward to welcoming you to 2026 Bugatti Owners' Club FASSI Classic Speed Championship in 2026, a great congratulations to all our award winners this year.
