Some members of the Island Car Club recently went to Sicily to take part in the Nicolosi Etna Hill Climb, a stage in the National Italian Championship, and came back with some encouraging results.

Hubert Camilleri was second overall in his Chevron Cosworth, while Michael Fenech, in his Audi TT, was second in his group. The other drivers were Charles Cutajar in an Escort Mark 1 and David Libreri. The latter accompanied the group without his car, which had developed technical problems while still in Malta and therefore was unable to take part in the event. The group is sponsored by Virtu Ferries.

Camilleri said the Island Car Club has always been in the forefront in local motor sport and has been active for several years. At present, they are staging the local championship and midway through the season, Camilleri is leading the pack in the hope of winning his 10th championship title in his career.

He says that the Maltese drivers envy the Sicilians who can stage such events on their good roads. “Here in Malta we have the Mtahleb road which is even better than the Etna. However, it has to be resurfaced and taken care of if we are to invite the Sicilians to race on our island. Otherwise there is no other circuit in Malta where we can stage such events,” said Camilleri.

Asked what their participation abroad entails, Camilleri said it is very expensive. He said: “Normally every time we go there, it costs us around e1,500 and one must not forget that we fork that amount out of our own pockets. And had it not been for Virtu Ferries, we would not have been able to participate in this event. We now hope to take part in another event this year, although we have already started thinking of taking part in the Sicilian regional championship (a whole eight races) next year.”

The ICC driver said this was not the first time that club drivers took part in Sicily hill climbs. “Our first participation was last year in August. There is another Maltese team also taking part. We are all Maltese and we should all be proud of our achievements,” said Camilleri.

I asked Hubert how come they were able to take part in such an event in Sicily: “We worked very hard to get the licence through Michael Fenech and Angelo Scuderi, an Italian married in Malta and who is our spokesman with the organisers of the races, Salerno Corse. He also drives with them in their Championship. More help came from our team manager Robert Cauchi. We all had to pass a medical test. On being successful we were given the necessary technical passport (logbook), apart from also having the licence from the Malta Motorsport Federation,” he said.

Camilleri went on to explain that if they take part in next year’s Sicilian championship, that would mean eight races, which will include five hill climbs and three others on circuits such as those of Racalmuto and Syracuse. “They are all professional five-kilometre tracks,” he added.

Asked whether he was happy with a second placing after having won the event last year, Camilleri said: “Let me be clear from the start. I always want to win, but this year I am happy to have finished second considering the circumstances. I must say that there was only .039 of a second from another Maltese driver, Alan Curmi, the winner of the race. But I was also disappointed because of some shortcomings on the part of the organisers. For example, they failed to weigh the cars on the day of the race, while a five-second penalty for hitting a chicane was not observed. This went in favour of the many drivers who touched the chicane – they were not penalised as they should have been,” he said.

Camilleri also said he was glad that he managed to overtake an Italian who started 30 seconds before him, just before the last chicane. It was so close that they might have given me his time instead of mine!” he added.

Camilleri thanked Virtu Ferries, Angelo Scuderi and Robert Cauchi, his mechanic, as well as Silkolene Oils, KONI shops, Maurice Caruana Engineering, Forch Tools, Avon Tyres, McLaren Garage, his wife Miriam and his family and all the supporters who made the trip to Sicily to watch the event and support the local drivers. “Without their support, It would have been impossible to achieve any success,” he said.

It is worth mentioning that there were three Maltese drivers in the top 10 at the Etna hill climb. Apart from Alan Curmi and Hubert Camilleri, Patrick Gauci was ninth overall.